I think last gen's NHL games were better.

[CBJWerenski8]

No doubt. The only issues with old gen NHL was the amount of nearly unstoppable glitch goals. They've done a very good job of preventing them in new gen, there still are high quality shots that can go in, but they're much easier to stop, but outside of that old gen NHL was way better.

 

[17of26]

NHL2k8 is the best video hockey game I have ever played.

 

[SouthGeorge]

Yes but there's many reasons why. Mainly being the least important EA game and not releasing a game on next gen until a year later and almost 2 years until the game had the mode that made it so great EASHL. Xbox was the best/most active platform but a lot of people got duped into buying PS4's by a Sony paid media push and people crying about ddr. These same people bought NHL to play versus, hut, or EASHL and crying about having to have internet to use their console. Idiots but I digress. People lost contact with people and everybody is spaced on consoles now. Getting a team of the worst NHL YT'ers together to improve the game was a horrible decision as well.

I actually hopped on NHL 19 for the first time since about a month after it dropped the other day. Sidenote - I told my gameshare partner not to buy/support this BS and we won't play it after a few weeks with all the DDA and bullshit in it but he doesn't listen and I was right.

Game is brutal as ever. Can't even get a simple cycle/puck movement going. Lucky to get 3 successful passes in a row. Just being near someone who doesn't poke or stick lift and losing the puck off their bot presence. No creativity allowed. Apparently odd man rushes and cross creases aren't high % in the NHL anymore. Any missed poke check is an automatic trip. I hope catering to 40 year olds that hop on for 2 hours at night is really paying off. Oh yeah, it's clearly not. Just reminds me of their pathetic versus Championship and dude doing circles/cheesing all game in front of Bettman. I approached them years ago before next gen with ideas and what they should do. So it's funny to me to watch them fail.

 

[Hatfield]

NHLPA '93 was the sh**

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

When you fight, you can hold somebody down and thet can't get out of it. When as anyone ever seen that in a game ?

AI are able to steal the puck from you when you're ahead of them.

If you dump the puck in, it bounces way too much. Is there a button combination to knock it down ?

I don't think you fan hipcheck in 2019.

Playing against the AI in general kind of sucks with how they can ways get the puck away from you so easily.

Players in EASHL just use cheese goals everytime then send you a message about how good they are.

NHL '98 for how the game looked and felt way the best for me.

NHL '96 I believe it was the first to have trades. They were harder, but you could also trade a low end player for a player slightly better until you got a star player.

NHL '00 was the best for me.

 

[longtime lurker]

NHL 11 was the best one for sure. I recently bought a 360 so I could play it again. If I had known how bad the current gen hockey games were going to be, I never would have sold my 360 in the first place.

I also learned that NHL 11 is pretty bad without the latest tuner sets and unfortunately with the servers being down now, you can't download them. I had to transfer the tuner set files from my pc to my xbox, which was easier said than done, but well worth the trouble because it really is the best NHL game out there, in my opinion.

 

[ShakeyBonez]

It's a travesty you can't even switch to closest man to the puck. Defies the whole logic of 1 vs 1 gaming. More of a computer game than the user

This is the reason, the last game i bought was NHL14 or 15... the first one on the ps4. I'm a firm believer that they need to do away with so many animations has it has crippled the actual hockey gameplay.

 

[sexydonut]

I think the same can be said for many modern video games. There's an emphasis on realistic graphics. It makes the budgets go up, but doesn't do much for gameplay.

So in a roundabout way, the emphasis on realistic graphics detracts from playability.

 

[Mlotek]

I think the same can be said for many modern video games. There's an emphasis on realistic graphics. It makes the budgets go up, but doesn't do much for gameplay.

So in a roundabout way, the emphasis on realistic graphics detracts from playability.

Its not even just the gameplay.

Its the little things.
Back on super nintendo even the background music was amazing.
In the late 90s NHL Faceoff series had amazing music and even the EA NHL games had some great music. The music is so awful in current version of games I just turn it off.

I remember the days you could just change your goalie from the main menu, now its buried 3 screens deep within lineup changes.

I stopped playing at NHL18, but all the menus are laggy especially in franchise mode. Click left-right and it takes the game 1-3 seconds to comply. Not to mention the menu designs are again, a downgrade over 20 years ago.

There are so many 'bugs' that have been present since the switch to the new gen. What is now, 4-5 versions of the game and they are still not removed.

Some of the things the AI is programmed to do is just infuriating. For example, loose puck is going towards a player, but the AI decides to skate away because he needs to be "in formation". Or defence constantly skating into the boards waiting for forecheck to "boardplay".

It seems all the effort of EA goes to HUT while ignoring the basics.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

**** yes they were better.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

I think the same can be said for many modern video games. There's an emphasis on realistic graphics. It makes the budgets go up, but doesn't do much for gameplay.

So in a roundabout way, the emphasis on realistic graphics detracts from playability.

Exactly.

 

[Coastal Kev]

Sure, the graphics or physics might not have been as good, but the games were more FUN. I keep a 360 around just to play NHL 15 and it's Be a GM mode is way better than what we're getting 4 years later on better hardware. NHL 08 to 14-15 were mostly good to great games. Special mention to 09 for the EASHL, but a big minus on the curve goal.

I might find an old copy of '14 to play cause I think that was my fav overall last gen. That or '11. (in both of those I managed to use the sliders to make the CPU difficult yet fair to play against, which is a big deal to me in these games.)

The newer games seem more sluggish to me, the older games may have been more arcadish but they're way more engaging IMO.

Seriously EA, step up your game.

3 on 3's is the only fun mode currently on the PS4. Eashl is slow, terrible and boring. Versus is much of the same with major lag issues. Sad that EA destroyed the EASHL with the next gen.

 

[Coastal Kev]

I've been playing NHL games since NHLPA 93 on SNES. I'm not asking for them to go back to the insanely arcadey games of 2000-2003 or anything like that. I just feel like there's not a good, modern hockey game out there and it's kinda frustrating.

I'd rather play 94 than what they're offering now (and I do on PC ). At least it's fun.

EXACTLY... it's fun, and they forget that games are supposed to be fun, and they limit the cpu involvement and leave it to the players to decide who is better. Since about NHL13 EA with each installment ramped up their involvement in determining outcomes. Sucks monkey butt

 

[Coastal Kev]

They always seem to release patches which make the game worse. They're so dense
Was there any problem in particular that they wanted to change? Doubt it.

:Edit:
But the curve goal in 09 was never patched. Just needed to change the goalies angle a bit. That was a game breaking, massive exploit. EA taketh and EA.. taketh away.

They always seem to release patches which make the game worse. They're so dense
Was there any problem in particular that they wanted to change? Doubt it.

:Edit:
But the curve goal in 09 was never patched. Just needed to change the goalies angle a bit. That was a game breaking, massive exploit. EA taketh and EA.. taketh away.

But here's the thing. In 09 in the EASHL, if you had good D, they nuked that shot, which is the way it should be. Also in versus, you knew players liked that shot and you played D to take it away from them.

 

[Coastal Kev]

Yup, the current gen games are pretty terrible. Yeah, they're more realistic, but that doesn't make it a better video game than the previous gen games. The gameplay is slow, boring, frustrating, and has a much lower skill ceiling and higher skill floor. I played the games for hundreds of hours every year from NHL 09-14, but I only played 17 for three months (until the end of the season in the 6s league I was in) and I'll be doing the same with this year's game. I'd much rather play a fun, arcade-y hockey game than a boring, realistic game.

The most annoying part of all of this is that the beta was actually pretty fun with the changes they made to the skating engine thanks to the feedback they took from the "game changers". It was by far the best gameplay they had on the current gen consoles. Then for whatever reason they decided to push out a big patch within a few weeks to revert it back to the slow, boring, frustrating gameplay from the last few games.

To give you an idea of how bad this game is, here's the goals per game per team in the most popular 6s league in the series.

*scoring is up to around 2.39 GPG (per team) since this was first made
**the numbers under each game are the seasons

Someone at EA sold the idea that close games equal more players and more money. They dumbed down the game for the lowest common denominator and crapped all over their loyal gamers who desired the quest to become better.

 

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

I don’t know if the games themselves are better, but definitely more innovative and more fun, in a way. EASHL used to be so fun

 

[PB12]

NHL 2k7 or 2k8

 

[The Burdened]

I gave up on NHL this gen long ago and I don't have any hope for it next gen (I'll prob just dip out on gaming by that point tbh)

Praise lord to the guy on OS who has been updating rosters for NHL Legacy. I will sooner play that game before NHL 20.

 

[rschile]

yea 09 was awesome. have they been updating legacy ive just been playing eashl

 

[Frosty415]

I would take a roster update on any of 09,10,12,13 over any of the PS4 releases. The game is total trash now, I don’t know how anyone can play it let alone enjoy it.

I got roster updates on nhl 15 ps3 via a usb stick

Just sucks theres no vegas

 

[SlimCharles]

I'll always love NHL 07 because I was blown away by the innovations they made using the right stick for stick-handing and shooting. Now they really haven't changed much and it's become dull.

Older favorites: NHL 94, NHL 99, NHL 2001, and NHL 2002.

Also, NHL Hitz 2002 was really damn fun. I think it's the best arcade hockey game ever.

 

[NYR94]

I was so resistant to shooting with the right stick at first but now I couldn't imagine going back to using a button. That control design change really was a stroke of genius. But yeah it does seem like the last true gameplay innovation they made.

 

[Ratboy]

I started up a be a GM in nhl 11 and I'm liking it so far. The gameplay is good and the difficulty level vs the CPU seems pretty fair.
Oh and I'm having fun. Something the new games don't seem to offer imo.

 

[Son Goku]

NHL 15 OTP>>>

top 5 LW overall

 

[YellowheadChiefs]

NHL 15 OTP>>>

top 5 LW overall

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