NHL 20 Open Beta (July 26th-31st)

[Nuckles]

The NHL 20 beta is officially out and will run until Wednesday, July 31st.

EA SPORTS - NHL 20 Open Beta

Get your first taste of NHL® 20 in the Open Beta, featuring the World of CHEL and the all-new Eliminator mode from July 26 to July 31 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Get into the Beta by going to the Xbox Store or PlayStation Store and downloading it from there! Not only is it a great chance for you to try out NHL 20, you can also provide us with valuable information on how the game can be improved before launch.

Also note that this build is 8 weeks old, and they have since made changes to it.

NHL 20 - CHEL Notes - Open Beta Gameplay

For NHL 20, we cut the beta build eight weeks prior to today, meaning that there are 8 additional weeks that you’re not going to see and feel in the beta. You’re playing an early, work-in progress version of the game. Some of our new gameplay features were not fully ready to be included in the beta build, so we want to share important context around the gameplay experience you will be playing in the beta, specifically in comparison to where we are now and what will be in the final game.

Below we have captured the improvements in each of our three gameplay focus area, which have been addressed since the Beta experience.

Click to read more...

 

[542365]

Calling BS on this being an 8 week old build. This is the current build and they’re hoping to fix most of the stuff before release. It just lays the groundwork for the apologists to say “it’s only a Beta” when it sucks.

People use the Beta to help determine if they want to buy the full game. There’s no way they’d release a total mess of a product if they had a substantially better version in house because most average gamers are not going to see EA’s BS that this is supposedly an 8 week old build. They’re going to play it and decide from that if they’re going to buy it. EA is evil, but they’re not stupid. They know this is their demo and that it needs to be as impressive as possible. No way they agree to release a two month old version of the game as their beta. No way.

 

[OttawaOilers]

The NHL 20 beta is, officially, out on both consoles. Just keep scrolling on after add-ons.

 

[542365]

Lmao this beta is so bad. The animations are extremely clunky, everything is slower, passing is horrific, and the AI is just dreadful. They did it everyone. They made NHL 19 worse. Didn’t think it could be done, but I’ve underestimated EA.

 

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

I just played my first game and thought the gameplay was really nice. It feels so smooth and the puck pickups make everything feel so much better.

The announcers are really annoying after only one game

 

[Pongs21]

How do you get it? Having a hard time finding- ps4

 

[Nuckles]

How do you get it? Having a hard time finding- ps4

go into xbox or playstation store, search NHL 20 beta

 

[Emery]

The fact that it has online vs with all teams to choose from is awesome

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

This is pretty shitty.

The passing is one of the worst mechanics in years.

Hitting doesn’t do much, guys are bumped nothing happens.

It looks nice, I can see some of the shot physics, but Jesus fix the passing.

Also the score board being bugged on the bottom and blocking my play, really sucks.

 

[David Suzuki]

Hitting doesn’t do much, guys are bumped nothing happens.

Honestly this seems like an upgrade over the usual "every hit is a highlight real 1985 tier hit" stuff. Not surprised the game sucks, though.

 

[Grazzy]

What game modes are in the beta?

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

Honestly this seems like an upgrade over the usual "every hit is a highlight real 1985 tier hit" stuff. Not surprised the game sucks, though.

It’s just kinda inconsistent. Tkachuk was really hard to knock the puck off, I get that, but three times I went for a hit and nada.

Passing is really bad though.

Still, small sample size, will play more of it

 

[Tom Brady]

What game modes are in the beta?

World of chel, online versus and Ones now.

 

[Nuckles]

I had to turn commentary volume to 0, it's really bad...

 

[Blitzkrug]

I played like 4 games before uninstalling.

- Shooting is way better, that i'll give them. No more whiffing on slap shots for no reason, no more guys shooting off the backhand for no reason on an odd man rush up the ice.

The problem is everything else is worse.

- Hitting is either you completely crush the guy or bounce off of him. Even giants like Chara somehow have a hard time hitting which makes no sense.

- Defensive mechanics are still random as ****. Great game design when i poke the puck off of a guy's stick 3 times, only for him to maintain possession and score. Or having to stick lift multiple times only for it to do nothing.

- Ones eliminator is a totally stupid ass gimmick. It's literally the same game mode with "BatTle RoYaLe" tournaments. Nothing changes. I was at least hoping eliminator meant it would be one v one rather than the same cheesy **** with three people

- Skating seems a bit clunkier. It's way harder to hold the blue line on even simple cross ice passes in the O-Zone now.

People will still buy it, that's on them.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Why would they release a 2 month old version? Dumbasses.

 

[HabsCowboysOwn]

I played 3 VS games and 3 3v3 drop in games so far.

Simply put, shooting is better. Everything else is worse. Game feels slow and sluggish as ****, it’s almost as if my guy has cement skates on. Passing is the worse I’ve seen in years. Yeah, they have a LOT of work to do to redeem this crap because in its current state it’s laughably bad.

 

[Chaels Arms]

Agree with most of the comments on here.

They improved shooting, a lot. Everything else is worse.

Probably the biggest thing I hate in the beta is that it's either you lay down a giant hit or you do absolutely nothing. One change that 19 made for the better is that if I'm a d-man and you just skate into my body you're going to lose the puck, even if I don't throw a hit or a poke check. Defenders actually had weight and substance just by being in the right position and getting in someone's grill. Now you can just skate directly at someone and the puck and your stick will ghost right through their body unless they hit you or risk a poke check.

Also, my CPU forwards went offside more in one game in the beta than probably 5 games in 19. I have no idea what that's all about.

 

[unknownbrother]

Lol at everyone complaining about things not being 100% solid in a beta.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Imagine thinking EA isn't going to put out a garbage NHL product.

 

[John Price]

Once this damn internet starts working again I'll install it on ps. Anyone want to play on-line hit me up

 

[John Price]

New scoring announcement at bottom is nice.

Downloading beta and watching twitch streams in the meantime.

 

[Dreakon13]

The beta kinda sucks. Don't even know where to start, but this is easily the quickest I've gotten frustrated with one of these new NHL games. The random puck bouncing is completely out of hand, and it seems like the crap goals are up. Had a few situations where, one example, a goal trickles in from some crappy backhand at the top of the circle. I doubt that sort of low percentage shot would ever go in in NHL 19, no less multiple times in just a few games. The puck just has a mind of its own and the AI can't even keep up at this point.

People who don't know how to play feed on these golden opportunities springing up out of thin air, then giving up free goals on crappy shots on top of it. I get there's a 'feel good' element to someone who isn't very good, coming in and winning because a bunch of RNG bounces go their way and the better player (by all statistical measurements) gets inexplicably stonewalled... or it's "realistic" because "bad teams beat good teams sometimes"... but c'mon. I'm done with it. Never seen an online game steer further and further away from encouraging skilled play and the idea of the better player winning.

This may just be the year I skip. Not like I need another $60 expense in September. Maybe wait until the next gen of consoles in 2021 (holiday 2020 so basically 2021) and see how those NHL games end up being.

- Ones eliminator is a totally stupid ass gimmick. It's literally the same game mode with "BatTle RoYaLe" tournaments. Nothing changes. I was at least hoping eliminator meant it would be one v one rather than the same cheesy **** with three people

I agree Eliminator is the same old thing. Only difference is that one loss and you have to start over, unlike before where it was two losses just to go down one tier/rank... which actually sucks because the game is such bullshit random luck sometimes (and f***ing laggy as hell but maybe that's just a beta thing) so only giving you one shot at it can be unfair. And later rounds have fewer players in them, since everyone gets sent back to the beginning after one loss, so its tougher to matchmake.

That being said, One v One would be horrible. The only people who would like that are the ones who make their skater 6' 11" and 300lbs, because that's a HUGE (literally) one on one advantage. Basically crushes a normal skater just from the wind skating past them, and trying to play the body in any capacity actually somehow hurts you more. Don't get me wrong, I've won those situations many times... but if you're the smaller guy and the oaf has even a little bit of skill, you have to be PERFECT, never touch or get touched by them, and hope you get some fortunate puck drops near you. It's unfair at worst, obnoxious at best. Never fun.

 

[Chaels Arms]

Lol at everyone complaining about things not being 100% solid in a beta.

LOL at you thinking it's going to get drastically better at release. Have you missed the last ten years?

 

[Chaels Arms]

The play by play guy is rough also.