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

[unknownbrother]

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

It's always vastly different from the beta at release. For NHL 18 the beta was better than the game on release day.

The way people talk about this game on this site would lead me to believe they wouldn't have expectations high enough that they'd get upset about the beta version.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Ya.... It's not very good.


I didn't plan on buying the game this year and the beta certainly hasn't changed my mind. But I'm also by no means making a final decision on it yet. I'll use my EA Access to play the finished product for 10 hours before release and make my decision based on that.


And a GM Connected mode would make me pre order the game yesterday but I have my doubts if that comes back this year.

 

[fcpremix88]

I can’t find it on PS4. I tried searching NHL 20 Beta, demo, just scrolling.... can’t find it.

 

[Shrimper]

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

Problem is they never fix the problems.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Fully plan on buy NHL 20 for the first time in 3 years but i'm not going to DL a half ass demo. I still don't understand why they would even bother releasing a 2 month old version that doesn't showcase the improvements.

 

[Chaels Arms]

I mean it has the improved shooting and the puck pickups. Are we expecting any other improvements?

 

[Soedy]

Played 2 games. Shooting is good so is the presentation UI.

Commentary sounds terrible, unconnected, random like in NBA Live 99.

Passing... more the interceptions. Every interception, even a saucer pass is on the tape all the time.

 

[NDiesel]

There are definitely some improvements to shooting and skating which is nice. The announcing is weak, but I doubt that's the finished product. I mean I wish I wouldn't do it, but I'll definitely end up buying it again since I don't really play any other games.

 

[OddyOh]

I can’t find it on PS4. I tried searching NHL 20 Beta, demo, just scrolling.... can’t find it.

Yeah took me a while to find it. You have to go to the store page of any of the PS4 versions, then scroll way down to "Extras", and then the Beta is a separate product listed there.

That's using a browser, I assume finding it on the console works the same way.

NHL 20 Beta PSN Store by OddyOh, on Flickr

 

[NDiesel]

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.

I feel like a big reason for the sluggishness is due to them still trying to figure out which gameplay settings work best for the new physics.

 

[John Price]

It took me a Time to find it too.

It doesn't show up on search in PS store so just search for NHL 20 and scroll down

One option says demo.

 

[DEVILS130]

Just played my first game and it feels totally different than 19. Not in a good way either. The game plays really slow, hits are basically not effective at all, poke checks are over effective. I do like the new presentation though. I bought 19 for $20 just a month ago and I’ll probably do the same for 20.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Positives:

I like the new passing. It will take some getting used to but it should be a good adjustment and separate the skilled passers from the rest.

I think the shooting animations, when implemented fully and bug free at release, will be a nice addition.

The skating animations seem better.

Puck pick ups aren't as annoying.

I like the buffs to user puck interceptions.

Negatives:

Slower paced gameplay. Really favoring trap-oriented defense and that's certainly not a good thing.

Goalies playing the puck into the crowd. This will be patched so not a big deal.

Unless you 100% make contact on a guy, body checks are useless. In the defensive zone you're better off standing still and waiting to pick the puck off.

I don't think the CPUs needed a defensive buff from 19. They were fine as is. The new passing makes it difficult enough, but the CPUs didn't need to be better. I have noproblem with buffing the user players ability to pick off the puck (as its in my positives) but not the CPUs.

I don't like the new presentation overlay. Bottom of the screen is so unnatural. I'll get used to it though. Commentary team is too much.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

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

I don’t think you understand what a beta is used for.

More troubling, is that whenever EA releases a beta. It’s close to the finished product. I’m aware that this is an outdated build (which is absolutely stupid), but ea needs to fix a ton gameplay wise.

NHL 19 was a pretty good balance and it’s gone.

 

[542365]

One thing I forgot to mention is that I actually like the pregame screen in EASHL showing a stat about a player on each team. It highlights a player and says “4 goals in the past 3 games” or something like that. I actually like that quite a bit. The unskippable replay of the highlight of the period is pretty cool too, but I think it will get a bit annoying after a while.

The gameplay, in general, though is not great. Way too slow and way too many small issues that combine to make big issues.

 

[BahlDeep]

Am I the only one who enjoys the beta lol?

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Am I the only one who enjoys the beta lol?

Yes

 

[Clint Eastwood]

The fact that Jesper Fast shrugged off a body check from Zdeno f***ing Chara is all I need to know about this game.

 

[ArchAngel55]

All the cancelled goals due to goaltender interference needs to be fixed. When their own D bumps their goalie and it's taken away. The tripping calls when the guy is 3 feet from the stick (not even close even during the replay). It has some potential.

 

[n00bxQb]

All the cancelled goals due to goaltender interference needs to be fixed. When their own D bumps their goalie and it's taken away. The tripping calls when the guy is 3 feet from the stick (not even close even during the replay). It has some potential.

Yeah I had one where the puck was on the goal line and I poked it in before the goaltender covered it (without contacting the goaltender) and it was called off ...

 

[Whiston532]

I’ll give it more time before I write it off, maybe I just suck. But passing felt real off. Like it felt like I couldn’t do anything outside of passing 3 feet. If any of my opponents players were within 3 feet of the puck it was like they had a magnet on their stick.

 

[Stand Witness]

I actually like the beta so far.

Passing and shooting is good to me. I like it. Defense CPU seem to pick up passes better which is nice. Theres multiple "glitch" goals that I never really saw anyone use in NHL 19 that still work in the beta. I don't expect a couple of the unknown ones to get patched... and even if they are it just opens up another opportunity when the goalie over compensates.

In 3's, it seems like if the center ties on the draw at either center ice or the offensive blue line the winger and scoop in and blow by the defensemen fairly easily. Like the dman has no step at all.

The goalie puts the puck out of play a little too much right now but its good that they deflect to the outside now.

 

[Favster]

Played a bunch of 3s club games so far. What the hell is going on with the goalie pokecheck on penalty shots? It's so out of control lol, as soon as you pass the hashmarks, the goalie pokes the puck away in 0.02 seconds. It's brutal lol

Anyways, shooting is better. That's cool. Passes seem soft and slow to me.

 

[Stevonidas]

Laggy as shit. Won't be buying this garbage. Done with EA for good.

 

[WTFetus]

Passing seems even crisper/easier.
Feels like they made cross crease goals too easy too.

Shooting mechanics are different; not sure if they are better or worse, but breakaway goals seem easier now.

Commentators suck.
Puck bounces are exaggerated. Pucks go out of play too often.