Nhl 09

[Scott_Arm]

Doesn't seem vastly different from 08. Control is mostly the same, with a few small additions. Graphics and gameplay are very similar. Haven't tried online yet.

The one thing that's a big improvement is the Be A Pro mode. It's a lot of fun. It's a bit of a different motivation to play.

Haven't uploaded any pics or vids yet. I haven't figured out how the video editing works. It did not seem intuitive to me.

 

[jb]

I think its a lot different on Defense. I have still not won a game yet as I get caught too much trying to check some one as that was a good defense last year. Its going to take some time to learn when its time to check vrs poke or get in the passing lanes. 08 was pretty much a check feast.

I also thing goal scoring is harder as its not the one-timer free-for-all that last years was. Which is a good thing. I wish the would take some things from the 2k version like the presentation and crowd interaction.

Your right be a pro mode is fun a heck! I just started to play that and was having a ball! Well in this case it was not a ball...more of a puck

So far I really like this game and wish I would have bought a 2nd copy so I did not have to share with my son. Oh well!!!

 

[Scott_Arm]

You might be right about scoring, but I was terrible at scoring in 07, so I see no difference

Defence is a little different. Checking is most definitely harder. But I'd say the game is tweaked rather than being radically different.

 

[wco81]

On the PS3, the graphics, especially the pre and post game cut scenes? look cleaner, where the players come out of the locker room.

Seem less jaggy in gameplay cams too.

But it's slower than 08 and not quite as responsive. You can't hit as solidly or pass as quickly.

The hits seemed toned down, which may be a good thing.

The slap shots don't seem to work as well for scoring.

This is based on the demo. I still plan to pick it up.

 

[Scott_Arm]

On the PS3, the graphics, especially the pre and post game cut scenes? look cleaner, where the players come out of the locker room.

Seem less jaggy in gameplay cams too.

But it's slower than 08 and not quite as responsive. You can't hit as solidly or pass as quickly.

The hits seemed toned down, which may be a good thing.

The slap shots don't seem to work as well for scoring.

This is based on the demo. I still plan to pick it up.

They toned down the hitting a lot. You really need to time them much much better. The animations for the hits aren't as big an improvement as I was hoping for, but they are definitely better. There are a few good ones, for sure.

 

[jb]

The slap shots don't seem to work as well for scoring.

I remember reading one of the Dev's blogs where they tweak them to be lest effective as there were a bit too easy to score that way in NHL 08

 

[jb]

You might be right about scoring, but I was terrible at scoring in 07, so I see no difference

Defence is a little different. Checking is most definitely harder. But I'd say the game is tweaked rather than being radically different.

Now that I played it more (spent most of the weekend in the Be a Pro mode getting my Center up to the 3rd line of the Red Wings) I agree that my Defense is a lot different was a bit over-stated. The checks are harder and it takes a while to get used stick controls on D but once you get the hang of it is kind of nice.

For scoring I noticed that the one-timers are not as effective. And my best bet for a score is like real hockey and get guys at the net looking for a rebound and/or screen. That and try to catch the goalie out of position with some sharp quick passing! Then finally it took me longer then I would like to admit to learn how to aim. That really helped as the auto aim some times was not trying to put the puck where the opening was.....

 

[wco81]

Yeah the goalies snatches those slap shots more effectively.

But the other thing is, the puck is now more floaty.

Players are slower too.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Anybody else join a club? I'm having a great time with this game. I got my pro card for online.

I still can't score for shit. Otherwise I'm really happy with my pro. I'm ok on shootouts, but I can't score during the game. I'm using a playmaker, and I pumped up my wrist shot a bit so the power is 80 and the accuracy is 77 or something. Maybe I should flip that around. It seems even a few points make a big difference. When I hit pro I dumped 4 points in balance and it's made a huge difference in terms of getting knocked down. I stay on my feet pretty well. The problem is I lose control of the puck too easily still.

Anyone find a guide on what the attributes do? I'm not so sure what offensive and defensive "awareness" really do. Is that how quickly your character picks up the puck if it's floating around you, or how well you receive passes? Most things are obvious, but there are a few that aren't.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Oh yeah ... There are some SERIOUS connection issues and other weird bugs surrounding club rosters. We had former club members entering our "dressing room," and unable to enter their own. You get three teams loading into one game. Lots of dropped players when you load into a match selection. Lots of slow updates on stats, screwed up point systems for club rankings. Yeah, some serious quality control on this one. But, in the end, the game is damned fun.

 

[wco81]

I don't like the Clubs thing. As far as I can tell, you can only use fictional players. Why play with an NHL team without real NHL players?

As for the gameplay, they've improved the checking and made it hard to get a clean shot off.

But when you do get that shot off, it's often errant and there's not much velocity. Puck is more floaty this year. Either the puck is too slow and/or the goalies are better about snatching slap shots.

In other forums, there are complaints about lower scoring.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I don't like the Clubs thing. As far as I can tell, you can only use fictional players. Why play with an NHL team without real NHL players?

As for the gameplay, they've improved the checking and made it hard to get a clean shot off.

But when you do get that shot off, it's often errant and there's not much velocity. Puck is more floaty this year. Either the puck is too slow and/or the goalies are better about snatching slap shots.

In other forums, there are complaints about lower scoring.

In club mode you pick a jersey, but it's your own team. It's a good way to play with the same group of people. Plus you have all of the same Be A Pro stat tracking, cards, stat building, performance tracking etc. It's been pretty cool so far. The club mode also puts everyone on fairly even ground, and nobody has characters with 95+ ratings, so you get something that looks a little more like actual hockey. You don't see as many perfect shots, or outrageous hitting. I guess it really depends whether you want to play with the real teams or not. I don't particularly care about the real teams all of the time. I play my single player pro on real teams when my club isn't online.

I think the low velocity and errant shots is from using Pros that have low stats. Many of the forward types do not start with great stats for shooting. I've seen plenty of great shots from people using NHL scorers like Heatley, Crosby, Ovetchkin etc online. Edit: But yes, accuracy is probably lower and more shots miss the net, like real hockey. Velocity may be a bit lower compared to NHL08, but I'm not sure.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Anyone else playing in an online club with a pro character?

I'm having trouble figuring out the best player build. Seems like some guys are really really strong on the puck and hard to knock down, which suggests they're a dangler, but they seem to still have a really good shot. I know what the glitch goals are, but I can't seem to do them. I'd rather not do them, but I want to have that weapon in my arsenal if the other team starts doing it. Seems like people pick the far corner too easy, but even in practice mode I can't do it. I'm wondering how much the shooting stats matter, and if power or accuracy is more important, or if they should both be increased equally.

Anyway, my club is having trouble because we can't score. I chip in the odd goal, but usually we lose tight games. The other team will score a few cheesy glitch goals picking the far corner, but none of us can do that. We have to grind for it.

 

[wco81]

Online club with a pro character?

All club games are with fictional players right, not actual NHL players?

That is why I stopped playing club or ranked team games.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Online club with a pro character?

All club games are with fictional players right, not actual NHL players?

That is why I stopped playing club or ranked team games.

Sorry, that's what I meant, but not what I said. I was referring to the Be A Pro characters, not actual professional players.

All I've been doing is playing in the club. I rarely ever play with the real teams. I've got my Superstar card unlocked, but doubt I'll ever get the A- I need for the Legend card.

 

[Scott_Arm]

So, a few times we've been playing and blowing out the other team, all of a sudden the face-off glitch will happen in the last seconds of the game. If you don't know what it is, the faceoff starts and then immediately resets at a different spot on the ice. It's endless.

I'm wondering if teams are doing this intentionally to protect their stats and if there's any way to fix it.

It's a real pain in the ass when I get my first 7 point game and I lose it because of an endless faceoff. One team even sent us a message saying they'd leave their machines on overnight so we should just quit.

 

[wco81]

As far as I can tell, it's random.

I only play unranked games (I play mostly team games and I want the overhead camera and real NHL players so I don't play ranked team games or club games) and I see it so I don't see people making it happen.

I've seen it early in the game and believe there was no scoring advantage.

 

[Scott_Arm]

As far as I can tell, it's random.

I only play unranked games (I play mostly team games and I want the overhead camera and real NHL players so I don't play ranked team games or club games) and I see it so I don't see people making it happen.

I've seen it early in the game and believe there was no scoring advantage.

I've had it happen three times where my team was winning and there was a face off in the last fifteen seconds when it glitched. In one case the other team sent us a message threatening to stay online all night until we quit.

You can play with the overhead camera in the be a pro and online club modes. You just have to change your "Be a pro" camera.

 

[Scott_Arm]

The new patch has changed things quite a bit. If you were unhappy with online play because of all the glitch wrist shots, they've been removed. Shot accuracy is way down, and so is shot power if you don't have good body position to shoot. I'm a little disappointed that the goalie moves even faster now, but everything else is good. They also call more penalties on stick lifts from far away. The EASHL standings will be changing quite a bit. We played a few teams that were trying for the glitch goals and they couldn't get it. They otherwise sucked at the game, so now they can't do anything. It's become more of a hockey game where you have to positionally sound and work hard for your goals. I like it, but I wish it had come sooner. I've played so much I've started to lose interest.

backwards glitch - works
wraparound glitch - doesn't work
short side wrist glitch - doesn't work
far post wrist glitch - doesn't work
short side skating out from the corner - not sure

Since shot accuracy is way down, I think being a sniper is finally more valuable again. You want be able to score on 80% of your shots with a low accuracy player anymore. I'll still stick with my dangler, because passing and speed kill, but I may shift some points from shot power to accuracy.

 

[Scott_Arm]

If any of you quit playing because of the 99 glitch, where players could increase there online stats to 99, a patch came out yesterday that fixed the issue.

It also calls the game like international hockey where you have to be really careful about who you hit. I've played games where the other team had 14 penalties or more. The basic rules are: You can hit a guy carrying the puck, up to about a second after he passes it away. When your team has the puck you cannot hit anyone at all. Even a nudge will be called as interference. You can hit players in front of your net, even if they don't have the puck, as long as their team is in possession. You'll still get the odd call on that one. If you play dump and chase and you bump the defender from behind as he's going to pick up the puck, that is a penalty. The one I really don't like is if you hit players from behind, you take a penalty. That's just way too extreme for a video game. I took a few boarding calls from slamming guys who had the puck face first into the glass. It is a penalty in real hockey, but they're taking way too much hitting out of the video game by calling this penalty.

The computer goalies SUCK. You can shoot from anywhere and score. The goalie is better in tight now, but from the hash marks or the slot, you can blast shots past him. The computer D plays better. They steal the puck quicker and have more active sticks, so you need to pass quickly. Instead of going for the cross crease pass all the time, you should pass to someone around the hash marks, or back to the D for heavy shots. The goalies give up way more rebounds.

Oh, and glitch goals. The short side shot coming out from the corner doesn't work. The goal line shot from along the boards seems to work, but not as well, probably because players don't have max stats anymore. The backwards goal doesn't work nearly as well. The toe-drag to wrist shot in the top corner seems to work better again, as does the slap shot to the far corner from anywhere near the top of the circle. The game is all about setting up and passing around now the slot shots will the ones you have to defend against, more like real hockey.

This is a love it or hate it patch for the community. It's been out on the PS3 for a few weeks, but they didn't have the 99 glitch, i don't think.