AEV-Forum

[size=18px]NHL 2005 Preview [/size]
Puck up and check out some of the newness coming this year from EA.

April 20, 2004 - Hockey games are a bit unique among video game sports titles. A lot of people who play video game hockey don't really follow the NHL. Thanks to a decade-long obsession begun by EA's Genesis-era hockey titles, plenty of people who only offer a casual glance at the best sport on ice pick up EA's latest NHL game each year.

EA has always needed to find a balance between pleasing hardcore hockey fans and those casual and even non-fans of the sport that might not understand all of the intricacies that a dedicated sim offers. For that reason, over the past few years, it's seemed like NHL has been searching for its identity. Last year's NHL 2004 went a long way to solidifying a new path for the series, one that combines a sense of realism and sim with the loose, fun arcade style fans of the series have come to expect. With NHL 2005, EA looks to improve upon last year by creating a deeper game that remains friendly to the general populace.
Improving the Flow
Last year, NHL 2004 had far too much hitting, so much so that it could sometimes become frustrating (and nearly impossible) to get into the open ice or even make it into enemy territory. Last year's congestion will be eased by EA's mantra to "create open ice," which seems to be the premium gameplay concern this year. On offense, players will spread out more realistically, instead of bunching together and will look to pass and to help clear the goal for shooters.

Along with promised smarter AI, skaters in NHL 2005 will use the boards more often and will offer more realistic battles against the boards. Instead of being hit on the way down the ice, opponents will try and trap players and try to force a turnover or at least slow them down, rather than simply trying to bang them off their skates.

Skating
Last year it was admittedly frustrating at times to get players to skate backwards when you wanted them to. That shouldn't be a problem with 2005 as the AI will automatically switch positioning based on puck and player location. If it makes sense to skate backwards, such as when a defenseman is trying to keep a player in front of him, the AI will position the player appropriately, even one you are controlling. This should relieve the frustration, as gamers can focus on simply maneuvering players who will instantly switch positioning as needed.

Gliding has also been added into the mix this year. Where most hockey games have players constantly moving their feet, making speed difficult to control, players will now glide to maintain proper positioning. Once a player reaches their top speed without using speed burst, they'll glide, allowing for better control and more importantly, a more realistic flow on the ice. Combine this with the ability to backskate whenever sensible, and you can see how defenders will now be able to easily match the speed of a forward (putting more pressure on that forward to pass or use a fancy deke move to blow past the defender).

Open Ice Control
Taking a page from EA's premier basketball game, there is now Open Ice Control, which works like the alley-oop function in NBA Street Vol. 2. By hitting the proper button, players can pass the puck but maintain control of that same player without the puck. You can then maneuver however you wish, clearing out the goal, screening the goalie, or positioning yourself for the shot. Call for a pass or tell the AI-controlled player to shoot the puck. It should be pretty cool.

Along the same lines, there's an Open Ice Support button, which calls for help on offense. This will call for AI help when trapped against the boards or even to get help on a shot. On defense, the Open Ice Support button will call for a double-team of the nearest opponent. This is a risk/reward system, because the double-team can force a turnover, but it will also leave somebody open.

Open ice wouldn't mean much without the ability to maneuver with the puck so EA has added a tap deke, which allows for the same dekes pulled off last year with the Right Thumbstick to be performed with a simple button press, making things a bit easier to handle. The manual dekes will still be an option, though, for true ice warriors. Along with easier control, the game itself is more intuitive. You can check in every direction this year and checks will differ depending on positioning. For example, if you're side-by-side with an opponent, you'll perform a hip check instead of a poke check. Once we have a chance to get our hands on NHL 2005 and take it for a spin, we'll have a better idea of how well and how improved control and game flow truly is, but it looks like 2005 will be a solid improvement.
Awareness Off the Puck
Anyone who's played hockey video games before knows that there's nothing more annoying (or disruptive to the flow of a game) than AI players going offsides. Not because of the way you are handling the puck, but because the AI just isn't sophisticated enough to avoid going offsides. EA hopes to change that this year with AI that has players making skid stops if necessary to avoid going offsides and even making stick shifts to make sure the puck goes past the blue line before they do.

Your offensive AI unit will also be more proactive in signaling when they are open by banging their puck on the ice and you can expect to see the AI more active in screening the goalie and knocking players out of the way. Thanks to on-ice five-man motion capture, this year should bring much more believable animations that will add to the realism of the experience, even if some aspects remain more on the arcade side of things.

Player Personalities
EA's biggest gameplay innovation this year, at least from what we can tell in the early stages, is the addition of player personalities. Does that mean you'll have a guy being Wayne Gretzky nice-guy and another guy being a bruiser like Tie Domi? Sort of. Based on their ratings in the various skill categories, players act differently on the ice. Hitting the same button to check an opponent will result in different things depending on the player and positioning. So an enforcer with a lot of strength will try and kill people whenever he can, but a speedy skill player will go for a poke check. That's not to say your smaller guys can't mash people into the boards, but all animations and actions will vary depending on the player so that you don't have your forwards and your defensemen looking interchangeable as in previous versions of NHL.

What's really cool is that since this is all based on ratings, as a player ages and declines in skill, say loses some speed, they will change their style of play to fit their abilities. In this same way, created players automatically assume certain roles based on their attributes. Even goalies get into the act with the ability to set goalies to use either stand-up or butterfly techniques. While we haven't had a chance to test any of this ourselves, it sounds promising.

Hidden Mysteries
To tantalize us just a bit more, EA has more than hinted that there is a brand new gameplay feature that will be unveiled sometime after E3. What is this feature? All we know is that it is an on ice gameplay feature that is important in real life hockey. Your guess is as good as (or better than) ours.

Dynasty
EA isn't ready to give up specifics on the improvements to Dynasty Mode just yet, but we do know that this year will be a continuation of what was seen last year, meaning you can expect to schedule practices, buy equipment for the locker room, and control the ultimate destiny of your franchise. EA's goal is to make Dynasty Mode a bit more accessible this year with a lot more feedback, given through scout e-mails and words from players (in text, not cut-scenes), to give players a better understanding of what they're doing right and what's going wrong with their Dynasty.

Outlook
Though EA was once thought of as a company that did very little to rock the boat on their sports games with only minor year-to-year updates, that hasn't been the case for the past few seasons and the same can be said for the NHL brand. It's not that NHL 2004 was a terrible game that needed major surgery to get it back on its feet, instead, it was a good game in need of some smart tweaking and better presentation to turn it into a great game. From what we've seen and heard so far, EA knows where it wants to take NHL 2005 and the improvements should make for a better game of ice hockey. There's still a lot we don't know, but what we do know is a very good start.

We'll have lots more on NHL 2005 during the next several months, as we skate our way toward release late this fall.

[size=18px]NHL 2005 First Look[/size]

In the wake of the positive response to NHL 2004, Electronic Arts and developer EAC are aiming to craft a follow-up that builds on the best of 2004's qualities. Careful review of user feedback helped direct development on the upcoming game, which is currently in development at EA's Canadian studio. We recently had the opportunity to hear about the upcoming game from a member of the team, who gave us an idea of where development on this year's version of the game is going.

Based on user feedback from last year's game, the development team is opting to focus on several key areas for NHL 2005. Generally speaking, the goal was to create more open ice for players to skate through, thus providing a more expansive environment for gameplay. The flow of the game is another area that's being concentrated on, with an emphasis on keeping the action moving at a good clip. The end result will be more deking and offensive options and a wider variety of skating choices. You'll be able to backskate, strafe, and glide, among other skating options. Another nice touch to the control scheme is a context-sensitive control mechanic that lets you take command of the most-offensive-minded player. Furthermore, on defense you may even call in backup when you need it, and you can have your artificial-intelligence-controlled partner block for you or help you stop an opponent's offensive breakaway.

NHL 2005 is also slated to include more subtle touches to its gameplay, which should contribute to the game's experience significantly. When you've got the puck and are looking to pass, players who are open will bang their sticks on the ice to give you a heads-up. The use of motion capture from five-man motion-capture sessions helps give you a better gauge for what you're doing when you're in a tangle of people on the ice. Finally, the individual player personalities (which include unique behaviors and moves) will be reflected on the ice, which will help or hinder you depending on what position you're playing.

The online component of the game is still coming together but will reflect a number of tweaks based on user feedback. Issues such as lag and the age-old annoyance of players quitting in the middle of a game are both on the "to-do list" for NHL 2005.

All told, development on NHL 2005 sounds as though it's proceeding apace. The development team's focus sounds as though it should address some of the trouble spots from last year's game so that this year's game will end up offering an ever-stronger installment in the franchise. NHL 2005 is currently slated to ship later this year for the PlayStation 2, PC, and Xbox. Look for more on the game in the coming months.

" hat geschrieben:casual and even non-fans of the sport that might not understand all of the intricacies...