EA NHL 08

[mister_mcgoo]

not sure how many other gamers are on here and who have played it yet but here are some of my observations:

1) it plays ok but the stats/roster/lines interfaces are clunky and slow. If I want to see the league leading scorers I need to thumb thru dozens of team screens to get to the \"NHL overall\" standings, lame...they had that option figured out 10 years ago

2)the AI is pretty lame...if I\'m on the PK I can sit behind my net til it runs out, no one will go after me and I wont get a delay of game penalty

3)its ridiculously hard to body check, that should be a virtual gimme in any hockey video game

4)the computer gen\'d stats are foolish...in what world does Semin have 32 pts in 13 games and Ovie only 16???

5)somehow my team is always super charged when we play the leafs, not sure if this is built in or just me -lol. I\'ve beaten the leafs 9-2 (two hatricks too , 6-1 and 5-1 so far.

6)the \'trick stick\' is a great idea but hard to learn and harder still to exploit. If you\'re on a dead breakaway you have time to settle in and set it up, but if you\'re blowing by a defenseman at the blue line and cutting to the goal its hard to set up that quickly

I havent tried 09 yet but would love to hear from thise who have

[jlucas09]

09 is not out yet. I believe its either september or oct. I also get annoyed with the stats screen. In 09 they will have the superstar mode ala Madden which should be a fun game. I wish they had more indepth prospects in the game. I realize they can only have players signed to contracts but they still could choose a few better ones

[angus]

08 is great, but it definitely has its fall backs. I am very excited for 09, for sure.

[NYR9394]

They need to fix that checking thing. You should not have Alex Semin bump off a Rob Blake check in the corner.

As for the stats, every game has been like that to some degree.

The AI is what it is. Dont forget, it\'s still only a computer.

Out of everything I really hope they fix the body checking in the next one.

[Katharsis]

Personally, I find the bodychecking OK for the most part. I definitely haven\'t seen something like Semin shrug off a Rob Blake check, but you also have to remember that if you\'re just flicking the stick in the direction without any momentum in that direction, it\'s going to be a weakass check.

The trick stick took some getting used to, but once you get used to it it\'s great fun to deke the goalie down then shelf it.

Just wish the stupid thing came with a fantasy draft.

[lockedge]

mister_mcgoo wrote:

not sure how many other gamers are on here and who have played it yet but here are some of my observations:

1) it plays ok but the stats/roster/lines interfaces are clunky and slow. If I want to see the league leading scorers I need to thumb thru dozens of team screens to get to the \"NHL overall\" standings, lame...they had that option figured out 10 years ago

2)the AI is pretty lame...if I\'m on the PK I can sit behind my net til it runs out, no one will go after me and I wont get a delay of game penalty

3)its ridiculously hard to body check, that should be a virtual gimme in any hockey video game

4)the computer gen\'d stats are foolish...in what world does Semin have 32 pts in 13 games and Ovie only 16???

5)somehow my team is always super charged when we play the leafs, not sure if this is built in or just me -lol. I\'ve beaten the leafs 9-2 (two hatricks too , 6-1 and 5-1 so far.

6)the \'trick stick\' is a great idea but hard to learn and harder still to exploit. If you\'re on a dead breakaway you have time to settle in and set it up, but if you\'re blowing by a defenseman at the blue line and cutting to the goal its hard to set up that quickly

I havent tried 09 yet but would love to hear from thise who have

See, this is why I get so frustrated with EA not releasing new gen versions of their sports games on the PC. The modding community ends up fixing what EA does wrong in their games(or at least they fix a lot of it) and in the end, it\'s night and day.

It\'s funny you mention your team supercharged when they face the leafs. I think it was NHL06 where it seemed every time I had a lead against Toronto, the game would snap and they\'d score on every shot they could get in the final ten minutes of the 3rd period. It was aggravating. I hate EA\'s hero/comeback AI crap.

And yeah, to kill penalties, I\'d go behind my own net and pass to one of my players every 3 or 4 seconds, so they wouldn\'t be aggressive, and I\'d just cycle two players behind my net until it was killed. There\'s always workarounds with AI. :P