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NHL 11 is without a doubt the best hockey simulation to date. I've been playing it now for 3 days straight and for those of you on fence about buying it if you own NHL 10, I'm here to tell you it's completely worth it. While many of the upgrades are small, and may not be noticed right off the bat by novice players, these upgrades add to the authenticity of the overall game. As far as the online/offline modes, I won't cover them since most people are familiar with them as they haven't changed a whole lot since last years edition. What I am going to go over are the small, but numerous game play upgrades that make NHL 11 that much better of a simulation, and a worthy predecessor to last years game of the year.
STICK BREAKS/DROPS You may think this is just a cosmetic gimmick, but stick breaks can happen anytime and completely change the outcome of a play or game. There's a slider to adjust the occurrence of stick breaks which is nice. Also, your player will still try and play the puck with his skates, or get a stick from another player or the bench. It's a neat feature.
FACE-OFFS Another important part of the game that got a revamp is in the face-off circle. Instead of merely winning a face-off cleanly to a defensemen or a winger, you now have the option to tie the other player up, use your skates, or allow another player to sweep in for the puck. Hardly any face-offs look the same, and this feature looks and feels much more realistic.
CHECKING PHYSICS EA has implemented a new physics engine that creates unique player reactions and movements when getting checked. Instead of having the magnetic checking like in last years edition, checks are a lot harder to line up and finish, but when you do the check looks organic and a lot more punishing.
PASSING Another immediate change you'll see in NHL 11 is that passing isn't nearly as easy as it was in NHL 10. You can adjust the sliders, but keeping the passing assist down really adds to the authenticity. Depending on how long you hold down the pass will regulate the speed of the pass. If you make a hard, fast pass to a player that is close he may have difficulty controlling the pass. If you have the sliders adjusted for realism, it's not uncommon for a quarter of your passes to not cleanly connect with the players. Frustrating at times, but necessary for a hockey simulation.
CROWD INTERACTION/GOAL CELEBRATIONS While the crowd interaction was great last year, this years has some small but cool upgrades. For starters the crowd now chants team specific chants, and reactions to goals and penalties are much more noticeable. When you score you can also choose a specific type of celebration that are mapped to the face buttons. While this feature is rather cosmetic, it gives the player options to create their own visuals which is cool.
There are more, somewhat smaller upgrades to NHL 11 that make it even more enjoyable, simulation. It will be interesting to see what EA Canada will come up with for next years installment since with NHL 11 they're getting increasingly closer to creating a perfect hockey video game simulation. A definite buy.
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NHL 11
Why you should buy it...
Consistently updated rosters gives every team an accurate ratings, including player trades and updates.
There is no "cheap" way of scoring, while shots going in are not vary from shot to shot, better angle increases your likeleness, but there is never a guarantee.
Mechanics are great, player's move well and EA offers users a quick tutorial in order to master the controls. however as a new comer deeking took some getting use to (but different control schemes are available)
Online offers endless fun and frustrations!
Four players on the same playstation! Though in sports games more players can make the game trickier, if players play together long enough, it can create a huge advantage.
There are different ways to take a face off, and it's extremely nice to be able to tie up a player who just seems to have the edge instead of loosing.
From what I've seen, fights are mostly won by taping the punch button (right analog "up") as fast as possible while holding one's head to a direction (left analog). Though there's not much diversity in the fights, it's a nice way to relieve anger, and change the momentum of a game. (NOTE* i play with 2 friends and i'm positive were not in the top half of the online players, so maybe the better players have more of a strategy).
Momentum is great, players getting tired based on how many hits they've taken, how long they've skated, and how well they're line and team is doing.
The game is quite real, with responsive controls, official NHL stats, and beautiful visuals. Certain players are faster, and stronger, while certain teams have trouble winning. This is somewhat a down-er as a leafs fan, as i'm constantly facing the Canucks, the Penguins, and the Capitals online (the three highest rated teams, against the near lowest), but it is true to life. The only thing that is exaggerated are hits;, when players are hit they fall more often then they would in real life. This just allows for more visual satisfaction to a well timed hit, and to compensate, a player fallen from a hit does not affect the puck or the players around him. Offering the hitter praise, without the repercussion of having to deal with a body interfering with a play. EA let's you add your own tracks which is a huge plus, with customizable menu music, goal scoring music, pause music, fight music (extremely detailed, and for those who don't have much of a preference you can simply select all and put one or more of your songs on shuffle, or listen to EA's provided tracks). it's a great game that my friends and I keep coming back to. Great Hockey game, i would absolutely not consider buying a different hockey experience. It's everything me and my friend were hoping for.
Buy NHL 11 Now
This game has a lot of improvements that sound great but simply don't do much but cause problems.
First of all, the new HUT mode is INCREDIBLY buggy. I've not even bothered to play it because of the reviews from friends, who can't believe EA would release such a product. Not only does it cause your system to freeze often, it also has bizarre game mode problems such as putting two goalies on the ice for your team and only 4 skaters or no goalie at all. There are also problems with the cards you have to buy or win, apparently. Avoid this game mode like the plague...
The regular game modes have some "improvements" that you may want to avoid. First off, broken sticks are nonsensical, sometimes resulting from a 5 foot touch pass. So Superman plays hockey, does he? The new physics engine is better in some ways but worse in others. There are more big hits but they seem to have little effect on the recipient. While the player physics are perhaps improved, the puck physics are horrible. Backhands are simply insanely bizarre. A 15 footer from the slot will never get on goal but you can do some backhand dekes and shots that completely defy the laws of physics. Backhands with one hand on the stick from behind your own body go inside a 6 inch opening just under the crossbar while you're not looking at the net.
Another annoying feature is that CPU goalies are too darn good on realistic scoring chances, even exceptional ones, UNLESS you resort to "cheese". Cheese is a term that refers to methods of scoring that work 80%+ of the time. I'm not going to say what they are but when used against you, you may lose your mind very quickly. An extension of the flawed, artificially inflated scoring is that it's harder to succeed as a human goalie as well. You can't control your rebounds or even see the puck when it's loose, even if only 18 inches in front of you. The auto cover puck feature has been removed as well and when you hit triangle on the PS3 to cover the puck, your goalie will often turn to the wrong direction and/or miss the puck altogether.
There's also an unseen momentum factor, making it possible for a team to erase a 3-0 deficit in the third period with unusual ease. This completely ruins games online most of the time. The passing is also unusually difficult in some position but too easy in others. For instance, 5 foot touch passes can very easily go the wrong direction entirely, while 50 foot breakout passes up the boards can be executed with precision by veterans like me. However these problems all pale in comparison to the dumbest AI I have ever seen. If you have a 3 on 0 breakaway with 2 cpu teammates, they'll literally just stand around and watch. They'll fall for the simplest dekes on defense and make terrible, awful passes to you but perfect passes to each other. They simply seem comatose out there...
Outside of the gameplay changes, a lot is the same, if not worse. The amount of times NHL 11 has frozen on me has exceeded the amount that NHL 10 and 09 froze on me, not slightly but by far. EA now forces auto save on it's customers, meaning the game automatically saves your progress at certain points, sounds good, right? However, it has frozen on me at least 50 games in offline be-a-pro mode and completely discounts my progress. I've had to replay so many games to get achievements/boosts, I wanted to tear my hair out! This was not a problem last year. The game also freezes 35% of the time when I go to edit my Be-A-Pro skater's attributes.
To sum it up, there are some small improvements but unless you HAVE to play the online EASHL mode (what a non-stop glitch fest it is), avoid this game like the plague.
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Keep in mind i havnt played a hocky game since the sega genises.
I decided to pick this game up because i saw it kept winning best sports game awards year after year after year. Now i know why. This game is smooth from the movement to the passing to the shooting, but it does take some time to get used to. I like the be a pro mode and how you can also bring you be a pro online and play with 11 other people with there created pro online. this is one of the best games this year and i am so happy i picked this game up. I suggest this game to anyone expecially if you are new to the series or havnt played a hocky game in a long time. as far as if its different from 2010 i really dont know but i know a great game when i see one and this is definently a fantastic game. you can play in many different leagues to.
If you are on the fences about this game, go get it you wont regret it
Want NHL 11 Discount?
If you liked Nhl 10 , then you won't be disapointed by this one. There's nothing really revolutionnary in this game but there's a lot of small improvements. First , the new physics engine , hits never looked that awesome! Trust me , you're gonna go : Ohhh! at each big hit you do or receive.You can lose your stick or break it wich is a cool feature that can turn a breakaway into a turnover.The graphics aren't really better but the game is still looking good. The face off are now more realistic then they were before.You can do everything you could do previously in nhl 10 ( playoff , season , battle for the cup).Another great things are the celebrations when you score a goal. This is really really cool !
so yeah basicly this is nhl 10.5 but it's a great game to own.It worth the money cuz there are ton of things to do and a ton of modes to play as well.
