NHL 13 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

[Steve_OS]

This video is also available on the OS Youtube channel, please subscribe while you're there.

The above video showcases everything that is in the demo. Sliders, cameras, options, etc.

The NHL 13 demo is available now for the 360, later this afternoon for PS3. (We'll update this post when it is available.)


Queue it up right here, if you're not near a console. The NHL 13 demo weighs in at 1.33 GB.

The NHL 13 demo features four different modes. Play Now, NHL Moments Live, Hockey Ultimate Team and Free Skate.

In Play Now, you will control either the Los Angeles Kings or the New Jersey Devils in the 3rd period with a random score each time you play.

To learn more about the NHL 13 demo, click here and check out the latest blog.

Post your impressions here!

[DerekOfferman]

DL it. Awesome! You can really tell the difference in speed between players. I hate how the puck looks magnetic to the stick, but other than that, I'm sold on it.

[DerekOfferman]

The speed is a huge difference. I was playing as the Kings and the CPU would just dump the puck in and beat my slow Defenders to the puck everytime. Also, I noticed that when defenders blocked the puck, it would bounce off them faster than I shot it. It feels totally different than NHL 12. Very slow gameplay! I do like it tho.

[DerekOfferman]

The Goalies are really good. The one timer is a lot hard to score on. I still see the puck get blocked by defenders and it will bounce all the way down to my Goalie when I shoot. Seems to be a glitch. There is no Replay, so I can seem to figure it out.

[DerekOfferman]

Played 2 games, Passing is a lot easier. I noticed that more passes got thru traffic than in NHL 12. Hits are toned down. I had a player get his helmet knocked off in the first minute and a few line changes later, he came onto the ice and his helmet was still off laying down by my goalie. Really cool and Im not sure I saw that in NHL 12. Graphics look OK, players seem bulker and bigger than 12. Overall, it is nice to actually see the speed difference. You can really burn the Defenders.

[fizzo]

Just downloaded it in Europe, so it's here already. The new skating engine is absolutely awesome, makes a world of difference. It finally feels like your player has weight to him, cant turn on a dime with anyone really, speedy players blow by slow players. It's absolutely awesome.

AI seems solid, it's tougher to gain zone and get shots on net. On hardcore mode the puck seemed pretty loose, if you just skate towards players with the puck at your stick, it's super easy to lose it. Passing seems sloppy enough on user's end, i'm sure when we get the sliders unlocked, we can tweak it to near perfection. Tried charging a pass up (holding A), and the reciever failed to recieve a good amount of the time. BTW, for those of you that haven't already, set puck size and shadow to authentic, it doesn't actually change the way it behaves, but it sure does look a lot looser that way.

CPU still seems to pass a little too much tape to tape, but it's less so than previous years, it failed quite a few one-timers, so let's just hope that it's fixable with sliders. I really liked how aggressive and relatively unpredictable the CPU was on the offensive end, but it's tough to tell whether thats the default CPU playstype or a strategy it was using because of the whole 3d period, 5 minute, random score gameplay.

The broadcast camera looks awesome, but it's tough to play on it, for one, because of the controls, no matter if they're set on always up or cam relative, it just doesn't feel right. Obviously that's something that you can get used to, but the other thing is that you can't really see the ice very well, it's kinda tunnel visioned, so you're definitely going to do better playing on the up/down camera, broadcast is just eye-candy. Presentation overall looks better as well, but we've all seen that already.

Overall I'm really excited for this. I'm probably not gonna play the demo anymore, but overall this seems very promising.

[DerekOfferman]

Awesome New camera View. The net got knocked off and spun around. During the cutscene the showed the camera inside the net and it spun around twice. Really cool to see that.

[Steve_OS]

So glad you can go against the goalie in Free Skate, 1 on 1. Would be cool if it had 2 on 1 breaks w/ a teammate vs. AI.

[Cletus]

Seems pretty solid, the AI is tougher. I wonder if they worked on it more than the last 3 years combined? I still have my winger bumping into me on rushes though. I'm also not liking the goalies play on the short side. Even when there's no one in the slot, he doesn't hug the post or even play the post. I got scored on because my goalie went into butterfly and left short side wide open.

[SeaNNyT]

Things I like
-The better lighting looks more authentic, combined with the True broadcast camera angle, looks sweet.
.The player models seem way more appropriately scaled and real.
-The skating feels way more real and can lead to some interesting 3 on 2 breaks or other breakaway moments.

Things I don't like
-Your AI defenders still might be a few feet from the puck and make no attempt to go for it, so you have to click on them, but by then the opposing AI probably has picked up the loose puck.
-Even on Hardcore the opposing AI can tape to tape pass way up ice.
-The hitting still seems unrealistic
-The stick and puck physics need a overhaul (probably won't happen until next gen)
-The goalie on fast breaks seems to win most of the time. An unreal level of winning.