NHL 13 Review

Let me start by saying this:  NHL 12 was terrible.  If it weren’t a hockey video game, I would have thrown it in the garbage.

Another thing I should mention:  I’m writing this after I beat this blogs frontrunner , Anthony, so I might be riding a bit of a high. 

Onto the review:

Lets start with the positives here:

You can skate by players now. Like PK Subban.

1) Acceleration means something now: In previous NHL games, your d-man could be totally out of position throw a pizza across the blue line --hell, he could potentially fall down-- and he could turn around and be instantly at full speed and potentially catch the forward.  It was something that needed to be fixed, and it has been.  Now the skating overall isn’t perfect, but I’ll get to that later.

2) Computer players are no longer completely clueless:  You can adjust your strategies and players relatively stay in position.  You can actually make a D-D pass and players actually backcheck.  The times where you scream in disbelief wondering why your other d-man is standing in the corner picking his ass seems to be over.  Most of the time, if you throw a cross-ice pass through a crowd of computer players, it isn’t going to get through. 

3) Pokecheck works (Really it does!): I’ve been saying for years that it is impossible to pokecheck in NHL games and it isn’t that hard in real life.  NHL 13 finally makes exposing the puck at the wrong time a crucial mistake and you can jump all over it with a pokecheck.  I think sometimes the power of the pokechecks is too strong (sometimes you can pokecheck the puck out of the zone), but I really like that the pokecheck is effective and offensively you have to protect the puck smartly.

4) Trading in GM mode is way more realistic:  I have a friend who is the master of trading in sports video games.  He sent me a text saying that trading is tough.  You can no longer trade your 1^st rounder and 7^th rounder for the 1^st overall pick.  The trades become a lot more in depth and beneficial for both teams. 

5) Staying on the GM modes of the game, GM connected has the potential to be incredible.  I haven’t tried it, but I can’t wait to get a bunch of guys together and destroy them.  Wish you could do an online fantasy draft though (next year).

Negatives Time:

Basically I have two big negatives.  But they are BIG.

1) I mentioned before how I liked the acceleration.  I hate basically everything else about the skating.  You can’t turn, like at all.  Sometimes the player just won’t move for some reason.  Even Raitis Ivanāns (possibly the worst player to ever play in the NHL) can stop on a dime in real life.  And when a forward does stop off the rush, it is almost impossible to defend.  Defenders seem to be new on skates when it comes to playing a forward off the rush.  I really think that when the makers of the game decided to introduce the skating engine in the game, they decided to base it off their own skating skill (which is probably embarrassing), instead of NHLers.  OH, and the controller vibrates when you stop.  Seriously?

Goalies are a little too good going cross-crease.

2) GOALTENDING:  Other than one-timers being way too effective in previous NHL’s, did anyone really have a problem with the goaltending?  Now goalies seem to flail around on every shot.  Backdoors and one-timers are almost impossible now.  They needed to improve that area, but they went way too far! Goalies are across the crease at the time of the pass, almost every time.  Other than one-timers and backdoor, it’s pretty easy to snipe.  High glove seems to always be open.  But I can’t understand the flailing on the simple shots. 

Overall:

I like the game.  I think it’s a step in the right direction.  I like the idea of the skating engine, but it definitely needs improvement.  I like that fact that they tried to make the goalies less static, but I think they went a little Tim Thomas.  I can live with the negatives that I pointed out, overall I’m just happy that the game is a little less arcade-y and more realistic. 

PS.  It doesn’t hurt that it seems like I’m better than Anthony at the game so far.  Suck it.