Early Game Criticisms

[Drinking Partner]

The fact that there's no poke-check is criminal.

You have to be within a centimeter of/actually touching the other team to register a check and that makes the game ridiculously hard. For example, that Prince guy keeps getting slapshot goals because I get to what I believe should be close enough and check him... only to miss entirely and allow him a shot. The hit-boxes for checking just aren't right.

You can't deke the goalie, either, because *their* poke-check reaches nearly 5 feet in front of them. The movement is NHL '94-like, the dekeing should be, too.

Movement is awful: does it actually get any better with upgrades? Is it just low agility that makes everyone turn like they're beginners?

And I understand that it's not a proper hockey game and all, but the D have to stay on D and not abandon ship for no reason. The CPU have had more breakaways than I can count just due to ridiculous positioning. Give the player a chance.

Does the Goalie ever get an upgrade of any sort? The CPU scoring on 4 straight shots is silly.

That said, I'm having fun with the game, but there are an awful lot of head-scratcher moments.

[BruinsFTW]

I mean..I agree on some points...But playing co-op with my buddy was a blast..We were both laughing our ass off not taking it too seriously. It was a ton of fun...But yeah, lot of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ goals, and crazy ♥♥♥♥. I agree poke check would be great because hitting sucks, tho ive gotten better...Prince goes down easier than normal players but hes not too bad. The movement doesnt change as far as I've gotten..2nd boss. I just wish my players would pick passes off that are standing in the passing lane..

And no, your goalie is forever ♥♥♥♥ lmao.

[akujay[FIN]]

I already asked refund. Just remembered after playing this why agains playing CPU sucks in sports games. And this wasn't even close to as fun as it looked like earlier in videos I've seen. I'd rather play EA sucks it's in the game hockey games than this. If this was cheaper I've would have kept it.

[Creativity]

really, your criticisms are off mark. I have 5 hours played and have made it to the 3rd act with almost no "upgrades". only a few things need to happen to fix this game, in my opinion. im having a lot of fun with it. and yes, some other small bugs/options need to be fixed/added, like coop character switching, poke checking, etc.

[Crowbar]

Originally posted by Drinking Partner:

The fact that there's no poke-check is criminal.

super understandable that a lot of people aren't seeing this because I don't think it's explicitly explained anywhere, but the game does have poke-checks. You have to hold your defense positioning against the opponent (try to keep your stick near their puck) and it'll do so automatically. As I've said in other threads, I find this is a good solution to make defense positioning-oriented and prevent poke-spam like every other hockey game (especially with no penalties and thus no tripping risk)

[Drinking Partner]

Originally posted by ♣ Crowbar:

Originally posted by Drinking Partner:

The fact that there's no poke-check is criminal.

super understandable that a lot of people aren't seeing this because I don't think it's explicitly explained anywhere, but the game does have poke-checks. You have to hold your defense positioning against the opponent (try to keep your stick near their puck) and it'll do so automatically. As I've said in other threads, I find this is a good solution to make defense positioning-oriented and prevent poke-spam like every other hockey game (especially with no penalties and thus no tripping risk)

Real poke-checks aren't automatic, though, and neither are they within 3 inches of your own body. Most of us are used to the EA "R1 to poke check" paradigm and we're also used to our sticks going away from our bodies to do it. The goalie has an absolutely ridiculous poke-check - why don't we? It's a super unintuitive design choice.

[Drinking Partner]

Originally posted by Creativity:

really, your criticisms are off mark. I have 5 hours played and have made it to the 3rd act with almost no "upgrades". only a few things need to happen to fix this game, in my opinion. im having a lot of fun with it. and yes, some other small bugs/options need to be fixed/added, like coop character switching, poke checking, etc.

They're not. They're unbiased, perhaps. This game is fun enough to be a classic NHL game competitor, but the movement is so bad it's laughable/infuriating; "defense" is basically impossible to pull off consistently; and it's still distressing that you can't deke the goalie. Every goal comes off a one-timer, rebound, or a lucky/unlucky shot. There's no reason to ever go for a breakaway because there's no way to consistently score off of one - it's way more effective to wait the 4 seconds for one of your teammates to catch up and try for a one-timer.

And that's just silly.

[RamenAndVitamins]

Originally posted by Drinking Partner:

it's still distressing that you can't deke the goalie. Every goal comes off a one-timer, rebound, or a lucky/unlucky shot. There's no reason to ever go for a breakaway because there's no way to consistently score off of one - it's way more effective to wait the 4 seconds for one of your teammates to catch up and try for a one-timer.

And that's just silly.

You can totally deke the goalie. Get a breakaway with Kelly Jelly, skate toward the net, then at the last moment before the goalie can poke check you, turn and skate across the crease, then shoot into the open net.

It doesn't work every time, and I haven't gotten it to work much at all on the boss goalies, but I score a ton of goals this way.

[Drinking Partner]

Originally posted by RamenAndVitamins:

Originally posted by Drinking Partner:

it's still distressing that you can't deke the goalie. Every goal comes off a one-timer, rebound, or a lucky/unlucky shot. There's no reason to ever go for a breakaway because there's no way to consistently score off of one - it's way more effective to wait the 4 seconds for one of your teammates to catch up and try for a one-timer.

And that's just silly.

You can totally deke the goalie. Get a breakaway with Kelly Jelly, skate toward the net, then at the last moment before the goalie can poke check you, turn and skate across the crease, then shoot into the open net.

It doesn't work every time, and I haven't gotten it to work much at all on the boss goalies, but I score a ton of goals this way.

You must be making your move *really* early, then - as in, much earlier than is intuitive. I guess i'll try dekeing about 2 seconds before it feels like I should and see what happens, but it just doesn't feel right the way it is.

[newbootgoofin]

just got through the first act, i'm enjoying the harder difficulty a lot. I feel like giving us a poke check would make it easy mode. you gotta get punished for missed checks.

[Neurotic Panda]

Originally posted by newbootgoofin:

just got through the first act, i'm enjoying the harder difficulty a lot. I feel like giving us a poke check would make it easy mode. you gotta get punished for missed checks.

its 2023. people want easy mode and to not be 'punished'. They also think their ideas are the best.

also its tiring reading.. EA, EA, EA.. well you know in EA hockey games.. EA.. EA..
this isnt EA. this is its own game. be glad we are actually having a hockey game made for PC that is fun and being 'improved'.. its been way to long.

[Kid Zombie]

A: I'm going to murder my goalie
2: I desire multiplayer
D: This game is amazing stop hatin

[red1tide1]

I have to agree that checking is just straight up awful. It's really the only gameplay problem I have, everything else is pretty good considering it's an early access game. But man, this is a hockey game and checking is a huge part of being able to control opposition. I think my biggest issue with it is that when you try to throw a check your player just stops completely, there is no follow through so when you inevitably miss the check your player just stands there and takes forever to get back into the play.

My other issue, and I think this might just be my misunderstanding of the game type, is when you lose you have to start all the way from the beginning again instead of the beginning of the current act. Is that part of "roguelite" games?

[Neurotic Panda]

Originally posted by red1tide1:

My other issue, and I think this might just be my misunderstanding of the game type, is when you lose you have to start all the way from the beginning again instead of the beginning of the current act. Is that part of "roguelite" games?

it is yea. a lot of deck builders do this. die, get new abilities start again. its a push-your-luck type scenario.

[red1tide1]

Originally posted by Neurotic Panda:

Originally posted by red1tide1:

My other issue, and I think this might just be my misunderstanding of the game type, is when you lose you have to start all the way from the beginning again instead of the beginning of the current act. Is that part of "roguelite" games?

it is yea. a lot of deck builders do this. die, get new abilities start again. its a push-your-luck type scenario.

Gotcha, thank you for clarifying.

[Drinking Partner]

Originally posted by Neurotic Panda:

its 2023. people want easy mode and to not be 'punished'. They also think their ideas are the best.

This is a worthless comment. Nobody said anything about easy mode, I want a game that plays like hockey and the defending/skating in this game ain't it. The offense is fine, except for the lack of real deking.

Originally posted by Neurotic Panda:

also its tiring reading.. EA, EA, EA.. well you know in EA hockey games.. EA.. EA..
this isnt EA. this is its own game. be glad we are actually having a hockey game made for PC that is fun and being 'improved'.. its been way to long.

You ever play hockey before? You poke-check to keep the opponent honest and keep yourself in position in case you miss the poke-check. This game doesn't have any semblance of an actual poke-check, because it's not running into the other player and hoping they'll lose control of the puck. It's a deliberate action to separate the player from the puck at a stick's-length distance. This game doesn't have that and it needs it to feel more like real hockey. Why should the player be forced to endure a barrage of shots and goals by the CPU because there're no reasonable defending options? That's not difficulty, it's poor design, especially when the player is so much more handicapped than the CPU team. The CPU knows exactly how to play its own game and can take advantage of that, the player's on the outside looking in with preconceptions as to how the actual game is played.