NHL 11
by Dustin Burfiend on Sep 9, 2010 7:00 AM MDT
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PrintMan, am I getting antsy for hockey. Pre-season seems so close yet so far away. Luckily, we have the release of everyone's favorite hockey game to make the next couple of weeks a little more bearable. I got my copy on Tuesday and between school and work I've managed to squeeze in a little playing time, so I thought I'd share what I thought on the improvements to the game and also how the game treats the Avs and their young guns.
Be A Pro is largely the same though I do appreciate the slight tweaks in presentation. The fact that you start out on a CHL team going after the Memorial Cup is pretty cool as well. I started on Matt Duchene's old team, the Brampton Battalion, and popped in a few goals and threw a few hits before we lost in the semi-finals. Accordingly, I was drafted in the first round by the Phoenix Coyotes and am now lucky enough to play on Wojtek Wolski's line. The on-ice improvements are interesting. The new hit engine is a little more realistic in some ways but now I seem to be completely taken out of the play if a defenseman even lands a glancing check. Maybe my character just sucks right now? For some reason, everything seems to be moving a bit slower than in NHL 10. The faceoff engine was very cool at first but kind of wears on you after a while. So far no broken sticks but I did have a goal waved off. I got to scream 'there was no kicking motion god damn it!' a month early this year.
Be A GM is where the best improvement took place. I love Be A GM mode and the added realism of RFA contracts is great. It works surprisingly close to real life. For example, before 2011-2012 season, T.J. Galiardi wanted around 3 mil despite his point production decreasing to 30. That was ridiculous so I just made a qualifying offer and waited. No other team would touch him for that price plus the loss of draft picks, of course. He held out until the beginning of the season but I eventually got him signed for 1.9 million.. On the other side, I signed Wade Simmonds to a contract that same off season and had to part with my 2nd round draft pick. Pretty reasonable, I think. Finally, I love the way the contract resigning screen is set up now. Much easier to see everything you want to see then it was before.
I, obviously, GM the Colorado Avalanche but I have to say, it is not as easy as it was in NHL 10 to build a winning team. For one thing, NHL 11 does not look very kindly on our Colorado Avs. Matt Duchene and Chris Stewart are the only players that have developed into stars on my team. Galiardi, O'Reilly, Yip, Jones, Gaunce and Cumiskey all kind of suck. Calvin Pickard is developing nicely but he is about the only player from the 2010 draft that is. Hishon looks like a career minor leaguer. I managed to pick up Nino Niederreiter, though, and he is now my second line left wing. The most astounding thing is that just like in NHL 10, Paul Stastny has the skills but never puts up good numbers if you sim the season. He had a pathetic 41 and 39 in two injury free seasons before I traded him for Patrick Elias and Nikolai Zherdev.
And, what's more, according to NHL 11 sim, the Avs are going to have a terrible season next year. My team was the exact same as the one the Avs look like they are going to ice this season except for the addition of Matt Hendricks and Willie Mitchell. The team missed the playoffs and only won 33 games. I must remind you though that Stastny played 82 games and put up 41 points which is just ridiculous. However next season I traded Stastny for Elias and Zherdev at the deadline and signed Steve Sullivan, Steve Staios, Wade Simmonds and Mike Smith and the Avalanche won 51 games and made it to the Cup finals. I guess NHL 11 has a thing for vets.
Of course, now I am just rambling about my teams. I haven't played the new ultimate team mode yet. Thoughts?
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Are you..
simming the entire season in Be A GM? Do you play every game? Do you play only a select few? I’m currently on my 2nd season of the GM mode in NHL 10 and my team remains largely intact except for a few trades and FA signings. Year one I made the playoffs and lost to the Flames in 7 (they went on to dominate all the way to the Cup), year 2 is nearing the trade deadline and I’ve got a 33-20-2 record, having played every game so far. I played every game in the first season as well. Seems to be more fair that way, as Stastny remains a near ppg player and Duchene is evolving nicely and almost at a 30g season this year. I can’t wait for 11 to get here though! Sadly my copy is currently making the trek across the Pacific so it’ll be about two weeks til I get to play.
A puck is a hard rubber disc that hockey players strike when they can't hit one another. ~ Jimmy Cannon
one really cool idea for Be A GM mode...
that I used in NHL 10 after I realized I just didn’t have the time to play a full season of 82+ games that ran 30 minutes each was to go in and sim the opening part of the game and be thrown into the 3rd period with either a lead, a tie, or behind. Added some uniqueness to the season and I snuck in a few full games against rivals like Detroit, Vancouver, etc just to lay the hits on them. Really something to try when you only have an hour hear or there to play and really want to spend some time doing signings, trades, drafting, etc.
I do just sim the seasons. I figure a real GM has to sit back and watch how the team he built performs. Sometimes I play in the playoffs if an owner is coming down hard on me to have a good run. I actually do a lot of homework while playing Be A GM… When I want to play actual games, I play in Be A Pro mode.
by Dustin Burfiend on Sep 9, 2010 4:11 PM MDT up reply actions
I tried simming a couple games and just wasn’t feeling it. I understand where you’re coming from though. I just get more of a thrill playing the games. Especially I like to see first hand how my lines mesh.
A puck is a hard rubber disc that hockey players strike when they can't hit one another. ~ Jimmy Cannon
Booya!
I got drafted by the Av’s in the second round! It’s like its meant to be!
9601, pissing off Canuck fans since 1995.
So are you more like Matt Duchene, because it’s destiny?
Or Radar, because you’re a second round “underdog”?
These are important questions we should all ask ourselves on a daily basis.
by Brett Shumway on Sep 9, 2010 11:36 AM MDT up reply actions
he's probably another bust...
like fellow Avs second rounders of years past Burki, Williams, Delmas, and Durand.
Ultimate Hockey League
Check out my review of the Ultimate Hockey League if you want some information on that! Complete with screenshots and video. http://bit.ly/cyH8bm
By the way, I’m with Randy time you gotta play the games not sim all of them! I have simmed through the first two periods a couple of times when pressed for time, but I try my best to play every minute of every game during my season
Put It On Ice Another Colorado Avalanche blog
did you really end up that stacked with Philly players?
as the screenshot shows. I know my packs have been only so so and have had to piece together a team. Luckily I’ve nabbed a few of the Avs prospects cheap (Pickard, Cann, Gaunce, Elliot, Hishon, etc) as they are cheap and most have HUGE potential. Now if I can only get the guy with Duchene to trade him to me for Hodgson.
I like to leave CPU to CPU trades on to see how the teams build themselves. Some rather…bad trades have been made and some good ones have been made. One free agent signing I did at the beginning of the 09-10 season was for Pelle Prestberg to use on my third line (decided to let younger guys develop). He had a high 70’s rating and after a season with me he ended up in the low 80’s. I mainly picked him up as a 3rd line winger/grinder and to use on the point for power plays (deadly slapshot), he ended up putting 20g with some really good assists here and there, worthwhile signing and I’m sure to be checking him out in 11.
A puck is a hard rubber disc that hockey players strike when they can't hit one another. ~ Jimmy Cannon
NHL Slapshot vs NHL2k11
Has anyone here played both? I have a wii [yeah, yeah, I know, but I have small kids] and I had 2K10 last year and thought it was a bit sluggish on the shots. Slapshot is getting good reviews but those peripherals are always a bit gimmicky, plus I get the feeling most of those reviewers aren’t actually hockey fans. Which one do I pick up this weekend?
I have the same question. Haven’t been too impressed by NHL 2k and am really really skeptical about those stupid motion controls. How hard would have it been to also support the classic controller?
by MalachiConstant on Sep 9, 2010 12:42 PM MDT up reply actions
the consensus is
that Slapshot is much better but lacks the depth outside Pee Wee to Pros. 2K is getting trashed everywhere. I have yet to find out but I wonder if you can actually move the stick as if you are controlling the puck rather than just using it to shoot or pass.
What is Duchenes rating on NHL11?
And some of the other Avs.
Surprises in 2009-10 what will 2010-11 bring?
Colorado Avalanche 2010 season bring on October!
Visit> http://www.bronxbaseballdaily.com/
in the 90's
something like 93 potential and 85 current. Stastny is kind of low (I hear its lower than last year). Stewart is crazy as his potential is also in the 90’s. A few years back players in the 90’s were of the superstar variety. My how inflation has taken hold in the real world and now in the games we play.
it is nice though...
to be able to notice a difference between a 78 player and a 89 player. years past they seemed too similar but now a third liner plays like a third liner (I’ve even had lower rated players boggle the puck) and a star player controls like one.
Is anyone else having troubles with the rosters? I don’t any available rosters to download are LE doesn’t have Shattenkirk, Gaunce, Cohen, etc.
by toothandnailer777 on Sep 9, 2010 8:24 PM MDT reply actions
Shattenkirk and Cohen are not eligible to be included until
their first game this year. You can find guys like Gaunce, Hishon, Pickard, Elliot, Barrie, etc on their CHL teams and then move them over to the Monsters. May be cool to see an All Prospects team in Lake Erie. Well a team that’s not all reserve NHL players at best. The October update should see the three BU guys and Olver in the game.
I thought they are already played last season for 4 or so games in LE???
by toothandnailer777 on Sep 10, 2010 12:41 AM MDT up reply actions
LOL
Anyone read Down Goes Brown’s NHL 11 review yet? It’s pretty funny.
I particularly liked this line:
Unfortunately, it looks like the game’s graphic design team got a little lazy when it came to player models. I was playing a game against the Canucks, and two-thirds of their top line looked exactly the same.
There's a place out west where the Powder River rolls off the Bighorn Mountains. It's a land of red walls, blue sky, and clean air, where the eagle glides high above the canyons and makes its nest in the rocks that overlook the valleys where the sagebrush and cottonwoods grow. This is ranch country - has been for more than a hundred years.
Well things have changed some since the early days, but there's still a thread of character and tradition that runs true from one generation to the next. You can see it in the way folks out here set a horse; you can hear it in the way they talk. And when the work's all done, there's nothing they like better than to get together at the one room schoolhouse under the red wall for another down home, homegrown, Western Saturday night.
Tee-hehehehe
Awesome.
Sandie
"We called him Clark Kent because away from the rink, he was just a nerd. Then he'd go into the Colorado dressing room and put on his Avs jersey, and all of a sudden he was Super Joe"- Theo Fleury
by Sandie Gauthier on Sep 9, 2010 8:56 PM MDT up reply actions
I'm surprised he didn't get in a dig or two against
teams like the Avs. It’s not everyday that you have a cost cutting team make little to no offseason moves to eliminate the need to buy next season’s EA Hockey Game. So is EA going to start bribing teams to make offseason moves so that they actually have a roster update… Er… New game for the next season?!?
So given this is my first NHL game did I get my money’s worth or should I have passed on it? Bloody Tuesday needs to get here quickly so I can try it out myself.
There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means - either may do - the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier.
- Benjamin Franklin
It's a very good game
reviews are just lower than last year as the game didn’t make any leaps this year like it did last year. The checking, face-offs, inclusion of the CHL, and the music selection are the big improvements. Subtle ones were the elimination of the easy cross ice auto goal and that players play more to their ranking rather than feel somewhat similar. Oh and you no longer have to wait like a day after a whistle for everyone to stop nudging each other. That alone is worth buying NHL 11 over 10
Who has PS3?
Add me, my username is the same as here.
Dear Colorado Avalanche: Thank you for the excitement, see you in October.
I am tibbar_eht on PSN
There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means - either may do - the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier.
- Benjamin Franklin
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