Downloaded this yesterday - Bigger than most at 1.01gb
This demo lets you play a full period of actual hockey as opposed to EA's shootout demo.
It's superb - Some of the new features aren't implemented as far as I could tell ("Cinemotion") but what's there is fantastic fun.
Options-wise it looks like there's going to be a lot but all the menu options were greyed out.
Graphically I'd say the EA game has the edge at this moment in time but this is far from a slouch - The reflections, ice scrapes, players, arena - everything looks great with the exception of some of the players/managers eyes - The goalie looks like a raving psycho and half the bench look stoned out their tits but it's pretty incidental.
Unlike the EA game this controls very traditionally but I think thanks to that you can see just how refined this game is - I never played another hockey game that handled so, so smoothly - in fact, I don't think I've ever played many games this smooth - Passing, shooting, barging - everything works as expected but really, really well.
The game looks to be running at a solid 60fps although I'm not sure about the cut-scenes they may be down at 30.
There's no commentary as such - Rather there's a kind of orchestral score which builds as play builds and drops as appropriate - very dynamic and although it probably sounds strange it works very well.
I was sold on the EA game because I've always loved them - This is now a very serious competitor. I'll be interested to see how this pans out. IGN have just score this an 8.9 so I'll be waiting for the EA review with interest.
This portion of their review has practically sold me :
edit : Should've checked IGN's review page first - they've reviewed NHL07 as well and given it 8.7
I think the online may now sway me towards the 2K game.....
This demo lets you play a full period of actual hockey as opposed to EA's shootout demo.
It's superb - Some of the new features aren't implemented as far as I could tell ("Cinemotion") but what's there is fantastic fun.
Options-wise it looks like there's going to be a lot but all the menu options were greyed out.
Graphically I'd say the EA game has the edge at this moment in time but this is far from a slouch - The reflections, ice scrapes, players, arena - everything looks great with the exception of some of the players/managers eyes - The goalie looks like a raving psycho and half the bench look stoned out their tits but it's pretty incidental.
Unlike the EA game this controls very traditionally but I think thanks to that you can see just how refined this game is - I never played another hockey game that handled so, so smoothly - in fact, I don't think I've ever played many games this smooth - Passing, shooting, barging - everything works as expected but really, really well.
The game looks to be running at a solid 60fps although I'm not sure about the cut-scenes they may be down at 30.
There's no commentary as such - Rather there's a kind of orchestral score which builds as play builds and drops as appropriate - very dynamic and although it probably sounds strange it works very well.
I was sold on the EA game because I've always loved them - This is now a very serious competitor. I'll be interested to see how this pans out. IGN have just score this an 8.9 so I'll be waiting for the EA review with interest.
This portion of their review has practically sold me :
Originally posted by IGN360
I think the online may now sway me towards the 2K game.....
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