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So here is a review of the technical test from a very average and casual player of the game. I wish there were more comments in this article from different kinds of players because I like to read them very much. I was able to try out both versions (PS4 & PS5) of the technical test. I tested pretty much everything from Pro-AM to 6vs6 club games. I have to say that imo the difference between these two versions isn’t that massive. PS5 does everything a bit better and smoother but gameplay seems to be the same, even the bugs are pretty similar in both consoles. Some FPS drops seem to happen quite often with PS4 (4K Monitor). I don’t think it will be a problem to play next tournaments on the PS4 version. I already sent my (long)list of bugs that I faced during the week with both consoles to EA so I will comment on the game in general here. Frostbite game engine didn’t bring massive upgrades to visuals or mechanics in technical test. Everyone who played NHL21 can see and feel the similarity of the basic mechanics and animations compared to NHL21. I have to be honest, I was a bit disappointed with this, but I can live with it. Especially AI seems to be the same old, at least for now. WoC Interface is better/faster now and especially the main menu looks really good imo. Pros: Stick physics in general are my favourites. Although I think poke checking should be fully manual using R1+right stick. clicking R1 will always aim automatically towards the puck (same old). Cutting the passing lanes makes some sense now. Players are rewarded for positioning correctly between the passing lanes. Puck won’t anymore randomly go through three players. This is horrible in NHL21. Passing feels more manual now. Passing power makes sense. You can’t just fully load a pass and smash it to your buddy’s blade standing 0,5 meters away from you. Receiving player won’t most likely receive it even if he/she had the right perks for it. If you want to serve your teammate a onetimer, you have to adjust the passing power to the distance, like irl. Passing power and direction is really automatic in NHL21. Shot blocking is rewarding. The new L1 kneeling animation is way better than before and ‘’the carbet’’ animation (R1+L1) feels less edgy now. Puck bounces are a bit closer to the laws of physics which is good. Also goalkeepers can’t glue every 180km/h shot and the puck will be bouncing more in front of the net. Loadouts are really fun to edit and test out. Game tempo is slower so even the bulkier players can keep up. I saw our community’s top players favouring a certain sniper/playmaker/puck moving d build (185cm 88kg) already, but I hope the variety will be large and people aren’t forced to use the same builds anymore to be competitive. Goalie interference penalty is a good addition. However, not sure how well it works and if goalkeepers will be able to use this to ‘’fishing’’ penalties. Cons: There are already too many bondage-centers existing that are tying up every goddamn faceoff and it will be even worse if they let people take away faceoff ability points to boost their deeking. Please remove faceoffs from editable abilities or give some new tools to centers to work with. Puck pickups have some new animations and as said above pass power and direction affects if the player will catch it or not. Most of them are OK, but sometimes it felt that players were missing easy passes so this might need a little boost. Smaller/weaker builds can still ‘’pump’’ stronger/bigger builds out of balance and steal the puck which needs some tuning. However I don’t like pumping in general so it should be changed in some way. Pumping was actually even worse in the PS4 version. People were taking penalties but no-one knows why because there are no replays? Nothing new for the goalie-players? Five hole looked really vulnerable in loose pucks and crashing the net with the puck. AI goalie had serious problems coverin the near posts. I hope the server selection will become available in public games as well so the northern and southern part of the European community will become more connected. Especially now when the game is split in different consoles. Where the heck is the spectator mode? I bet the commentary voice in the WoC menu gets pretty annoying after a couple of days so I hope there will be an option to mute it. Sometimes it’s really hard to see where the puck is when it's crowded, but not sure if this is actually made on purpose. I think especially defenders will like this version of the game. I really enjoyed the technical test and it feels bad to return for FCL games in NHL21. In general the NHL22 technical test felt less arcade than NHL21 and I’m pretty sure I could enjoy it way more than NHL21. Rating solid 7/10. Let's see what the future holds. Sorry for the long post.

I've now tried both the ps4 and ps5 beta. I feel that the gameplay is like night and day when it comes to responsiveness and response time. Unfortunately it feels like it's a lot of input dealy and you feel really clumsy on PS4. On the other hand it's good to see the positive effects of the new gen consoles, cause it feels like your players movements av zero response time and it's really smooth on PS5. To sum it up, if the real game is gonna be simular. It's such a big difference I think it's gonna be hard to play on both versions if we play ECL on ps4 version. It's gonna be such a negative effect going from PS5 version to PS4 its not gonna be worth playing HUT or other game modes on PS5. In other words, I think we are gonna be locked to PS4 version even outside 6s and ECL, which in my opinion is something that really gonna take a way a little bit of fun from the NHL experience. I would love if you considered to find a creative way to play ECL on both versions of the game or go with the PS5 version. I understand that there still is a problem for everyone to get a PS5, but my feeling is that it's getting a alot easier. All players in my team has one. Hypothetical, if there just was a question of choice to get a PS5 (instead amount of available). To still give everyone a possibility to play ECL. Would it be considerable to have a specific league (like neo) just for PS4 players and play ECL on PS5?

First few matches and here is already bugs and a little feedback 1) AI Faceoffs (If the puck after push is under AI he just stands until opponent picks the puck (looses vision of the puck and stands) 2) After goal scored - If you spam puck swipe and go to defensive zone with it 3-4x R3 puck swipe then Goal celebration is longer (showing the guy just standing in defensive zone. 2.1) AI skating into the Own Behind the net if the stick is poking into the net. (Skating animation in one place) 3) Pre Faceoffs animations - Repeating a lot and getting on the nerves (Please make the spinning animation happen less, for example 1in15chance for it to happen. 4) When Helmet gets blown off after a Hit then The player is Bald missing hair 5) Play of the Game/Period - Chunks of players missing 6)Goalies masks - Hair and Beard are going through Solid Mask parts. 7) Board Holding Penalties Logic Broken - If you hold the player long enough in the board (Triangle) then you get a penalty no mater if the pinned player had the puck. 8 ) Option to turn off the Women speaking in the Menu, Don’t need to hear that someone scored a goal in Ones every 2minutes. (In Game it’s pretty fresh to hear smth new but in the menus it’s just getting on the nerves to hear same stuff all over again every 2-3 minutes) 9) PS5 Controller - Too much unneeded vibrations (Controller is vibrating 24/7) - Need more logic (Tune it) into the vibration and triggers 10) UI - When the game is found the Player is not in the middle but 50/50 Under the opponents team player list. 10.1) When listing through the menu with R1/L1 You can’t jump from last to first with a single R1 press. Have to spam L1 to Go back to the Play menu. 10.2) The new Player introduction aka before penalty shots, After taking penalty after scoring a goal is too many pixels, need tuning - same goes for the Play of the Game Screen 10.3) On Ice stats (Circle ones) sometimes missing one part(One side) and sometimes showing one side in the Offside Faceoffs. 10.4) The Font is Too Big in the Pause Menus for stats etc. 11) Ice is blinking in the middle (red line) Green for Club Finals and Black for outside (Drop-Ins) 12) Stick Physics sometimes are buged (stick gets stuck behind own back) Wish: When standing on the face-off allow regenerating the Energy (Logic works like that - if you stand on ice when timer is going you get energy, but when you stand on face-off you get 0 energy regeneration)