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NHL 09: MMO Mode Hands-on
The way sports games are meant to be played.
by Nate Ahearn
August 11, 2008 - Playing sports games online has always been the same deal: one-on-one, each player controls all of the players on their given team. EA Sports, specifically its Vancouver branch, is changing that classic paradigm by delivering what they're calling sports gaming's first Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) mode, branded as EA Sports Hockey League in NHL 09.
And no, you won't be leveling up your tree elf or designing the interior of your player's apartment. Hockey League takes the popular acronym and simplifies it to fit within the framework of a sports game.
Using a similar camera angle as we've seen from the Superstar and Captain Your Country modes of other EA Sports properties, players control only one player on the ice. Your five teammates are controlled by other players located around the globe, making for the first true six-on-six hockey experience.
I recently got the chance to visit the massive Vancouver campus and was given the keys to an early build of EA Sports Hockey League and a group of willing participants from the EA development team. The result was some of the best hockey action this side of NHL '94.
The Hockey League is all about creating your own unique player and building their cred online by performing well in your selected role. Immediately upon booting up NHL 09 players will be told to create a player. The initial setup won't be as deep as what's offered later in Be A Pro mode, but it will get the basic height, weight and hair color out of the way. My customized player had already been setup for me, complete with blond hair and all.
For those starting from scratch, the next step would be picking a public team to join. To expedite the process I was already placed on the EA Canada team, along with five other players. Oh, and don't worry if you can't form an even team of six as the game only requires three human players per team. The rest can be controlled by the AI.
Assigning positions to our team seemed to be a bit of a free-for-all thanks to a "first-come, first-served" approach. The list of positions is presented and then players need only hit A (X on PS3) on their personal favorite to select it. There doesn't seem to be a system in place for the GM to override anyone's decision. Luckily I was able to nab the right wing spot before anyone else could jump on it.
One thing to note is that, throughout this entire process, the rest of the field wasn't looking at my gamertag, they were looking at my player's given name (in this case it was Nate Ahearn). EA Sports wants players to become renowned for their skills, even going as far as to offer a real EA Sports hockey trophy to the top team with a ceremony to be held at next season's all-star game (exact details to follow). GMs will also be able to recruit players away using any negotiation tactics possible within the confines of a controller and a headset.
Having the ability to stand out from the crowd is important in the Hockey League as any given team can have up to 50 players on it. Different squads of six can break off and play simultaneously, but all of the team's stats are aggregated into one cozy list. Again, you only need three players to form a team, but the action shines the brightest when you're working with a full roster of human intelligence.
Once I actually got through the cool introductory cinematic that positioned the camera directly behind my character as he made his way out of the locker room and into his pre-game skate and warm up routine (a camera angle that is enjoyed by everyone in the game for their respective player). Every human player needs to hit a button to progress past the different cutscenes throughout the game to ensure that everyone stays in sync.
As soon as the puck dropped I could immediately tell that those who played the closest to real hockey would have the best chance at winning. At first I practiced my skating by following the puck like a toddler who just saw his first lollipop. There is a togglable blue arrow that points you back into position, but there's nothing forcing you to follow it. This strategy proved to be pretty worthless for the betterment of my team.
Setting up an offense was mostly about positioning our defensive players properly in the back of our set but ahead of the blue line. Working the puck around with one man acting as a shield directly in front of the goalie proved to be the best way for us to be successful in a non-fast break situation. Luckily there was plenty of running and gunning for those who like that style of play.
NHL 09 comes complete with a play creator tool which allows for some designed breaks started by the new flip dump passing mechanic. Well, in the Hockey League there's no need to design the play, you simply communicate to your teammates that you're about to dump it into the opponent's zone and tell them to streak down the ice.
We were able to create some great two-on-one situations that resulted in lots of shouting throughout the office. The goalies, both of which are human controlled, possess the ability to do a desperation move which sends them flying to the other side of the net if they get duped by a deke. My team's goalie was a bit too enamored with the move and wound up doing it in some questionable situations. The rest of my team was quick to let him know of his mistake with the kindness that only playing online can bring.
My games contained lots of yelling and team camaraderie when things went our way. Despite the fact that I was playing NHL 09's Hockey League in the optimum condition for an online match, the potential for the mode to work in the jungle of the multiplayer world was clearly there. When everyone played their positions properly, there was an awesome feeling of synergy that coursed through the ice. Everyone knew what they were doing and where they were supposed to be and when that happened we were able to come extremely close to the genuine article.
Hockey League features a similar stat tracking system to what Be A Pro offers. At the end of every contest you'll be graded in three categories: Position Score, Team Play, and Stats. Players will need to stay in the confines of their player type (I was a sniper, so the fact that I didn't score any goals in my first game didn't sit well with my coach) in order to earn the highest marks. All of this is in an effort to become a Legend by completing 150 online games with an A- average in the three aforementioned categories.
It's interesting to note that your ratings and attributes in the Hockey League do not carry over to the offline Be A Pro mode. Both are kept separate, likely in an effort to extend the life of the final game as much as possible.
NHL 09 impressed me when I saw it a few months ago and now that I've gotten my hands on the EA Sports Hockey League, I feel a little sorry for the competition. The feeling of playing true six-on-six hockey is fantastic if you can find the right group of players who understand the game and the stability of our game held strong despite being run on a server clear across the country.
The only wrench that could stop this from being the next big thing in sports videogames is the online community not grabbing hold and embracing it. Barring that, NHL 09 could very well be a sign of things to come in gaming.
Credits: IGN.com
Link: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/897/897903p2.html
The way sports games are meant to be played.
by Nate Ahearn
August 11, 2008 - Playing sports games online has always been the same deal: one-on-one, each player controls all of the players on their given team. EA Sports, specifically its Vancouver branch, is changing that classic paradigm by delivering what they're calling sports gaming's first Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) mode, branded as EA Sports Hockey League in NHL 09.
And no, you won't be leveling up your tree elf or designing the interior of your player's apartment. Hockey League takes the popular acronym and simplifies it to fit within the framework of a sports game.
Using a similar camera angle as we've seen from the Superstar and Captain Your Country modes of other EA Sports properties, players control only one player on the ice. Your five teammates are controlled by other players located around the globe, making for the first true six-on-six hockey experience.
I recently got the chance to visit the massive Vancouver campus and was given the keys to an early build of EA Sports Hockey League and a group of willing participants from the EA development team. The result was some of the best hockey action this side of NHL '94.
The Hockey League is all about creating your own unique player and building their cred online by performing well in your selected role. Immediately upon booting up NHL 09 players will be told to create a player. The initial setup won't be as deep as what's offered later in Be A Pro mode, but it will get the basic height, weight and hair color out of the way. My customized player had already been setup for me, complete with blond hair and all.
For those starting from scratch, the next step would be picking a public team to join. To expedite the process I was already placed on the EA Canada team, along with five other players. Oh, and don't worry if you can't form an even team of six as the game only requires three human players per team. The rest can be controlled by the AI.
Assigning positions to our team seemed to be a bit of a free-for-all thanks to a "first-come, first-served" approach. The list of positions is presented and then players need only hit A (X on PS3) on their personal favorite to select it. There doesn't seem to be a system in place for the GM to override anyone's decision. Luckily I was able to nab the right wing spot before anyone else could jump on it.
One thing to note is that, throughout this entire process, the rest of the field wasn't looking at my gamertag, they were looking at my player's given name (in this case it was Nate Ahearn). EA Sports wants players to become renowned for their skills, even going as far as to offer a real EA Sports hockey trophy to the top team with a ceremony to be held at next season's all-star game (exact details to follow). GMs will also be able to recruit players away using any negotiation tactics possible within the confines of a controller and a headset.
Having the ability to stand out from the crowd is important in the Hockey League as any given team can have up to 50 players on it. Different squads of six can break off and play simultaneously, but all of the team's stats are aggregated into one cozy list. Again, you only need three players to form a team, but the action shines the brightest when you're working with a full roster of human intelligence.
Once I actually got through the cool introductory cinematic that positioned the camera directly behind my character as he made his way out of the locker room and into his pre-game skate and warm up routine (a camera angle that is enjoyed by everyone in the game for their respective player). Every human player needs to hit a button to progress past the different cutscenes throughout the game to ensure that everyone stays in sync.
As soon as the puck dropped I could immediately tell that those who played the closest to real hockey would have the best chance at winning. At first I practiced my skating by following the puck like a toddler who just saw his first lollipop. There is a togglable blue arrow that points you back into position, but there's nothing forcing you to follow it. This strategy proved to be pretty worthless for the betterment of my team.
Setting up an offense was mostly about positioning our defensive players properly in the back of our set but ahead of the blue line. Working the puck around with one man acting as a shield directly in front of the goalie proved to be the best way for us to be successful in a non-fast break situation. Luckily there was plenty of running and gunning for those who like that style of play.
NHL 09 comes complete with a play creator tool which allows for some designed breaks started by the new flip dump passing mechanic. Well, in the Hockey League there's no need to design the play, you simply communicate to your teammates that you're about to dump it into the opponent's zone and tell them to streak down the ice.
We were able to create some great two-on-one situations that resulted in lots of shouting throughout the office. The goalies, both of which are human controlled, possess the ability to do a desperation move which sends them flying to the other side of the net if they get duped by a deke. My team's goalie was a bit too enamored with the move and wound up doing it in some questionable situations. The rest of my team was quick to let him know of his mistake with the kindness that only playing online can bring.
My games contained lots of yelling and team camaraderie when things went our way. Despite the fact that I was playing NHL 09's Hockey League in the optimum condition for an online match, the potential for the mode to work in the jungle of the multiplayer world was clearly there. When everyone played their positions properly, there was an awesome feeling of synergy that coursed through the ice. Everyone knew what they were doing and where they were supposed to be and when that happened we were able to come extremely close to the genuine article.
Hockey League features a similar stat tracking system to what Be A Pro offers. At the end of every contest you'll be graded in three categories: Position Score, Team Play, and Stats. Players will need to stay in the confines of their player type (I was a sniper, so the fact that I didn't score any goals in my first game didn't sit well with my coach) in order to earn the highest marks. All of this is in an effort to become a Legend by completing 150 online games with an A- average in the three aforementioned categories.
It's interesting to note that your ratings and attributes in the Hockey League do not carry over to the offline Be A Pro mode. Both are kept separate, likely in an effort to extend the life of the final game as much as possible.
NHL 09 impressed me when I saw it a few months ago and now that I've gotten my hands on the EA Sports Hockey League, I feel a little sorry for the competition. The feeling of playing true six-on-six hockey is fantastic if you can find the right group of players who understand the game and the stability of our game held strong despite being run on a server clear across the country.
The only wrench that could stop this from being the next big thing in sports videogames is the online community not grabbing hold and embracing it. Barring that, NHL 09 could very well be a sign of things to come in gaming.
Credits: IGN.com
Link: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/897/897903p2.html