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NHL 09- Out Today


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With the anticipated release of 09 and mixed emotions of what it will be like, I was wondering if anyone had a chance to pick it up and give it a play today.

I'll be picking my copy up this weekend because I'm trapped on a campus in the middle of nowhere without any way of getting to town until than. :lol:

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Houlanov's been playing it.

he said its 08...with be a pro mode.

For me, pro mode is worth it.

I barely played 08, but I think I'll spend a lot of time "levelling" my 09 character.

I like games where I have to work my way up through the ranks.

One of my fav games on the Sega was Arton Senna's (Super?) Monaco GP. You started with a bad car, and depending on how you did one season (16 races), you got hired by a better team or fired and picked up by a worse team. It took me quite a while to win the championship.. though now I can win it in the first season :P

Just a shame I don't get some sort of loyalty discount on 09 for having 08! There goes another 60$...

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For me, pro mode is worth it.

I barely played 08, but I think I'll spend a lot of time "levelling" my 09 character.

I like games where I have to work my way up through the ranks.

One of my fav games on the Sega was Arton Senna's (Super?) Monaco GP. You started with a bad car, and depending on how you did one season (16 races), you got hired by a better team or fired and picked up by a worse team. It took me quite a while to win the championship.. though now I can win it in the first season :D

Just a shame I don't get some sort of loyalty discount on 09 for having 08! There goes another 60$...

Picked up a copy tonight, only played one game on be a pro mode so far but it's was definitely awesome!

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I gave it a try last night. So far, I like it -- it's a more polished 08, which I think is a good direction to go (like how 94 is a polished version of the 2 or 3 versions before it). Be a Pro is pretty fun.

I complained about the checking last year, but I really like it this year. When you hit a guy, it's pretty satisfying -- they often go flying, but in a relatively realistic way.

My Be a Pro character is a "playmaker", but so far I have 5 goals and no assists in 4 games. I can't tell if this means my teammates are lousy scorers, i'm a lousy passer, or they are amazing passers. I think I'm a lousy passer and they're amazing passers (but I still have to get open for those one-timer passes they give me!)

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I totally love it! :D I've ONLY played "Be a Pro" (haven't played 07 or 08 at all either). And I've just gotten called up to Detroit Red Wings and played for two games (scored a goal in both). And I'm playing as an offensive defenseman. Having the time of my life! Started of at rookie as I was not at all familiar with the controls, but I've been playing at pro for a handful of games and the games are really even, and that's when games are the most fun!

I never thought I'd like a hockey game from EA again (since NHL 2001), but woow, this rocks! Well, back to the game!

Edit.. Uhm.. So, I've played like 4 games more and I've got 1 more goal, the rest of the team also just 1 goal, wtf? And both came at a 2-3 loss. The rest of the games have all been 0-3 losses. Sigh. Man I miss AHL, where my team didn't suck... I'm not saying I'm great, but the rest of the team should manage more than one freakin' goal in four games.. -_-

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Hah.. Crazy.. What difficulty to you play at?

The AI/coaches suck even more than the AI do in the old 9x games concerning pulling the goalie... Seriously.. Pulling the goalie when down two goals and half a minute left on the clock. Gets pretty frustrating, especially since they never miss even when shooting from the red line (I'm talking about when my coach pull the goalie >_< ). I shouldn't have spoken well of this game, I guess I jinxed it. Maybe I'll have to go back to rookie or something, bah.. I wish there was something in between, rookie was just way to easy, the gaps between difficulties in EA's hockey games have always been ridiculous imo. I can hardly ever find one that fits well. I guess pro is decent for me, if only my team mates could score some freakin' goals. </rant>

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i have just over 85 points in 40 something NHL games(60 goals). over 100 career points in 50 something games (which includes AHL)

I chose to be a dangler...but damn i can never get up close to the goalie let alone deke him out.

all my goals are scored from ripping blue line slap shots.

i played 3 games on rookie, and the rest on pro difficulty.

I'm also finding alot of bugs in this game. But nothing major i guess..

i was on the top line for the canadians, we lost 1 game after winning 3 straight and he bumped me down cause he said my numbers werent good enough!

i score at least 2 goals a game and pick up an assist what the hell!

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geez.. talk about bull s**t :( those things really suck..

Well I managed to get a 5-3 win, but after that it went back to being crap again. The centers don't win any face offs.. no one scores.. I'm really torn. From time to time it's really fun but suddenly it's #%$€#@

I really mess up passing / shooting a lot.. I do a couple of dekes then my mind wants to pass and make a one timer but I can never pull it off :) Shooting with the analog stick is just plain awkward, especially since you use RT to make the other players shoot. Will take a lot of time to get used to for me.. >_<

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I'm not entirely sure why you guys are having trouble putting up assists. While im not putting up gang buster numbers there, i am getting my fair share of assists.

In my 17 AHL games i had 14 goals and 8 assists.

In my lone NHL game i debuted with a goal and 3 assists.

Just got to have good chemistry and look to create scoring chances as opposed to shooting every time. using the vision control button is pretty key, especially when cycling because it adjusts the camera into a more favorable view for passing. It also helps to anticipate your players by knowing your system, it gives the goalie and defense less time to react to your plays.

I'm also playing on pro and i think its rather appereant i need to work on my defensive aspects of the game before bumping up the level of play. I have a good plus/minus, but thats because my work on offense has been propped up by superb goaltending in the AHL.

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The centers don't win any face offs.. no one scores..

Yeah what is up with that? The centres LITERALLY win no faceoffs. I'm a winger, and my C went 0/58 in the first 5 games or so. Now I'm trying mashing the buttons to try to tell them to do something.. maybe the pass button makes them pass on the faceoff.. i don't know. Hopefully they make some kind of patch? (Can you patch 360 games?)

The only assist I have (6 or 7 games) came off a play where I passed it then went to the net and put a perfect screen on the goalie (it was nice, he just went down in a butterfly even though the puck was going for the corner -- he actually didn't see it).

Not to complain too much, as I still do like the game, but can't EA make a slightly nicer manual? The 94 one was like a novel for just 3 buttons. The new games have like 20 different button combinations on offense and 20 more on defense, and the manual is like 5 pages of microscopic print. Come on... it's not that expensive to make a booket with maybe 20 pages to explain the myriad menu options. Tricks, hints.. remember when manuals were fun to read?

I'm still in the AHL, I feel like such a bum :D

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im not quite sure what you guys are talking about with face offs, but i have the ps3 version. sometimes my guys cant lose them,sometimes they cant win, sometimes they are about 50/50 so it feels just about right.

I have a 360.

Doing Be a Pro, being a right winger in the AHL, my centreman on my line never wins a faceoff. Zero, ever. It must be a bug.

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Hah.. Crazy.. What difficulty to you play at?

The AI/coaches suck even more than the AI do in the old 9x games concerning pulling the goalie... Seriously.. Pulling the goalie when down two goals and half a minute left on the clock. Gets pretty frustrating, especially since they never miss even when shooting from the red line (I'm talking about when my coach pull the goalie >_< ). I shouldn't have spoken well of this game, I guess I jinxed it. Maybe I'll have to go back to rookie or something, bah.. I wish there was something in between, rookie was just way to easy, the gaps between difficulties in EA's hockey games have always been ridiculous imo. I can hardly ever find one that fits well. I guess pro is decent for me, if only my team mates could score some freakin' goals. </rant>

Pro, got a nice touch on the shot, starting to figure out assists as well. I went something like 15 games without an assist but the last 6 or 7 games I have had 5 assists.

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I'm enjoying Be a Pro mode immensely. Decided to go with a sniper on superstar difficulty since I had played 08, and it's great fun. Took me 16 or so games on Providence before I cracked the Bruins roster (randomized my team), and it felt very rewarding.

Heh, I pulled a Lemieux though. First shift, got a breakaway, and on that first shot, it went off the crossbar and in. Still lost in OT, but it was good.

As for assists, I had trouble with it as first but it's not too hard when you get the hang of it. I find it better to pass it to the guy and just let him shoot it, don't call for the shot. They score a lot more this way (the AI is pretty good at shooting if you let them do it themselves)

Honestly I like it better than 94. It's crazy fun and despite a few bugs the games very balanced a polished.

Pick the damn game up, it's a great buy.

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It's kinda like it's "you either win all faceoffs or you lose them all".. Well my 'Wings' has been scoring goals as of lately.. Had 4+4+5 goals in three games, so I guess it's just a matter of the games turning a lot from time to time. Which I guess is good, but when your in a slump it's really tough.

Is it just me or is the "three stars" favoring the player a bit ;) Feels like it's a bit too easy to get one of those spots, well it sorta works since it's a bit cool B) The game overall feels very rewarding, which is really nice. This last game I scored both the game tying 3-3 and the game winning 4-3 vs the AVS :blink: 2g, 1a and +4 as a defender, awesome fun!

I've only played one "regular game" and the other ~40 in "Be a Pro", they really nailed it with that mode! Gonna take a but load of time to build up the player stats...

So has anyone played "Be a Pro" as a goalie yet? A friend was playing only as a goalie in NHL 08 and said it was a lot of fun, so I guess I'll have to try that out as well.

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Something weird that kind of ticked me off on my Be-A-Pro today. I worked my way up to the Dallas front line, started doing some serious damage in the points column with Avery and Richards. After the All-Star break had a game where I was stumped for points. The next game on the first line I score a Hat-Trick and an assist (4 pts.) and after the game the management moves me down to the second line because I'm not putting up stats it says? Anyone else experience this?

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Something weird that kind of ticked me off on my Be-A-Pro today. I worked my way up to the Dallas front line, started doing some serious damage in the points column with Avery and Richards. After the All-Star break had a game where I was stumped for points. The next game on the first line I score a Hat-Trick and an assist (4 pts.) and after the game the management moves me down to the second line because I'm not putting up stats it says? Anyone else experience this?

Seriously.. Those kind of things suck beyond reality.. :( The good ol' NHL 2001 which I've played a looooot had this "HOT" and "COLD" system... And the same odd things happened there (where a player could get like a hat-trick or something and then end up being "COLD" the next game, which in that game resulted in loss of power shots and power hits etc, stats in general). But it's obviously a hell of a lot more noticeable in "Be a Pro", sigh..

That's a thing that can really bring one down... So you actually got pulled down from the first line directly to AHL? That's just messed up. :)

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I've got a few problems with be a pro. First off the be-a-pro camera can get annoying sometimes, but mostly I am not a fan of it on offense as I have a hard time seeing where my teammates are some times. If I switch to Classic view or something, then on defense I can't see well enough. As well sometimes the management makes questionable decisions, as does the A.I.

Overall though it's a fantastic mode, the small setbacks hardly kill the experience at all.

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