Speedy Skaters and Smart Goalies Redefine NHL 13

Looking back at my real-life hockey career, it's not the moments of specific games I remember -- it's all the stuff I learned from the coaches screaming like banshees from the bench. Not just "keep your stick on the ice," which was common. I remember being told when and how to pick up the pace, and when to dial it back. I learned I didn't need to skate straight at something to make goals happen, I could drift around it instead.

NHL 13 is the living representation of everything my coaches ever taught me to do, and the next representation of hockey's complexity makes even EA Sports' recent on-ice success seem primitive.

NHL 13 is all about the chase. Character speed finally matters, which lends a new sense of realism to the franchise I didn't realize was missing. In hindsight, I'm frustrated by the way defensemen could close in on an attacker without working for it, and that the offensive player in question could shake off an ineffective check so easily.

Skaters in NHL 13 are quicker than ever. They take stronger strides down the ice and consequently take wider turns. They can ease off the gas and glide, which works wonders for luring defenseman for a bait-and-switch. EA uses the word "explosiveness" to emphasize how powerful these guys are, and it fits fairly well. Skaters can blow by each other, but not so much so that they always escape. A winger might be able to pick up his pace as an opponent gets close, but that opponent can turn around if he's smart.

This doesn't create the stalemate you might assume. The left stick gives you a greater control of the way your player skates, and it does it to such a strong degree you can dance around defensemen in their own zone if you're daring enough. EA's marketing mantra with NHL 13 is that it'll change the way we play hockey. It probably will.

When you finally take the backhand shot skating backward through the slot, goalies will react more intelligently than ever. Save animations aren't canned anymore, instead relying on the natural AI of a goaltender to move his limbs and joints on his own.

This allows for some phenomenal saves. Goalies react using everything they have -- they'll dive, lift their sticks, and go to acrobatic lengths to keep the puck out, just like Luongo would. It looks spectacular, and it'll make each goal all the sweeter knowing you got past these intelligent 'tenders.

The perpetual problem with annual sports games is that the sports themselves never change. NHL 13 attacks this with some of the smartest, most readily apparent authenticity in the series' history.

NHL 13 releases September 11, 2012.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/21/speedy-skaters-and-smart-goalies-redefine-nhl-13