Things That Drive Me Insane In NHL 13: “Phy…sics?”

Before I begin my kvetching, I feel I should make one thing clear: EA has made some really impressive strides (no pun intended) in recreating the physics of a hockey game played on ice. The revamped skating in NHL 13 is, for example, more true to the way that players actually move about the rink, and so I don’t mean to be too broadly critical of the game. There is still, however, much work to be done, and the more realistic a video game gets, the more enraging these (increasingly minor) glitches can be.

For me, it’s a very specific style of hit that grinds my gears. No, it’s not this one. Or that any of these. It’s that, even though two players may be traveling at the same speed and going in the same direction, a defender can send the puck carrier absolutely flying. More to the point, it seems to happen more often to me than to the CPU, but I am undoubtedly biased.

I’ve only provided one example, but if you’ve spent much time playing this game, you’ll know what I mean. 

It’s not that players should be invincible from behind, but they shouldn’t be launched into the mesosphere when both players are in the middle of the ice and traveling at roughly the same speed.