Customer Reviews

NHL 2K10

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Now I've ben playing video hockey games since hat trick for the atari 7800 so I've played a lot of hockey games in my time and in my option this one's pretty good overall. First off the graphics on the game are actually pretty good considering it's on the Wii. I mean after seeing the screen shots I agreed with most people that this looked like a psp game at best, but once I played the game it looked a lot more polished then I was expecting. (The only reason anyone might think it would look bad its because they're comparing it to the HD versions but I'm reviewing the game with the thought that you only have a Wii) As for the rest of the game the sound effects are pretty good and the music is ok though your opinion on this may differ based on your musical tastes. As for the game's control I played the game without the motion plus attachment but I found the game's control pretty good overall as my only gripe with it is the checking motion in the game as sometimes it checks and sometime it poke checks but it wasn't that bad. I also didn't look to see if you could change it in the options so that might not be a gripe. Sadly I didn't get a chance to play the game online so I can't comment on the quality of that. Overall though I found the game to a very good hockey game and easily the best hockey game on the Wii. The only thing I would recommend changing for people who play it is to change the game's speed setting since the default setting seems a bit slow to me for a hockey game. Other than that though I didn't have any things I would change about the game.

This was my first time getting any nhl game for the wii and i was pleasantly surprised. I thought the controls were going to be akward and difficult but actually they were just the oppisite. skating and shooting were both easy and very fun, not to mention the fights, i loved every minute of it. Sometimes i would purposly do a low blow or high sticking to get into fights, what the heck, its what hockey is about. the graphics are good and superstar mode is amazing. All and all its a great game

I've been playing hockey games since NHL '94, and have always mastered them. Initially, this game is a huge disappointment. Part of it is because there is a steeper learning curve than with other sports games, but mostly because the documentation is absolutely awful. The instruction manual is a joke, and often times just wrong, but mostly it leaves a lot of stuff out. According to the manual, it's possible to do more things on a faceoff with a game pad than with the Wii motion plus (it turns out you can do these things - it just doesn't tell you how).

Then, ONE WEEK into playing the game, I find, buried deep within the almost unnavigable menu system, a tutorial mode. This actually helps a lot. It would have helped a lot more if I hadn't suffered a week before finding it (I cannot stress enough how bad and undiscoverable the menu system is). After that, actually knowing how to play and all, the game is fun because you can actually win.

After a few weeks, though, you realize this game is awful for an entirely different set of reasons than those which made you think it was awful to begin with.

- Some options just don't save themselves. The only way I've found to save my camera settings is to play a season. Passing method (Flick, Stick Passing, or Pointer, which are never explained anywhere, but I like Stick Passing the best) NEVER gets saved.

- The game always asks you if you want to actually use the Wii Motion Plus you paid 20 bucks for. It always defaults to No.

- If your controller falls asleep, when you wake it back up, you've lost your setting for Passing Method (above). So did your friend. You now have to each individually pause the game to set it for your controller.

- The difficulty settings seem to have very little effect at all. Rookie is still quite hard. The hardest setting isn't noticeably different. Extreme custom settings don't even change the game significantly.

- It seems to suffer from Mario Kart logic, where if you get caught up ice, you can magically skate super fast back to defense. This is true even if speed bursts have been shortened or completely disabled.

- Whenever it shows a penalty replay, it shows the first penalty from that period instead of the actual penalty.

- There are a set of moves ('Ove' dekes) initiated by shaking the nunchuk, where the computer takes control of your player and does *something* on your behalf. This something could be shooting and scoring with a cool spin move, doing something dumb and never shooting, initiating some move that takes a few seconds longer than the time you have before you run into the goalie and lose the puck, or simply loses the puck for you. When the move you do sucks, it's frustrating, and when you score, it's not very fulfilling because you feel like the computer scored rather than you.

- You often accidentally trigger 'Ove' dekes when you get overly exuberant, and it ruins your play.

- Almost every time I switch players, the controller motion in my hand from pressing the A button registers as a poke check, which stops my player dead in his tracks and causes me to fall behind the play. I need to be consciously calm when switching players.

- The shots that go in are often a joke, even if you jack the goalie skill all the way up. One-timers from point blank range go in exactly as often as weak backhands from the point, it seems (I'm exaggerating slightly).

- It is impossible to play this game with friends. I play every week with my brother, and to this day he gets a rebound in front of the net and tries in vain to shoot, but for whatever reason he just can't (this player has a seizure but never lets the puck loose). Casual players will just get frustrated and give up.

On a positive note, this game has the best commentary of any game I've played. Weeks into it, I still hear things I've never heard before, and even the things I have heard don't sound annoyingly repetitive.

At the end of the day, I still sit down and play it, and I enjoy it when it's not frustrating me.

Last year's iteration of 2K's NHL franchise made its debut on the Wii with sub-par results to be sure, but it was a step in the right direction. Now, NHL 2K10 manages to take all that promise of last year's game and comes out a success. Taking advantage of the Wii Motion Plus controls, the game's control scheme has been vastly improved, and winds up being surprisingly realistic to boot. This alone adds a whole new dimension to the gameplay, which is way ahead of the gameplay found in NHL 2K10 on its higher powered console brethren. The graphics engine is an improvement over last year's as well, while the recycled commentary pretty much remains the same, but the online multiplayer options however are spectacular. All in all, NHL 2K10 on the Wii surprisingly winds up being the best version of the game on the market, thanks to the Wii-specific controls that add a new dimension of realism to the gameplay. Needless to say, if you're a hockey fan and you own a Wii, be glad that this is for now your only real option for hockey video game action.

Ignore the first two reviews. This game is getting MUCH better reviews everywhere else. CNET rated it excellent (4 out of 5 stars [...]), Gamespot gave it an 8.5 out of 10 (can't post more links right now), and IGN said it is "Impressive" and gave it an 8 out of 10.

Some comments from IGN:
8.0 Gameplay
The core game of hockey is a bit touch-and-go, but once you get the hang of it and start messing with sliders its fun. MotionPlus rocks, even in its preliminary state. More please.
8.5 Lasting Appeal
There's a near-endless amount of modes. If you can get into the core game, 2K10 is one of the largest feature sets in any Wii product. Online is spotty, but case-by-case.

If you like Wii games this is money well spent. If you prefer 360/PS3, get EA NHL 2010. I play on all three consoles, and this is my current hockey game.

Okay so, the graphics of this game are really good considering the fact its the Wii. When you first start, getting used to the controls is really hard, it took me a week of playing to finally win my first game in OT 3-2. DONT GIVE UP. When you start dont go in all cocky and imediatly put the difficulty to pro. Go to rookie, its hard. The game its self is really fun, most goals are break aways...I'm going to admit, that some of the goals scored by the opponents (game system) can frustrate you alot, they might no seem very fair, there are some situations were you might want to throw it on the ground. But the season mode is my favourite, its amazing...you can do everything.
On this game you can even make youre own players and own teams. If your considering buying this, look NO FUTHER, youve found the right game. This game deserves every single star givin.
P.S. --WARNING-- This game is insanley addicting --WARNING--

I bought this game for my son and we haven't stopped playing since he opened it on Christmas. It is a blast to play against others. Highly recommended.

I bought this game after my mom brought home the Wii system for my little brother. I decided I wouldn't buy a soccer game this time, and thought hockey would be better on Wii than it was on Playstation.
I was very disappointed. The graphics weren't much better than NHL 98 on my Playstation 1 (the only other system I own). Probably on level with a 2001 NHL game, definitely not a 2010 Wii system!
I played a few times and thought it was really cool that you could play with someone live on WiFi. But thats about as much as I liked about the game. I was gonna keep it because of the Live match-up option, but then I decided I could do the same on a soccer game like Pro Evo 2010 or something.

Overall, although I hear its better than other hockey games for Wii, I don't recommend it if you're a sucker for graphics. The controls are nice on Wii, the online option is great, but the graphics failed my quality control.

great game very realistic but hard to master lots of ice time needs to be given to get good

I rented this game and probably won't buy it.
The graphics alright, though sometimes it's hard to see the puck. What I and my girlfriend did'nt like was the controls. Having to skate with the nanchuck on one hand and handling the "stick" remote on the other hand is very unnatural, especially when you have to also take care of pushing the correct buttons at the same time. These buttons change fucntion depending if you have the puck or not etc..Yes you can get used to it, but only after a few HOURS practicing!! But then you are taking away from the uniqueness of the wii and might as well just play hockey on xbox/ps3.
So in conclusion, unless you like classic controller scheme, and not buying this to play with other players who are not "gamers", I don't recommend....Maybe one day if they come out with using the balance board for skating function this may help make it alot more real life/realistic.