Customer Reviews

NHL 2K10

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Things to like-

Price. This game is selling for around $30 which is a great value.

Game play. True that the default game speed is way too slow out of the box, but this is easily corrected by modifying the game sliders. I've adjusted my slider all the way to 100% for game speed and I like it. Adjusting all the different sliders through trial and error is all part of the learning curve, but once your sliders are set up right the game play is really fluid and enjoyable. Using a quick passing game and head-manning the puck to the next guy just before the blue-line is key to keep your team on-side and moving forward into the offensive zone. Cycling the puck in the corner works well and it's a challenge to maneuver your players at times as they will get bumped around and lose their balance at times. Anticipating movement is key.

Hip checks. If you hold down the O button just long enough while you swing your man into position you can send your opponent flying with a devastating hip check. Body checks are executed easily and with great punishment. By setting your sliders just right you can play a really physical style of play without getting called for all of those pesky interference calls.



Things to be not so happy about-

Fighting. The mechanics of fighting in this game are too elaborate. Somehow the user is expected to look at the bottom of the screen to monitor his player's balance meter and press the right amount of L2 and R2 buttons to keep the fighter standing, but while you're focusing on the balance meter you're not really able to concentrate on the actual fight and press X or O for punches at the right time. I've fought about 10 times so far and still haven't come close to keeping my balance or winning a fight. Maybe after more fights I'll figure out some secret sequence of button mashing that'll work but for now I just choose to avoid fighting altogether because its just not fun. It appears the developer outsmarted itself by trying to add the element of balance to fighting. While this is key in real life on-ice scraps, it really didn't need to be added into the game's fighting mechanic.

Level of detail. No hats are thrown on the ice after hat tricks, whether you're at home or on the road; this aspect has been a tradition forever and it's pretty unforgivable for the game not to have hat trick celebrations. The 2K beats soundtrack is lacking, it would be nice to have a lot more music. The arena music during stoppages in play could be more elaborate by copying the signature songs and chants from the various NHL arenas...noticeably missing for example is DJ Jean's "Launch" techno beat that's heard at Capitals home games or the Fratellis "Chelsea Dagger" tune that's always played in Chicago when the Blackhawks score or the "Daaay-ohhh" crowd chant heard at all arenas. These may seem like minor annoyances but if the game developer would have just spent a week watching the NHL Centre Ice package they could have added the unique music being played at all the different arenas into this game to bring a much higher level of realism. Also, there isn't any in-game recognition of major milestones. For example, using Sidney Crosby I broke Gretzky's single season scoring record but when I scored the record breaking 93rd goal no mention was made and the only way to know when a record is broken is to go menu surfing to look at the records.

No matter how good your goalie is, the CPU will find a way to beat him with a wrist shot from a horrible angle at least once almost every game.

MISC. NOTES

Shot aiming. Sometimes the puck will seem to go right where you're aiming and other times you'll still score but it won't go anywhere close to where you were aiming. Maybe this is the AI correcting your shot when using sliders that max your accuracy.

One-timers. Despite what other reviewers have stated, One-timers don't go in every time. One-timers can be very effective depending on the flow of the game. There are definite momentum shifts for no apparent reason during the game (none after fighting ironically) and the CPU goalie will have his moments when he will be a brick wall and stop 5 one-timers in a row and then maybe in the next period you're able to score on 3 consecutive one-timers. Sometimes you'll have a wide open guy set up for a one-timer and he'll actually whiff on the shot altogether, which is realistic. Also, depending on which team you're playing against and their defensive style, the defense may stifle your wingers before they're able to penetrate deep enough into the offensive zone to dish back a one-timer. I've played several teams (NJ Devils for example) that have really limited my one-timer opportunities and can remember a couple games that I only got 1 or 2 one-timer chances during the whole game.

With the exception of one-timer slap shots, the wrist shot is primarily the shot you'll be successful with. The reason is that time & space is a premium just like in the real NHL. The time and space it takes to wind-up for a big slapper is hard to find and many times your player will get checked and lose the puck before he's able to get a slap shot off. The best times for a slap shot are on the power play and I've scored a couple times with blasts from the point on the power play, but not very often.

Face-offs. Using the right stick on the controller, either hold the stick up or hold it down. As soon as you see the ref start to flick his wrist to drop the puck, then you quickly pull the right stick down or push it up. This will pull the puck back to your left D or your right D. Winning face-offs is challenging and it's a victory to be able to win 50% of the game's face-offs. The trick is timing your right stick up/down movement as soon as the ref moves his hand. After playing almost a full season I'm able to just about break even with the CPU on the face-offs. Some players attributes limit them from being great at face-offs, but if you time it just right you can still win a few.

Hits after the whistle. Making up for the big disappointment that is the fighting experience in this game, at least you can level your opponent after the whistle blows. There's about a 2 second window for you to pull this off after a whistle is blown. It's a nice feeling to plow a defender into his goalie after the goalie freezes the puck. Being able to abuse your opponent on demand like this is a nice outlet to channel any frustration since you most likely won't be able to win any fights.

When line changes are made "on-the-fly" during game play, an annoying graphic pop-up will display in the corners of your TV screen and sometimes this will hinder your view of play along the boards...this actually cost me a goal one time when I couldn't see the puck in my zone on the boards and the CPU took it, made a quick pass and beat my goalie from a crappy corner angle.

All in all I have fun playing this game despite some of its shortcomings. It's definitely not perfect, but it's fun to play. Scoring on break-aways with either a quick wrister or a custom deke move can be exciting and bringing the pain with bone-crushing checks always brings a smile. My sliders are set to give me a decent advantage over the CPU, and I've had quite a few blowouts playing with the defending Stanley Cup Champ Penguins, but even still the CPU has been able to beat me twice and come close quite a few other times...so the AI works well to make it a challenging game. The main reason I chose 2K over EA sports NHL10 was all of the feedback regarding that game freezing. After almost a full season 2K10 hasn't froze once. Good game, 4 out of 5 stars.

Forget what some people may say about this game and see for yourself. The only way to see if you like it is to play it. I myself have purchased EA'S hockey game for the past two seasons. But what held me back from buying EA'S game again this year was i feared it might just be the same game as last year with very few improvements and i was right Nhl 10 is bascially just a roster update for NHL '09. On the other hand NHL 2k9 was terrible and this years version is much much better. Nhl 2k10 delievers a slighty more realistict expierence. Yes the commentating is pretty bland and the Goalie masks are ugly but the player models move just as their real life counterparts do and the graphics at first take some getting used to but they grow on you. Espesically the NHL arenas and player faces. The Staples Center in L.A. has all the Banners of the Lakers retired numbers including Chick Hearns retired microphone jersey. They also put the Kings Conference Banners(the few they have)also they even added Penny Tollier retired L.A. Sparks jersey. When you first play the game you may not like it but once you get used to the controls and game physics you will love it as i do. Just give the game a chance for at least a week if you dont like it trade for something else that was what i was planning on doing but now im keeping NHL 2K10 for good.

Despite being nearly two years old, NHL 2K10 is still the best hockey game on the PlayStation 3 and here's why...

1)This game easily has the best presentation and commentary ever on the PS3. The broadcast presentations and effects really feel like you're watching a top level production team broadcast the game over the airwaves. It's certainly as good as the Versus/NBC quality in real life. On the other hand, NHL 10 and 11 by EA seemed dead in comparison. The commentators parrot the same lines every year, literally, and there's no practical way to review the highlights of each game.

2)More ways to score. 2K10 allows scoring off rebounds, breakaways and one timers as well as broken plays and lucky bounces. NHL 10 and 11 are purely formulaic scoring games. Do X, Y and Z, you'll score every single time. This just kills the replay value. However with this game, you really don't know how you're going to score before the puck drops. The time tested ideas of crashing the net and the other things I mentioned above still work, but the game forces you to be more creative and the result is more fun to me.

3)Customizable settings. I have to admit that the default settings for this game stunk, everything felt wrong. However as soon as I changed the sliders, it was a quick return to the game I knew and loved in year's past. I essentially turn speed burst off and bump speed/acceleration up to around 70. EA has never really bothered to offer this on the PS3. They figure you'll like what they give you.

4)Interaction. Even two years later, you can download roster updates and game fixes through the game itself, without ever having to use an annoying flash drive. This feature is called "2K Share" and works brilliantly. You can even upload your own game files, etc for others to use.

5)The skating is far better than NHL 10 or 11. The players often feel like they're really skating instead of jogging through sand. It's really noticeable when you execute a full crossover with your player. In this game, you feel it and know what you're doing, not so with the other guy's game.

6)The franchise mode allows you to simulate far faster. One season took me an hour plus on NHL 10 or 11 but only takes 10 or so minutes with 2K10.

7)The puck is realistic, it doesn't whiz and bang all over the place like it's a pinball. The player contact animations are better too. You don't get thrown across the ice every time you get bumped.

Now there are some cons to this game, but they fall short of being significant enough to make me stop playing. Let's investigate further...

1)There's occasionally a half second or so delay when you attempt to shoot or get knocked down. It can be a hassle at times because you may miss a critical chance due to the half second you just lost. This happens with NHL 10 and 11 as well but not as often.

2)The graphics are a letdown. The overview of the ice and crowd is fine but the player's faces and crowd detail is simply awful. EA is way better in this department. Get it fixed.

3)No AHL etc licenses and a lack of minor league players as a result. This really hurts depth in the franchise mode. EA snatched up the exclusive license, so 2K wasn't really directly at fault here.

4)Passing is overly simplistic. Every pass seems to go the same speed and is difficult to aim between players. The manual passing in NHL 11 is too difficult/complex but this method is too easy and basic.

5)No Be-A-Pro game mode. This is something I would really miss but if I want it, I can pop in NHL 10 or 11. The franchise mode is usually plenty to keep me busy though.

All in all, 2K10 feels like a much more organic game of hockey and is every bit as good in franchise mode as it's main rival. With an upgrade on graphics and a few small improvements here and there, this game would be the runaway winner in the PS3 hockey war. It's certainly worth $15 used.

This is my first PS3 hockey game, having played this series of 2K Sports games on the PS2 for years before. NHL 2K10 looks great! The pre-game cinematics and look of the crowd is convincing. Shadows and blade trails on the ice are excellent and the lighting is impressive. The arena music is nothing to gush over, but it works for the setting. Overall, it's really a slick presentation that draws you in for a game and sets your expectations high.

Unfortunately, this game doesn't deliver in every area. I'm not saying it's all bad news. The action flows smoothly, with nice passing and shooting. Skirmishes behind the net and throughout the defensive zone are fun. But there are still some serious flaws in this game. First game out was coop with a friend and we were both beating each other down instead of the opponent. We thought this was just a matter of experience and tightening up our game. But we've been playing this series coop for years now and never had this issue come up before. We tried to turn "friendly fire" either off or at least down a bit, but could find no setting to control this. So there we were ten games in, still rolling over each other. Skating across the ice to check an opponent and then elbowing my friend instead when he skates in to help out?! Yeah...that's realistic. I could maybe see it happening once in a while as an accident, but we've been in games where it happened 5-10 times.

Of course, the referees still get in your way...now more than ever. It's like they go out of their way to interrupt traffic and cause pileups. Ridiculous!

We've read through the controls a couple of times and it still seems that we're tripping players up when we intend to check them instead. The controls are sensitive in all the wrong ways, favoring mistakes that will result in a more than a few penalties. We've even turned penalties down in the options screen, but still we're playing the majority of each game with one or two in the box.

Commentary is cheesy as always, but not really all that bad. There are also some graphics glitches every so often, but also nothing to worry too much about.

To sum up, I feel that NHL 2K10 is a mixed bag of good and bad. For next year, I do hope they take a closer look at friendly fire incidents, as this is one of our biggest complaints. But it's still a playable game with some enjoyable hockey action to be found.

pretty good, very realistic looking when paired with my 46" tv, would definately reccomend to anyone looking for a great hockey game

I'm not going to spend much time on this review. Basically I really like the game, but it has a lot of bugs. 2K sports announced there would be no patch for NHL2K10 for the PS3. So if you want a bug-filled good game, get it. After playing it for a couple games, I don't think I can't handle all the visual and other bugs they have.

I've got to say "booooooo" to a company not doing a patch on an obviously buggy release. That really knocks down my opinion of them.

there is alot of gameplay options so you can make is as arcade or as real as you like so gameplay is at all times awsome either way you make your own game with this as with most 2k hockey games make it how you want it however 2k isnt on the same budget level as EA but this review is based on gameplay EA you will get overall better graph not alot better but it is noticable and usually better music sooooo gameplay on 2k10 is quite refreshing to be able to do what you want with the settings has the typical hockey gamemodes you would expect franchise season pond hockey ECT cant lose

When i play in the modes i have lots of fun. But when you play into 10 years franchis mode the games freezs. Then i have to delate all my data and start oll over and i hate that part. I love the games with no probles besides that one.

This is a pretty good game. It's a step up from the years past in 2ksports NHL games, and it continues to get more realistic. I have it on PS3 and am pretty happy with my purchase. Graphics are of course, pretty stunning. The fighting isn't that good - two buttons, really?

Overall it is decent. Not perfect, but I don't know if any sports game ever will be. Definitely fun to play!

Used to play NHL2001(EA) alot...sometimes till morning with one of my friend...it was so much fun with some simple and solid features..
And about every year im trying demo version of NHL but the only thing i see is they make it more complicated with some unnecessary improvements (as NBA2k10) which is not being wanted by most players...

I believe if they simplify it again as it used to be, NHL will really pull much more players...Comparing to NBA,FIFA,PES and NFL sadly this hockey game is taking the last place...