Customer Reviews

NHL 2K10

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

 

 

Out of the box this game doesn't play that well. That's because the abundance of sliders are preset to horrible defaults.
Using NHL2K10's awesome 2KShare feature, where you can upload or download everything from sliders, rosters and draft classes, I grabbed one of the more popular slider sets (Venom's and Bronco86's).
After doing this the game really unfolded. There's some quirks to this game, no doubt, but the gameplay is tremendous.
You'll really notice the difference between the star players from the scrubs.
And the AI is very good and will have you on your toes if you don't play smart.

The controls take some getting used to (I prefer Standard) but once you become acclimated you can do some really cool things on the ice.

Commentary really stinks. Stinks badly. But everything else in the presentation is tremendous. The arena's look so real you'll believe you're watching a live telecast.

This game is definitely worth a shot. Especially with the right slider manipulation.
NHL2K10 certainly doesn't deserve some of the poor marks it's received from well known critics such as Gamespot and IGN.
I don't blame them for the low scores since the game doesn't play very well out-of-the-box. But if you take 5 minutes to change some settings, or download someone else's the game plays a very realistic brand of hockey.

My simple review - this plays like I would have expected hockey to play.

Last year 2k9 wasn't that great, so I skipped it for NHL 09. EA's NHL 09 isn't a bad game at all. Be a Pro mode is kinda neat, if not flawed a bit. The graphics are smooth as anything you've ever seen, animations are great, but it's the same game everytime you play, same predictable AI, and same loose connection to your controls.

2K10 felt right after the first game. I felt like I was controlling hockey players. It felt like players had momentum, it feels like the puck will organically bounce around and be involved in real hockey situations. In EA's game it's either in the net or on someone's stick. Loose pucks are pretty much non existent. And I guess that's good for EA, because your skaters only have one speed, so if there's a loose puck, they "jog" to get it opposed to sprinting like they would in real life.

I can see why this game may not be for everyone. If hockey's ratings are any indication on how people pay attention to the sport, they may think unrealistic games like EA's 10 are "better" or more authentic hockey, despite the fact that a 4th line wing CANNOT stickhandle as good as Sydney Crosby. In 2k10 you will tell the difference, in EA, everyone looks, skates, and handles the same. Doesn't make sense.

I absolutely loved NHL 2K9 (last year's release). Even though it had its quirks, I played well over a thousand games online and got more than my money's worth out of it. Please keep in mind that I only play online. I have never played another game for even a tenth of the time I spent playing NHL 2K9 this past year. The gameplay felt crisp, accurate and intuitive. So obviously, I could not wait for 2K10 to come out so I can get it going again since things had become slow on 2K9 once the NHL season ended. Got it the day it was released. Came home, popped it in... "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?!"

First the MENUS. I know most of you are thinking, "Who cares about the Menus?", but these menus just plain stink. You would agree if you saw and had to use them! In 2K9 you had nice, clean menus that were easy to navigate and made sense. In 2K10, the menus are horrendous! 9 square blocks (think Brady Bunch intro) where you're on the middle block by default and have to press and HOLD a direction on the gamepad before pressing A to select one of the outer blocks. Let go of the direction before pressing A and you end up selecting the middle block. This can be very annoying, especially when you accidently enter the wrong menu item more than just a couple of times. Also, there is no longer an "Online Screen" (Team 2K Screen) where you saw the weekly rankings and past Team 2K winners. The weekly rankings alone made the game so much fun to play week after week and compete for a spot each week, all year long. They don't have weekly rankings anymore, got rid of them completely! The overall leaderboard is hidden somewhere in one of the "Extras" block. 2K Sports, if you're reading this, PLEASE bring back the weekly rankings for next year! And fix your servers so, unlike last year, they always work properly!

GAMEPLAY. Again 2K9's gameplay wasn't perfect but overall it was very good. Before getting to the cons for 2K10, let me say that there are a few improvements. First is you get to choose whether you want to initiate a fight which eliminates a lot of time wasting senseless fights (I've had 8 in one game!) that become redundant and boring. Second, the goalie is much more active and quite a bit better at stopping the infamous cross-crease cheese move from last year. Also, the physics of the player movements seem more realistic but sometimes it puts too much emphasis on them causing unnatural movement as well. Now let me get to the flaws. 2K10 gameplay feels SLOW, sluggish, and inexact. If you liked 2K9, you will probably notice this as well. There are numerous things that seem worst than last year but I will only discuss a couple that really hurt this game. One of the MOST annoying things, your opponent can poke check you from directly behind you and his stick will go right through your legs EVERYTIME, causing you to lose the puck without your player ever tripping, so no penalty for your opponent. I've played about 10 games online so far and people have already caught on to this. Very frustrating and annoying! Last year this would have caused your player to trip, the other player gets penalized, discouraging your opponent from repeating it. Another flaw is the fact that when your opponent has the puck and is coming fast towards your end, your defender(s) automatically start skating backwards up from around the blue line which is fine, BUT they don't come out of it even when you pick them and want to keep up with the opposing player! Your opponent will be able to zoom right by you as you are stuck, slowly skating backwards. This will very often create an instant fastbreak for your opponent and if it's with a player like Ovechkin, Crosby, Hossa, etc., forget about it, they will score 90% of the time if they know what they're doing. I can go on and on about things like this that really hurt this game but it would take way too long. Also, I think they didn't release a demo on XBox Live for 2K10 because the developers knew their product was lacking, even compared to last year, and it would have only discouraged gamers from purchasing the actual game!

GRAPHICS. Graphics seem pretty good especially during replays, as they did last year. However, if you've played a hockey game, you know that during an actual game you set your view to a zoom level far enough to see a good area of the ice which makes the players too small to notice all the nitty gritty details during an actual game anyway. Overall, the graphics seem good.

I would rate last year's 2K9 a solid 4/5. I rate 2K10 a very well-deserving 2/5. The game seems to have evolved for the better is very few areas but for the most part, they have gone backwards. If you're thinking of buying it, rent or play a friend's copy before purchasing. Unfortunately, in my opinion, 2K10 was truly a disappointment and I'll be selling my copy off today, just one day after it was released and purchased. Here's to hoping 2k11 will be better and release a demo next time!

I like this game.I really dont understand what these people are complaining about. Great controls,cool interface, and graphically speaking it completely blows away E(screw you)A's offering. I must admit the interface can be abit confusing but once you figure it out it's very cool. I've played about 10 games so far and really haven't experienced any issues with it. Thanks 2K you have made another enjoyable hockey game!

I see a lot of 2K9 references, but believe it or not, I was in love with NHL 2K6. Reason being, it was given to me as a gift when I first got my Xbox 360, so I played the living daylights out of the game, even though the rosters were badly out of whack. The gameplay was just like I remember from the Sega Genesis NHL 93 games, with a few nice upgrades and MUCH better graphics.

NHL 2K10 has some pretty sick graphics. I'm a Rangers fan and playing in Madison Square Garden was out of this world with how realistic everything looks. The players faces look great, the ice is nice and shiny at the beginning of a period then you can see the snow accumulating on the ice throughout the period. However, the gameplay just absolutely sucks. It took me 2 entire games to figure out how to take a wrist shot. If you press X for more than a micro-second, you take a slap shot. The players move VERY slowly and the "speed burst" option makes them look like they're coming out of quicksand, into NORMAL mode. The computer players always seem a level faster than your players. I played on Rookie and Pro, and at all points, the computer players were quicker and faster than me. Almost unrealistically fast, while my players looked like they were sloshing through molasses.

The commentators are horrific. They sound like guys who should be doing AHL games, not NHL games. Why not pay Sam Rosen, Mike Emerick, or Gary Thorne some money to call the action? Instead they get generic guys who made me want to listen to music instead of hearing their commentary.

All in all, pretty bad game. It's just not fun to play -- the game play is abysmal. Graphics alone can't save this game.

Ok, The first reviewer seemed a bit harsh and long winded right ? Well if he were wrong, I'd agree... To be very clear I was excited to buy both NHL games this year with a store credit I had so why not try them both and keep playing the better of the two ??? Last year I only played 2K9 and frankly it was above average. Graphics were solid, commentary was far too repetitive, the same song played every goal, but still a very well rounded game... This years offering ? The best part was the trailer video of A.O. scoring his highlight reel goal and the box art... I played this bland , chippy offering for 30 minutes and it has been re-gifted to one who doesn't know any better...

As much as people hate EA (I'm on that large band wagon) , Their game this year is nothing short of amazing. Graphics are PHENOMENAL, game play is tight. (For beginners might be a bit of a learning curve to the more in depth controls). Be a pro mode is genius. GM Mode is very detailed. Commentary is almost perfect with the return of E.S.P.N. Hockey announcers Gary Thorne and Bill Clement.

Seriously, if you like hockey remotely, AVOID THIS TITLE and get the EA version. For the @10 dollar difference, IT'S WORTH IT !!!





NHL 10

i got this game for my boyfriend as a christmas gift and he literally plays it everyday. the graphics are awesome and its just a fun game to play.

PLEASE do not make the mistake of buying this game. The game itself is pretty decent, but IT WILL NOT WORK ONLINE. I've got a great connection & play other games on Xbox Live with no problem, but with this one you can't even finish the 1st quarter without a network error closing the game. A friend & I each bought this thinking that we could play online against each other for just a few bucks. We tried at least 15 times & never even came close to finishing a quarter. We also tried playing against random people online & the same thing happened.

Do yourself a favor & don't make the same mistake we did. The game is currently soaking in gasoline while I write this review. Soon I will strike a match & watch my $2.88 + shipping go up in flames.

this game is so frustrating i threw it away after playing it for a few hours. i've played about 25 hockey games (starting with NHL 94) and this is the worst. Its no wonder that 2K sports decided to take a year off from making NHL games. You have little control over your players when they first get the puck. The AI is awful. In many situations, the passing algorithm doesn't allow you to pass to anyone who isn't the closest player to you. Game flow is slow and awkward. The goalies can't stop anything. In short, don't waste your money like I did.

I rented this game for Wii and had a lot of fun (after reading reviews and getting some tips). I only played the quick match and the skills competition, I didn't play franchise mode or online. The graphics are amazing, the Wii is my first console since the N64 in the late 90s and the players look so realistic, as do the rinks. I tried the controls with the motion plus (sideways) and with the nunchuck and had a lot more luck with that. The most fun was the Zamboni challenge where you try to resurface the ice, I laughed SO hard.