When a new title has to follow its predecessor that won twelve Sports Game of the Year awards, expectations will always be high. NHL 10 is burdened with the task of besting last year’s title that brought a glut of innovation to the series. While it is a tough act to follow EA Sports has done just enough to NHL 10 to make NHL 09 fans feel right at home while giving them a new experience on the ice. With little tweaks to gameplay and some added new modes it’s easily a better game than its predecessor. Be wary, however — changes may have fans frustrated with how realistic the game has become.

The core gameplay remains the same from last year’s title, with almost everything being controlled by the right stick. This is really the only way to play a hockey game; going back to the button controls just seems unnatural. With the changes made to NHL 10 you might have to go sharpen up your hockey knowledge if you want to hang with the big boys.

The defensive and goalie AI has been improved so much that you have to go at them in a realistic way. Defenders will now try to hold you at the blue line instead of just dropping into the defensive zone. They also won’t chase you as much as they used to and they are much better at cutting off passing lanes. The goalie AI has seen the most improvement with tons of new animations including kick saves. They are much more aware of their surrounding so just letting it rip from far away won’t always work. There are a ton of new save animations and at times it will leave you in awe. Goalies will now swat at the puck if it’s loose behind him, dive if it gets too far away from him, and will even use his stick to poke-check the puck away if it’s loose in front of the net.

On the offensive side, not too much has changed save for the goalie and defenders reacting more realistically: it forces you to run a more realistic offense. Just like in real life moving the puck around, getting in front of the goalie for screens or deflections and rebounding is a big key to scoring. With the new puck physics in NHL 10, the puck moves much more realistically allowing for amazing deflections on goal and the opportunity to knock in loose pucks around the net. Unlike last year, your player will swat at pucks bouncing in the air and reach out for loose pucks to get a chance to score instead of checking. Defenders will also have the ability to knock down pucks in the air and almost all the time the puck will be knocked out of the zone. Here’s a short clip to show you what I’m talking about.

To add to the realism is a new addition to the gameplay called Board Play. This year you can pin someone to the boards instead of simply checking them into it. Being able to do this can stop an offensive player from getting to the back of the net or stop a defender from clearing the puck. Not only that, if you can pin someone on the boards that just got rid of the puck you can totally take them out of the play. This forces you to be more aware of skating along the boards when on the attack or on defense.

The gameplay has also been slowed down this year and checking has also been changed to be more realistic. Unlike last year not all players will be able to deliver huge checks and there are some players that will rarely get knocked off their feet. You can still be physical and push the players off the puck or out of position but big hits this year don’t come as often as they did in NHL 09.  If you liked how it used to be NHL 10 has offered new gameplay styles to go along with the difficulties that allow you to choose how you want to play. Casual is more of an arcade style; Default is realistic than casual; Normal is the style online games will be played with has less accurate passing and hitting; Hardcore is simply for the most hardcore players. In this mode all checking, passing and shooting assists have been turned off. You have the option to tweak the gameplay sliders so you can combine styles if you want to.  The realistic gameplay and the different styles makes the game that much better than last year’s. You’ll still get some “how the hell” moments from some goals that are scored but for the most part the goal exploits from last year have been wiped out.

Other than the changes made to gameplay there are some new modes that were introduced this year, Battle for the Cup and Be a GM. In Battle for the Cup you will choose two teams to face on in the Stanley Cup finals. In the mode players can get hurt and fatigue can set in if the series goes to the seventh game. I liked playing this mode when playing with friends because it gives you another reason to want to beat your friends. There really isn’t much to the mode but it’s a nice little addition. In the Be a GM mode you’ll be given a chance to manage a NHL team from the budget to your staff and even your reputation around the league. The mode starts you off at the draft day and from there you have to go through free agent signings. A really nice Blackberry phone interface that will pop up with trade offers from other teams and you can even use it to shop around some of your own players. There are certain tasks that must be completed during the season which translate to points that can be used to upgrade your staff. There are four different staff types to manage: Trainers, Amateur Scouts, Pro Scouts and Assistant Coaches. Upgrading a particular staff will have a different effect on your team. The interface for the Be a GM could be better but it’s easy enough to navigate once you find everything. The only issues I found with the mode is some CPU controlled managers will make very questionable decisions and some GM tasks are difficult to pull off and may cause you to make some questionable roster moves yourself. Other than that it’s a fans dream to want to run a hockey team and the mode is pretty accurate when it comes to that. You can make some bold trades at the beginning of the season to set you up for a Stanley Cup run this year or try to build talent and have a team that can contend every year.

The rest of the modes remain pretty much the same with the Be a Pro mode returning with some minor additions. This year you start off playing in the prospects game in attempt to go from projected 15^th pick to maybe even the 1^st overall pick. If you don’t want to go this route you can always choose which team you want to play for. If you go the prospects game route you will be given a four game trail with your new team to see if you can handle the NHL. If not you will be sent down to the AHL to improve your skills. To help you on this route there is an all new hockey shop where you can earn or buy, with real money, new equipment that can boost some of your stats. My only issue with this is some tasks, to get the high end gear, is far too difficult and take way too long so buying them is definitely the best route, something I don’t want to do. Also you can’t customize the color of the gear and although I don’t mind standing out when playing in the EASHL I would like my gear to match the color of the team I’m playing for.

Bringing your Be a Pro player online is as easy and as fun as it was in NHL 09. The EASHL remains the heart of the online modes. It’s pretty much the same with more jerseys and designs to choose from, along with the fact that it’s easier to find a club to play for. The leagues have been set to monthly seasons with casual and hardcore leagues available but it’s still hard to find a core group of players to commit to playing every week. The EASHL is once again one of the best features of NHL 10 and one that will keep hooked just like an MMO would.

Graphics and animation wise, the game is identical to its predecessor with some slight improvements to how the players look. Where the game is hurting is in presentation and in the audio categories. The pre-game and post game presentations still lack in authenticity, something NHL 2K has always been great at doing. Even the in-game presentation is really lackluster with no variety in the home team’s PA announcer. Although the commentators do a great job calling the action, they don’t seem as passionate about the game, they seem almost bored at times. The crowd audio is always really good in EA’s NHL games but even that could use some improvements. In real life certain crowds will treat every game like it’s a playoff game and will be louder than other crowds. In NHL 10 you don’t get that and the only difference between crowds is in the chants and when it comes playoff time.

Although most of the game remains the same from last year, NHL 10 has enough improvements in it to make any hockey fan want to pick it up. The realistic gameplay and the new Be a GM mode is all I need but the Be a Pro and the EASHL will also provide endless hours of gameplay. This is definitely the most realistic hockey game I have played and that might scare fans away but you have the chance to tweak the game to exactly how you want to play it. Just by looking at the game you won’t be able to see much of a difference but once you play it you will notice right away. NHL 10 is definitely one of the best sports games of this year and should be at the top of any hockey fans list of games to play.

Title: NHL 10 Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: EA Canada Platform(s): Playstation 3 (Reviewed), Xbox 360 Release Date: September 15th 2009

Doin It RIGHT: - Incredibly realistic in terms of gameplay and graphics. - Be a Pro and Be a GM will keep you playing throughout the season. - First Person Fighting and Tough Guy player type are some nice additions to the game.	Doin It RONG: - In game presentation needs to be more authentic. - Offensive CPU AI has some issues that needs to be worked out. - Micro Transactions are terrible for sports games.
FINAL SCORE: 9 / 10

Note: Click here for more detail about the improvements and additions made to NHL 10.

Tags: EA, EA Sports, NHL 10

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 12:10 pm and is filed under PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.