NHL 2K10 Review: Hitting The Ice, Or Is The Ice Hitting You?

As a Canadian, it is our patriotic duty to spend a few hours a week watching grown men with wooden sticks glide through harsh terrain and smash their bodies into plexiglass. EA has provided fellow Canadians like myself with the NHL series for almost 20 years. However, another company known for their sports video games, 2K Sports, decided to challenge EA with their NHL licensed series, and this year marks the 10th anniversary of their “NHL 2K” franchise. Despite the decade long rivalry between the two companies, does “NHL 2K10″ put up a fight or does it just turtle?

At first glance, there aren’t many changes with “NHL 2K10″ since last year’s release. Aside from a few minor tweaks, that only the hardcore fans will notice, this year’s game has the same standard bullet-point feature list from last year. You still have your quick play, franchise mode, season mode, play off mode, and the surprisingly fun 4-on-4 pond hockey. This year, however, the game is more focused on social play using your online friends. For example, if you are starting a quick play mode, you can invite your friend to join up and play cooperatively; therein promoting the casual image that “NHL 2K10″ wants to project.

Sadly, it is because of this “casual friendly” mindset that “NHL 2K10″ has decided to go after that ruins any sort of depth, or realism in the game. It is an extremely arcadey experience, which doesn’t make much sense, since the game tries to present itself visually as a realistic game, and that includes everything from the commentary to ice rink itself. When you see shots that go well over the speed of light, one timers are guaranteed goals, and the puck has a magnetic force behind it, the game simply contradicts itself. It is both ugly to look at and not enjoyable to play.

The skating controls feel awkward and certainly does not give a feeling that you are skating on slippery ice. The control scheme itself feels like something out of the mid-90s, with a turbo button and one-button body checks, a scheme EA threw away years ago. To make matters worse, the animations cannot be “broken” or canceled, so if you are body checking someone, you are locked and lose control of your player until the animation finishes. This is a frustrating and you will experience dozens of times in the course of one game.

On the other hand, one major improvement, when compared to last year, are the graphics themselves. It’s quite clear, when compared to “NHL 2K09,” that the 2K team have decided to give the entire game a face lift. While still not up to par with EA’s NHL series, it is a noteworthy effort and manages to keep constant frame rates no matter where the puck is on the ice. Even the animations, despite the lack of control, are decent to look at, and can be realistic at times.

The other big change is in the franchise mode, with its new dynamic player progression. As the season progresses, your players will become stronger and change as time goes on. However, this does not fix the many problems with the franchise mode, such as the lack of scouting, trading mid-draft, or staff management.

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with catering towards the casual crowd, “NHL 2K10″ proves that spending time on just graphics isn’t going to make a game any better. “NHL 2K10″ suffers from poor controls, contradicting visuals, and unrealistic game play. Despite the subtle improvements, such as stick lifts and improved AI, the game falls flat with all the flaws that come with it. With “NHL 10″ on the shelf providing a much better overall experience, there isn’t any reason to pick this up unless you’re playing with people who need to look at the bottom of the “NHL 2K10″ cover to know who is on the cover. (Hint: It’s Alexander Ovechkin.)

Rating:

 
“NHL 2K10″ was developed by Take Two Interactive and published by 2K Sports for the Xxox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2 and Wii on September 15, 2009. This review is based on the Xbox 360 version of the game.

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