NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

[Eddie1967]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

Care to share?

i think thats called hit and run

[Scottdau]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

watched the first 5 mins of the video and here are my quick impressions solely on cpu AI.

GOOD

1) Cpu Cycling and overall offense logic is improved. Check the vide from 1:05 to 1:18, the hartnell-giroux-carter line did some nice cycling which ended with a prime scoring chance in the slot for carter off a feed from Giroux. Hartnell also showed off some of his grit there, where he flattened a guy coming to check him off the puck and a second later he did a nice aggressive move to another player to regain the puck.

2) Puck physics .....what can i say? just real nice to see.

3) Dump and chase was used twice effectively in this video by the cpu. Check 1:52 to 2:00 of the video. richards was stuffed at the blue line, he chipped it in and the flyers sent 2 forecheckers and won the puck .....and then CYCLING ensues until a flyers player tried to wheel the puck around all the way to the point , in this instance the play failed, but at another time this whhel around reached the pointmen. Also, a cpu d-man used this wheel around play to try the clear the zone. Nice to see

there seems to be a nice balance between on the rush offense and cycling offense. Have not seen a kamikaze mode rush where the cpu forward goes straight to the net like they did in 2k9.

BAD-

1) Cpu does some weird things when presented with a some 1 on 2 situations. Check the video at 1:36 to 1:43...Ovechkin 1 on 2 against coburn and parent. Parent whiffs on an unrealistic looking hip check (??) and coburn just lets Pvechkin take a clear shot....one of those guys need to challeng and sell out on ovie since it is a 1 on 2 .

This happens again ...check the video at 4:46 to 4:50.

Again it's ovechkin against 2 philly d-men and they just keep backing up and backing up until ovechkin takes a shot. Very poor defense there....

Hopefully sliders can fix this issue as it does have the potential to be a big big problem for offline gamers.

2) passes too accurate but sliders should fix this as it did last year....

3) flyers need to dump passes more on the PK, but again this should be fixable in team specific strategies for the PK and from my experience last year, these things work.


all in all good feeling from watching this vid, except the 1 on 2 problem.

This is a great post! I agree about the 2 on 1.

[kennyacid]

i doubt thats how the speed is going to be because thats just ridiculously fast.

[RealmK]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

I too know now why there's no demo. 2k9 v2. While I see some improved AI behavor with cycling and dumps I'm certainly not seeing much else that would confirm the "AI rewritten from the ground up" remarks and blogs and what not. If WWTC wanted to show the game off in a sim setting you'd think he would have actually used some sim sliders or a higher difficulty level.

Pros
Some nice cycling and dumps by the AI at various points
Good puck physics
Crowd sounds noisy
Some nice collision animations
stick lifts
Over all better positioning/less CPU charging the puck carrier
Cons
Passing is still arcady fast
Tape to tape passing, seriously its worse than NHL 08-09
Defensive CPU AI same ol back track collapsing to the net. No neutral zone pressure
Comentary is still awful
While theres some nice collision animations the actual collision detection is still terrible

The gameplay itself doesn't look all that improved, the AI was very disappointing. Certainly a far cry from WWTC's AI dev blog. Sliders may make it play a better game but theres no way I'm buying without renting first now.

[onlybygrace]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

I too know now why there's no demo. 2k9 v2. While I see some improved AI behavor with cycling and dumps I'm certainly not seeing much else that would confirm the "AI rewritten from the ground up" remarks and blogs and what not. If WWTC wanted to show the game off in a sim setting you'd think he would have actually used some sim sliders or a higher difficulty level.

Pros
Some nice cycling and dumps by the AI at various points
Good puck physics
Crowd sounds noisy
Some nice collision animations
stick lifts
Over all better positioning/less CPU charging the puck carrier
Cons
Passing is still arcady fast
Tape to tape passing, seriously its worse than NHL 08-09
Defensive CPU AI same ol back track collapsing to the net. No neutral zone pressure
Comentary is still awful
While theres some nice collision animations the actual collision detection is still terrible

The gameplay itself doesn't look all that improved, the AI was very disappointing. Certainly a far cry from WWTC's AI dev blog. Sliders may make it play a better game but theres no way I'm buying without renting first now.

I finally watched the vid...cause it took so damn long to load. Why is it everything with 2k has been a pain in the *** this year...even the good things?

Ok...onto the gameplay.

At this point I am honestly going to go ahead and say that I have nothing really incredibly negative to say nor do I have anything positive to say. I'm going to reserve judgement for the rest of the vids we are supposed to get...and I'll probably even watch the one we just saw again because I saw it in little bits and pieces.

One thing I will go ahead and say is that whoever was playing that game was not probably doing the game justice...seemingly passing up scoring chances for the sake of being realistic.

Oh...no boardplay. Hopefully there is a slider for that.

The positive I can say is that I think with the right sliders this will be a worthy game...just not liking whats being shown to me.

[RealmK]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

The positive I can say is that I think with the right sliders this will be a worthy game...just not liking whats being shown to me.

Most likely I agree. Its just not the next coming the blogs tried to make it out to be.

[onlybygrace]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

Most likely I agree. Its just not the next coming the blogs tried to make it out to be.

It would have helped to have been able to see instant replays to see some of the little things we may have been missing. It's really entertaining to me to see people chew on EA's puck physics then turn around and praise 2k when I saw only a few dynamic situations with the puck during that period.

Oh well...need a bigger sample size, yet.

[phillyfan23]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

I too know now why there's no demo. 2k9 v2. While I see some improved AI behavor with cycling and dumps I'm certainly not seeing much else that would confirm the "AI rewritten from the ground up" remarks and blogs and what not. If WWTC wanted to show the game off in a sim setting you'd think he would have actually used some sim sliders or a higher difficulty level.

Pros
Some nice cycling and dumps by the AI at various points
Good puck physics
Crowd sounds noisy
Some nice collision animations
stick lifts
Over all better positioning/less CPU charging the puck carrier
Cons
Passing is still arcady fast
Tape to tape passing, seriously its worse than NHL 08-09
Defensive CPU AI same ol back track collapsing to the net. No neutral zone pressure
Comentary is still awful
While theres some nice collision animations the actual collision detection is still terrible

The gameplay itself doesn't look all that improved, the AI was very disappointing. Certainly a far cry from WWTC's AI dev blog. Sliders may make it play a better game but theres no way I'm buying without renting first now.

the cpu pass speed and pass accuracy is way too accurate but 2k's sliders have the ability to fix that. I messed around with this with 2k9 and it worked great where my pass percentage and the cpu's were on similar levels and the cpu misfired on passes missing the target. I have no worries here for 2k, the pass acc slider for the cpu works.

Unless they changed slider mechanics for 2k10, it should work again this year.

EA is a big mystery, there is no history of pass accuracy aslider for the cpu so it could work or not. My gut feeling is that it won't work as well as 2k's slider. Hope I'm wrong about that.

The big worry about 2k is the back-pedalling of the defenders like you mentioned, but again, i'm hoping sliders can fix this, although my gut feeling says no since this has been a problem since the old 2k days.

You don't think the CPU AI got a big upgrade? i saw things in that video that would have never happened last year in 2k9. The way the cpu cycles is really good , dare i say could be slightly better than EA's. ( sometime the nhl 10 demo, the cpu plays keep away on 5 on 5. the forward to d-man, d-man to forward like 5 times in a row.Again without slider tinkering , you can't make the final judgement since this is related to the cpu pass accuracy slider.

I think the 2 games will be a lot closer this year. it would be a surprise, a pleasant surprise if i do end up going back to 2k this year. last one i played to death was 2k6....from 2007 to 2009 it's been EA for me. let's see who wins this year for me....can't wait till the 15th.

[savoie2006]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

Most likely I agree. Its just not the next coming the blogs tried to make it out to be.

The video itself may not be, but honestly I feel the demo would have left people even more disheartened. I think much like NHL10, sliders will remedy alot of the gameplay issues people are seeing. I think compared to most any 2K Hockey game, next gen, this is the next coming.

[RealmK]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

The video itself may not be, but honestly I feel the demo would have left people even more disheartened. I think much like NHL10, sliders will remedy alot of the gameplay issues people are seeing. I think compared to most any 2K Hockey game, next gen, this is the next coming.

For sure man, I'm sure sliders will most definately help thats not even a question. But if the basic defensive AI routines are still pretty much retreat to their own defensive zone and collapse once a turn over occurs, sliders won't fix that. I'm still puzzled that making videos to show the game to the hardcore guys, he wouldn't make the slider tweaks necessary to actually showcase the game in the best possible aspect that would make us want to go out and get it day one. Though considering the videos are for 2khockey.net maybe he doesn't need to as the fanboys will buy it regardless anyway.

[savoie2006]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

For sure man, I'm sure sliders will most definately help thats not even a question. But if the basic defensive AI routines are still pretty much retreat to their own defensive zone and collapse once a turn over occurs, sliders won't fix that. I'm still puzzled that making videos to show the game to the hardcore guys, he wouldn't make the slider tweaks necessary to actually showcase the game in the best possible aspect that would make us want to go out and get it day one. Though considering the videos are for 2khockey.net maybe he doesn't need to as the fanboys will buy it regardless anyway.

Maybe this quote from the AI Insight will help you. It sounds like this would be the answer(hopefully).

The Defensive Aggressiveness sliders are probably the most important as far as making the game easier or harder to play. With this slider on 0, CPU players will not battle as much for loose pucks, they will be “lazy” on defense, and you will pretty much be able to skate circles around them. With this slider on 100, they will be super aggressive toward the puck carrier, and they will cover you like glue

[Splitter77]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

Not bad.
But I will not get this game unless I can try it first or the price drops to 20.
This looks like it plays the same as the past 2k games, and I will not like it.

Things I do wish EA's game had though
-faceoffs
-camera angles
-full benches
-all officials
- how the goalies tie up the puck all the time and get a quick whistle
-arenas

I'll stick with EA this year until I get a chance to play the game hands on.
This was not built from the ground up by the way. What a crock that statement was.

[original6]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

For sure man, I'm sure sliders will most definately help thats not even a question. But if the basic defensive AI routines are still pretty much retreat to their own defensive zone and collapse once a turn over occurs, sliders won't fix that. I'm still puzzled that making videos to show the game to the hardcore guys, he wouldn't make the slider tweaks necessary to actually showcase the game in the best possible aspect that would make us want to go out and get it day one. Though considering the videos are for 2khockey.net maybe he doesn't need to as the fanboys will buy it regardless anyway.

Couldn't agree more, RealmK. I'm still in question about a number of things after watching the vid. A concern I have is whether or not the cpu offense will actually be effective. The improved cycling is great and all, but if they can't score, what's the point? This was something I struggled with quite a bit in 2k9. I found that if you made the game look sim, the cpu was inept and easy to shut down. One thing that has always bothered me with the 2k series is the high frequency of quick and accurate backhand passes. Seems the cpu doesn't want to take the time to bring the puck to the forehand before passing, as real NHL players would do to get a quicker and more accurate pass off. The frequent zippy backhand passes really look cheesey and take away from the "immersion factor" for me. It's a bit of a nitpick, but nonetheless something I'd really like to see addressed.

[Money99]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

Couldn't agree more, RealmK. I'm still in question about a number of things after watching the vid. A concern I have is whether or not the cpu offense will actually be effective. The improved cycling is great and all, but if they can't score, what's the point? This was something I struggled with quite a bit in 2k9. I found that if you made the game look sim, the cpu was inept and easy to shut down. One thing that has always bothered me with the 2k series is the high frequency of quick and accurate backhand passes. Seems the cpu doesn't want to take the time to bring the puck to the forehand before passing, as real NHL players would do to get a quicker and more accurate pass off. The frequent zippy backhand passes really look cheesey and take away from the "immersion factor" for me. It's a bit of a nitpick, but nonetheless something I'd really like to see addressed.

Couldn't agree more about the backhand passes comment. It breaks any sort of realism the game is going for. When you see a guy like Hartnell thread a blind, behind-the-back pass through skates and sticks, and put right on the tape of a teammate, you start to wonder if you're playing Blades of Steel.
I really hope sliders can fix that.
And you're also right about the CPU's intelligence. There were times in that video when the CPU could have shot, but chose to pass or dump.
Near the end of the video Carcillo is moving one-on-one and is at the top of the circles. Instead of letting a shot go he dumps it into the corner for Laparriere.
But again, sliders might fix that.

Despite that, there was a lot I liked in that video:

- You could very easily spot the slower from the faster players. When Green had the puck he looked very fast and agile. But when Erksine had the puck he lumbered like he should.
- CPU looks much more intelligent in that it will move the puck around more. And I've seen some nice little moves by the more offensive players out there.
- PK box looked very nice. I like how Philly kept it tight. I'd be interested to see what a more aggressive PK like Pittsburgh employs would look and feel.
- LOVE the camera customization!
- Liked how Lappariere fired it way wide on a partial breakaway.
- When Ovechkin got his own partial breakaway on the PP, I really liked how the CPU didn't get that cheat boost to recover like they did in 2K9. Glad to see that's gone.
- at the 9:58 mark you see the glass in the bottom left corner really shake after a hit. Looked awesome!
- hitting appears to be really toned down to a realistic level. At the 10:19 mark Laich drills Timonen in the corner. Timonen doesn't go down, but stumbles and loses the puck. The animations looked great. In 2K9 that would have been a garage sale with all the equipment and bodies on the floor.
- when Ovechkin shoots, you can tell it's Ovie. It's incredibly hard, quick and always on net.
- Barely saw any one-timers.

Observations
- I wish whomever was playing didn't gloss over the cut scenes. 2K has the best presentation going so why not show that off?
- at approximately the 11:30 mark Ovie makes a nice move to get around a defender and has a pretty good opportunity on Emery, only to get his pocket picked by Cobourn. Come on user, you have to shoot that puck when you're in that close!

[Russo]

Re: NHL 2K10 Gameplay Video (2KHockey.net)

You guys are nitpicking on the passing animations, but have you seen EA's ( 07' to 10') ? Up till now, every pass is tape to tape regardless of the position of the recipient. Pretty unrealistic if you ask me, and not to mention, how there is no animation , or barely any arm movement when a player does a pass in the NHL series.EA suffers from the same problem, the passes throgh skates sticks, and bodies. What can you do? No big deal, but 2k has better puck physics, so it is not as noticeable. In EA, if your defenseman has high AWARENESS, he will most likely intercept that puck, if not, he's completely incompetent, and plays like he belongs in Pee-wee.This game looks solid.