NHL 2K10 Review

[ezio]

Re: NHL 2K10 Review

I made a switch this year back to NHL 2K10 since I have NHL 09 and 10 is essentially the same game now with board play and new animations. I agree with the review and what others have posted in that if you find the sweet spot with the games sliders, this can be a very enjoyable game of hockey. I have mine on Hall of Fame with my own tweaks. Basically I turned off the speed burst and also turned off the meter. I use the pro controls so it's basically similar to EA's control scheme. I also changed the speed to 82, turned down the body check for both cpu and user to 30, etc. I love this setting. Unfortunately, it doesn't fix the fact the you still can't break out of an animation but I can live with that. I'd give this game a solid 8 with slider tweaks.

I did the same thing. The catch-up AI or whatever you want to call it NHL 10 got annoying. I am on pro with my own tweaks and am ready to start my franchise.

[buzzguy]

Good review! I have NHL 10, but might pick-up 2K10 sometime down the road. I'll also probably get it for the Wii over the 360. That version seems to be the best.

[WAZ]

Re: NHL 2K10 Review

Thank you... now THIS is a good, fair review. I'd personally up the score a bit to an 8, but that would be after tweaking sliders.

It's obvious when reading reviews like IGN, Gamespot, and Game Informer that they spent very little time with the game and went in unwilling to give it much of a chance. They try a couple games on default settings with classic button controls, then complain that there's a speed burst button. When they don't bother discussing "minor" things like AI, online leagues, franchise blogs, or other key features (some things which they may actually do better than the competition, if not just provide a fun alternate approach), it's an unfortunate disservice to readers and hockey fans. Not to mention the potential damage it can do to the future of the franchise...

That said, I agree that the game could (should) play better out of the box and make a better first impression, and you do have to account for that in a review. It really only takes a handful of key slider adjustments and the difference is night & day... and you have to wonder if that's all that stood between review scores of 8+ and the 6.5-7's they're getting.

Either way, while initial out-of-the-box impressions are important, so is giving a game enough time to see everything good AND bad about it. This includes focusing on details and AI and other features that matter but somehow keep getting overlooked. I'm glad you took the time to do an honest, thorough, accurate review... something that the other big gaming sites and mags didn't bother with. Kudos, OS.

[StormJH1]

Re: NHL 2K10 Review

Thank you... now THIS is a good, fair review. I'd personally up the score a bit to an 8, but that would be after tweaking sliders.

It's obvious when reading reviews like IGN, Gamespot, and Game Informer that they spent very little time with the game and went in unwilling to give it much of a chance. They try a couple games on default settings with classic button controls, then complain that there's a speed burst button. When they don't bother discussing "minor" things like AI, online leagues, franchise blogs, or other key features (some things which they may actually do better than the competition, if not just provide a fun alternate approach), it's an unfortunate disservice to readers and hockey fans. Not to mention the potential damage it can do to the future of the franchise...

That said, I agree that the game could (should) play better out of the box and make a better first impression, and you do have to account for that in a review. It really only takes a handful of key slider adjustments and the difference is night & day... and you have to wonder if that's all that stood between review scores of 8+ and the 6.5-7's they're getting.

Either way, while initial out-of-the-box impressions are important, so is giving a game enough time to see everything good AND bad about it. This includes focusing on details and AI and other features that matter but somehow keep getting overlooked. I'm glad you took the time to do an honest, thorough, accurate review... something that the other big gaming sites and mags didn't bother with. Kudos, OS.

Honestly, if you put serious value in numerical scores and MetaCritic averages, especially for sports games, you're asking to be betrayed. Increasingly, I find myself paying attention to what the reviewer SAYS about the game, and then determining on my own if that's important to me or not as a strength/weakness.

I have the same urge to quantify everything that the reviewers do, but it just doesn't work. Sports games are the worst because reviewers tend to treat them as "sequels" rather than evaluate them for what they are. So Madden 10, which is a very good, but still flawed effort, gets a 9.0, whereas something like NHL 10 gets an 8.7. I know very few sports gamers (even those who don't like hockey) who believe that Madden does a better job with football than NHL does with hockey. But the reason for the lower NHL 10 score is that (some) reviewers were expecting more changes to happen from what was already a very good game. An improved version of what was already great last year should be a better score, but from the reviewer who has to play through 100's of games a year and do write-ups as a job, that feels like a failure to them. It's all subjective.

[Boilerbuzz]

Honestly, if you put serious value in numerical scores and MetaCritic averages, especially for sports games, you're asking to be betrayed. Increasingly, I find myself paying attention to what the reviewer SAYS about the game, and then determining on my own if that's important to me or not as a strength/weakness.

I have the same urge to quantify everything that the reviewers do, but it just doesn't work. Sports games are the worst because reviewers tend to treat them as "sequels" rather than evaluate them for what they are. So Madden 10, which is a very good, but still flawed effort, gets a 9.0, whereas something like NHL 10 gets an 8.7. I know very few sports gamers (even those who don't like hockey) who believe that Madden does a better job with football than NHL does with hockey. But the reason for the lower NHL 10 score is that (some) reviewers were expecting more changes to happen from what was already a very good game. An improved version of what was already great last year should be a better score, but from the reviewer who has to play through 100's of games a year and do write-ups as a job, that feels like a failure to them. It's all subjective.

Great post Storm. I think you are spot on. I think Madden deserves nothing higher than a 7 based on the final product. The added more to the game, but it's just SO unpolished, it's a crime. BOTH NHL titles are much more refined representations of hockey than Madden is of football. But that's just my opinion.

[Vipers2k9]

NHL 2k series has not changed at all in 3 years (since 2k7). The on ice pre game show is great but is the only thing to me that is really good about this game. No matter how much tweaking you do, the game is just bad.

[savoie2006]

Re: NHL 2K10 Review

NHL 2k series has not changed at all in 3 years (since 2k7). The on ice pre game show is great but is the only thing to me that is really good about this game. No matter how much tweaking you do, the game is just bad.

Ok, so why post here. The game may be "bad" to you, but that doesn't make it bad. I've done plenty of tweaking with this game and I rather enjoy it, as do many others who have found good sliders. It's been that way since the games inception. If you don't like it, then you have no reason to post here.

[baseball66]

Re: NHL 2K10 Review

Ok, so why post here. The game may be "bad" to you, but that doesn't make it bad. I've done plenty of tweaking with this game and I rather enjoy it, as do many others who have found good sliders. It's been that way since the games inception. If you don't like it, then you have no reason to post here.

So you don't agree with his comments on the game, fine, if you don't like it then you have no reason to post here.

[savoie2006]

Re: NHL 2K10 Review

So you don't agree with his comments on the game, fine, if you don't like it then you have no reason to post here.

I post here because I like the game.

[Shadow71]

Re: NHL 2K10 Review

NHL 2k series has not changed at all in 3 years (since 2k7).

I respectfully disagree.

[original6]

Re: NHL 2K10 Review

NHL 2k series has not changed at all in 3 years (since 2k7). The on ice pre game show is great but is the only thing to me that is really good about this game. No matter how much tweaking you do, the game is just bad.

I respectfully disagree as well. Care to share some insight as to why you feel this way? Thanks

[Scottdau]

Re: NHL 2K10 Review

Make that 3. I don't know how someone can say this game has not changed, but oh well!

[savoie2006]

Re: NHL 2K10 Review

I respectfully disagree.

...you're a bit biased though. After all, it is kind of your child(so to speak).

[daflyboys]

Re: NHL 2K10 Review

NHL 2k series has not changed at all in 3 years (since 2k7). The on ice pre game show is great but is the only thing to me that is really good about this game. No matter how much tweaking you do, the game is just bad.

There may be different types of polish, quirks, bugs and problems with the game that have varied each year. Hell, even the look between each year show great difference..... but you can't validate that it has not changed at all in 3 years.

Even with the RIGHT kind of tweaking each version became playable. I'm actually in the anti-k8 camp as I think the poor defensive positioning on both ends of the ice ruins the entire game. At least k9 and 10 made efforts to correct some positioning and AI strategy (though they too have needed assistance in tweaking to "work").

[Money99]

Re: NHL 2K10 Review

There may be different types of polish, quirks, bugs and problems with the game that have varied each year. Hell, even the look between each year show great difference..... but you can't validate that it has not changed at all in 3 years.

Even with the RIGHT kind of tweaking each version became playable. I'm actually in the anti-k8 camp as I think the poor defensive positioning on both ends of the ice ruins the entire game. At least k9 and 10 made efforts to correct some positioning and AI strategy (though they too have needed assistance in tweaking to "work").

Couldn't agree more.
Sure, 2K8 beats 2K10 in some aspects, but as far as offline AI go, 2K10 destroys 2K8 in my experience.
In 2K8 I could give up dozens of breakaways or odd-man rushes without fear. The AI simply did not have the capacity to capitalize on opportunities like that.
In 2K10, I HATE giving up breakaways. Especially to star forwards. They burn you way more than they don't. And that's a good thing.