What is this? Oh, the Stanley Cup. Okay, it's asking me to hit A.
I hit A. It's says to put in my name.
Done. Why am I skating around now? What's going on?
This is the tutorial, and the player suffers through it. I say suffers because ultimately it's irrelevant.
Okay, that was dumb. Can I start now?
The player enters the main menu.
I give up.
(Below, the bane of my very existence, or the menu)
EA's NHL 10 is graphically gorgeous. The player models are beautifully rendered, the crowd is much improved from last year's iteration. The ice gleams at the beginning of the game, and as play continues, it gets noticeably worn. These are the things a good hockey game has; these are the details the fans of the coolest game on Earth have come to expect from EA. But the glory of these things is diminished by the monolithic, Kafka-esque menu system. And with the addition of "Be a GM" mode (more on that later) the player will spend significant time navigating through skater lists and team stats. At one point, to sort skaters by specific stats or attributes, the player will press X. At another point he'll press in the right analog stick. It is this inconsistency that really hampers the fun-factor of being a GM.Speaking of which, if one can manage getting through the Rube Goldberg machine of video game menu systems, new addition "Be a GM" mode is worth one's time. The depth is limitless. The player assumes control of an NHL team (or could create one's own) and guides it through the season, from draft to free agency to the regular season to the playoffs and back again. The game rates your performance and logs your statistics as you attempt to elevate yourself to "legendary" status.
As soon as you pop the disc into your console you'll be bombarded by watered-down pop-rock and immediately feel the desire to import a custom playlist, which is an option. This is really the only downside to the sound quality though, as the arenas, crowds, and one-ice action is immaculate, except for one thing. Every once and awhile, a random grunt or wordless shout is put forth through the speakers with the force of a tornado, for no discernible reason. This is hilarious at first, but ultimately annoying.
As with last year's award-winning version, "Be a Pro" mode is still a favorite, though the bugs and occasional glitches are still present. Also, the online multiplayer has been expanded.
(Marc Savard and
Zdeno Chara demonstrate board play,
or just really like Sergei Samsonov)
There are two gameplay features new to this year's version and EA has been making damn sure you know about them. If you don't, they obviously failed. But they've been trying. First off is the "revolutionary" new board play. Now you can pin the puck carrier against the boards and control the puck with your skates. This is good in theory, but in practice, the AI can always get you pinned, no matter what, as if by magnetism. The other new feature is the first person fighting, another good idea in theory. Again, in practice, this feature is no where near what EA intended. In theory, you dodge punches with the left stick while trying to aim the perfect punch, but in reality you just wildly push the right stick up and down repeatedly, throwing haymakers, until one of you falls down.
Overall, EA's NHL 10 is a good game. Is it worth $60? That's debatable. If you're an obsessive hockey fanatic like me then it definitely is. If you're just a casual sports fan, then maybe. Of course, the casual sports fan really doesn't like hockey, so probably not. But regardless of all this, just keep this in mind: at least it's not NHL 2K10.
GRAPHICS: 2.3
SOUND: 2.1
CONTROLS: 1.8
FUN-NESS: 2.0
OVERALL: 8.2
Hey, aren't real fights like that? The wild haymakers until one person falls down part, not the move the right thumbstick up and down part...Unless you have a thumbstick attacked to your body or something.
ReplyDeleteAnyways. it's interesting how important graphic detail is to sports games. I always felt sports games have the best graphics (EA specifically), and sometimes I feel like fans of other genres should be so demanding.
While this entry has all the parts necessary for a game review, it reads as rather disjointed, beginning with a discussion of the menu system but then backtracking to when first inserting the game disc. Later points are interesting, but seem underdeveloped. In other words, this review reads as rather haphazard, focusing on particular details but not providing an overall understanding of the game.
ReplyDeleteI'm not as big of a hockey fan as I used to be, but have always still purchased hockey games every year. I took a brief absence from purchasing NHL games back in 2007 because I had come somewhat bored with them. I returned last year with NHL 09 and was blown away. I can't remember how many late nights there was with roommmates playing this game to the wee hours of the morning.
ReplyDeleteI expected NHL 10 to be the same and from your review it seems like things are very similar but just better refined. I hope to pick this game up at some point and I'm sure will be back to late nights of this game all over again.
As a Canadian I anticipate the newest EA hockey game every year.
ReplyDeleteI like the new "moves" that were added this year but were not mentioned in this article.
The "push puck move" does exactly what it says. Your skater pushes the puck out in front of him in order to skate faster than the defender. This works quite well.
The "fake shot leg kick" is pretty cool to pull off, and you can usually get the goalie to butterfly so you can beat him high. Thank Sid the kid for that one.
New moves including rollover's and hugging the posts continue to make the goalie fun to play as.
Another "feature" added this year was the after-the-whistle scrums that can occur. People have been bodychecking each other after the whistle since 1993 and they have finally translated it into the actual outcome of the game. If you continue to rough up players after the whistle, you will either draw a penalty, trade penalties, or end up in a fight.
You can also cause scrums by blasting the puck at the other team's goalie after the whistle, another thing that has been going on for far too long.
NHL10 is well worth $60 if you have enjoyed the "skill stick" series thus far.