EA Sports NHL10 Review

September 15, 2009 by Mother Pucker
Filed under: NHL News 

As I planned, I woke up early today to grab a copy of NHL10. Let’s see if I did things correctly:

1. Didn’t shower – check
2. Didn’t brush my teeth – check
3. Didn’t wear a hat to cover up bed head – check
4. Arrived at Walmart at 7am to make sure I got it first – check
5. Returned home at 7:10am to make sure I played it first – check

Ok it looks like I did everything that a hardcore gamer / hockey fan is obliged to do, right? Ok now let’s get down to it.

Upon throwing the game in and firing it up, you’re asked to give your player a name, position, and handedness, then you have to go through the same drills that the demo made you do every time for some reason. Looks like this is now just a one time thing (per profile I imagine).

First thing that I did was head into the Be A Pro Mode and test my newly created “me” out. I played in the prospects game on the wing, scored 4 goals and added 3 assists with a +6. Received A+ ratings across the board from the coach, and headed into the draft as a top 3 pick (according to my agent).

Sure enough I was picked first overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning. I like how it says “Congratulations!” Unfortunately I haven’t unlocked the Eric Lindros feature of this game yet so no team switching for me. Actually it could have been way worse than Tampa, so I’ll just keep my trap shut and play there like any kid that gets drafted 1st overall should.

I was expecting to be sent down to the minors right off the bat (like in NHL09), but surprisingly I was taken on by the big club immediately. I’m not sure if this has something to do with how well you play in the prospects game, or where you’re drafted, but it’s nice not having to play 22 games in the AHL (yeah, that’s how many I played in Springfield last year) before being called up.

I’ve played 4 games so far with the big club and I’m ripping it up. Time to increase the difficulty settings I think…

Anyway the first thing that popped out at me while playing was the ability to unlock new equipment and power boosts. I’m not sure if I like this yet as it seems like a cheap way to improve your guy in a hurry, but we’ll see as the season progresses. Anyway you can unlock the equipment improvements and boosts by doing certain things in game, or you can be a complete cheater and head over to the store and purchase them with with your Microsoft points / PS points (or whatever they’re called). I remember reading about the outrage in the football community when Madden 10 came with similar options to buy your way to success, and I imagine that NHL 10 will follow suit. I think this SUCKS. Yeah it would be kinda fun to crank your guy up right off the bat with these purchasable steroids, but doesn’t that take away from the fun and accomplishment of naturally progressing your player? Anyway, boosts are kinda cool, but being able to be lazy and just purchase them is garbage.

Ok enough ranting about that one. How about the in-game music? Gotta love it when a game includes Alexisonfire (Young Cardinals), Megadeth, Papa Roach, and Rancid. Good work this year not throwing in too much poppy crap. I haven’t had a chance to toy with the custom playlists yet, but I imagine that its similar to last year where you can stream from your computer or whatever and pick your own tunes to be played in certain situations.

Next, let’s take a look at Be A GM Mode. You are first brought to a screen that shows your GM reputation, and task points. This is similar to be a pro where it has your player cards etc. You then get to attempt a mock trade that doesn’t count towards your actual team. Just like in be a pro, you start off with the prospects game and then the draft. You can play in the prospects game, just watch, or skip it all together. I chose to watch to make sure that I get the best look at who I may be drafting… and yeah this got boring around the 3 minute mark, so I took quick mental notes, quit the game, and headed to the draft. Prior to that your assistant gives you his top 5 picks. How he picked them I don’t know because I saw different results as I watched the entire prospects game.

So yeah let’s go to the draft. Before that you get a message on your Blackberry (wonder how much that spot cost?) telling you that you should put some players and picks on the trade block in case another team wants to attempt a draft day trade with you.

After throwing some players and picks up, I went into the draft and my Blackberry started ringing immediately. When a team calls you have the option to answer the call, ignore it, or shut down your phones completely. Upon answering you are presented with the trade offer. As the draft goes on, your phone keeps ringing with various offers until it’s your turn to pick. You can also use your phone to call other GMs to propose trades. Anyway, I got my guy that was hot in the prospects game! After round one I decided to auto draft because I could see this taking forever with the phone ringing so much etc.

After the draft you enter the signing period where you take care of your players first, and then go after the free agents if you want. Other teams will still contact you during this time with trade offers, and you can do the same. Upon completion of this period the salary cap is determined with max salaries, etc.

During the season you can jump into games or just simulate them as you see fit. As the season goes on the owner will occasionally pipe up and let you know what he thinks of your management etc. After starting my season 0-2-3 I got a quick note saying, “By the way, I’m expecting you to take them to the playoffs…” Also as the season goes on, depending on your rep, you’ll gain extra phones for trades etc. Interesting note as you get to the olympic break that there is a gap in NHL games, though the AHL continues play.

Anyway the season ended in disappointment as I didn’t get my team into the playoffs. The owner was pissed, but I didn’t get fired so I guess thats a good sign. In the end the Penguins won the cup, something drastically different from the first time I ran through an entire season. Once the cup has been awarded, you start all over again with the prospects game, draft, and signings. This GM mode looks like the ultimate system from a tweaker or someone that was a fan of Hockey League Simulator back in the day.

How about we jump online? Nothing new here as I’m getting schooled. I still haven’t gotten the hang of fighting, so whoever these two 13 year olds are on the other line, hope you’re enjoying your 5-0 lead in fighting haha. Anyway, I got worked 4-1, largely because there were two players on the other end and could set up some sweet plays. I’m going to have to get someone over here soon to help me out of this is the way online play is going to go this year.

Anyway, there is no degradation of gameplay or anything when you jump online like there were in previous versions of the game. I like it, but am obviously going to have to improve when it comes to hardcore passing etc if I’m going to stand a chance online.

Overall: I love this game, and it’s the best hockey game by far. The different skill levels and game styles make it a game for pretty much anyone. NHL94 controls are back too for those of you that prefer to play old school. What else? Hmm, nothing… because I want to get back to the game. So yeah, go get the game already, and see you online on xbox live as PlateDroppah and MotherPuckerCA on PS3.

Comments

One Comment on EA Sports NHL10 Review

  1. mike ulicne on Sun, 25th Oct 2009 2:19 pm

    2. im a right d,with a bplus rating. looking to join a club that likes to pass and play positional hockey. if i could tryout please respond to email above. thanks,
    mike

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