Late last gen, 2K’s NHL series seemed to be on its way to overtaking EA’s NHL sim. 2K offered the same deep gameplay, a ton of modes, and all at a discounted price. Unfortunately, the next gen jump hasn’t been quite so kind to the series. In 2006, EA introduced the skill stick, cementing its place in hardcore hockey fans hearts. While EA may have cornered the hardcore market, 2K seems to have remained in a holding pattern with its series. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however, as casual hockey fans that may find EA’s series to daunting, should feel right at home here.

Gameplay

For fans of the series, you’ll note that not much has changed since 2K9. There are a few tweaks here and there, but the core modes and gameplay remain the same. While the Wii version seems to have been revamped to give those users a better flowing game of hockey, the Xbox 360 and PS3 users out there are getting slighted a bit. While the goal with the Wii was to offer a game that’s comparable with the HD consoles, in terms of gameplay, there doesn’t seem to have been much added to lure those HD only users back to the series.

One serious step back for the game in general, is the skater movements. Not the animation, but the actual feel of maneuvering your player. Skaters feel sluggish, and hard to control, at first. There are sliders to adjust this, but even maxing out those sliders, players still feel as though they’re skating through mud. It makes even less sense considering that the game feels more arcade-like than a straight up sim.

To add to that arcade feel, the game is more offensively focused. This isn’t really a bad thing, though even on the harder difficulties, you’re still going to see some incredible blow outs, which may put hardcore players off a bit. It’s hard to tell if this was intentional, or if the goaltender AI is just poorly implemented, but you’re bound to see a ridiculous amount of goals notched in a short amount of time. The goals themselves may not be realistic in nature, and usually consist of lucky shots and one timers, but the thrill doesn’t seem to wear off, regardless of how many you put past the tender. 2K has also added the ability to shoot the puck while stumbling or falling to the ice. One quick note: the stumble shot, which was being hyped by 2K, isn’t nearly as impressive as it’s made out to be. It’s nice, but definitely not a game-making change.

As usual, there are a ton of modes to whet your appetite here. Franchise and Season mode will likely be where most spend their time, but there’s also quick play, mini-rink and pond hockey and, of course, zamboni races. There hasn’t been much added to the franchise mode, with the exception of dynamic player progression, which is nice, but isn’t enough to wildly change the face of the game.

One neat aspect of the game is that you can invite friends to join your game online at any point. The implementation here is really easy to use, and it works pretty well. Simply pause the game, press a button to see who’s online and send out the invite from the game menu. This goes for any mode in the game, which is a nice touch, especially if you’re getting tired of constantly trouncing brain dead AI playing defence. There is a slight problem with lag, especially if you happen to have a full set of human players online, but just playing one or two friends seems to hold up fine.

The main problem I have with the game overall is that you can’t really call it a sim, but it isn’t exactly an arcade title, either. While the offense is clearly leaning more toward the arcade style, the game looks, and for the most part, plays like a sim in all other aspects. I’d like to see the series really take a risk and do something completely different, for once. With the Hitz series gone, there’s a vacancy in the arcade arena that could easily be filled by the 2K series. The core game is there, but giving it a shot in the arm is what the series really needs, now.

Graphics & Sound

NHL 2K10 is definitely a more polished game visually, than previous versions. The animation is smoother, the character models look like their real life counterparts, and arenas look great. The game effectively gives you everything you’d expect to see in a television broadcast. The action on ice looks smooth, with no framerate issues to speak of, offline, anyway.

The music in-game is varied, though will decidedly be a case of personal taste. Rather than using high profile artists, 2K has always included a variety of indie acts, and while some are better than others, it’s nice to hear something new that isn’t going to be included in a ton of other games out there. The commentary is pretty standard, which is to say it does the job, but doesn’t stray too far from last year’s game.

Value

Any way you slice it, there’s a lot to do in NHL 2K10. In addition to the modes mentioned above, you can also create your own players and teams to take through Franchise or Season modes. If that isn’t enough for you, there’s also a ton of gameplay options that allow you to customize everything from passing accuracy to AI aggressiveness. The only real problem here is that those who played last year’s game are really just paying for a more polished version of last year’s game.

Conclusion

NHL 2K10 has the style, but unfortunately, the substance just isn’t as compelling on the Xbox 360/PS3. While the Wii has a shiny new control scheme and a drastic upgrade in content, the HD console versions are merely last year’s game with a new coat of paint. This is a game that plays it too straight and doesn’t take any risks. While it’s more polished than previous games in the series, it just isn’t bringing anything really new to the table this year.