NHL 10 Blog: More Gameplay Refinements w/ 3 New Videos

[Scheib43]

Looks better for sure, but a couple things I'd like to point out that bug me as well.

#1 - As said above, the goalie split animation. Maybe he just chose those highlights, but seems like he was on his butt way too much in 3 games.

#2 - Also stated above, I would have liked to see a slapshot goal from the top of the circles or a backhand snipe ala Patrick Kane against Vancouver in Game 6. Something so it wasn't just rebounds.

Based on pure stats and data they should go in on a much less frequent basis, but it would be nice to see 1 of those 10 slappers go in. If you want to see some data, a guy put together a great statistical piece. Interesting read if you like numbers.

http://hockeyanalytics.com/Research_...ot_Quality.pdf

#3 - My biggest gripe though is still on the offensive end where there is still too many times the offensive guy is going for a tip and skates behind the goalie to provide neither a screen or a tip attempt. In fact, in one of the dump and chase videos, the offensive guy is standing next to and slightly behind the goalie and the defensive player and the offensive player end up in the crease. This is pretty frustrating at times.

A lot of things look great in 2010 and I'm sure it will be amazing. I love what they have done with a lot of the gameplay and the touches they added (since I play LD in OTP, I like that they try to catch the puck instead of letting it clear), the boardplay, the new passing. Now if they improve Dynasty slightly and add better a 1 on 1 online league feature...it would be perfection.

[Qb]

Saw some very promising stuff and a few things we could nitpick, most mentioned by all of you. I really like the AI defensive coverage on the clip that showed off the cycling with Buffalo. The strongside D-man played the puck appropriately when it was in his area, then dropped back to cut off the pass to the slot, then attacked again when it was cycled low. The weakside D-man stayed in the passing lane in the slot, appearing to have an "active stick" (yes, he's a MONSTER!). While he might have been a little slow to react when the puck came to high slot, he was covering the man by the crease as opposed to picking his nose or scratching his jock...

The D-men stepping up at the blueline was also encouraging, but I was just as excited to see the backside support pressure from the forward on that clip. All too often in 09 the backcheckers would skate back to the D-zone with little to no regard for the puck or opposing players. If it were NHL '84, maybe that'd be OK, but with today's emphasis on backchecking and puck-awareness in all three zones, what we saw was a much improved representation of the NHL.

Obviously not saying NHL10 will be everything we've ever asked for or that the AI is conclusively "fixed", but what we saw in those vids on the whole looks better than 09.

[MizzouRah]

I agree with most here.. NHL 10 is a musy buy for me, I cannot wait!!!

[jwilphl]

Game is looking pretty good. I'm glad the totem-pole human-side AI is being fixed. It was awful having to essentially do everything yourself in order to try and score.

I'm still curious how the game will play in terms of AI vs. human. I'm not too worried about all the details right now because this game is still months from release. Overall everything looks like it is coming along great.

The crowds especially look a ton better.

[Vikes1]

NHL '10' looks to be shaping up very nicely.

I'm especially liking the more of a dump and chase type of play. Taking it repeatedly from end to end....wide open gameplay is a lot of fun imo. But not too realistic though. So I'm very pleased with what we're seeing of '10'.

And the crowds look just great. NHL '10' is a must buy for me as well. Can't wait!

[steveeee]

this will be the best sports game once again... most addicting online sports game.. the EASHL will be where it's at.

damn, I can't wait for this game..

I honestly think NHL 09 is one of the best sports games ever.. and I can't believe I'm saying this but I think NHL 10 is going to be much better

I can't wait to hear more about this

Quote:

should mention that I’m also extremely pleased with our additions for user controlled goalies which I’ll speak about at a later date. I will say that people who play goalie in the EASHL are going to be very happy with the improvements we’ve made. The guys in the office are having blast playing as goalie.

this gets me excited since I mainly only play goalie now online in the EASHL.. I hope he isn't hyping me to much by saying that...

I hope this means the post magnet is fixed.. where a human controlled goalie is stuck to the post.. IF they just did that fix alone.. it would decrease a lot of goalies GAA in the EASHL

[steveeee]

Quote:

3 GREAT videos there. I'm loving this game more and more and it's quickly becoming my most anticipated game ever.

I agree... lol I feel like a lil kid again. I'm 32 and I think the last time I had this much anticipation on a video game before was ironically NHL 94 on the Genesis

[CS10029]

Loved 09 and 10 is looking sooo much better. Can't wait for this to come out.