NHL 2K10 Review

[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]

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]

Quote: Originally Posted by WAZ

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]

Quote: Originally Posted by StormJH1

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]

Quote: Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Quote: Originally Posted by savoie2006

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]

Quote: Originally Posted by baseball66

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.