
	Platform Wii Genre Sports Publisher 2K Games Developer Visual Concepts ESRB E +10 (Everyone) Released September 15, 2009

- Great control with the Wiimote - Good online support that evens work with WiiSpeak - Challenging, fun games

- Some lag when too many players are on - Less audio than big brother counterparts, but it turns out to be not such a bad thing - Menus aren’t as intuitive or friendly as they could be

Review: NHL 10 (PS3) Review: Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage (Wii) Review: FIFA Soccer 10 (Wii)
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NHL 2K10

Score: 8.5 / 10

The Wii often gets a bad rap when it comes to sports games (other than the much heralded Wii Sports of course) and most of the time it is well deserved. It always seems like the Wii has got to take some compromise on the graphics or most notably the online play.

I’m happy to report that NHL 2K10 is not one of those titles and in fact if you’ve got multiple consoles I’m going to go on record as saying that this is the version to get

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for the fun factor.

First of all, you’re not going to give up the online play like you do in many Wii titles. You can invite another play in at just about any time and it all works pretty well. The only downside was when there were more than five other remote players but this could have also been caused by other internet factors beyond the games control.

NHL 2K10 also supports some of those extra

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peripherals you’ve been racking up in the corner. Although the balance board isn’t one of them (I can imagine support for skating and turning side to side would be a great feature for future games) you will be able to use that WiiSpeak that’s collecting dust and more importantly, the Wii Motion Plus controls. You can even play with the classic controller if you feel like you’re more at home with Blades of Steel.

Control is where this game truly shines. You’ll use the nunchuk to control your skater and the remote to pass, shoot and check. The added accuracy offered by the Wii Motion Plus control means you’ll even be able to poke check and feel like you’re really part of the game. In fact, hammering opponents into the boards can actually give you muscle strain! It truly is a decent workout in its own right.

The artificial intelligence has also been greatly improved in this title over the previous release. When you score a goal here, you definitely feel like you have earned it. Single player gaming experiences are going to result in a lot more one and two goal decisions which is often a problem for computer controlled games.
The graphics and sound are improved over last year’s release and it’s quite obvious that this version received the love and attention that you’d hope for on a system with motion control. The presentation could use some additional work, especially when trying to navigate the menus. It’s not perfect but once you’re into the game your focus will be shifted elsewhere.

You’re also going to be able to do some of the fun extra things like drive the Zamboni between periods, although this gets rather old pretty quickly but is fun to try a couple of times.

Overall, for a game that was supposed to be more about the arcade experience of hockey it feels like a more complete solution than the “other product” and impressed me at every turn. Sure, the graphics are subpar compared to the other consoles but when you’re hitting and checking and whooping it up on your couch it all seems less important.

- Syd Bolton

(February 12, 2010)