*played offline only* (I think that paying for online play -and get full features- is ridiculous)

This game is just the most furstrating game I ever played.

Before '09 the last I played was NHL 2000, so I had to master all the new controls that were introduced recently in the series: stick control with right joystick, L/R buttons and triggers, etc. I overcame these pretty quickly and had (and still have) A LOT of fun playing NHL '09.

I was eager to play NHL'10 from the moment it came out. I thought it would be an improvement from '09 and just be better.

How wrong I was!

PROS:

- Awesome graphics

- Lots of playing modes including: Be a Pro, Be a GM, Season Mode, Playoff Mode, Shootout Mode, etc.

- Board play

- First-person Fighting

- Crowd is much more realistic (which was ridiculous in '09)

CONS:

Your players are complete idiots, as:

- Your Ds are useless

a- Can't recover puck in your zone quick enough

b- No support at the point in offense

- Forwards NEVER go to the net, so you never get rebounds, can't make plays, etc. Always bad positionning.

- Goalie puck control/passing is a joke

- Passing S*CKS big time:

a- When recovering the puck in your zone with your D, almost everytime (90%) I try to pass to Forwards to breakout I get a turnover.

b- Neutral zone passing NEVER works

c- If you reach the offensive zone and try to pass to make a play, your player will DROP the puck! WTF?

- COMPUTER IS A F'ing GOD: Perfect plays, perfect passing, perfect positionning, perfect timing for checks and pokechecks, everything it tries will work!

- Music is still incredibly annoying (again)

- Unintuitive navigation through menus

- Players' pictures STILL haven't been updated!

- Commentaries are good but most are redundent from '09

BOTTOM LINE:

Too realistic (or trying to be) to have fun. Rent it and see for yourself.

Passing is the biggest issue for me and just KILLS the game.

NO FUN.

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If your game hasn't frozen by now - a new staple of EA sports games at launch - you've very likely noticed that some of the problems of NHL 09 still reside in NHL 10, and this iteration created a few of its own.

And with this new version, I've finally nailed what I don't like about this game, and what I did not like about NHL 09. There's a double standard to it. The defense AI (on superstar, anyway) is always covering my guys and it's not simple to get a pass through, whereas my defensive AI leaves people alone in front of the net. My offensive AI is rarely near the net, there AI is ALWAYS near the net (regardless of settings--the best I've found is to choose collapse). And in NHL 10, when I absolutely crush someone, since they've tone down hitting, often they just stop for a second, and then fly past me whereas the defensive AI can be standing still and touch me, and I go flying.

Turning to offense, essentially every game I play is like this: I drive the wing hard, look for someone to pass to heading to the net, don't find anyone, have to curl and pass it to the point. At the point, usually the other forwards are hanging out at the side of the net, on a smoke break and of no help when I blast a shot low for rebounds. Playing that way for a few games is as dull as reading this paragraph again. Go ahead, try it.

The best setting I can come up with is crash the net and full attack, and even with this they are not as aggressive as the opponents AI.

Your AI players, despite whatever setting you employ (crash the net, behind the net, etc) seem to have an aversion to being around the net. And while your teammates are improved in NHL 10, it's still like playing with 2 Maxim Afinogenov's at forward, and because I'm not a fan of Maxim Afinogenov (and no one else apparently is either, because he's currently a free agent) I can't stand playing Be a GM or Season Mode. Be a Pro mode suffers from the same problem, although my impression is that your teammates were far more useful in that mode than the others. Although, that's the case because in NHL 09, you had to dictate every pass and shot, otherwise you'd never get anything done in Be a Pro. Based on more games played in this mode, it's darn near unplayable, except for as a goalie.

To reply to the user about create a play: I know all about it. And unfortunately it's a must. You have to go to these pre-assigned circles in order to get your team to do what they should do when you tell them to "crash the net." It's a problem to me when the opponent's AI does it automatically, and I have to sit around making plays and it's of little use on the rush, as your teammates are always 3-5 strides behind.

Sometimes, for added frustration in the game, before even getting the zone, when I lead my passes as I'm heading to the blueline, my teammate AI just stops. They are letting me know they've got better things to do. Or they are afraid of the blue line?

Moving on to other problems, we have a faulty neutral zone AI. The computer will pass the puck for sometimes 10- 15 seconds back and forth through the neutral zone looking for a hole to open up. Not only is it "the neighbors dog won't stop barking" annoying but completely against EA's motto, because that is definitely not in the game of hockey. When they finally cross the blueline, they are apt to pass the puck indefinitely - wing to D, D to wing, wing back to D, D back to wing, wing back to D - unless you get out of position to attack. Once you do that, since your defense AI is lacking and likes to guard spaces instead of players, you'll get scored on with a wide open one-timer, because their forwards are always around the net. Must be nice.

Other problems, so far, include pucks sliding through my body and stick when I dive, nearly every poke check is a tripping penalty for me (especially irritating when the opposing guy isn't even moving), and near perfect stick-lift abilities from the AI (Superstar-Normal mode).

Talking about the new features: On the plus side, the board play adds a lot to this game. Instead of either checking someone along the boards or sliding off, now you can pin someone for a few moments either in a fight for the puck or to keep them out of the play (don't hold on too long, or you'll get called for interference). There is a problem with this feature though, because even if you are past someone, they can still pin you to the boards. Most refer to that as a "magnet" effect, and it needs fixing (a perfect excuse for NHL 11!). Also, on the good side, it's more enjoyable to play as a goalie, as you can now make a "spread eagle" move and a "windmill move" (stacked pads on one side, then you throw your legs in the air and stack pads on the other). Also, you don't automatically hug the posts anymore when you are pressed to either side, which was a nuisance to me last year.

Summation: But for me, this is an online game only, as a forward, just as NHL 09 was. The EASHL (EA Sports Hockey League) is where you get to play with a character you create, along with up to 11 other people (each playing a position). So, all of the problems with the AI (not going to the net, passing in the neutral zone forever) are gone. Only to be replaced by people who really don't know where they are suppose to be if you don't join a good team -- so join a good team!

My hope is that this update of NHL 09 has removed most of the cheats that were around in 09's online play (curve shot, wrap around, so on) without adding new ones of its own. Time will tell on that and I have my doubts, but what I can say immediately about online play is EA's desire to take every dollar you have will very soon turn me off as a customer. I paid for the game. Give me the whole game.

This season, EA has introduced special equipment "booster packs" you can buy for your Be a Pro player. These "booster packs" make your player better than the other people on line, by increasing your speed or other attributes. In other words, you are getting better not because you are improving (when you did well in NHL 09, you would get player cards that would let you increase your skills - this is still in NHL 10) but because you paid to be better.

For now, NHL 10 is fun for me only as an online game. But, as I fight against more people with these artificially better players, if this is the path EA wants to tread, I'm not sure how much longer I'll be playing.

So, should you buy NHL 10? If you are going to play this in a season mode on your own, offline, I'd say no. If you are going to play online, I say rent it, see how much fun you have, and go from there. If you don't get around to buying it, it's not as though there won't be an NHL 11 or an NHL 110 down the road.

UPDATE (7 October, 2009)

If you've purchased this game already, to help make the game a bit more enjoyable, edit the "Attribute" slider. This makes the star players stick out in offline-Season play, and helps the gameplay a little.

After a few weeks of playing the game, I'm still considering getting rid of it. Online play is the only thing that's keeping me keep this game.

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IF YOU PLAYED 09 AND THOUGHT IT WAS GREAT, WAIT TIL YOU PLAY 10. I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW MUCH BETTER IT IS, AND I THOUGHT 09 WAS THE ELITE. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

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