It Grows On You
The main aspect that will make or break NHL 10 for players is the new passing system. Personally I think the best way to describe it is semi-assisted, where last years installment was completely assisted. What this means is that you will have to know where your players are on the ice where as last year you could just pass it for the sake of passing it and the result would be a perfect pass nine times out of ten. How good a player is at passing also plays a factor giving the game a nice boost in terms of realism.
The defense has also been much improved. This year they do a great job of intercepting passes that have no business being completed. Combine that with the slightly more difficult passing and you have less people trying to beat you with 18 behind the net one timers. I wish you could get a little bit more mobility with poke checks but that should be easy to fix. The goalie also does a better job this time around of stopping cheese goals.
The offense has also been revamped. No longer is every slap shot a 100 mph rocket. Instead you need time, space, and a capable player to even attempt such a feat. The addition of rebound shots adds a whole new dimension to the game and if you know how to attack you should be able to get one or two of these goals per game, which is akin to real hockey. The only problem with the rebound shots though is that a few people use blue line shots all game in hopes of getting a rebound goal, I guess this replaces the behind the net one timers that people lived and died on last year. Dump and chase now has more variety with the ability to push a low line drive or a high fly ball.
On a side note the ability to add your own music in menu and over the PA speaker for games is a wonderfully executed option. It's nice to finally not have to worry about the soundtrack getting stale because if it does you now have the ability to change it.
Of course as good as NHL 10 is it isn't without it's faults. Boardplay while a welcome addition has the potential to be exploited as players can get unrealistically sucked in. On the plus side though it does make players more careful behind the net. Checking is also way to effective. Hockey is a physical sport but defenders usually rely on poke checks to take care of the puck handler. The diving poke checks are also way to effective in their own right and probably need to be fixed for next years installment.
Also while the new tough guy system adds some variety the fact of the matter is that the refs are way to liberal after plays. Players frequently get away with cheap hits that would easily result in a real penalty. Plus it gets annoying when people go for a slapshot everytime they have the puck after a play prompting a brawl. EA really needs to fix the after whistle game and hand out penalties to people that take cheap shots. Faceoffs also need to be changed from the perfect passes to the gritty sloppy ones that real face offs produce.
In the end NHL 10 is an improvement over it's highly awarded predecessor. It does have a slight learning curve but if you know how to play real hockey then you'll find this game to be a pleasant surprise.