NHL 2K10 (works with Wii MotionPlus)

"To say that this game is a value at its price is an understatement...  Mark Bozon, IGN.com
"One of the more visually pleasing NHL 2K games in this franchise...  Natalie Romano, GameZone.com
"If you love hockey you will love this, it's one of the best around.  Jon Wills, WonderWallWeb
"...a must-buy for anyone remotely interested in the sport.  GameTrailers.com

Game Informer 6 of 10
With unresponsive skating and stickhandling skills, NHL 2K10 is a troubled hockey prospect. After taking the ice with a polished game like EA's NHL 10, going to Visual Concepts' latest hockey game feels like switching the channel between a pro hockey game and a high school hockey tournament. The new skating system falls flat on the ice, with cumbersome, rigid movement that lacks agility and stubbornly relies on speed burst and backpedal buttons. These feel like antiquated holdovers from previous eras, considering real hockey players skate all out on every shift and switch effortlessly between skating forwards and backwards. Coupled with wooden animations, limited pro stick controls, a bare bones franchise mode, and inferior online team play compared to the EASHL, NHL 2K10 sails too many shots over the crossbar. With so many red flags, we recommend passing this prospect over. - Matt Bertz

WorthPlaying.com 8 of 10
2K Sports' NHL 2K10 is a game of comparisons. It's unavoidable. If 2K10 were the only NHL-licensed title available for Xbox 360 this year, we'd be talking about how much improved the title is over previous years' efforts, how solid and well-rounded the track selection in 2K Beats, how thrilling the game-opening animations, how much the controls have been improved, how much fun it is to play one-on-one or, online, six-on-six. How fantastic it is they built in support not only for four-player co-op offline, but an entire team, including the goalie, in the online co-op mode. We'd commend the game's strengths and gently point out what we'd like to see changed in next year's version...But NHL 2K10 is not the only hockey title on Xbox 360 this year: It's up against EA's juggernaut, NHL 10. Bear in mind, last year's EA NHL game, NHL 09, was heralded among many sports sim fans as the greatest hockey game since 1994, and in hockey video game circles, that's saying a lot, perhaps even too much. It's expected that if EA's new game doesn't improve upon last year's model, it at least will be as good as the best hockey title since 1994. That's a tall order, trying to leapfrog a franchise that's been troubled in the past but lately has set itself well on course, a game series now widely lauded as the best thing since frozen water. NHL 2K 10, however, does try. It tries very hard to not only to be better, but also to avoid a completely copycat style of gameplay. Yet it doesn't quite reach the lofty heights of its competitor...Overall, with some great presentation and truly fun video game hockey, not to mention a laundry list of features and without doubt clear improvements over the past couple years of the franchise, NHL 2K10 is a worthy hockey title. It just isn't likely to be the most worthy hockey title this year. Perhaps the best praise I can ladle onto 2K10 is that I was actually looking forward to bashing this title for its bad graphics, gameplay glitches, ridiculous commentary and often perverse CPU AI. After spending many enjoyable hours with the game, however, I can do nothing but recommend it as a lesser, imperfect, but still quite reasonable alternative to EA's NHL license, especially if you'd just as soon save the $10 difference between the two games' retail prices. - Sanford May

GamingAge.com 8 of 10
The two hockey games up for grabs become more entrenched in their identity every year. EA's NHL series is known as an attempt to simulate the sport as it's played in real life while 2K Sports puts out a game that welcomes players onto the ice by encouraging them to take on the roles of the stars and score, score, score. Until one or the other backs up and calls a 'do-over' to remake their game from the ground up, the decision is all about which game improves what's in their wheelhouse from year to year. It's about polishing what is already looking pretty good...NHL 2K9 had a few flaws, and one of them was the appearance of the players. Jerseys looked strange and close ups of faces looked even stranger. That's in the past, and everything about 2K10 looks fantastic. That includes some new animations which are even more smooth than before. The rinks are gorgeous, but not as beautiful as the view when playing outside in Pond Hockey mode...Playing the game is still a matter of mastering fast skating and passing to beat relatively stoic defense. NHL 2K10 is fast and stacked on the side of scoring. Controls are easy - we went back and forth between traditional button layouts and stick controls - which shifts the emphasis onto mastering passing and shooting. Playing against live people, which can include up to a live player for every man on the ice, means defense can make a huge difference in the game because most people won't be used to facing it...But the computer doesn't poke the puck away as often as it could and doesn't stop nearly as many breakaways as it could. So when playing someone live online, the game becomes much more evenly balanced. But either way, it's never been more fun to pull off moves with the puck on your stick. The controls work smoothly to give the player what the player wants - the feeling of being really good at hockey...Both NHL games, one from EA and one from 2K Sports, have been making incremental changes the past few years to improve upon their promise. EA's game has grown into the role of the hockey simulation, while NHL 2K has become a better and better version of what hard core hockey fans see as a casual game - lots of scoring. This year is no different, and NHL 2K10 has made some of the most needed improvements while staying consistent to its identity - as a welcoming game that gives us the chance to play like the Ovechkins and Crosbys. - Kent Bardo