Sucker for hockey(?)

Let me start by saying I’m not a hockey fanatic but I do support the Finnish hockey team when it’s time to try for the world championship. Playing NHL 2k10, I realized how much I enjoy seeing my team get goals. I was jumping up and down and yelling my girlish screams of victory even when I was home alone and then cursing whenever my goalie couldn’t save a snap shot from the blue line. I also shouted at the players and referees for being donkey holes or just for their plain stupidity. Which brings me to what’s wrong with the game: the controls… my god, they are awful. It’s like trying to control a deaf blind man in a tar pit. Of course playing against AI players which are all embedded inside some kind of hivemind where they share each other’s senses and understand the pattern of everyone’s movements, it’s hard for me, a human player, to share this power with my team. I have to literally do EVERYTHING myself. A good example of this  would be that when in offensive I try to pass the puck towards a friendly AI player’s route of movement (as in where he was SUPPOSED to be skating towards) immediately after the puck left my character’s handling the AI thought we had lost the puck and started skating towards the defensive zone. At first I didn’t mind all that much but as I’ve played more and more I’ve noticed this sh*t happens ALL THE BLOODY TIME. It’s like my team has lost every bit of skill they have at playing hockey and I have to take over. Not being a fan neither a long time player of the series it seems a bit unfair. Sure I could crank the difficulty down a notch or two but that would make me a homosexual. 

NHL2k10 is a good party game however. I played it with my friend last Friday before going out to drink some booze etc. The only thing was that we got so pulled in by the versus mode that before we even knew it was midnight. So again a game’s best side is brought out by the multiplayer function, which is pretty controversial. I wise man once said that “a game needs to be able to support itself on single player alone” and this is what I agree with. Then again, a game like NHL 2k10 which is mostly about teamwork cannot be blamed for this.  

In conclusion:  

I enjoyed it, but whether or not you will, I do not know. Ask yourself this: are you ready to spend a few hours first learning to play a sports game in order to be good at it, AND will you get the same kind of thrills as I get when you see a circular piece of vulcanized rubber penetrate the insides of a rectangular fishing net with iron bars. If yes then by all means try NHL2k10. I did, and it surprised me in a positive way.