Hockey is hockey – the game is fundamentally the same whether you have a Frank Mahovlich skating for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the early 1960s, Wayne Gretzky with the Oilers in the 80s, or current all-star Sidney Crosby with the Penguins. Little about the sport has changed, so when you pick up a video-game based off the real-world game, there are elements you know will be there.

EA Sports really nailed the game with last year’s release of NHL ’09. The game was graphically pleasing, and was one of the best sports games of the year. So, since the fundamental game is unchanged, what do you do to up the ante in a franchise title? Well, you find elements of the game, improve on those and release a more robust game. That’s precisely what EA Sports has done with NHL 10.

The game has new features that drive home the ambience of the game and make it react a bit more realistically. The board play is key, especially if you are aggressive in forechecking, and the first-person viewpoint in fights makes for a more entertaining (‘in your face,’ if you will) experience.

If that was all there was, it might have been enough to release, but the dev team didn’t stop there.

Don’t want to play an entire season (there is a new season mode as well; and all modes are customizable) in franchise mode to get to the playoffs? No problem, one of the new modes centers on the playoffs. Battle for the Cup is the series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, while the Playoff mode is the series leading up to the championship/Stanley Cup series.

When you go into franchise mode, there is now a trade deadline in place and trades just became smarter. You can’t stack a team on a shoestring budget, but rather the AI has been improved to scoff at ridiculous trade attempts. On another AI note, the crowd has been tweaked and has a memory. If you come into their arena, get into a fight and beat an opposing player down and/or injure them, the crowd remembers and greets you with boos the next time you play there.

Now to the juicy bits – the board work and fights. The board work is not as hard as it might seem to be, and there is a PS3 trophy available for board work as well. If an opposing player has the puck up against the boards, you tap the triangle button to belly up and begin the wall fight for the puck. On one side (the player looking to keep possession who is first to the boards), the idea is to shield the puck and then kick-pass it to a teammate. The other player is looking to poke the puck free and subsequently get it to a teammate. Hit the triangle button when the player is too far from the wall, or has already passed off the puck and you may find yourself provoking a fight.

Fighting is now in first person and you can grab a handful of jersey and then throw jabs at the other player, or use the left thumbstick to dodge punches aimed at you. The L2 and R2 buttons put you into “turtle” mode, which is flattening out on the ice and surrendering the fight. Because of the new fight elements, the action continues even after the whistle blows. Should you hear the whistle while on offense and continue forward, dumping the puck past the goalie and into the net, you can expect a defensive player to take exception to that and try to knock you around for the insult you just delivered.

A nice graphical touch occurred after a lost fight when a created player (yep, the Be A Pro mode is back and it is a ton of fun) sported the remnants of a black eye for the three games after the fisticuffs session.

When it comes to the look and sound of NHL 10, this is still a top-notch title. The graphics may need a little smoothing out before the mid-September release, but the game is a treat for the eyes. As for the sound – the musical score features a lot of familiar songs from the past and present (yep, that was the Scorpions performing Rock You Like a Hurricane), and the commentary is the best in video-game sports. If Gary Thorne is not the best play-by-play announcer in any sports game, he is right there with the top dogs. The way that the EA dev team has integrated his comments are spot-on with the action, really driving home the reality of the game and making it a vastly entertaining experience. 

One of the hardest things a dev studio can do is to take an existing franchise, one with foundations that are more or less the same year after year, and still manage to find ways to increase the entertainment value. EA Sports did just that. As much fun as NHL ’09 was, NHL 10 is just as much fun. This is a title that should be on the must-have list of any video-game sports fan.

Gameplay: 9.0
There are a few load times, but they are not long and well worth the wait of launching into the game. NHL 10 has an inviting user interface and the control scheme is solid.

Graphics: 9.0
Sure there are a few very tiny clipping issues, but the game looks great when sprawled out across a 42-inch Sony Bravia screen and played from about 4 feet away. The character models are great, the crowds look decent, the game flow is first rate and the game’s ambience reeks of the NHL. This game is a real nice bit of eye candy.

Sound: 8.9
The musical score has some good tunes and there are some repetitive phrases put out there by the announcing tandem of Gary Thorne and Bill Clement. That said, though, Thorne and Clement are arguably the best announcing duo in any sports video-game.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
The power to control and tailor the challenges this game has to offer rests in the hands of the player. And online should prove to have its own fun and challenges, as well.

Concept: 8.8
The game is fundamentally the same as NHL 09 but with some great new additions that up the ante in terms of entertainment value.

Multiplayer: N/A
Online was not available at the time of this review (which is when the game hits retail), but online experiences with NHL ’09 showed a game that was fast-pace, challenging and entertaining.

Overall: 9.0
EA Sports has done it again – they’ve taken a great sports title (NHL ’09) and made improvements that provide more fun, more challenge and a touch more realism to the game mix. Visually enticing and richly entertaining, this may be one of the best sports games of the year.