NHL 10
Sorti le 15 septembre 2009 sur PlayStation 3 et Xbox 360, NHL 10 constitue le dix-neuvième opus de la série de simulation sportive développée par EA Canada et éditée par EA Sports. Le jeu a été présenté au public lors du Hockey Fest '09, un festival interactif de trois jours célébrant le hockey et les Kings de Los Angeles, qui s'est tenu du 28 au 30 août dans le centre-ville de Los Angeles. La campagne marketing s'articulait autour de la devise « Good Old Hockey », accompagnée par la chanson « The Hockey Song » de Stompin' Tom Connors. Cet épisode marque une rupture dans la distribution de la franchise : c'est le premier titre de la série sous l'égide EA Sports à ne pas bénéficier d'une version PC, et le premier depuis NHL 2001 à faire l'impasse sur la PlayStation 2. Les services en ligne du jeu ont été définitivement arrêtés le 1er octobre 2011.
Côté réception, le titre obtient une note agrégée de 82,73. La presse spécialisée a salué la qualité de l'ensemble, Gamervision le qualifiant de « titre presque sans faille » dont seuls les joueurs les plus cyniques relèveraient les défauts mineurs. GamePro soulignait quant à lui une progression constante depuis quatre ans, depuis l'introduction du « skill stick », chaque itération apportant son lot d'améliorations. Du côté des joueurs, les retours recueillis sur Metacritic mettent en avant un excellent rapport qualité-prix et une expérience globalement agréable qui ne lasse pas, même si le mode « Be A Pro » est jugé manquant de réalisme par certains.
Médias
Avis des critiques et joueurs
Critiques de la Presse (Metacritic)
« A nearly flawless title; only the most cynical and jaded gamers will take issue with any of the game’s extremely minor problems. »
« It's now been four years of exceptional releases since the introduction of the skill-stick and every year has been made steadily better, adding more and more features and refining them to such a degree that it should come as no surprise that NHL 10 is by far the best hockey game put out, a clear cut game of the year contender, and possibly the best sports game ever released. »
« So if you are a fan of the NHL or even just a casual fan of sports, you should do yourself a service and pick up a copy of NHL 10. In one word…Amazing! »
« If you like hockey, this is the game for you. »
« There has never been a sports video game that has combined such silky smooth playability, technical excellence, fantastic AI, and respect for the game as presented here. »
« Hockey players and fans will be thrilled by this game, and even casual fans will find the game engaging, easy to pick up and play, and nearly impossible to put down.. NHL 10 is more of a simulation than a 'game' as such, but they know exactly what needed to be done and when and did it. »
« EA deserves kudos for recognizing what worked well in the brilliant NHL 09 title, and making slight, smart tweaks and additions for the spectacular NHL 10. This one has the legs to keep you very busy until next year's inevitable NHL 11. »
« While the franchise mode has its faults, it’s still vastly improved over last year’s offering. Coupled with the other outstanding modes and the most polished gameplay in the sports genre, NHL 10 is still more than worth the price of admission. »
Avis des Joueurs (Metacritic)
« I bought this game two weeks ago at a retro video game store. Best 3 Bucks of my life. Coming from a person whose first NHL Game was NHL 08, I was blown away. I don't know if It's the nostalgia from NHL 08 and 09, or the Roster of greats from my childhood, but it was an amazing decision to buy this game. »
« I've found myself playing this game a ton in the past few months. It's really enjoyable and doesn't really get too boring. The "Be A Pro" mode isn't very realistic. It starts you off at the beginning of games as well as at the end of intermissions as the first line out there. Which doesn't really make sense, neither does the expectations to stay on a NHL team at the beginning. But Be a pro is still really fun and enjoyable. Playing it with friends is always a fun time and overall the game is really good. »
« I've never played NHL 09, but when I got my hands on this game I fell in love with it. It's one of the best sports games I've ever played, and way better then NHL 2K10. »
« Outside of the default settings resulting in a game with too much offense, it's the best hockey game ever made - bar none. Great feel to the game - skating, passing, shooting... even the checking feels pretty solid. »
« For some reason i had much more fun playing 09 but still this game was a good one. Goalie mode was by far the upside of this game and because nhl games seem to get better every year i give this a 7.8 »
