2K’s Final Hockey Hurrah on the PS2 Misses the Net

nhl2k10_ovechkin580pxThe NHL 2K series was born and originally thrived on the Sega Dreamcast 10 years ago, but it cemented its reputation on the Playstation 2 with ESPN NHL Hockey 2K4 and the bargain bin priced 2K5, which was much better than anything Electronic Arts could muster at the time. Five games later however, the NHL 2K series is barely treading above water on the 360 and even though it’s the only game in town for the PS2 this season, it fails to deliver any real thrills.

That’s not to say it’s a bad game; it’s just flat in nearly every single aspect, making it an easy to play hockey sim, but an awfully plain one as well.

The game’s graphics for instance haven’t changed much since “NHL 2K5” and at this point are an eyesore. While most star players bare a resemblance to their real-life counterparts, many don’t look like themselves at all. For example, New York Islanders youngster Kyle Okposo is whiter than Opie from “The Andy Griffin Show,” in spite of being part Nigerian. The animations are also sloppy and can easily be seen as inferior upon watching instant replay.

Small mistakes like this ruin a game that still plays solid and take away from the overall fun.

Yes, we know the game is 20 bucks and it’s on a system on its last leg, but is that an excuse for mistakes that are that obvious?

The same thing goes for the presentation, as the crowd is inane and possesses the width of cardboard cut outs. The commentary, which does nothing but annoy you throughout your time on the ice, is also lame. The color commentary is weak and far from insightful, while the play by play announcer seems to have trouble keeping up with the play. When he’s on his game, he’ll often call out a player’s name for no reason- another annoyance on a growing list of them.

On the gameplay front, the game is still fun, but feels like it’s been stripped down to its undies and socks. In spite of having online multiplayer and a handful of other modes, the game still feels bare. The overall action on the ice luckily is still solid, but just like the graphics, the controls and other options haven’t aged nearly as well as they could have.

For anyone who is forced to buy this game, have it be a multitude of reasons, like not having the dough to buy a Wii, 360 or a PS3, the PS2 version of “NHL 2K10” is a nice way of pushing you towards the future. Unpolished, but serviceable overall, “NHL 2K10” is a reminder of a time when we didn’t ask for everything to be perfect in our sports games and sheer gameplay could win us over.

Luckily for gamers everywhere and unfortunately for 2K and the PS2, today, the world deserves a better class of games.

A class of games that the system can no longer give.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14260 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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