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Reviewed by Rick Tittle This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Concerning the annual sports sequels that EA marches into video game stores every year, I usually get about as excited as an overstuffed lemur.  This season’s Madden title was worse than the last one, the Tiger Woods game was a yawner, and NCAA Football got only slightly better.  So let me now unabashedly remove all reservations in order to let you know that NHL ’10 is a superior game.

It is the best hockey game ever made, bar none.  It rocks.  It rolls.  It will grill your steak and remove all the fat.  Can you tell I like NHL ’10?

The EA NHL franchise is one built upon a fantastic pedigree.  Beginning on the Genesis, the original NHL incarnation was 16 bits of pure bliss.  Subsequent forays onto the PS1 and PS2 did not disappoint, either.  The franchise has now reached the promised land, and within that land resides the PS3 and XBOX 360.  I would find myself playing this game and forgetting that it was not a television broadcast.  The voices of Gary Thorne and Bill Clement add to the realism in ways I can’t describe.  They have real discussions in very passionate and hard-hitting instances, instead of something out of Blades of Steel (“with the pass…with the pass”.)  The graphics are clean and the rinks outstanding.  The ice gets more dull and loses it’s sheen as the period wears on, thus the need for a Zamboni to come out and polish it up.  Beauty!  The fighting system is improved, as well.  Now you can instigate fights by jawing at somebody after a whistle blows, and the action is strictly POV.  That fist coming into your tv screen?  Yeah, it kind of hurts, right?  Awesome!

There is also the GM mode, where you can use your hockey acumen to build a successful organ-eye-zation from the ground up.  You can still create a player with your name on the back of the sweater.  You can go online and compare your incredible, Ovechkin-style goals with the multi-player throng.  The crowd will get you pumped up and litter the ice with hats if you can manage a hat trick.  It’s got it all, truly.  Perhaps one of the only missteps with this title is that sometimes the AI is a bit lacking.  I’ve seen some pretty stupid passes made by befuddled computer opponents.  But I’d rather have that then to be facing a console which takes on the role of Wayne Gretzky and pounds me into submission every game.

I give this game a solid 9.  It’s so good that I’ve completely forgotten about last year’s edition, which was a great game, as well.  Now if only I get my Sharkies to win the Cup in real life, too…