NHL 10 Demo

As most of you know by now, the NHL 10 Demo has been released for xbox live Gold members.

The demo is a very in depth demo with both V.S. and Be A Pro modes.

The new board play feature both works and could cause problems. It is fun and causes forechecking to be a large part of the game. But the pinning feature appears too powerful. If you are near a defender, with the puck along the boards, you more than likely will get pinned.

Sometimes you can draw a penalty this way but it is much like the original stick lift, simply too effective and to likely to be abused. Hopefully it is tuned down a little bit so that a defender cannot trap a forward full speed coming down the wing.

Once pinned, you do need to use trategy to make sure your team retains possession of the puck. Whether to move it right away or wait till you have room to move it has to be considered. Puck possession will be huge this year and our team needs to work on that.

There are also many more rebounds, deflections, blocked shots and caroms that make the game much more realistic. Goalies are much more agile this year, often making amazing saves and frustrating the shooter. I find the goalie play much improved this year, with more realistic goals.

Passing will also take some time to get used to. Gone are the days where a no look backhander from the corner will find your tape through 4 sets of legs. This will be the year of dirty goals and screen shots, which is also more realistic.