Developer/Publisher: Distinctive Wireless
Genre: Sports/ Hockey
Price: $3.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Review Platform: iPhone 3G and iPad
Verdict: Unless further updates fix its issues, save your money.
Pros: Well designed controls and graphics.
Cons: AI is too hard. Goalies never block shots.
When I heard that a 3D full hockey game was coming out for the iPhone, I was very skeptical. Then Street Fighter 4 came out and I was forced to reconsider my skepticism about games like this, trying to provide a larger console experience on the iPhone. Unfortunately, while Street Fighter 4 was an amazing triumph for the platform, Hockey Nations 2010 falls a long way from that mark. This game is a great start for the genre, and was very ambitious for the first hockey game to hit the iPhone. Still, it’s not worth spending money on just yet.
First things first, the controls are great. You have a virtual joystick, a shoot button, a pass button, and a turbo button. They’re all nice and responsive on the iPhone, but are WAY too big on the iPad so don’t even try there. The graphics are pretty decent, and are comparable to PS1 with everything being 3D-rendered. The audio is pretty minimalistic, but I prefer that to it being overdone to where it takes away from the game itself.
One thing I really liked about this game is that it didn’t license the NHL teams. It has a team for each country giving it a very Olympic-esque feel. The drawback to this, though, is that some countries just plain suck (I’m looking at you Great Britain!). Thankfully, you can pick whomever you want. While I was playing, I used Canada exclusively.
Where the game fails is its AI. Let me preface this with the fact that I’m no stranger to hockey video games. I’ve played a lot, and I consider myself to be quite good at them. I played my first exhibition game on the normal difficulty. When I lost to Great Britain 14-2, I knew there was a problem. I switched the game down to easy and still lost 7-3. I also spotted another problem while suffering these losses: If a shot on goal is straight at the net, it will go in. The goalie only stops the puck if you’re in his zone and haven’t shot it yet. In all the games I played, I never saw an exception to this. The reason why my scores were always so low were that the computer team always had any player I got the puck to covered by 3-5 players. My shots on goal were almost non-existent because of it.
I played about 30 games before writing this review. I didn’t win a single one. I didn’t even have a close game (the closest was 6-2). Because of this horrible record, I can’t really tell you what the differences are between the different game modes. Everything seemed like it was just an exhibition game because once I lost, it was over.
I think this game/series has a lot of potential. The core of it is well designed. It needs a total overhaul of the AI, though. Until then, buyer beware.












The iTunes store has been known for being extremely strict on publishing requirements for applications. At the same time, some terribly offensive things (like the Baby Shaker app) or blatant copyright infringement (iHomer and iDonkeyKong) have slipped by. This is another case, and I want to make sure everyone is warned because of the nature of this potential scam.







