NHL 2003

For years now, the NHL series has thrived on an exciting mixture of arcadey action and hockey, and this year?s edition doesn?t mess with that success.

The new features in NHL 2003 fall more in the category of under-the-hood tinkering than blockbuster developments. The momentum meter has been dropped in favor of a game-breaker meter, which lets you bust a cool slo-mo shot once it?s full. Deking and stickwork have received tons of attention, and you can now manually control your stick?s movement, which lets you try to strut your stuff and fake out goalies and defenders. Overall, the feel of the stick and puck working together has been greatly improved?you?re not just steering a skater around, you?re controlling his skating and his stickwork.

Old hands might find it slightly jerky at first, but once tamed, the controls really rock and open up new moves to master. None of which is huge stuff, but fans of the series will be enormously pleased. And of course, standards like a ten-season Franchise mode, player creation, custom teams, trades, NHL Cards, fighting, and more return to fill out the roster.

The gameplay has also been tightened and tuned. The games are still high-scoring and action-heavy, but the A.I. players perform a little more smartly than they did last year, and NHL 2003 certainly plays far more like real hockey than NHL Hitz. But it?s the lack of hockey smarts than will alienate hardcore hockey fans in the long run. It?s really tough to take the defense-first approach that?s common in the NHL because the A.I. is so offense-oriented that it just can?t hang. For instance, breakaways are rampant because your defensemen simply don?t get back to cover your zone like they should. It all adds up to a game that shines in multiplayer action but lacks staying power on the one-player side.

The visuals score with awesome new animations that give the players more graceful movements, but unless the players are superstars, their faces are usually rough approximations. Snazzy goal replays cue up thumpin? music and give you another a look at clutch goals with a killer, stylized flair, while those great cut-scenes capture authentic moments like trainers rushing out to treat injuries or players flipping the puck to linesmen. The fan-reaction shots are pretty lame, though.

On the audio side, you can choose between on-ice sound or that two-man comedy routine posing as commentary. If you liked it last year, you?ll enjoy the new jokes, but if their schtick makes you sick, you?ll be thankful for the on-ice option, which plays sounds from the ice level, including player chatter and fan jeers. It?s definitely a bit quiet, though.

Sega hasn?t unveiled NHL 2K3 yet, but it?ll probably run more toward a realistic, simulation feel. NHL Hitz has the over-the-top end of the spectrum covered, and NHL 2003 occupies a comfortable, popular spot in the middle ground. The bottom line this season with NHL 2003 is that you know this gameplay: There?s been a lot of excellent tuning but no mammoth overhauls. If hockey?s all about offense for you, you?ll be grinning like Ray Bourque did when he finally hoisted the Cup.

Comments [0]

post a comment

Post a Comment