Buy this game at EBGames

Reviews/Previews/Features/Goodies/Anime/Classics/Links/Contact

Platform: NGC, PC, PS2, XB

Developer: EA Canada

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Genre: Sports

ETA: Fall 2002

NHL 2003

With a game series that is released annually – something that seems to be exclusive to sports games – there’s always a bit of trepidation of the results.  Will it be a simple statistical update with a few minor cosmetic changes?  What can possibly be added?  EA Canada’s NHL series is one such sports game that is always looking to improve itself from year to year.  While 2003’s edition looks to add a few features and improve gameplay – I’ve never heard of a game that wanted to worsen gameplay – there are a few notable additions.

First, the graphics and animation engines are “all-new”.  Last year’s edition looked pretty good, but 2003 is looking even better with sharper textures – if you're a big NHL fan you don’t have to see their number to know who they are.  A “Game Breaker” meter has been added.  Once this meter is filled by scoring goals and “performing dynamic dekes” you can go into “Max Payne” mode for a bit more drama.  On paper, this sounds a little lame – too much of a “me too” vibe.  But my mole at EA tells me it’s actually “really cool” and is implemented well – but of course he’s playing the beta. (He also made mention of SSX Tricky 2 in the planning stages, but that's a whole other story!)  He also went on about the new deke control whereby you hold the deke button then press one of 8 directions to perform a different deke.  This will address complaints by die-hards that the few default dekes just weren’t good enough.

Goalie AI has been improved – at least that’s the claim.  However, more save animations are promised to better reflect some of the flopping that goes on in NHL.  Overall AI is handled by gameplay sliders, which return from last year.

What is not mentioned is if Jim Hughson and Don Taylor will return to do play-by-play and color commentary.  I’m assuming they will. (Maybe “hoping” is a better word since I really enjoyed their banter.)  A big part of NHL experience are the sounds and EA is finally going to do it justice with “One the Ice” sound.  I’ll quote this directly: “Sound captured from actual professional hockey games so users will experience the authentic sounds of a hockey game from ice level, including chatter from the bench, players shouting, and sticks and blades scraping the ice.”  Basically, NHL 2003 will get an “M” rating from the ESRB if this is accurate.  (There’s a reason that TV crews keep their audio equipment away from the team benches – just read the players' lips.)  But no matter what rig you run NHL 2003 on it should be an aural pleasure because EA’s supporting Surround-Dolby-everything audio.

One last aspect that deserves a mention is the improved GameStory feature that promises to track player performance from game to game.  I’m glad to see this because it makes more sense to hear the play-by-play man make comparisons of a player’s performance between the current situation and and what happened in the last game.

Some aspects are obviously going to be carried over from previous incarnations, but with the new additions, NHL 2003 is shaping up to be the best version yet.  Look for it on the PC and all console platforms Fall 2002.

- Omni

(July 7, 2002)