Platform: Dreamcast

Genre: Sports

Publisher: Sega

ESRB: E (Everyone)

Released: Q1 2002

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NHL 2K2

Score: 8/10

Pros:

- The game plays at a steady, smooth pace
- The graphics are clean and crisp
- The goal celebrations are awesome to watch
- The passing system gives you complete control over the game

Cons:

- The lack of a solid camera angle makes shooting a guessing game
- The deke, protect puck, and slap shot controls are all too bunched together
- No zamboni!

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Review: NHL 2002 (Playstation 2)

Review: NHL 2002 (PC)

"...The game falls short of being great, but nonetheless is a very solid hockey game..."

I will admit, before NHL 2k2 came in the mail, it had been a while since I had played my Dreamcast. I had played a few of the other Sega Sports games on the PS2, but my DC had been collecting dust. What do I have to say about NHL 2k2? It was well worth the dust cleaning.

As much as I decry the importance of graphics in the long run to a game's value, they are the first thing that you notice. In this facet, NHL 2k2 does an extremely solid job.

I think some of the player's faces are mapped in the game, but there are generally four or five generic faces that are used, which is not a problem for me because the player's bodies are very smooth. The game keeps up to par with the other Sega Sports Dreamcast games.

NHL 2K2 treats you to a number of little, cool effects. You can see the ice marks that the hockey players leave when they are skating and the plexi-glass shakes when you knock an opponent or a hockey puck into it.

One of the areas that Visual Concepts hoped to improve upon from last year's game was the speed and number of gameplay animations. I didn't play last year's game, but I like what the game has to offer.

I noticed that the passing in the game was very smooth. You have the ability to pass the puck not only to your teammate, but aim it. What I mean is that not only can you pass the puck to player A, but you can pass it a little in front or behind him. I love passing the puck in this game and it is taken to another level when you use a great passing team like the Colorado

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Avalanche. If you need to stall because you are trying to kill a power play, you actually feel like you have the opportunity to do it because of the great passing engine.

There is much more to love about the gameplay. Unlike in EA's NHL 2002 or Midway's NHL Hitz, 2k2 implements a bit of a momentum factor that is seen in EA's football games. In other hockey games I have found that you can turn on a dime anytime you want with any player. While it helps in scoring goals and dominating the CPU, it's not very realistic.

I noticed in 2k2, that if you try to change directions with someone not named Sergei Federov, you simply wouldn't be able to make the cut without some delay. At first, I grew frustrated with this gameplay quirk, but I learned to love it. I don't normally watch a lot of non-playoffs NHL hockey, but I tuned into a couple of games and the turning ability of the players was similar to that of the players in 2k2.

Aside from skating and passing, the third main aspect to a hockey game is shooting the puck. As effortless and real as the two aforementioned tasks were, shooting was painful and faux!

The main problem with shooting was the control set-up. You have one button (the X button) for the standard wrist shot, but to use a slap shot you have to also press the L trigger on the back of the controller. Not that unreasonable you say? Well to set yourself up for the slap shot, you need a certain amount of space to get the shot off, but all the buttons are too jammed pack together for you to create space for yourself. When I tried to re-configure the buttons, the necessary moves I needed to have were taking the main buttons usually saved for pass and body check.

Maybe the awkward control set-up would be a little more acceptable if it were not for the equally lousy camera angles. I found that the over-the-top camera angle was fine for gameplay, but really lousy for shooting. The camera angle was too high and you couldn't get a good view of the goalie and the net. I tried the lowest camera angle, the action camera angle, but then all I saw was a mass of bodies! So I resorted to playing with the over-the-top camera angle and just shooting blindly at the goal.

The shooting and the camera angle really frustrate me because everything else is so fun. I loved the passing, the defense, and all that lies between, but your hard work seems for naught because of the shooting deficiency.

The in-game sounds in NHL 2k2 are very solid. You will hear every bone-jarring hit and the sound of the skates on the ice. The game also does a good job of using stadium music (the standard stadium music and the pipe organ) and the crowd follows the game's action. The play-by-play, normally a strength in the Sega Sports library, is mediocre in NHL 2k2. The first couple of games I appreciated the announcer's "two cents" on both players and teams, but after the comments were severely rehashed I found the two-man crew annoying and turned them off. I would hear the same generic comment about Peter Forsberg two or three times a game!

The number of gameplay options is not outstanding, but provides enough for the casual gamer. There is a create-a-player which I found to be very useful when I needed an extra player. There is also a fantasy draft that you can access when playing in the "season" game mode.

Overall, I thought NHL 2k2 was a solid hockey gaming experience. The gameplay rocks, the game looks great, and the stadiums sounds are awesome. But the shooting quirks and frustrating camera angles really bothered me. The game falls short of being great, but nonetheless is a very solid hockey game.

- Tim Martin

(March 17, 2002)

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