For
years, Electronic Arts has been the king of video hockey with its
NHL series. While there have been contenders to the throne, no one
who was serious about their hockey would play any game that didn't
have the EA Sports logo on it. EA has traditionally been the
600-pound gorilla that sits where it wants to, and whom no one could
possibly budge.
That is,
until Sega Sports unveiled their latest entry into the hockey arena,
NHL 2K3. And then there was light. And it was good. In comparison
with EA's lackluster and unoriginal NHL 2003, NHL 2K3 is like a
breath of fresh air. It still leaves something to be desired in its
presentation, but the superior gameplay more than makes up for the
fact that the game is a bit rough around the edges.
To be
sure, Sega's NHL 2K series got off to quite the rocky start.
Debuting on their Dreamcast with the aptly named NHL 2K, the
freshman entry in the series was arguably one of the worst hockey
games in recent memory. In fact, it was so bad that Sega decided to
not release a hockey game for the 2000-2001 season, in order to give
the franchise over to a new developer who would rebuild it from the
ground up. Visual Concepts, the development team behind Sega's
successful NFL 2K series, took over the hockey reins from Blackbox
(who went on to develop the NHL Hitz games for Midway,
incidentally), and released NHL 2K2 for the Dreamcast. While much
improved over its predecessor, Dreamcast owners had already moved on
to the greener pastures of other consoles by the time that NHL 2K2
was released.
So, for
all intents and purposes, NHL 2K3 is Sega's first foray into an
all-out multi-platform clash with Electronic Arts' hockey giant. As
far as the actual gameplay is concerned, Sega measures up more than
admirably. There is a note of caution here: NHL 2K3 is a true hockey
simulation. What this means is that there are no real bells and
whistles like EA's NHL cards system, or "Hero" players that step up
when your team is down in the third period, or any shenanigans like
that. What NHL 2K3 provides is an accurate representation of hockey.
Passes don't always connect magically, players can't stop on a dime,
and goalies actually give up a decent number of rebounds. To the
casual hockey fan, this may not be desirable, but for the diehard
hockey buff, this is pure heaven.
The
attention to detail is obvious in the control scheme alone. To
illustrate the point, NHL 2K3 comes with a 40-page manual, and fully
half the manual is dedicated to describing the control schemes.
There are actually three control schemes: basic, intermediate, and
advanced. The basic control scheme should be more or less second
nature to anyone who has ever picked up a hockey game, and allows
access to all the main maneuvers, like passing, checking, and
shooting. The intermediate adds a few more moves, like a flip pass
and sidestepping, to the existing control scheme. Advanced is for
the hardest of the hardcore, using the L1 button in combination with
the four face buttons to provide the most precise control over your
players. For example, square shoots, but holding L1 with square will
produce an instant slap shot. Similarly, on defense, square will
execute a poke check, but combined with L1 as a modifier, your
player will hook instead. There's an almost overwhelming number of
options when using the most advanced control scheme, and that should
be enough to keep every serious hockey gamer happy.
My main
complaint about the control schemes is that they are not
configurable. I am forced to stick with the basic control scheme
because I am most comfortable having my speed burst button set to
circle, as opposed to R1. Unfortunately, that means that I am locked
out of options I would like to have, like deking, for instance. It
seems to me that with all the options that are available, it's
almost a no-brainer to allow the player to choose which buttons work
best for him. I mean, with twenty pages of control setup, there's no
way that every button will be in the right place for every player.
One other
issue I have with control is the manner by which you adjust your
strategy in the middle of the game. If you need to adjust your
strategy, you can't do it by pausing the game and using a menu, as
one would expect. Instead, you need to use the d-pad or right analog
stick, in conjunction with R1, to change strategy. This wouldn't be
so bad if you could do it in between plays, but you can't. So, while
you're in the middle of a play, you're taking your hand off the left
analog stick to adjust your strategy, make line changes, or alter
your aggression level. I like being able to change my team's playing
style on the fly, but I'd also like to be able to do it in between
plays, when I can actually have time to look at the choices
available to me. Again, it's minor, as there aren't that many times
in a game that you have to do that, but it can be extremely annoying
when it does come up.
As far as
the presentation of the game is concerned, this is an area where NHL
2K3 falls slightly behind its competitor in some respects. It should
be noted, however, that Sega's recent partnership with ESPN makes a
whole world of difference as far as the atmosphere of the game.
Hearing the SportsCenter theme playing behind the main menu does
more for me than any punk-rock song that EA has ever chosen to
feature. Other little touches that show themselves along the way
(like the familiar ESPN in-game graphics that you see on National
Hockey Night, and the sports ticker that occasionally pops up in
between plays to update you on scores from the rest of the league)
really add to the feeling that you're watching the game on TV as
much as you're playing in it.
Unfortunately, the rest of the game doesn't do as much justice to
hockey graphically. There's nothing particularly wrong with the
graphics, but at the same time there's nothing particularly
appealing about them. Most of the players look very much alike (with
the occasional exception of the player with a goatee), and they
generally have only one facial expression. I've never seen a bunch
of guys look so unemotional as they jumped up and down after their
team scored a goal. Another thing to mention is that there are some
pretty obvious graphical bugs, like logos getting swapped, and
behind-the-goalie replays that are shown from behind the goalie on
the wrong end of the ice. These are more little things that you tend
to notice after playing for a while, though, and they don't get in
the way of the gameplay. For the more superficial player, EA's
graphics are much slicker than Sega's are, but NHL 2K3's graphics
certainly do get the job done adequately.
The audio
presentation is about on par with the graphics. While the commentary
is nowhere near as annoying as the stand-up comedy routine that
poses as play-by-play in NHL 2003, NHL 2K3's commentary does come
off as being very generic. You'll hear the same lines over and over
again very quickly, and the color commentator generally doesn't tend
to add too much insight into the game's progression. Music is
similarly generic, with no real recognizable songs in between plays,
and some truly awful techno music that sounds like it came straight
out of a menu screen from Sega GT. Nothing is overly offensive (you
probably won't be reaching for the mute button) but the sound could
use some reworking in next season's release.
Since
this is a modern PS2 sports game, the discussion of online play is
inevitable. NHL 2K3, unfortunately, has no online support, which is
fairly surprising given that the network adaptor had been out for a
couple of months prior to NHL 2K3's release. What is offered in its
place is the Sega Sports Challenge, in which you play games against
the computer and then receive a code that you can post to
segasports.com to see how you compare to other players. I could see
how that could be fun for a little while, I'd rather just play my
season if I can't play against someone else in real time.
Overall,
despite some aesthetic problems, NHL 2K3 is easily the best hockey
game of the season. It takes every bad decision that EA made in
regards to its NHL franchise and makes it good. My copy of NHL 2003
started to collect dust after only a few games; NHL 2K3, on the
other hand, has barely left my PS2 once I bought it. It may not be
the prettiest game around, and it certainly does have some kinks to
be ironed out. Despite all that, though, NHL 2K3 provides the most
accurate and fun video hockey experience out of all the games
available this season. It may have hit shelves a couple of months
after hockey season began, but NHL 2K3 was well worth the wait.
