Very Solid. Way Better Than 2002

Author's Rating:

Pros: You can score in this game! Graphics, audio, interface.

Cons: Replay bug, fluky goals, weird penalties, EA Trackz, arcade feel.

The Bottom Line: 
There is no alternative. The game is solid, despite annoyances, and beats out any competition, once again.

Author's Review
EA Sports hears the same thing about 2 weeks after they release their annual NHL series. They hear all the complaints from people the world over about how terrible the game is, and how many new things they need to implement in order to make the franchise perfect. EA should still hold their head high, however, because 99% of these complaints are asinine and hardly worth paying attention to. However, as I see these complaints year after year, I have come to the conclusion that EA's biggest problem is perhaps the fact that the game is, in general, so solid that "improvements" on the game have become insignificant, thanks to a well-done game engine.

Gameplay:
With that said, I don't think that it does justice to the game to simply look past the part of the franchise that has been so good for so long: the gameplay. Say what you want, no other NHL game has an engine that works so well. Player movements, puck movements, physics, everything is rock solid. The guys at EA Sports obviously put some work into the game to make some of the bad points last year better. For starters, the hitting is much improved. Gone are the days where button-hacks can press the "big-hit" button (which is stupid to begin with) and slam someone through the glass, or flip them like they've been shot out of a catapult.

By far the best improvement in the game is the re-adjustment of the goalies. Last year, if anyone remembers, the goalies were basically stone walls. You could get 90 shots in a game, and you'd be lucky if you got a goal. The computer, of course, could score at will. Those days are gone. The goalies let in all kinds of goals now, ranging from point blasts, to breakaways, to simple wrist shots. It's nice to finally rip slap shots from the point and actually have a chance to score, instead of hopelessly waiting for the goalie to fall down and leave the net wide open. With this comes one problem: fluky goals. Some really stupid goals go in, such as passes into the crease that hit the goalie and go in, or shots from the red line. They happen very rarely, but the trade off is well worth it.

The gameplay controls are still there, which is very useful since the speed is slow on most default settings. The player speed should be boosted a bit from the start, but it's nothing major. Players block shots more realistically, shots miss with more realistic frequency, and the extremely annoying intercepted pass happens far less frequently. Those sorts of things were much-appreciated and quickly noticed by a former hockey player (the only thing not appreciated was the moronic calling of penalties, such as 6 or 7 "checking from behind" ejections, which isn't even a real penalty, when the penalty meter is up to 100%).

With that last comment, I have to say that the game still leans toward the arcade style of things. Passes are a bit too dead-on. The "breakaway cam" (now called the gamebreaker meter which, apparently, you can invoke whenever the meter is full) is ridiculously stupid. You can ask any player on any team, and they'll tell you that the game does not go into slow motion when you're on a breakaway. It's kind of cool idea, but you're so used to the standard gameplay that performing dekes at that speed is nearly impossible. The NHL Cards or EA Cards thing is pretty stupid, as well. You basically collect cards for performing feats from the mundane to the impossible (like winning 1, that's right 1, faceoff or scoring 78 goals in a period or something like that). You get "packs" of cards, some have players, some have cheats. I think it's a dumb idea that obviously caters towards people who play games to beat them, instead of playing them to enjoy them. Similar to another EA game, the Sims, where people develop STRATEGIES. Strategies? For a game in which you live life? Just enjoy the game, quit trying to outsmart it.

Anyhow, you can turn those features off easily, which makes it a non-factor, really. I could mention some other mild bad points, such as the out-dated rosters. I'm a Penguins fan, and it made me laugh hysterically to see Rob freaking Brown on the roster. The guy retired years ago. They also didn't have some under-the-radar trades (an one over-the-rader trade) around the league implemented, but hey, people want the game at the beginning of the season, and you have to make some of those sacrifices. The create a player is well done, and they've finally elimated the useless ratings, like INTENSITY, which did nothing. I still can't understand why you can't use my number, 00, in the game, but I'm glad you can at least put your hometown in, unlike NFL 2K3, where they choose your college for you.


Sound:
I'd be remissed if I didn't mention the audio. All of the sound effects sound terrific, and they even used real NHL crowd noises this time, but it still fails to capture the real excitement of an NHL arena. The crowd sounds real, but it tapers off during goals, which is never the case in the NHL. Noise goes from the time of the goal until the time of the faceoff. No big deal really. The other thing that baffles me is this EA Trackz crap. I thought I was watching an advertisement for mediocrity in music, like Papa Roach, Treble Charger, G.O.B., Default, and Jimmy Eat World. Every time a new song plays, this box pops up with song information... EVEN WHILE YOU'RE IN A GAME. That has to go. The music is alright, but I don't really care what album or record company it's from, since I illegally STEAL MP3s ANYWAY!

The commentary is awesome. It's pretty much the same as last year, but it's still great. A lot of people seem to think that game commentary needs to be 100% factual and accurate, and they hate humor. NHL 2003's commentary is all about laughs. It's not about rolling all over your floor laughing out loud, but it's a nice break in the action. Stuff like:

"We hope you're ready for hockey, hockey, and more hockey."
"Yea, because if you came to see volleyball, you're going to be really, really confused."

are at least humorous and light, as opposed to dull, stat-laden commentary from the past. People seem to loathe the jokes, but I can't help but laugh. Even the PA announcer is pretty funny, "Ladies and gentlemen, as the rink announcer, I can say pretty much anything I want." I dunno, maybe I'm weird. I found the verbal sparring, no matter how ridiculous, way better than hearing some guys say, "shooOOOTs" every 3 seconds, or hearing Bill Clemente make comments that didn't even relate to the goal.

My only MAJOR beef with the game is the very odd replay system. Last year, "EA Game Story" was implemented, which showed replays of past goals that shaped the way the game has unfolded. This year, it's supposed to be there, but there seems to be a bug that hit it. See, the commentators mention something about the replay, and start talking about it, but there's no replay. They show a player slamming his stick, or show the ice with no players on it, but the replay won't load. There's definitely something wrong there.

The interface is great, even better than the last two, which were really awesome. The franchise mode still isn't as fun as it could be, but that's understandable. I mean, all the little kids running around who want to do nothing but beat the game and really don't care about playing hockey would all pick the Rangers, who have the highest payroll. Because of that, it would be difficult to implement a salary feature, since computer controlled Wild and Sabre teams wouldn't be able to sign free agents, and the Rangers, Blues, Flyers, Maple Leafs, Red Wings, and Avalanche, would take Kovalev from the Pens, Kariya from the Ducks, Kovalchuk from the Thrashers, etc. Free agent signings try to simulate this, by having players relatively unhappy to sign with teams like the Penguins, while they are thrilled to sign with the Rangers. Retirment is a big problem, as players retire at the first sign of statistical drop off. Mario Lemieux retires if he doesn't score 300 goals, and there seemed to be 50 or 60 retired players when I simulated a season for the hell of it.

All in all, however, the game is tremendous, as it always has been, and probably always will be. Yes, they call fake penalties like checking from behind that don't even exist, and yes, the game is a big ad for crappy music, and yes, the replays don't work, but the gameplay is solid, and that's what matters. It's not exactly like NHL hockey, but you can adjust it to be pretty darn close. EA has made a lot of improvement over last years debacle, and I look foward to seeing where they go from here. For now, I've got my NHL 2003 Pens season to attend to, thank you very much.