Games Database
PC
Sport: Ice Hockey
| Also for: | PS2, Xbox, GameCube | ||
| Viewed: | 3D Third-person, floating camera | Genre: | Sport: Ice Hockey |
| Media: | CD | Arcade origin: | No |
| Developer: | Electronic Arts | Soft. Co.: | Electronic Arts |
| Publishers: | Electronic Arts
(GB) |
Released: | 25 Oct 2002
(GB) |
| Ratings: | 3+ | ||
| Accessories: | Control Pad | ||
Summary
Electronic Arts' hockey franchise is ten years old this year (2002) and to celebrate the fact, they're releasing a new NHL game. Unsurprisingly entitled NHL 2003, the game claims to continue the series' tradition for being an entertaining and authentic ice hockey experience.
In keeping with their practice for annually serialising their sport franchises, EA have upped the stakes with this release, improving on most of the gameplay, graphical and audible elements. As usual, the phrase 'Bigger, Better, Faster, Louder', reads clearly throughout.
Essentially an update to NHL 2002, rather than a new game in its own right, 2003 comes with a host of new features. Features such as Game Breaker, for example, in which a meter builds when you score goals, leading ultimately to a kind of power-up mode when it reaches 100%. GameStory 2 tracks and highlights player and team stories throughout the course of an entire season. A player with a hat-trick in a previous game will be under close watch to see if he can repeat his heroics in the next using cinematic, TV-style camera work and presentation.
As you would expect, a new graphics and animation engine provides the annual makeover, this instalment promising to be the most visually stunning and vibrant NHL game yet. This can be quoted on a yearly basis but the game does look vastly improved and it is to be expected that this trend will continue. Accompanying the overhauled visuals we also have appropriately realistic audio. The game's sound effects have been captured from actual professional hockey games so players can 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.
At the end of the day it's another year, another update. There aren't a great many ice hockey games on the PC and, regardless of that fact, EA are still the major player when it comes to sports sims.
In keeping with their practice for annually serialising their sport franchises, EA have upped the stakes with this release, improving on most of the gameplay, graphical and audible elements. As usual, the phrase 'Bigger, Better, Faster, Louder', reads clearly throughout.
Essentially an update to NHL 2002, rather than a new game in its own right, 2003 comes with a host of new features. Features such as Game Breaker, for example, in which a meter builds when you score goals, leading ultimately to a kind of power-up mode when it reaches 100%. GameStory 2 tracks and highlights player and team stories throughout the course of an entire season. A player with a hat-trick in a previous game will be under close watch to see if he can repeat his heroics in the next using cinematic, TV-style camera work and presentation.
As you would expect, a new graphics and animation engine provides the annual makeover, this instalment promising to be the most visually stunning and vibrant NHL game yet. This can be quoted on a yearly basis but the game does look vastly improved and it is to be expected that this trend will continue. Accompanying the overhauled visuals we also have appropriately realistic audio. The game's sound effects have been captured from actual professional hockey games so players can 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.
At the end of the day it's another year, another update. There aren't a great many ice hockey games on the PC and, regardless of that fact, EA are still the major player when it comes to sports sims.
