NHL 2003 (PC)
Developed and Published by: Electronic Arts
Before I offer my opinion of NHL 2003, let me start by saying this: put yourself in EA’s shoes for a moment. They have to develop a new hockey game every single year. Okay, so nobody’s putting a gun to their head. But when it’s consistently bringing in cash every year, it would be silly not to release them on an annual basis. My point being that at some point they have to come up short on new features because, well, they’re just out of ideas. As time goes on, and as the series reaches its 12th (?) year of existence, I feel that it may be getting even harder for them to keep the games fresh.
Every few years, EA does manage to put out a version of their NHL game that blows people away and completely revolutionizes the series. By the same token, however, they have also released a number of generally underwhelming installments, offering very few noticeable differences and only a handful bells and whistles that we don’t really need. It used to be about making the best game possible and improving graphics and functionality steadily every year. Now it seems like EA may have reached a plateau where they can’t improve it much more, so they are throwing in silly new features just so gamers feel like they are getting a “different” experience.
At this point you can probably guess where this review is headed. For me, NHL 2003 was one of those installments that I could really have lived without. Sure it has updated team rosters, and the same generally solid gameplay that EA has already established, but other than that, there’s not much new or improved about it.
The most highly touted new feature of this year’s game is the advanced control over deking, which honestly is not a big deal. You hold down the deke button and your player will quickly pull the puck to his backhand or perform a similar maneuver, but it’s unpredictable and hard to control. I prefer to just stick handle and deke the normal way.
EA also introduced a new “Game Breaker” mode, which allows you to press a button and shift the action into slow motion (not unlike Max Payne’s bullet time) if your team has built up enough momentum. This is supposed to add to the edge of your seat excitement during close games, but the problem is that it actually seems to make it harder to score, so there’s no real advantage to using it. Things like the Game Breaker mode and the Breakaway camera (which was introduced in 2002 I believe) are perfect examples of unnecessary frills that EA has thrown in, regardless of their playability. At least you can turn them off these features.
The graphics and animations in 2003 are updated, but not a huge improvement from last year. Some of the new post-goal celebrations are pretty neat, and some of the replay dissolves and other TV broadcast simulations made me take note of how EA is inching closer and closer to achieving an exact reproduction of a hockey game on TV. The intro animations, however, are pretty cheesy, such as when you see a close-up of a player’s face and then he visualizes himself in his mind scoring a goal or delivering a big hit against the opposing team.
Play by play commentary is again provided by the inimitable Don Taylor and Jim Hughson, and like last year’s commentary it is once again off-the-wall and wacky although it seems a little more forced this time around. The size of their “vocabulary” is growing however, and it’s impressive how much variety to their chatter EA was able to include.
The new “EA Traxx” are just lame. While you navigate around menus, and often during auto replays or stoppages in play you are treated to some fist-pumping rock songs, complete with a caption telling you the name of the song, artist and album. I don’t mind some of the bands (ie. Jimmy Eat World, gob) but seeing a goal replayed in slow motion to the tune of Default or Papa Roach just makes me wince. This isn’t basketball or lacrosse, hockey doesn’t need to be given “attitude” in such a superficial way. Once again, you can import your own MP3s into the game though, so I probably have no right to complain about the musical selections.
EA continues to provide the player with a sickening amount of control over game settings. The new menu layout is pretty slick and easy to navigate, but I’m starting to think that there’s almost too much control here. I don’t even know where to start when it comes to tweaking the physics and AI anymore. It might be nice to have a few default collections of settings, depending on the type of gameplay you prefer, because as it is I will probably never fiddle with most of these options. There is one exception however: the default speed of this year’s game seems very slow-paced and makes the controls frustratingly stiff. You may find it necessary to bump up the speed a few notches to make the game flow a little better. The thing is, when you increase the game speed significantly, it seems like the computer A.I. can’t keep up, as pucks start flying in the net left and right. Then again, maybe I’m just good.
I could always test out that theory by playing against some human opponents, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. The on-line play is one of the big selling points for the PC version of this game and as long as it’s as smooth as 2001 or 2002 it will be sufficient. The game’s main menu is really designed to encourage people to sign up and play on-line through the EA Sports Online service. Personally I just can’t be bothered to try it out at the moment, but it’s nice to know that the option is there.
I was a little dismayed to find that EA cut out the Face Import tools this year, which is a bummer. Then again, it seems like I’m the only nerd who actually went through the effort of using this feature, so maybe they’re hoping no one will notice. Well I noticed damnit! I hope that this means they’re in the process of fine-tuning it for next year’s release. I hope.
One of the weakest parts of the game (and it has been for as long as I can remember) is the fighting. This is one area that EA really needs to inject some life into. Everyone loves a good hockey fight, but after 12 years of NHL games, they still can’t offer anything better than a button tapping contest?! Come on now… even the original Blades of Steel had a little more strategy to the fights. How come you can’t block, or jersey the guy, or pull him down on the ice? I guess the NHL might get all upset if they were to make the fights more violent or put more emphasis on them in the game, but let’s face it, that’s what the fans want!
Overall, the game runs pretty smoothly, at least on a higher end PC with a decent video card. However, I did find it bailing out on me and crashing back to Windows every now and then while I was taking my time going through the various menus. I haven’t heard of anyone else having these problems though, so I guess it could just be my setup.
NHL 2003 is available for just about every video game platform going right now, and it’s your choice whether or not it’s worth buying. It is the first EA hockey game to be released for the X-Box and Gamecube, and that might be a selling point if you own one of those systems. As far as the PC version goes, however, you’d be better off paying bargain bin prices for the 2001 or 2002 version and finding a fan-made roster update somewhere on the web. Don’t get me wrong, NHL 2003 is still a great hockey game, but in terms of offering something new and interesting, it’s a disappointment. Unless you’re a die hard, I’d recommend skipping NHL 2003, and instead keep your fingers crossed regarding what EA might have up their sleeve for next year. — Sean