hyack

I bought ESPN Hockey for my PS2 and the graphics are way better than last
years 2k3. I've never seen the players actually look like the real thing.
The pBp is not as bad, and is more serious than the EA series versions but
it does get repetitive. Gameplay is excellent and franchise mode kicks ass.
Plus bonus features like the teams and jerseys of the past, as well as pond
hockey, mini hockey (lacrosse box, frozen in the winter), and my favorite
the incredibley difficult Air Hockey (the arcade room classic).

4 1/2 out of 5 stars


Ken

asianflow

ass.

pond


First off the PS2 is finally showing it's age in terms of graphics and
frame-rate when compared to Cube and XBox.
I owned NHlL 2k3, and I have ESPN hockey and it's the best hockey game I've
ever played. The AI is incredible, ie. the computer will retreat behind the
net to start the break out, on the pp the goalie will come way out to play
the puck and preserve PP time, on the PP when you blast it from the point,
your teammates will try to deflect it, etc... And you can always tweak the
game with sliders. I love having the classic teams (94 nucks) but the
problem is that because of NHLPA issues (same goes for Madden) they don't
have the names and right numbers of the players which makes it hard to edit.
Also this game has the best pbp is sports gaming history. The cons of the
game is that it won't allow custom soundtracks unless your using the
jukebox, they removed the zoom option from the cameras (no idea why they
took it out, probably to not make the game perfect so they can add it in
next year), and the game does have some bugs (ie. I had the color man repeat
his comments for more than a minute , while the pbp was still going on)

I'm getting NHL 2004 next week, but from going to thunderpuck people are
saying the game is way better than 2003 (more sim, less arcade and they got
rid of Don Taylor). Some are saying it's better than ESPN, but with so many
fanboys out there it's hard to tell. NHL doesn't have classic teams but one
option I like that ESPN doesn't have is that the PP is for a full 2 mins
real time, the same goes for the last minute of each period. Either way I'm
expecting ESPN to be better, but it's nice to see the competition from Sega
has really pushed EA back to making sim and not arcade games. The majority
of the net community say ESPN Football is better than Madden (i have madden
and it's incredible, so I gotta rent ESPN to see what the hype is about)

Oh yeah there is still 2 more puck games coming out ... NHL Hitz and NHL
Rivals.

darren.barefoot

I've only ever played EA NHL, and agree that last year's was a dog.
Oen interesting fact about this year's version is that EA gave the
game to their newly-acquired Black Box Games. I know some of those
guys, and they are major hockey nuts. Additionally, switching teams
will no doubt inject some fresh ideas into the game. If nothing else,
I expect the game to be quite different (for better or for worse) than
last year's edition. DB.

darren.barefoot

I've only ever played EA NHL, and agree that last year's was a dog.
Oen interesting fact about this year's version is that EA gave the
game to their newly-acquired Black Box Games. I know some of those
guys, and they are major hockey nuts. Additionally, switching teams
will no doubt inject some fresh ideas into the game. If nothing else,
I expect the game to be quite different (for better or for worse) than
last year's edition. DB.

bryce fountain

On 21 Sep 2003 09:47:40 -0700, darren.barefoot@capeclear.com (Darren


I've heard that, a few months after they merged the teams, the
majority of the original Blackbox members QUIT and formed another new
software company (because they formed Blackbox in the first place to
get away from EA and Radical.)

bryce fountain

On 21 Sep 2003 09:47:40 -0700, darren.barefoot@capeclear.com (Darren


I've heard that, a few months after they merged the teams, the
majority of the original Blackbox members QUIT and formed another new
software company (because they formed Blackbox in the first place to
get away from EA and Radical.)