Sports Betting

NHL 2k3

Sports Betting Tip I remember reading a letter-to-the-editor in one of the early issues of Nintendo Power (it was mandatory reading on my playground) where a player in Canada described their journey, and the expenses accrued, to purchase a Nintendo and a copy of the "Ice Hockey" cartridge. I remember these fine canucks dropping $270+ for the pleasure of pushing players around a rink. I also remember they found the game very much worth their while. "Ice Hockey" happens to have been the first Nintendo game I ever played, the day just before my father gave me an Atari 2600 and a copy of "Pong". Nintendo's Ice Hockey was a glorified version of "Pong"; more players, better graphics-but you're still just pushing a black dot around the screen from one side to the other. I regret never having been able to give the Atari its fair chance in the sun because that Nintendo version was just too much fun. But this isn't a review of "Ice Hockey" or "Pong". This is a review of Sega's "NHL 2K3". And Sega's packed a lot of game into the Cube's tiny little disc.


I stepped up to Sega's "NHL 2K3" with a bit of trepidation due to not having played a hockey game in quite some time. With "Ice Hockey" your players were either fat (for blocking) or skinny (for speed). Sega's game has voice-over commentary provided by ESPN's crew and the look and feel of its cable programming when not in straight gameplay. The camera will swoop down onto the ice to show the close-ups of fancy foot work just before a shot is made. Checks were appropriately vicious. We found ourselves jumping up and cheering regardless of who made the shot and congratulated each other heartily for hooks that prompted the refs to throw our players off the ice. We'd look dejected in the rink but that was just because the cameras were on us.

Gameplay
To be complaining about the sound effects missing when players collide suggests that there is a lot more to the gameplay from which simple graphics and sound could fairly detract. The gameplay is key here. NHL 2K3 is a lot of fun to sit down with for a good long spell. The franchise mode allows you to trade players and work through entire seasons. While the network mode present on the Xbox version is sorely missed here (as is any network capability for the Cube these days) the two player game is a lot of fun. A group of four tried to play but this seemed overly tedious. The controls and AI are fine enough that one person can easily control the entire team. Four-player games required a lot of faith in our teammates. I liked having the option to play in this mode-and we loved the ease with which we could switch in and out of multi-player-but we ended up playing most games with only two players.

A feature we felt was sorely missing from this game was any kind of tutorial. If you are not familiar with hockey, its rules and its eccentric vocabulary, you might find yourself lost when just starting out. Keep playing! The more time you spend with this game the more accustomed you will become to the flow of the players on the ice and their interaction with each other. You cannot score a goal by charging the goalie. They will almost always block your shot. In short time, however, you will discover that a quick pass between players near the goal throws the goalie off guard allowing for points on the board. If this becomes too easy, head to the options and increase the difficulty levels. 2K3 allows for a lot of customization. From icing, to fighting, to offensive AI, to defensive AI the ability to customize the play on the ice doesn't leave a lot to complain about. But some sort of instructional element explaining it all would have helped. Do you know what a deke is? My best bud kept getting fouled for 'icing' and was fit to be tied because he didn't know what 'icing' was. I know it is impossible for the developers to explain all the rules of the sports in the instruction manuals but an on-disc element could surely help especially in a sports simulation that offers so many realistic elements.


Graphics and Sound
Sega's spent a lot of time working on the graphics for the in-game motion of the players sliding around on the ice. The motion capture for the players is also rather impressive. But the overall feel of the graphics leaves a lot to be desired. The referee's motion is very lifelike but he himself looks like a cardboard cut out. After seeing the impressive in-game graphics of "007: Nightfire", I feel that there is no excuse for even these early Cube games to have such silly motionless features. Tying in shots reminiscent of the television programs adds a lot to the overall feel of the action but I got the feeling that I'd enjoy the graphics much more if they were just a little more out of focus. I left the game in demo mode and a friend entering the room mistook the screen for an actual hockey game-until he focused on the action. The interface polish and beautiful motion-capture Sega has given the game jar against the less than stellar graphics. Sega is competing in this arena with none other than EA: Sports and EA is known for spending a good amount of time on their graphics. Luckily for Sega, graphics is the only arena in which this game lacks the heavyweight title (wrong sport, I know). The camera motion on the replays locks onto specific players and follows them very tightly. This yields an almost dizzying sensation similar to that produced when you strap a camera to a person's body facing them. They remain in the center of the action at all times but everything around them takes on an uncomfortable jolt.

The arena sounds in NHL 2K3 could use some improvement. Try as we might we couldn't shatter the glass surrounding the arena (even though it appears benched teammates spill over the rail to pick up a fallen buddy) and the sound effects on the ice could have been a bit more significant. Hockey players are loaded down with many many pounds of clothing and they are noisy out on the ice. We want to hear the noise, the rustling of fabrics and the myriad sounds they make when two beings loaded down with padding smack into each other. For all the lifelike motion the players have they don't sound like they are working hard out on the ice.


Replay
I found the learning curve for 2K3 rather steep at first but was very pleased with the eventual return on the early payout. This game is a whole lot of fun. The motion of the players on the ice is mesmerizing from the aerial perspective as the players whirl around each other fighting for the puck. And they really do fight for it. These aren't slow players because they are fat or fast players because they are skinny. Detroit's team will have more speed and generally show better on the ice because they are a better team. But the franchise mode allows you to give Los Angeles the team it never knew it wanted and push cold weather sports ever further south. If you are serious about this game be prepared to buy a memory cartridge. I have the largest cartridge available and half full, the set-up alerted me that I did not have enough room to store all the different game play modes available. Simultaneously, I have no doubt in my mind that many casual players will find it worth their while to buy a cartridge to stash all their modifications to take their fantasy hockey teams all the way.


Closing
Aside from the clunky 3D textures and lack of any form of tutorial, NHL 2K3 is a great game on enough grounds to safely beat out EA's 2003. AHHHH SEGA!

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