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    ESPN NHL Hockey

    Game » consists of 2 releases. Released Sep 09, 2003

    In the 2004 edition of Sega's 2K series, the ESPN license is added, changing the presentation across the game. Jeremy Roenick of the Philadelphia Flyers serves as cover athlete for the second year in a row.

    doogie2k's ESPN NHL Hockey (Xbox) review

    Avatar image for doogie2k

    Immensely fun, though slightly flawed.

    The last hockey game I played before picking this up was NHL PowerPlay '96, so you can imagine I was a little bit leery about approaching the genre again after missing eight years of gameplay development--it would be like jumping from Doom's DeathMatch to Unreal Tournament 2004 with little in between. After a bit of research (and playing the EA NHL 2004 demo), I eventually decided on this game, and I have not regretted it for a minute.

    For starters, the whole thing is set up like an ESPN broadcast, complete with play-by-play, on-the-fly stats, and more. I'm personally not fond of the commentary--it still feels too computer-generated for me to really appreciate it--but the other elements of the presentation all work fairly well. The menus are set against the SportsCentre backdrop, and the SportsCentre music, familiar to anyone who watches ESPN or its sister station in Canada, TSN. The frequency of the loop can make the music a little irritating when spending a long period of time in the menus, but that's a fairly minor complaint. On the ice, it looks great as well. Instant replays come up after major events (big save, goal, penalty), and often between plays, there are cutscenes of other on-ice events like little shoving matches as well. These are perhaps a little overdone, and the goal celebrations are far too over-the-top (this isn't the NFL, here), but you can turn all that off.

    In terms of overall appearance, the game is pretty sharp, too. The ice will start out mildly reflective, and over the course of the period, will gradually wear down until it reaches the typical end-of-period snowy state. The player animations are all fairly smooth, although occasionally, clipping will result in some shots that wouldn't happen in reality; if you don't watch the instant replay, you probably won't notice it, though. Also, it seems changing captaincies isn't reflected on jerseys, which is a minor disappointment.

    The on-ice sounds really bring you into the game; if you select the appropriate sound option, it really does sound a lot like a real hockey game, with all the slaps, crashes, and crunches you'd hear in a typical game. Crowd chants like "Tom-my! Tom-my! Tom-my!" add an extra layer of authenticity to it, although a few more would've been nice. Also, having a generic announcer does hurt a little, although really, would it be practical to get over thirty different people to record voice samples for the game? The only real beef I have is the dearth of arena music--there are only about a dozen songs, including the requisite "We Will Rock You", and if you play through an entire season, those songs can wear awfully fast.

    The amount of stuff you can do in this game outside the regular game is also fairly impressive. There's a built-in skills competition, and a few mini-games, including pond hockey, super-speed hockey, and even air hockey. The exhibition mode lets you match up not only NHL teams, but international, all-star (both NA vs. World and East vs. West varieties), and historical teams (whch I'll get to in a minute). When you play in this mode, you can then play in the extra historical arena (modelled after old-fashioned NHL rinks like the pre-expansion Forum and the Olympia), or in the international arena.

    As mentioned, there are historical teams available to you, unlockable in the SkyBox. The plus-side to this is that you can play with the likes of Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Jean Beliveau, Frank Mahovolich, Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr, and Wayne Gretzky when they were at their peaks. The downside is that none of them are actually programmed in as such; because they aren't active players, apparently Kush couldn't actually put them in, so they had to cleverly hide them. There are guides out there now to allow you to recreate these teams as you knew them, although this is somewhat inconvenient. But this is more than outweighed by the thrill of matching up the 1968 Canadiens against the 1984 Oilers, and seeing once and for all which team was better. On the note of renaming, the international players who aren't in the NHL also have to be renamed, since Kush couldn't properly add them in, either, but most of the names should be easy to guess with an international roster at your side, since most were generated just by changing a couple of vowels.

    Another thing you can unlock in ESPN NHL Hockey is classic jerseys, ranging from a rather odd 1924 Canadiens jersey with a globe on the front (since Stanley Cup Champions were, at that point, also World Champions), to that butt-ugly third jersey the Canucks had in the mid-1990s. Seeing those old jerseys is like taking a trip down memory lane, reminding true hockey fanatics of designs and teams of yesteryear, and how great (or how awful) they could be. Remember the California Golden Seals? Cleveland Barons? Colorado Rockies? Quebec Nordiques? Fortunately, Kush did, and being able to play those jerseys again (if not the actual teams) is a nice tip-of-the-hat to the die-hard fan. Other unlockables include extra game modes (like the aformentioned speed hockey) and goalie masks (like Jacques Plant's classic); these are less appealing, especially since they are fairly expensive compared to the jerseys and teams, but they still give the player something to really strive for, if they're interested.

    But none of this would matter at all if the gameplay wasn't great, now would it? Fortunately, Kush delivered a solid game of hockey along with all the bells and whistles. The implementation of offside felt a bit off at times (what's this about the puck having to leave the zone in order for it to no longer be offside?), the rest of the hockey was pitch-perfect. If you haul down an opponent, the ref sometimes may not see it, but just as often, you're going to get called for hooking. Fighting is something I've not really experimented with myself (if I wanted to play a fighting game, I'd pop in Soul Calibur II), so I can't really comment on it. The one-timer, while still the most reliable method of scoring, is not the be-all and end-all way to get goals; in fact, this game really makes you work to get your goals, which is a good reflection of the modern, defensive NHL (whether you see this as a good thing in the first place is another issue altogether). However, the goalies are neither brick walls nor Swiss cheese. They have their vulnerabilities, and they can be drawn out of position or caught not paying attention, so just be patient with them. Hitting also works, occasionally with spectacular results (perhaps a little too often), but nothing blatantly unrealistic. This game should satisfy both purists and those who like to play a little rough and dirty.

    Despite the minor flaws I've pointed out here, ESPN NHL Hockey is an excellent game of hockey, and well worth the money. If you enjoy hockey at all, there will be something for you in this game.

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