Written By Craig
Am I the only one who thinks that the hockey games on PSX, Saturn and *laugh* N64 dont even compare to the EA NHL series on Genesis? Sure the graphics were plain and the gameplay allowed for some really cheap goals but the fact that the games were so fun to play made them timeless classics. Me and my friends would pop in the latest EA Genesis NHL game and play nonstop for hours. Since then I haven’t found a hockey game that was as fun or entertaining. However, Sega and Blackbox’s latest effort, NHL2K makes a solid attempt at capturing the oldschool feel while pushing the graphics and gameplay into the 21th century.
The graphics are clearly the best part of NHL2K, everything is detailed to a T, from the logos on the puck to the reflections in the ice to the indivisual mesh holes in the players jerseys. The player models have over a 1000 frames of animation which even surpases the player models in the PC version of EA’s NHL2000. The game itself moves at a steady 60 fps, there is no polygon clipping or popup to be found and the players have the most realilistic skating styles that I have ever seen in a hockey game.
The gameplay is very good in NHL2K, I expected Blackbox to shortchange on the gameplay but they actually took there time with the gameplay mechanics. The player AI is solid and for the first time in the history of hockey videogames the goalie does not have a “gimme” spot, for instance the “loop around the net trick” in NHL 96 for Genesis. A sign that the final product of NHL2K was rushed is the bad collision detection, shoddy stat tracking (just like in NFL2K) and the absence of practice, shootout and internet play modes. Aside from those minor faults the gameplay in NHL2K is some of the best ever on a home console.
The sound in NHL2K is a mixed bag. The sound effects are great and they really capture the arena feel yet they arent as accurate as the PC NHL 2000. The announcers are in no way bad but they leave alot to be desired and the constant repeating of phrases doesnt help either. The arena soundtrack is too low and muffled and doesnt really get you pumped at all. Oh yeah I almost forgot, where the hell is the goal siren!?
SCORE:
Gameplay – 9
Graphics – 9.5
Sound – 6.5
Entertainment – 8
Overall: 8
NHL2K is a step in the right direction for Sega Sports and hopefully is a good indicator of what future hockey titles from Black Box will be like. To put it bluntly, even though NHL2K has its share of flaws its still a very good hockey game and should be purchased by every hockey fan with a Dreamcast.
