Customer Reviews

NHL 2002

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When you buy any sports games for a portable system like the GBA, you are always skeptical of how bad the game is gonna be, because we aren't expecting anything great. NHL 2002 exceeded my expectations and delivered a solid hockey game! The graphics aren't too shabby, the sound is decent, the gameplay is dead on, and the replayability is there. EA's NHL franchise for the GBA, in my opinion, really outdoes the Madden franchise for the GBA. And I am even a die-hard football fan! This game proved that you can make a great sports game for the GBA. Now if only the Madden franchise for the GBA could deliver!

Having play almost every EA NHL game since the series first game in 1992, I found NHL 2002 GBA as a welcomed throw back to the series roots. The game play if very basic, A button shoots, B button passes, L button quick stops, R button spins. There's no big hit button or deke button. So you have to manual deke the goalie if you want to score. This game plays very similar to NHL 94 and NHL 96 and shares much of the same artwork (the Goal creases are all Blue) and gameplay (the delayed offside rules still exist). NHL 2002 GBA feature exhibition, season, and link playmodes. The season mode is pretty comprehensive for a GBA game with full season stat tracking and trade/create a player option. Lots of management/simulation stuff for people who like pretend they are a real NHL general manager. My only complaints are that the computer AI for opponents are team mates could be better and they should have improved the animations of the players so they moved smoother. Other than that, if you love the old Genesis/SNES NHL games this is a must buy.

This game is the best game for gba so far. It has awsome graphics and the sound effects are great. This game has five players for each team as opposed to 3 on nhl blitz. There is even fighting and injuries. The game is a bright colored game so it is easy to see on the dark gba. The only negative is that each player needs a game pack in order to link. This game is a must have.

This is an exact rip from a SNES game, just with updated rosters, to me. It was exactly the same in the style of the game, and the way it played. Like the SNES version, It's sound it horrible, the gameplay is nothing special, but they games are quick, fun, and sweet to a point. I would reccomend this game to hockey fans, definitely.

When they said that the GBA had the same kind of engine that the SNES had, I was praying they'd just re-release certain SNES games I loved onto this system, and that's pretty much what they did with NHL 2002. It's really the same thing as NHL '96, one of my favorite games ever, with updated teams and rosters, only with minor tweaks here and there that actually improve the game. For example, on a penalty, the player just goes straight to the box instead of dilly-dallying around forever. Sounds insignificant, but it improves the flow of the game. Plus, the 'expert' difficulty level is actually somewhat hard, unlike past EA NHL games, and its a lot harder to exploit goaltender's weaknesses. (I still remember Tampa Bay's Darren Puppa in the original NHL '96 game... slapshot from the blue line, automatic goal, every time.)

NHL 2002 is an ideal GBA game for long road trips or plane rides. Now if only they'd release Ken Griffey Baseball and Chrono Trigger for GBA...

When I first bought this game, I just got it because I wanted a hockey game, and didn't expect much. But boy was I wrong, this game is great, it unlike most sports games for GBA where you can bearly see the people, this game you can see the people, and they actully look something like real people. If any of you remember the NHL 95 game for Sega, it is very similar to that game execpt that the rosters are updated. But the one downfall to this game is that rosters are still old. Even when you are in the with trades mode, the rosters are still old, but you can still trade the players. I would strongly recommend this game.

EA Sports went back to they're roots with the GBA version of NHL 2002, a game which plays near exact to the old classic old school gamers know and love, NHL '94 for the Genesis. Controls are smooth and are near dead on. The graphics aren't anything special, they look like the 16-bit graphics of the Genesis and Super NES NHL days, as is the sound, but with all the modes (including Exhibition, Season, Multiplayer, etc.) and the option to track season long stats (which might not seem like a big deal but it is a big step considering this is a GameBoy game) are just enough to make the GBA NHL 2002 a near keeper. All in all, hockey fans craving the days of 16-bit era arcade hockey will have a blast with this.

EA Sports went back to they're roots with the GBA version of NHL 2002, a game which plays near exact to the old classic old school gamers know and love, NHL '94 for the Genesis. Controls are smooth and are near dead on. The graphics aren't anything special, they look like the 16-bit graphics of the Genesis and Super NES NHL days, as is the sound, but with all the modes (including Exhibition, Season, Multiplayer, etc.) and the option to track season long stats (which might not seem like a big deal but it is a big step considering this is a GameBoy game) are just enough to make the GBA NHL 2002 a near keeper. All in all, hockey fans craving the days of 16-bit era arcade hockey will have a blast with this.

I've only played NHL2002 for the GBA a little bit, but I wanted to get a review up fast because I couldn't find any "real" reviews on any gaming sites.
Pluses:
Impressive graphics
Good sound
Goalie AI seems relatively good
Fighting and lots of it
Avs have Forsberg! (Actually, this seems sort of sloppy to me.)
NHL on the go!
Minuses:
Old crease
Offsides calls way too sensitive (You pretty much have to turn offsides off whether you want to or not. At least if you want to set up plays in the offensive zone.)
AI Defensive strategy? Have the goalie and defensemen stand shoulder to shoulder in front of the goal. Oh, and they all have invisible forcefields 2 feet around them to prevent any possibility of shooting through them.
You vs. Them: The other team's AI sets up plays, forechecks, blocks shots, joins the rush, etc. Your team's AI skates around listlessly, drools on itself, seem unaware of where it is or what's going on, NEVER joins a play and often goes in offsides so early you don't know they are there.
You get to play plenty on 1 on 3 situations thanks to the above
The Avs have black uniforms?!?
Crowd yells unintellible things (Or is that a good thing?)
If you are a big hockey fan, then this game is still fun if you accept that you'll have to turn off some rules and take a lot of pucks end to end because of your special ed team.
Otherwise this game continues the GBA's string of so-so sports games. EA has a stong start here to work from, so I hope they bring out an improved NHL 2003 that addesses some of these issues.

its boring,the fighing is hopeless, all the teams all look the same.you need more than one pack to do a mutliplayer(with so little game it should be one pack)vary boring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!