NHL 2003

Other products by Electronic Arts

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006CRUL
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: October 2, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #22,474 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC | Edition: Standard

From the Developer
Take control of the fastest sports game on earth: NHL 2003. Whether you're skating as a rookie or lacing 'em up as a pro, pull off 90 mph slapshots and awesome moves with Dynamic Deke Control. Never before have you had this much control over the stick and puck. Online play uses real-time team and player stats and pits you against other members in tournaments. Show off your superior skills and earn rewards like the Game Breaker, which puts your opponents in slow motion as you blow by them for the open shot. Torching speed and pulverizing action will get any sports fan fired up.

Product Description
Take control of the fastest sports game on earth: NHL 2003. Whether you're skating as a rookie or lacing 'em up as a pro, pull off 90 mph slapshots and awesome moves with Dynamic Deke Control. Never before have you had this much control over the stick and puck. Online play uses real-time team and player stats and pits you against other members in tournaments. Show off your superior skills and earn rewards like the Game Breaker, which puts your opponents in slow motion as you blow by them for the open shot. Torching speed and pulverizing action will get any sports fan fired up.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worst Of EA's NHL Series Yet, December 15, 2002

By A Customer

I've bought every one of EA's NHL game series since it was first released and I always log in 4 or 5 seasons with each year (400-500 games). Every year they've made considerable improvements over the previous years. However, when NHL 2002 came out, it was the first time the game didn't get better... it actually got considerably worse. Game control dropped a notch, defense AI became worse then it's been in years, and most of the goals scored by the computer were cheap blue line slap shots. Worst of all was the new `feel' of the game... EA turned much of the game into a joke. This included the stadium PA announcer telling bad jokes and the color commentator who once had intelligent things to say along with player facts, being replaced with Don Taylor who goofs around constantly and says nothing but poor one-liners and dumb jokes. I played about 65 games before reverting back to playing NHL 2001.

NHL 2003 sinks even further then the previous year. Player control feels muddled and at times annoying (example: player will skate right over the puck without picking it up). Defensive AI is just as bad as last year (way too many breakaways)... no improvements at all. Although the game seems to have matured a bit since 2002, dropping many of the announcer's bad jokes, Don Taylor is still as annoying as ever. You have the option to turn the color commentary off, however it only cuts down on his comments... he still chimes in quite often. By game number 30, I had to resort to turning the volume of the play-by-play down completely. The new menu system needs some tweaking as well. You don't have as much control as previous years (player and goalie sliders are gone leaving you with a much less tunable game) and some of the game options can only be changed after you start playing the game, which means you have to set them for EVERY game.

Overall, playing against the computer is awful. If you play anything above `easy' the game becomes heavily one sided in favor of the computer's team. Your goalie is always horrible (regardless of who you use) while the computer's goalie is like superman, anticipating where you'll shoot the puck before you do. If you manage to keep the shots down and get close to shutting out the computer, 95% of the time the computer will score a cheap goal in the last 30 second of the game, almost as if it was programmed into the game itself. The computer's team will block your passes and slap shots with incredible ease and will consistently score a goal against you for every 4-5 shots they take. It's unbearably frustrating to fight through two periods only to have 7 straight goals scored against you in the third. Less then 60 games into the season, I've already abandoned NHL 2003...

The problem with EA's NHL series for the last couple of years is the overall development of the game. EA seems too concerned with adding cutting edge technology to the game that they forget to fix the problems of the previous year. The graphics are great and the animations are impressive, however that doesn't mean much if the game itself isn't any fun. When my goalie fails to stop five straight 200-foot slap shots or my defenseman gets beaten to the puck by a computer controlled player one step behind him, I really could care less about new `Game Breaker' and other useless eye candy features. For next year's version, EA needs to dump Don Taylor and restart programming from NHL 2001. They need to worry more about the core of the game. Anything less and NHL 2004 will be the first of the series that I won't be buying.

If you play against another person, many of the game's flaws are less evident and the game becomes tolerable. However, if you mostly plan on playing against the computer, I highly recommend skipping this year's version and hoping for something better from EA next year.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This sickens me., December 31, 2002

By	Hossmann "The Mann" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

when EA sports says it has the #1 hockey franchise ever. Well, if you wanted to know why its because it has no {explicit} competition for the past 10 years!

well, lets look at the few positives that it has.

Pros: 1.Realistic Shooting.(finally)

2.EA trax gives us ACTUAL and GOOD music.(finally)

And now the Cons.

Cons: 1.A lot of em

2.In-game passing is horrid

3.Scores in 20 minute periods are unrealistic

4.Player control is depressing

5.A franchse mode that hasnt improved since NHL 2001

6.Play-by-Play gets repetitive fast

7.EA Online costs $$$ this year

8."New" pictures were taken at the start of last season

Perplexing: when will someone ever come out with a good hockey game?

The verdict: dont buy this if you have 2002 or 2001. only if you have 2000 or 99 for comp or just want to be kept up with statistics

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keeps getting better., October 30, 2002

By	"estrolof" (Lake Forest, CA USA) - See all my reviews

My two cents: The Good:
1) Interface-Menu's are intuitive, and provide access to anything you need in a matter of clicks, team management is much improved.
2) Improved Season/Franchise play (you can select and unselect user control of every team throughout the season).
3) Physics (Puck, player, and goalies are all improved. The only hitch is the oft difficult task of picking up loose pucks, but it comes with adjusting to the newer physics).
The Bad:
1) Once again, they left out a ton of jerseys (Hartford's Green, and Buffalo's Old home jerseys for example).
2) The above mentioned loose puck issue, again, it comes to you with experience so...
3) The Color guy is still there from 2002, whoever writes Don Taylor's jokes needs to get a new job...I just turn him off.
To disagree with other reviewers:
1) You can turn off the music, and you can import your own.
2) You can set up plays, I do it, just be patient and hope your guys have good passing (or turn up the pass accuracy within the game, most things can be tweaked thusly).
3) If it's too slow for you, there's an option to up the tempo or slow it down.
4) At least in Season/Franchise mode, it remembers your pressure/strategy/lines/options.

Conclusion: Best version yet, and I've been buying it every year since '93.

I just hope they add alumni teams next year! Gretzky and LaFontaine return!!

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