Another addition to this great series

If you have played any of the successful NHL series of games from EA Sports, you will know how brilliant the game is.
So let me tell you all about it.


Background.
Firstly, NHL stands for National Hockey League. This is the league in which the North Americans and Canadians play their best Ice Hockey. It is not limited to players from this country. You find that it is packed full of Europeans and Ex Eastern Block countries like Russia, Chech Republic and Belarus.
Unfortunately, no Brits though!
EA Sports decided to bring the world of professional Ice Hockey to the Megadrive in 1993 with EA Hockey and have continued releasing a version of the game on different platforms every year since. Each is a little bigger and better than before.

Layout and presentation.
Essentially the best yet. Leaning heavily on menu animation, this game is now a visual masterpiece. Easy to follow options and icons give it a simple appearance, yet functional. The colors used are not too over the top and it maintains its feel for traditional EA-type layout.

Graphics.
Outstanding. The detail that this game can show with a decent graphics card will blow your mind. Even down to spray from skates, shadows of pucks and creases in players jerseys. This has the lot. It is very fluid and flowing for such a high powered game.
For the first time ever, the crowd have been given a personality. You are shown scenes around the rink between the action and you can see the fans in the team colours, or standing up waving at the camera, wearing funny hats or shying away from publicity.
The little extra bits between the action give such a realistic feel.

Sound.
"Grrrrreat" as Tony the tiger would say. From the in game music from such acts as Sum 41 and Barenaked Ladies, it it very similar to American rinks. this type of American Rock however is not every British fan's taste and can get a bit boring. Help is at hand though as I shall describe later.
The sound effects from the ice are out of this world, from the slap shots of the puck to the bone crunching tackles of the checks, you would think you were actually there.
The commentary is very colourful and fun to listen to. Well at least for the first month or so. Then it gets repetitive as you have heard all of the gags. I normally turn it off now whichi s a neat little feature.

Gameplay/difficulty.
It does not take long to pick up. A 4 button gamepad is a must though or you will struggle with keys. You can set the level of difficulty and the various artificial intelligence of the computer which helps when learning the game. It can become demoralising all too quickly on a new game when the computer whips you.
The action is very smooth and the even smallest of children can pick it up quickly.

Online capability.
Excellent. Download th econnection patch and you can spent many hours playing online with your mates. I do this often and it has hardly any lag at all over a 56K modem.
Highly recommended.

Extras/features.
Ok, now for the new bits.
NHL Cards is a new feature. You are awarded points for various tasks in the game such as 10 big hits or scoring the first goal. You save the points and cash them in for a pack of cards. A bit like stickers. However, these cards can be redeemed for an improvement in player performance. This lasts for entire games or single periods, depending on the lucky dip card. You can then use these during games to boost your players and perhaps make that little bit of difference when playig a difficult team. You also get special cars which can give you cheats such as an Instant Penalty shot or extra wide goals!

The Face importer is a greatly improved feature. You can scan your face into the computer and then map it onto a player that you create. You can then put them into your chosen team and you can become an NHL star. The comentator even says your name......
"ANDY creams Federov"
"ANDY Scores on the backhand"
"ANDY is making a real difference out there..."

Of course I am, Im a hockey superstar!

AS well as the standard new features, you can download 3 excellent extras.

From www.ea.com you can get a roster patch. This gives your game the most up to date rosters as players can change teams during the season. A good example is a friend of mine has an older roster than me and when we play online, he has the same player as me on the ice at the same time but for a different team. Brett Hull appears for both Detroit and Dallas on some nights!


Secondly is the Ditty Importer.
This allows you to import your own music clips in MP3 and WAV format to a format that NHL2002 likes. It then plays them during the game or during player introductions. Handy if you are sick of Sum 41 or Barenaked Ladies. You just select Imported music only in the setup screen.

Lastly is the Jersey Creator.
You can make your own shirts and strips in a paint type package and import them using this download from EA Sports. Its good if you play for a real team like I do and want to put it into the game. Brilliant.

Overall.
A great set of extras and a great game overall. I like the additions as it makes it a much more enjoyable event. Buy it now.

Copying.
This game relies on Safedisc to protect itself. Copying is very difficult indeed. I now know how to do it but only use it to make back up copies for myself....Yeah right!