For years, EA Sports' long running NHL series has been the only way to get a good game of PC hockey. The gameplay, along with the TV like presentation, have defined the NHL franchise, and cemented EA's hold on the PC hockey genre. Things haven't changed with the 2003 edition, which doesn't offer many improvements over the 2002 edition, but remains a good hockey game nonetheless. After the intro videos consisting of various NHL players promoting EA, you'll be greeted with an upgraded main menu system that makes all your options easily accessible and resembles a window GUI somewhat. Along with accessing different play modes, the menu system allows you to easily view player and team stats, and sort and filter stats. You can also export stats to CSV files. It's all well done, and anyone who loves stats will love the new menu system. Once you jump into a game, you'll notice the pace has been slowed down. NHL 2002 was a fast paced affair, in which players with speed boost could take the puck from one end of the rink to the other by themselves, take shots at exaggerated speeds, and deliver outrageous bone crushing hits. On the default settings, NHL 2003's players don't move quite so fast, and the number of hard hits has been reduced. However, like all the previous NHL games, you can still skate with the puck down the entire length of the rink without much trouble. Breakaways are frequent if you choose this style of play. Goalies aren't invincible anymore as they were in NHL 2002, and this makes the game easier, for it means that the more shots you take, the more often you'll score. Shots can now bounce off goalies, so you'll see some shots trickle in occassionally. In NHL 2002, it was nearly impossible to hold on to the puck long enough for a teammate to get open for a one timer. In NHL 2003, you'll be able to hold the puck longer in enemy territory and wait for a teammate to get open so you can pass him the puck, and one timers are more likely to be successful. The basic controls will be familiar to anyone who's played previous NHL games, but there are some advanced moves to take note of. Saucer passing is back again, which allows a player to pass the puck over opponent's sticks. Players can now also deflect shots with their bodies. Skating backwards is gone though. Manual dekes have been added, and star players will move the puck in between their legs or execute one handed dekes. However, you can choose to use automatic dekes, which are really helpful on breakaways, and give you a good chance faking the goalie out and scoring. Editing lines remains easy with NHL's easy to use interface and helpful option descriptions that appear on the top of the screen when you mouse over an option. Any NHL series veteran will be familiar with the different cameras and the replay function, which hasn't changed much in the last few games. Graphics aren't as impressive in this installment, but are still good. The player animations during stopped play will repeat after a while. EA's presentation has always been top notch, and this year is no different. The rock music, which has become a mainstay element in a EA game is there, along with the breakaway cam, which slows the action down on a breakaway. The game will pause for a few moments after a spectacular save to replay it from different angles. Jim Hughson and Don Taylor are back as the commentators, and thankfully, Taylor's color commentator is less annoying this year around, although his attempts at humor will still have you wincing. It's a shame EA took away some of the features they introduced in NHL 2002, like the NHL player cards you can buy with points accumulated for accomplishing certain in game tasks. Also gone is the In Game Story feature, an in game summary of the current match. A less noticeable omission is the momentum meter. In its place is the gamebreaker meter, which fills up when you score, win fights, and execute dekes. Once this meter is full, you can press a button to execute the gamebreaker move, which slows the action down for a few seconds and in theory is supposed to simulate a player being "in the zone", but in practice, doesn't seem to serve any use, as it doesn't appear any easier to make a big play while in slow-mo. You really can't go wrong with EA's NHL series. On its own, NHL 2003 is a sound game, but lacks the rush and pure fun of NHL 2002. Although it feels less arcade like and more of a serious simulation, NHL 2003 remains a satisfying and entertaining game.
What do you want out of a hockey game? If you're looking for a moderately realistic sports simulation, a la Madden NFL 2003, odds are you'll be disappointed in NHL 2003. On the other hand, if you simply want to run-and-g... Read Full Review
This game is a lot like NHL 2002 in a lot of ways like for the fact its SOOOOOOOOOOOOO easy my highest score was 41 to 1 its just to easy the game play is fun though and the announcers are different from other NHL games ... Read Full Review
