NHL 2K3

"Sega has done it, yet again"

For hockey and Gamecube fans, this game is a must to own. It blows away most of the other hockey games that I have played. It is on par with NHL 2003 for me. If you want a more realistic game, I suggest you get this one.

Gameplay: 9/10

Say that you are a die hard hockey game fan, NHL 2K3's gameplay and controls will be perfect for you. Even if you are not a pro at hockey games, this game will be fun to play. The controls might seem a little hard at first. You will get used to them after awhile. The animations are nice and smooth. The shots and passes look perfect, same with the checks. Too bad there isn't no smashing players through the glass boards, like in all the other hockey games mostly. The players go a some what slow at first, but when you use your they will go a little faster. All of the skaters reactions are pretty much the same. The goalies do the same thing all the time, by that I mean shrugging after they let a goal in. Another cool thing is if you are wanting to know how many shots you toke, just go the the pause menu then shot stats. It shows you where you took each shot from (same for the opposing team). Also, where you have scored from. This is a great game for multiplayer, so you can play your friends at this for fun.

Graphics: 8/10

Well, lets start things off first with the arenas. The arenas look fine, nicely detailed. For the ice, well it always looks ok. The crowd never really looks realistic in any hockey games. But in this game they look ok, even some of them wear your teams jersey. For the players, this is what I can't stand. The players look really fat or bigger than they usually are in real life. As well with the goalies, they look huge. If Sega had just made the skaters and goalies a little smaller, and made the crowd more detailed, I'd bump this rating up.

Audio: 8/10

What can I say? Hockey game, hockey music. For the music, its mostly the same for each hockey game that there is. Same generic music. If they just put in some songs by rock bands, it could spice it up a bit. As for the sound affects, it sounds normal. From the checks, the puck sliding on the ice and the puck hitting the goal posts or boards. The players do not talk at all in this game, it could make it more realistic by them yelling at the other team when they made them mad.

Replayability: 9/10

Whether you like the graphics or not, you will want to play this game for the gameplay. Thats what matters most to me in games, it doesn't matter if the graphics are horrible. It just depends on whether the gameplay is good. For NHL 2K3, it is good. Its good to replay, like for trying to get the Stanley Cup for each team in the game. Thats only if you want, for me I just like going for the cup once and playing with my friends in exhibition mode.

Buy or Rent?: Buy

I highly recommend this game to hockey game fans. It is worth the 45$ I paid.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/31/03, Updated 07/31/03