NHL 2003

"Great Hockey Game"

EA has always been known for making excellent sports games, specifically hockey. EA hasn’t had much competition in this area for many years now up till now. This year EA brings us another solid hockey title NHL 2003.

The game play in NHL 2003 is excellent. The players are easy to control and everything runs quite smooth. EA added a new feature this year with the right thumb stick, which allows you to have “more control” over the puck and you can be creative with your dekes instead of using the default ones by pressing Y. Personally I found this feature did nothing for my game and its kind of weird to get used to. My tip is if you want a good deke just use the default ones. There is a little slowdown that can get frustrating in the middle of a game, but it so rarely happens. The fighting is also a low in NHL 2003, the two players just stand still and share blows to the head back and forth, somewhat entertaining, but looks horrible. This year EA has put in the feature to hit your opponent through the glass or shatter the glass with a sizzling slap shot, a feature that hasn’t been in since NHL 98. And last but not least EA has added a new “Game Breakers” feature where when your team fills the meter at the bottom of the screen, by big hits, lots of shots, goals .etc, once this meter is full it slows down the all the other players and allows you to have about 5 seconds to make a play to score when your in a tight game.

+ Great Game play
+ Good Dekes
+ Game Breakers
- Little Slowdown
- Brutal looking fights


The graphics are very well done but they still look like NHL 2002, not much improvement, although there wasn’t much to be made. There are some new cut scenes that look very good and add some entertainment, like before a game if you’re the home team it’ll show a sequence of videos that shows your team doing various things such as making a big save by your goalie, your tough guy making a big hit, or one of your star players firing the puck to the top of the net on a breakaway. There are also a large amount of cut scenes after the whistle that will keep you entertained during the stoppages of play. All the players look excellent and most of them have faces that look so real its almost scary! Everything in this game looks great, from the cut scenes to the player models it looks great.

+ Looks great
+ Cut scenes are actually entertaining this year
- Not much improvement on last year’s graphics


Ok before I start with Audio, let me tell you this is what I thought really brought this titles score down. The commentary is absolute garbage, once again EA gives you Don Taylor and Jim Hughston. After a while it gets so annoying that you almost have to turn it off completely, the wise cracks from Don Taylor get so annoying a stupid very quickly, even half of the lines from last year are still there. The rink sounds on the other hand are excellent and that’s the only reason I gave this section two X’s. When a player gets nailed into the boards, you’ll definitely hear it. Everything sounds real, down to the puck ringing off the crossbar.

- Worst commentary ever
+ Good rink sounds
EA added a Franchise Mode this year, and from what I’ve played its just Season Mode from past titles with a different name. They have all the modes in there that you would expect, Playoff, Tournament, Quick Game, etc. Once you play through Franchise Mode, which is around 10 seasons, and have collected all the NHL CARDS the game will start to lose replay value and you will most likely put it down for a while.

+ NHL Cards
- Franchise Mode is just Season Mode in disguise

Overall NHL 2003 is a great hockey game, though if you own NHL 2002 there isn’t much change except for the updated rosters and such. Though trading in your NHL 2002 for credit towards 2003 would be a good idea if you want the added updates. The graphics and game play are basically the same. But for anyone who is looking for a solid NHL title and likes EAs style, I would suggest you pick this one up soon.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/12/02, Updated 11/12/02