ESPN NHL Hockey

"A most Excellent Game"

Well...I must start off with saying that I was more than a little hesitant buying this game. I've bought so many hockey games before, but they soon bore me to the boards. Well, I gave this a shot and I'm glad I did. This game is a very good simulation of hockey. But it does have it's flaws. Lets start off with the basics.

Graphics- 9/10. It is a visual delight. Other then a few small glitches here and there, it is very tight. A little more details to the face would have been better, but who cares.

Sound- 8/10. Crashing into the boards, pucks hitting the glass. What can I say, the sfx are pretty darn good. Even the announcers aren't bad. The are pretty fluid (however, very repetitive). Doesn't really have a soundtrack, good or bad? You be the judge

Controls/gameplay- 8.5/10. Pretty nice. However, deking can be a little of a pain, but you get used to it. Fluid mechanics are almost omnipresent, except once again, for a few minor glitches.

Fun- 10/10. If you are looking for a hard hitting, nose to the ice type of game. This is a good choice. If you are looking for a good hockey simulator, this is a good choice. If you want both, we have a match made in heaven.

Fighting System- 9/10. Good news is, it is a little more realistic (compared to real hockey fights). Bad news is, it isn't like the real hockey fights. They have grabbing, they have punching, and the have blocking. Three buttons in total. While grabbing is present in almost any hockey fight, the grabbing in the game leaves something to be desired. For one thing, the punches are pretty repetitive, not wild like fights. But other then that, it's an improvement over other fighting systems.

Replayability. 10/10. One word: Franchise Mode. Okay...maybe two. And pond hockey, too. Man I love pond hockey.

Overall (not an average)- 9/10. It is extremely fun, extremely time consuming (it kept me past my 3 am bed time...hahaha) and is just a great hockey game.

Rent/Buy. Well, I would think it would be pointless to rent, since you got the sweet Franchise feature, so I feel inclined to say ''Buy it.''

Espn NHL Hockey is one of the best hockey games out there. They could fine tune some of the errors, but they were so few, you would really have to be looking extremely hard for them.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/28/03