Keep Em Coming
Pros:
Game Never Gets Old
Cons:
They Can't Say My Name
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
"EA Sports, It's in the game." Well they didn't lie. It really is in the game. I bought this game as soon as I heard it had hit the shelf, and when I got home I played it until my eyes hurt.
The graphics are excellent and by far better than NHL Faceoff 2001. This game has all of the features of the pervious game but they did add some stuff.
One thing new to this years game is the NHL Challenge. The object is to complete certain objectives such as scoring within the first 30 seconds of every period. If you complete every objective for all three levels (easy, medium, hard) you receive bonus points which you can use to boost your user created players rating. Also new is the momentum meter. This meter shows you how much momentum your team has during the game. You can build momentum by winning fights, checking, scoring goals, and making saves. You can lose momentum because off icing, off-sides, giving up break-aways, and bad passes.
Speaking of user created players, this game has the ability to say the name of the player you created so long as the name is the same as a current NHL player. For instance, if your name is Shawn and your number is 82, then when you score a goal it will say "Goal scored by number 82 "Shawn"." However if you are like me and don't have the first name of a hockey player then you have to settle for just hearing your number get called.
Playing a season with this game is a fantastic because it never gets old. With options like the rookie draft and player retirement the next season changes everytime. It also keeps career stats for you to look at. Making trades during a season is great also because the computer doesn't allow you to make an unfair trade. In other words, you can't cheat. The computer can also make trades on their own. This allows them to build better teams to give you more of a challenge come play-off time. There are injuries and suspensions which make the game all that more interesting. You could lose your star player for months at a time and see how well you can do with out him.
There are four difficulty levels to this game which make it easy for anybody to play. The controls are fairly simple to get use to also. Along with all 30 of the NHL teams, they also included 18 international teams. You can play an olympic style tournament.
This game will provide anybody with hours of fun. It's a great game for parties also. I suggest you go out and pick one up soon.
