NHL 2K
Score: 80% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: EA Sports Developer: Black Box Games Media: GC/1 Players: 1 - 4 Genre: Sports
Graphics & Sound: If this is the first sports game that you ever play for the Dreamcast, you will be in complete awe at the wonderful graphics. If, however, you have played NBA 2K and/or NFL 2K, it's not impressive at all. As a matter of fact, it's almost depressing. The ice, arena, and crowd look so realistic, you'd think it was a real NHL game on ESPN. Looking at the actual hockey players, you'd think that it was a PlayStation or N64. It really was that bad. The players were blocky and lacking in detail. It did run smooth, but it didn't look like NBA or NFL. The crowd looked tremendous (I think I even saw a beer man walking around). The ice was also great looking; the players even left ice trails as they skated around. I do need to say something about the play-by-play announcers. They sucked. It is almost better to play the game muted. Not only does the commentator sound robotic and synthesized, but he also has no emotion in his voice whatsoever. It really was a bad play-by-play.
Gameplay: If this is the first game that you ever play for the Dreamcast, you will be in complete awe at how smooth the game runs. If, however, you have played NBA 2K and/or NFL 2K, it's not impressive (heard this before). Don't get me wrong, it runs super smooth, but the other games out there run super-super smooth. Basically, it's hockey; actually, that is it - it's hockey. You can play in Exhibition, Season, or Championship mode. Choose your teams from the real NHL teams featuring the real NHL players. I understand that each player has a signature move, but there is no practice mode to figure them out. But I know what you really watch and play hockey for (apparently, so does SEGA), so let's get down to it. The fights are awesome. When a fight erupts, each guy has a 'power' or 'life' meter at the top. It almost goes like a fighting game. That is an addition that anyone can appreciate.
Difficulty: The gameplay is not difficult at all. The button configuration is very similar to that of NBA 2K (and since I play that daily, I had no trouble adapting). And of course, everything is fully customizable. Fighting, icing, penalties, off sides, lines ... all of the rules can be toggled on and off. And naturally, you can change the length of the periods and the difficulty of the game. The game itself, I found, somewhat difficult. I had a lot of 1 to 0 games. Now, there were a few blowouts, but for the most part, real low scores. Now, I know what you're thinking - hockey is a low scoring event. True, but in real hockey, they don't shoot the puck half as much as you do in the game.
Game Mechanics: I won't say it again. NHL is not bad, but I have seen better. The game does run smooth (but not smooth enough), it is fast paced (still too slow), and it is a fun game (there are better). The controls were great, the game was smooth and fast, but the camera angles were very lacking. Undoubtedly, it could have been better. It is kinda heavy on the memory card and has no real VMU features to speak of. It's not a bad game, not a bad game at all, but compared to the others (NBA and NFL), it's the worst. Of course, being the worst of the best is not too shabby.
-Storm, GameVortex Communications AKA Jeremy Kelso
NBA 2K Seaman