Pros: Addictive gameplay,good controls,excellent game overall.
Cons: annoying commentators,sub-par graphics,limited soundtrack.
The bottom line: I strongly recommend NHL 2k2 to anyone who enjoys hockey, has a Dreamcast and a few bucks in their pocket.
Sorry I haven't been active at Epinions lately...although I didn't get many emails to say "Where have you been" so I'm sure not too many of you are concerned :) Having said that,I've missed writing reviews and getting comments. If you're interested in where I've been,well,mainly selling stuff on eBay. How did I get introduced to eBay? Through Epinions,of course.


INTRO
Nhl 2k2 was one of the last games released for Sega Dreamcast,and in this review I'll argue that it was also one of the best. There were only 2 hockey games produced for this system(the other being NHL 2k). This game is more about precision and timing than hard hits and hard slapshots. Don't expect to score many goals unless you earn them.


GRAPHICS 7/10
Graphically,NHL 2k2 does not stand up to the levels of today's games on PS2 and Xbox. The graphics aren't that bad,but if you're really looking for a game with detailed graphics,once where you can really tell which player is which,this might not be for you. Not to say that you won't be able to recognize certain players and coaches-on the contrary! A few superstars and popular coaches are distinguishable,but I think there are more players that look 'generic'. In reality,the ice in the NHL is always white. I would have been interested to see what would have happened had Sega tried black or blue ice(and changed the color of the puck appropriately). You can make out where the puck is without too much problems,but sometimes the white background bothers my eyes. I was also dissapointed that NHL 2k2 didn't have any highlights of real NHL players-similar to those included in the NBA 2k and NFL 2k series(when the game starts up). It isn't a big deal,but it's always nice to see some highlights once in awhile. I remember many years ago playing Nba Jam-that's the first game that I can remember that included a short highlight-reel(at half-time). Since then,I've been a fan of that sort of thing,even if it only lasts for a minute or less. There are a few perspectives of the action for you to choose from here-including overhead,3/4 overhead,action cam,etc. My favourite is the 3/4 overhead. You'll experience the best graphics when you're just starting a game-during the player introductions. The fights look quite good,and are somewhat realistic,but you can't tear off the other guy's shirt,or knee him in the groin,etc ;)
Overall,the graphics in this game are decent. Unless you're half-asleep,you're not going to mistake the graphics in this game for an actual live NHL broadcast on TV. I think Sega didn't spend as much time on this game as it did on NBA 2k2 and NFL 2k2,and it suffers because of it in this category. Still,the graphics really don't get in the way much,and I can't see myself having them any other way.


SOUND 6/10
The music/sound in this game is one of the areas where it falls short of my expectations. Types of sound include commentary during the game,arena music/announcers and the theme music. If a cd of the music in this game was available,I think you'd probably only find 5 tracks in total,perhaps 10 at the most. The theme music is enjoyable,as is the music that plays during the player introductions. On the other hand,the commentary gets old really fast. There are 2 commentators-one is responsible for play-by-play,and the other is just there for variety.
The good-the commentators give you some background on each team during the game,and highlight the superstar.
The bad-they'll say the same thing over and over. You might hear the same sentence 5 times during one game.
The ugly-after awhile,you'll get sick of the commentary. My advice is to either mute the TV,or turn off the commentary before/during your game. The commentators are fixated with hard hits for the most part.


CONTROLS 8/10
The controls in this game are tight. That's a good thing,because I believe you only have 2 options for customizing the controller-basic or advanced. You have the ability to sidestep while carrying the buck,press turbo to hit another player harder or shoot harder,pass the puck and change players,launch the puck down the ice(overhead)/deke and dive/block a shot(NB-diving never gets you a penalty,unlike games in real NHL nowadays). The 4-way pad is used to choose your offensive or defensive strategy,and the thumb pad is used to control the skaters. I find that the basic controls work best for me;I haven't tried advanced at all,though I hear it opens up a whole new level of gameplay. As I said,you can either choose basic or advanced controls,and you have no say in which button does what. I find the controller to be responsive in this game,though at times I have trouble deking. Most times you will shovel the puck down the ice when you really want to deke it,as to my knowledge you can only deke when you're close to the goal. Still,you can control one-timers down to the last centimeter,cause a breakaway or initiate a forecheck/backcheck defense,to name a few strategies. While I would have configured the controller differently(ie. assigned Turbo to R or L),overall I got used to the button-layout quite quickly...I'm not sure if the same can be said for the advanced option. While fighting,you can either punch,grab or block...very simplistic,perhaps too simplistic. I would have liked kicking to be an option :) It doesn't take much to knock out your opponent. It boils down to whoever throws the most punches the fastest wins..even if the other person is blocking those attacks. Unfortunately,no fatalities are available in this game-sorry Mortal Kombat fans.


MODES/OPTIONS/ETC 9/10
I think there are 4 gameplay modes-Season,Exhibition,Tournament and Playoffs. You have the ability to customize your own skaters,and even choose from a fantasy draft in season mode. If you'd prefer not to play the season mode,you can still play exhibition games and save your stats to the VMU. In the options menu,you can change the amount of penalties that are called,whether you want icing called or not,the amount of fights/injuries,whether you want to allow line-changes(can be automatic or manual),coaching changes(manual/auto),etc. You can even choose how many points you want to assign to an overtime loss,how many games to have in a season mode,whether you want to control your goalie or not,how long your game will be(5,10 or 20 minutes),and of course how good the computer is-rookie,pro or all-star. I've found that most of the time I have no difficulty beating the cpu on rookie mode,but it's a big jump to move up to 'pro'. Once you do so,the computer dekes much more and gets off better shots-you should expect to let in 2-3 goals in the average game,if your goalie is automatic(controlled by the Dreamcast). It all depends on which teams are chosen though...you might not have any trouble if you choose Canada vs. the computer's France(c'est fantastique).
During the game,in-game strategies can be your best friend or your worst enemy. I think you can only choose certain strategies at certain times,which makes it frustrating. For example,if you control the puck in your own zone,you can usually only select "Breakaway" in one of its forms-be it "free-flowing","board",etc. So that can be quite annoying,considering that in NHL 2k you could change your strategy for both offense and defense at any time(even both at the same time). NHL 2k2 features more than 20 strategies overall,I think. I'm not much of a hockey fan myself,except for our local Canucks :) so I'm having difficulty finding out how to make my players stand in front of the net-to block the goalie's vision. If anyone knows how,please leave me a comment. Anyways,the opposing A.I. makes full use of all the options that you customize,so you should expect for the computer to play similar to you.


IN SUMMARY - OVERALL 8/10
This game is best played with a few friends on a cold winter day when you have nothing else to do. :) The cpu does provide an excellent opponent though. The graphics aren't as good as they could be,but you can change your viewpoint of the game at any time. The button layout is good and generally responsive,the soundtrack is limited but decent,save for the repetitive commentating. In conclusion,if you're a hockey fan,and you have a Dreamcast,and you have some spare cash,do yourself a favor and buy this game. Even if you don't follow the NHL much,this game can make a hockey fan out of you. Until I upgrade to a PS2 or Xbox,I can see myself playing this game for many months to come.

EDIT-one last thing. If you do decide to buy this game,buy it on Ebay. I can never understand people who spend 2,3,4 times as much on a product in store(paying retail) when they could have got it on Ebay instead,for much cheaper. Sure,Ebay has its flaws,but at least price whatever you're looking for there first.