NHL 2k2

[lastcallgames]

That was literally my first review video, so be gentile.

NHL 2k2 was the very last Dreamcast game officially released in North America (and came after Europe's last released title, but well before Japan's). As such, you can imagine it looks fantastic for a Dreamcast 3D title, though the players do look a little polygonal, it compares favorably to early PS2 and Xbox hockey games.

The audio is great. Not only does the disc have full commentary with most every player recorded (a rarity back then), but it's got some good music and sound effects to bring it all together.

Gameplay is a bit hit or miss. The game continues Sega Sports' analog menus, which I never took a liking to in any of the games. The gameplay in the action is pretty standard for the time, the stick moves rather well and the buttons are responsive once you get used to them, especially if you're coming from one of the newest EA NHL games. The game's roster is also...lacking, though that's more a fault of the time period than of the game itself. The era right between the great players like Gretzky and Lemieux's retirements and the post-lockout cornucopia of superstars was a pretty boring one for the NHL, which is why the sport kind of lagged.

The game doesn't support online multiplayer (I would assume likely due to the decline of the system), but can be played with up to 4 players locally. Unlike its baseball, basketball and football stablemates, NHL 2k2 was never released on another sixth generation console (World Series Baseball 2k2 was released on the Xbox as just World Series Baseball, and NFL and NBA 2k2 came out on both the Xbox and PS2, while the Gamecube only got the NBA title) making this possibly the last exclusive Dreamcast game ever officially released, and certainly the last exclusive released officially in the West.

Taking everything into account, NHL 2k2 is a great title, and unfortunately put on a dead console after it had been abandoned by Sega. It gets an 8 out of 10.

[mazonemayu]

Thanks, added to the list

[Bob Dobbs]

Nice review. It is to note that Mario Lemieux was in NHL 2k2 as well as Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic, Brendan Shanahan, Scott Stevens, Martin Brodeur (all Hall of Famers). This game is still heads up over EA's version being EA is more fluff than substance. None of the negatives take away from a fine job Sega did programming this game as a whole by 2002 standards (obviously, Sega was not gonna make this one over-budget based on the the fact that this was the end of the Dreamcast). I still play this game as well as NFL 2k2 a few times a month for many years. My son and I do the 2-player teammate thing, so we're on the same team having fun working together.

[PSO]

Nice review; I think I'll give this game a second look.

Cheers