Rating: 
Summary: Should be called football, not hockey
Review: I can't believe that EA changed their great NHL 2001 into what is now NHL 2002. No matter how much people deny it, hockey is a defensive sport, and no, that doesn't mean full of checking. Electronic Arts is placing the emphasis on the completely wrong side of the game. They make the shooters much better than the goalies because they think that the people who buy the game want hockey games with scores like 15-13. That is not a hockey game, that's not even baseball.Checking is made out to be a form of physical punishment toward another player in the game. This is completely untrue and will most likely turn off many of the true hockey fans from this game. A check is any physical contact made in an attempt to knock an opponent off the puck, not to punish another player. It glorifies the big hits way too much and, by default, is set to replay a big hit DURING GAMEPLAY!!! Do you know how annoying that is? The only plus that I found was the level of the graphics. They are better than NHL 2001, but not by much. The graphics are the only thing that saved this from a 1-star rating from me.
Rating: 
Summary: I am so curious
Review: I cant wait until this game comes out but I was wondering if you knew if you were going to be able to sign players to contracts with amounts of money and the number of years
Rating:
Summary: NHL 2K2 is totally the best!
Review: I just love playing EA Sports Games, and when I heard NHL 2002 was coming out Sept. 19th, I thought this is great. With NHL & EA always putting out a great game every year, the next edition is always anticipated. NHL 2002 is a great game with great gameplay between internet players. Get This Game!
Rating:
Summary: I can't get enough of this game
Review: I love this game it rules. I have no problems with it. It works surprisingly good with windows XP, unlike some other games. If you're a hockey this is the best game out there.
Rating:
Summary: THIS GAME THROWS NHL 2001 OUT THE WINDOW!!!!
Review: I LOve this game. I had 2001, but once i got 2002, i gave 2001 to a friend. This game is awesome. First, i made it so i can have me and my hockey buddy on teams. This is courtesy of Create-A-Player. I am Right Wing on the Colorado Avalanche, My friend is Center for the Florida Panthers. Second, if you complete certain tasks during a game, you can get cards to collect. Certain cards will unlock easter eggs. I HIGHLY reccomend this game. I would have given it 6 stars, but i can't
Rating: 
Summary: Same as NHL 2001
Review: I was tempted to get this game when it first came out. But I decided I was going to wait until March/April, when the price drops. But,low and behold, I received it as a b-day gift. I wasn't even going to try it out.But curiosity got the best of me,and I CAREFULLY peeled back the tape and installed the game. The gameplay and graphics are just like,if not EXACTLY, NHL 2001. Even the players faces,when they score goals or get penalties,are still the same ones from NHL 2000. The cards seemd too confusing to figure out. The one thing that I did like was the new pictures of the arenas. I don't understand why some of the players that have been in the league since the start of the '00-01 season still have no "faces". They still have created player or rookie faces. After my dismay of the game,I put the game back in the box and took it back the next day. Not worth the $$$,IF you have NHL 2001. If you're new to the NHL series,then this is a good game to get. The announcer is VERY annoying,by the way.
Rating: 
Summary: Slightly improved gameplay but other changes annoying
Review: I'm a regular player of the NHL series since nhl99. I like nhl2002 because the gameplay is slightly improved: certain moves don't always produce goals, defenseman can poke the puck away, you can pass over other sticks (though the programmers idiotically give this 100 percent success, when it should be closer to 60 percent), and it has a bit of a slower feel which is more realistic. But if you're a regular player, you might be very disappointed with some of the changes or lack thereof. First of all, I was very much looking forward to new faces for players who are relatively new, or at least new as of the beginning of last year. (For example, All-Star goalie Roman Cechmanek, Flyers starters since September 2000 like Ruslan Fedotenko, new players like Dopita, etc. all lack faces.) In fact, I can't find one new face at all since nhl 2001. In addition, the rosters aren't quite right, and usually exclude new additions during the summer (for Philly, like Dopita, Brendl, Boulerice -- all starters). Second, I was looking forward to new colour commentary: the entire commentary is nothing but bad jokes, with no comments on the players at all. Worse, these jokes just get repeated. Third, this joking has been taken into the arena announcements. One of the things I most enjoyed about nhl2001 was its realism, of feeling like you were in the arena. Now, all of the realistic arena announcements have been replaced by a handful of stupid joke announcements: "If you are a single woman in your twenties, I'd like to meet you..." or "I just inhaled a balloon, doesn't my voice sound funny" or "If your car is a ..., then... you should buy a new car!" If these sorts of changes are for you, then definitely buy the game right away. If, like me, you were mostly interested in updates of the stats, faces, rosters, etc. then you'll be disappointed. (And yes, the "cards" cheats are stupid: you get a deck of cards for boost-cheats on league players you have no control over.) If you've never owned an NHL game, then this is definitely the best out there. By the way, the automatic update feature is buggy -- which is probably okay since EA has not put out any updates or even updated rosters, though we are already in the season and these rosters were as of July.
Rating:
Summary: Second only to the Great One himself.
Review: Initially, this game looks a lot like its predecessor, NHL 2001, but once I started to explore the game more, I was amazed at how indepth this game is. It is everything anyone could want in a hockey game. Creating a dynasty, participating in a draft and creating your own team with a fantasy draft are just a few of the things that are like a dream come true. I could not believe the diversity in the commentary, I have played over 500 games and still hear new stuff. NHL 2002 is a massive improvement over NHL 2001, new in-game features along with elimination of some errors in the last one make this a very enjoyable game. As far as graphics, sound and all around control and gameplay, NHL 2002 is very well put together. The graphics are some of the best in the business and the sounds are very accurate to the real thing. Controls do take a little time to get used to and can seem a bit complicated at first, but the basics are simple and the more complicated controls come with experience like any game. Gameplay is smooth, nothing negative worth mentioning. There is a very high replay value due to all the different options and ability to play ten consecutive seasons with one team. The one down side to this game is that eventually NHL 2003 is going to come out and hopefully be bigger and badder than this one. So the best bet is to search for this in a bargain bin and pick up a real [bargain] of a game. I give my compliments to EA Sports on this one, They Shoot...They Score!
Rating:
Summary: Second only to the Great One himself.
Review: Initially, this game looks a lot like its predecessor, NHL 2001, but once I started to explore the game more, I was amazed at how indepth this game is. It is everything anyone could want in a hockey game. Creating a dynasty, participating in a draft and creating your own team with a fantasy draft are just a few of the things that are like a dream come true. I could not believe the diversity in the commentary, I have played over 500 games and still hear new stuff. NHL 2002 is a massive improvement over NHL 2001, new in-game features along with elimination of some errors in the last one make this a very enjoyable game. As far as graphics, sound and all around control and gameplay, NHL 2002 is very well put together. The graphics are some of the best in the business and the sounds are very accurate to the real thing. Controls do take a little time to get used to and can seem a bit complicated at first, but the basics are simple and the more complicated controls come with experience like any game. Gameplay is smooth, nothing negative worth mentioning. There is a very high replay value due to all the different options and ability to play ten consecutive seasons with one team. The one down side to this game is that eventually NHL 2003 is going to come out and hopefully be bigger and badder than this one. So the best bet is to search for this in a bargain bin and pick up a real [bargain] of a game. I give my compliments to EA Sports on this one, They Shoot...They Score!
Rating:
Summary: Wow - Great Game; Appeals to Many Crowds
Review: It seems like whenever I get a new NHL game every three years, the improvements are so amazing that I am simply in awe. NHL 96 was good at the time, NHL 99 was better, but wow, NHL 2002 is simply great! It had a great overall experience, good extras, good AI, good expandibility, and more. The game itself was nice. It had a great start-to-finish experience that included pregame warmups, coaches talking to players, people shoving each other, spectators cheering. If you get bored with that, though, you can skip right through it, a good feature as well. There were some features, like the Breakaway Cam and instant replays after a great save, that I did not enjoy, but, you can turn it off as well. The announcers were okay, at least they didn't repeat over and over again. There were many little things that were cool. For example, you could customize your face when you create a player. You can choose a team's Home, Away, 3rd, 4th, or inaugural jersey when playing a game. You can go to EA's website to download roster updates and music converters so that you can play your own music in between plays. A cool feature, NHL Cards, sets certain tasks for you to achieve in a game (get a hat trick, get a shutout, win ten faceoffs, etc.) , and then you get points that you can redeem for cards. These cards are mainly for players. You can use them during a game to increase their quality of play. Other cards are Easter Eggs that can do various things. The difficulty is good; I was able to set a middle ground between winning 12-1 and losing 12-1. I have browsed through other reviews and seen comments like "NHL Cards is bad", "I don't like the Breakaway Cam or the instant replays on the hits and saves", but the great thing about NHL 2002 is that these features, and others, can be turned off at your discretion. A final awesome feature is the mid-season action. There is a rookie draft, and then a round of free-agent signings. So if your team was on the short end of the previous season, then you get first dibs on a slew of fresh talent. An excellent idea. In conclusion, if you want to play hockey, and haven't gotten a game like this in awhile or ever, then this is for you!
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