Officially licensed by the NHL® and the NHLPA and featuring real NHL® teams and athletes
New Franchise Mode Pick teams and equipment to compete for the top ranking in the world
New Hockey School Mode with Scotty Bowman A tutorial to familiarize players with controls and gameplay mechanics led by the retired Hall of Fame coach and nine-time Stanley Cup champion
New Enhanced Season Mode In-depth statistic tracking, player drafts and trades, full NHL® calendar and playoff tree
New Multi-Player Tournament Mode Allows up to 16 players to battle it out on the ice and structure their own playoff trees to determine the overall champion
New Hockey Shop Featuring real NHL® equipment from the best manufacturers like The Hockey Company, Easton Sports, ITECH Sports Products Inc., Bauer Nike Hockey, Sherwood Drolet and Louisville Hockey
New Mini-Games Includes six games with multi-player skill competitions
New Fully 3-D-Modeled Crowd Now more than 10 times larger
Improved Goalie Logic, Behavior, Animations and Control Goalies can now square off on the ice
Bigger and Better Animations More outrageous checking, fighting, shooting, and passing
New Team Play Styles NHL® teams take on the playing style of their real-life counterparts
New Motion Capture Animations Two-man motion capture animations for more realistic checking
Enhanced Arenas Choose from 30 rinks that are bigger with benches
New Fantasy Stadiums, Hidden Teams and Players More than 120 hidden features to unlock including secret arenas in unique fantasy settings as well as hidden teams, players and jerseys
Create-a-Player Design the ultimate ice warrior
New Color Commentary A second sportscaster joins the game to describe all of the outrageous action
New Referee Officials tough enough to handle face-offs, fights and escorting players off the ice
More than 80 Adjustable Options Control details like puck friction, glass brittleness and AI difficulty
Multi-Player Hockey One to six players (PlayStation 2); one to four players (Xbox, Nintendo GameCube)
Exclusive DVD Content Featuring an interview with St. Louis Blues® defenseman and cover athlete Chris Pronger and on-ice two-man motion capture footage
New Jukebox Featuring a soundtrack with hit music from alternative rock bands
Peli on ilmestyny ainaki jenkeissä, koskahan mahtaa tulla Suomeen? On keränny todella paljon kehuja ja pitää kuulemma sisällään paljon parannuksia:
- elävämmät maalivahdin animaatiot
- EA:n NHL-pelien tapaiset AI-säätimet
- rangaistuksiakin voi tulla tappeluista ja maalivahdin ajelusta
- molareiden tappelut (!)
- voi pelata täyden NHL-kauden jossa kaupata pelaajia yms.
- uusia kontrolleja, esim. laukauksen/syötön blokkaus ja kiekon purkaminen
Näistä voi päätellä että peli on ottanut harppauksen realistisempaan suuntaan jättämättä kuitenkaan arcade-faneja paitsioon, siitä pitävät AI-säätimet huolen.
Ostin 20-02:n oikeastaan hetken mielijohteesta ja on osoittautunu loistavaks moninpeliksi joten luultavasti tämä uusi versiokin on hankittava ainakin NHL2K3:a odotellessa (jos se nyt koskaan Suomeen saapuu
