Sega Dreamcast
Released in 1999 by Sega
Grade: C
A visual breakthrough in its time, NHL 2K is a simple, fast-moving hockey game that’s not quite arcade-style but definitely not a sim. It’s got some good ingredients but its flaws really weigh down the fun.
Where it falls in the series
Sega Sports released a few forgettable hockey titles prior to this — the last of which is NHL All-Star Hockey ’98 on Saturn — but 2K felt like an all new brand synonymous with the Dreamcast launch.
NHL 2K and NHL 2K2 were on Dreamcast (they no-showed 2K1) and the series had some high-quality hockey games on later consoles. NHL 2K11, a Nintendo Wii exclusive, was the last console game in the series.
Praises
The action plays out at a fun pace, players move fluidly, the AI can be tenacious, and the controls are simple.
Skating control, especially in open ice, has a cool “slippery” skating feel. Passing is very intuitive, except for the occasional “Oops, passed it to the wrong guy!” The player abilities, while supercharged, are in balance with each other. I like that the speed burst isn’t too drastic and that the poke check doesn’t work more than it should.
The graphics dazzled the eye back in 1999, and they still look okay today. Games often go needlessly out of their way to show off their new technologies, but this game shows off tastefully without disrupting the flow.
Gripes
It’s a lot of little things.
In small spaces the control falters. Carefully skating a circle around defenders works fine, but you’ll struggle with tighter movements. Gathering a loose puck can be an unwanted adventure. Players twirl around too much, and even though they twirl quickly, that half-second of delay is irritating.
Shots also have a slight delay to them, even with the quickest button tap. It’s actually realistic, but can be frustrating considering that hockey games usually allow you to fire off shots in an instant.
There’s no deking command or automatic deke animation. Quick back-and-forth skating works as a replacement, but it just doesn’t look like genuine hockey movement.
Defenders frequently skate backwards when they should turn around, and you can’t do much about it. Sounds like a nitpick, but it happens pretty often.
The default camera is in too tight, and the zoomed out camera is shaky.
The sound is lame. The announcer keeps up but he gets stagnant. And if you turn off the announcer, you find that the action sounds don’t have any life to them.
I’ve seen people complaining that it’s impossible to score, but I think experienced hockey gamers could embrace the challenge. You just need to focus your strategy on one-timers. What fuels that complaint, I think, is that goalies’ animations are pretty dramatic. They dive to make crazy saves when they don’t need to. In fact, the goalies behave oddly in general.