NHL 2003

NHL 2003
North American Playstation 2 box art Pictured: Jarome Iginla
Developer(s)	EA Sports
Publisher(s)	EA Sports
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Windows
Release date(s)	PlayStation 2 NA September 30, 2002 PAL October 18, 2002 GameCube & Windows NA September 30, 2002 PAL October 25, 2002 Xbox NA October 9, 2002 PAL October 25, 2002
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ELSPA: 3+ ESRB: E OFLC: G 8+
Media/distribution	CD-ROM, DVD, Nintendo optical disc

Reception
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	80/100
GameSpot	8.4/10
IGN	8.8/10

NHL 2003 is the eleventh edition of the popular EA Sports NHL series, a hockey video game, released on the successor to NHL 2002. Jarome Iginla appears as the cover athlete and spokesperson of the game. Iginla appears in the Behind The Scenes video to show the player how the game was made.

Features

NHL 2003 introduced a new feature, the GameBreaker. It is activated once a player performs enough "dekes" and it is used to help change the momentum of the game, such as scoring a big goal, delivering a big hit or winning a big fight.

Commentary

The commentary in NHL 2003 is voiced by Jim Hughson and Don Taylor. Hughson has been the NHL series announcer since NHL '97, while Taylor first appeared in the previous year's version.

NHL cards

Returning from NHL 2002 is a feature called NHL Cards. They are EA custom cards with most of the NHL player names on them. There are tasks at each difficulty setting: beginner, easy, medium, and difficult. The tasks are simple as getting a goal, to get a hat trick with 2 players. They are accomplished by doing the tasks in only one game. You would get the most out of it for playing a 60-minute game. Another is beating team Canada with Japan in International mode. There are many different ones, including some in a season, playoffs, and International mode.

There are over 180 cards in the game. There are three types of cards: celebration cards, cheat cards, and most of the pro NHL players. The regular cards for the game that include most of the players of the 02–03 NHL season. They show most players in action, while some show still pictures of their face. They are used for an extra skill boost in 1, 2, or 3 periods depending on the color of the border of the card. (Bronze for 1 period, silver for 2, gold for 3.) Some decrease opponent's skills for 1, 2 or 3 periods, like the player cards.

This feature is found only on the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Gamecube version.

Soundtrack

NHL 2003 Soundtrack
Artist	Song
Blindside	"Pitiful"
Celldweller	"Stay With Me (Unlikely)"
Dead Star Hotel	"Frustrated"
Default	"Deny"
Default	"Slow Me Down"
Dragpipe	"Simple Minded"
Greenwheel	"Strong"
Gob	"I've Been Up These Steps"
Gob	"Sick With You"
Jimmy Eat World	"Sweetness"
M.ill.ion	"Showstopper"
Papa Roach	"She Loves Me Not"
Queens of the Stone Age	"No One Knows"
Trapt	"Headstrong"
Treble Charger	"Hundred Million"

However, only 3 songs from the soundtrack made it into the PC version, "She Loves Me Not", "Sweetness" and "Deny", the reason for this is unknown.