| Product: |
NHL 2001 (PC) |
| Date: |
02/06/01 (39 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: fast and fun gameplay, great graphics, very polished
Disadvantages: resource hungry, ANOTHER SEQUEL!
Its yet another sequel from EA (is that all these guys release?), and yet another improvement on the previous game. However, the same applies with all the EA sequels, there?s not enough in this game to warrant a purchase if you already have NHL 2000. If you don?t then that?s a different kettle of fish!
OK, the game is an absolute GEM, and one I was surprised d about how much I enjoyed playing it. Graphically, this game is astounding; with some of the smoothes animation I have seen for some time. The players are detailed and clear, while the ice and the reflections are mind-blowing in terms of the realism. If you have a high end 3D graphics card, then this is certainly a game that will benefit and shoe it off!
Audio wise, we have some nice effects, great musical menu?s (which also look nice BTW) and math commentary. Crowd effects add to the game, and again this is another aspect of the game that is hard to fault. The sound of the ice, the skidding, and the impact on the puck are all there and very realistic, EA have done a top job audio wise on this release!
Game play in this release is certainly the strong point (not that the audio/visual quality are letting that standard drop of course), as this plays like a dream. The plays are responsive and react well to your control, and the game plays equally well on a joy pad or keyboard, depending upon your preference. Control is quite simple, and well thought out, spanning four buttons that is both easy to get to grips with, yet complex enough (within the game play and match environment) to keep even the best gamers happy.
The game plays well, with some pretty decent AI, although you still notice the odd idiot floating around the rink with little input, while the balance between playing up and down is quite drastic (from my experience), although these are just minor niggles. One omission from the old style games is the ability to strike a good punch up. Maybe this is in the game, but no matter how vicio
us a foul I make on an opponent (and boy, I?ve made some BAD challenges), I can never seem to start a fight?Something I certainly would like to see! :)
As with pretty much all Electronic arts titles, this is a very polished and complete release. Definitely FIFA on ice, this is a top quality title that is both very playable and hugely entertaining, while the increased difficulty of some of the computer teams will add some longevity to the single player game. As a game in its own right, this is pretty hard to fault, but its just a crying shame it took them NHL 97,98,99,2k and now 2001 to get it right, which merely is here to squeeze a few more pennies out of the customer. As I said when I started, if you already have a recent version of this game, then I seriously doubt this is worth the inflated asking price, and stick with what you have got. However, if you don?t own an NHL title, get this as soon as you can lay your hands on the cash, and provided you have a decent enough specced PC, you are in for a serious ball!
Let the fun begin!
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