I thought last years age of NHL 2000 was good, but this one is even better. There are a few new things that were added to this years game that make it more exciting and fun for any sports and hockey fan to play. The newest thing to come this year are the faces. If you have a scanner, you can now scan your face into your computer and put it in the game with their face management aspect of the game. This is a really cool way to make the game more personal. You can not only add it into the game, but you can also edit your own features on your own face when in the game. You can transfer your face into a comical cartoon face that fits right on the hockey player!
Another thing that makes this game so cool are the new moves. There are a few new moves when you hit the deek button, and there is a totally new button this year. The new button is the big hit button. This button is a great one, that has helped me to win a lot of games. Once you get good at this, you can line up your biggest hitter with the other teams superstar, if you do it after the play, 50% of the time you will injur the other player. The injury will probably result in a game misconduct for spearing or something like that, but it is a good strategy to have.
Another part of this game that improved is the commentary. Last year and in 98's game, there was a lot of dead air. There is new commentary, and there are new sounds available as well. Players will complain more when the referee trys to put them into the penalty box, and players will now taunt. After a goal hitting the taunt button, three or more times, will bring along some bonus commentary that is pretty cool too. Another cool thing like the new audio is the between play action. Between the plays the players will talk and stretch and get ready for the new faceoff, this also makes the game so much more realistic.
Finally, the graphics in this game are also stupendous. They have tightened up the graphics of the ice, and especially the players. The rinks are also really cool to see, and the fireworks on opening night are a really nice touch in this game. Another interesting thing about this game are the jerseys. Before each game when you can choose which line you want to start the game, you can choose which jersey you want; home, away, or original jersey. This is really cool to play the Rangers against the Red Wings in an old-school battle of the original teams of the NHL!
One thing that I do not like about this game and are waiting to see if anyone will do it, is to bring back some old teams. A code should be typed in to get you the Hartford Whalers, and the Winnipeg Jets, as well as the Quebec Nordiques and so on. This would be a really cool part of the game that no one so far on PC has had in their game. Oh well, maybe in 2001!
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