The Definitive Hockey Experience !

I have always loved the NHL series from EA and after playing '99, I lost a lot of hope about EAs 3D sports future. But after playing 2000 I was once agian hooked on the series and now that 2001 has improved on it in every way, I can only say that THIS is the hockey experience that everybody must go through.

Like last year's edition, the big hit and deke buttons are back and bigger then ever. Another addition besides the standard season,exhibition,etc, stuff EA has also included challenges. These challenges are essentially things you must accomplish in a game,like scoring a hat trick, and when you complete a challenge level you get more points to beef up your created player. Shear brilliance !

The graphics are'nt the best but still hold their own. The animations are smooth albeit some occasional clipping. The players at times over do there intended job with some extra animations that are at time annoying. The big hit and deke animations are fantastic but are a little bit repetitive. EA has also added some animation nuances like goalies looking around wildly when you hit the post but these little nuances don't happen to often.

The sounds on the ice are almost identical to last years edition. With the right amount of skating and shooting effects. The commentary are'nt all that bad either, although it does get repetitive if you play it for hours on end. But the sound overall are very good and fit just right.

This is probably the best NHL to ever come out since the series' Genesis days and the only game that can beat this baby is the drool inducing Playstation 2 version due out a bit later. Although I usually review RPGs this game was just too fun to give up.