E…A…Sports: It’s all the same. Review

E…A…Sports: It’s all the same.

Hockey hasn’t changed much over the last few years. The fan base has gotten a

bit bigger, the tickets have gotten more expensive, and the merchandising is more

important than the game. But, besides the Chicago Blackhawks reenacting the movie

Slapshot with their bruiser tactics, the game of hockey has remained

the same.

The

same thing can be said for EA Sports’ latest installment of their hockey franchise,

NHL 2000. Aside from a few expected changes (updated rosters and the

inclusion of the expansion Atlanta Thrasers), the game is almost identical to

every other version of NHL hockey released on the Playstation by EA. Is that

a good thing? Well, in some ways yes, and in some ways no.

The graphics include the normal, annual tune-up. In NHL 2000, the player

motions are a bit smoother and the designers did a good job increasing the framerate.

Most gamers, however, won’t notice much difference in the graphical quality

between NHL 2000 and NHL ’99, but that’s more due to the aging

Playstation architecture than it is to the designers.

The PC

version of NHL 2000 shows what the graphics could be without the

limitation of the architecture. It will be interesting to see what happens when

hockey reaches the newer home console systems like the Dreamcast and the upcoming

Playstation2.

One of the main new features EA Sports is touting in this edition is the increased

number of ways to score. While this is a nice thought and makes the game more

realistic, anyone who has gotten good at the video game hockey will have no

problem driving the defensive AI into the ice. Instead of increasing the challenge,

they decreased it . . . go figure.

Other than that, the gameplay is identical to what you remember if you’ve

played any other NHL game this decade. Mind you, this is still a ton of fun.

In Career mode, you can play for an entire season and let your favorite team

drink out of Lord Stanley’s Cup. “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” is one of

my favorite sayings, and it seems those EA folks have taken that saying to heart.

For

the soundtrack, EA pulled out the big guns (ie. big wallets). Besides opening

the game with Garbage’s Push It, the soundtrack features other bands

such as Uberzone and, my favorite, Gearwhore (Did you say "Gearwhore?"

– Ed). Hockey isn’t just for Canadians anymore.

The controls are basically the same, allowing fans of the earlier games to

immediately pick up and play. This year, EA Sports did make one slight adjustment

to the control. The controller now incorporates a “big hit” button that allows

you to flatten all those who oppose you. This button exists more for the visceral

pleasure of slamming into another player than actually helping you win games.

Something about violently slamming a player into the boards has its own rewards.

As with previous year’s versions, NHL 2000 is a great multiplayer game.

Anyone who identified with the group of guys playing video hockey in the movie

Swingers knows exactly what I’m talking about. If you’re able to get

your hands on two multi-taps and eight controllers, you can even duke it out

with seven of your best friends . . . or worse enemies, as the case may be.

All in all, NHL 2000 is a good, fun game. Of course, the same exact

thing could be said about last year’s version. In a nutshell, if you own last

year’s game, and don’t really care about the trades, sit tight and wait till

you have a new system (ie. Dreamcast or Playstation 2) to buy a new hockey game.

There’s just not enough of a difference between this game and its predecessors.

If, however, you’ve never owned an EA Sports hockey game or you’re jonesing

to play with the Atlanta Thrashers, this game is a great one to get.