The first sports game to define the 16 bit era was EA Sport's John Madden series which first appeared on Sega Genesis and the Super NES. A close second was EA Sports' NHL franchise. The endless gameplaying days at University were fond memories. The NHL series has grown over the years and this year's installment of NHL 2001 recaptures what made the game successful just over 10 years ago. EA Sports has compiled the best aspects from the previous successes and put them altogether in order to deliver a very solid hockey gaming experience. Having that said, there are some issues that EA needs to overcome for NHL 2002.

While the visual experience is not quite as rich as Madden, NHL 2001 manages to raise the bar in terms of graphics. Never before have players resembled their real-life counterparts than they do in this game. It is truly the first game that you can say "Hey that's Eric Lindros". The polygon count for each player comes in around the 5000 mark. Incredible, considering the PSOne version only handles 600 polys per player. The players move quite realistically thanks to over 950 new motion-captured moves, that were performed by actual NHL players. While the players look great, the coaches on the other hand all look the same. It is a shame the developers did not take the same approach as they did with Madden in order to capture all of the coaches. All of this eye-candy does come at a price as the developers had problems keeping the frame-rate a consistent level. The game does sputter at many points during the game. Unfortunately this occurs during gameplay. It does not take away from the action but it just does not look right. I expected rock-solid frame rates on the Dreamcast and it did not happen. I had even higher expectations for Playstatiion 2 and yet developers still struggle with all that is next generation hardware. The players also skate a little awkwardly. Another gripe is the lack of detail in actual arenas. It seems as if EA Sports forgot or did not have time to finely detail each arena. Most if not all look identical and a little disappointing. Again, I have to stress this does not take away from the most important element, gameplay.

The soundtrack has been done quite well for the most part. EA went out of its way to hire some highly reputable bands in Collective Soul and Templar. The players talk a lot more than they have in the past during breaks in play and when arguing their point to the referee. I would like to hear a lot more in the future as it adds to the real-life intensity of hockey. The color commentary has been revamped but still tends to become repetitive early and a little behind on the onscreen action.

What makes NHL 2001 superior is sheer depth of options that EA has included. Everything we have come to expect from the NHL franchise is here: NHL play, International Play, Game, Season Play, Playoffs, Shootouts and Tournaments. There is even Fantasy Mode with a dispersal draft. Perhaps the most exciting feature is the ability to customize every aspect of the game. This includes speed of the game, elasticity of the puck to width of the ice surface. NHL 2001 brings back the Big Hits and Big Shots. There is nothing more satisfying that laying out a player with his head down. Another feature this year is the momentum meter which adjusts up and down during the game according to each teams performance on the ice. Mysteriously missing from the game is ability to pass using an icon based system. Perhaps it will show up next year.

Many were surprised when EA announced that NHL 2001 would arrive as a PS2 launch title as it was not expected until mid-November. While it could have done with a couple of more months of polishing and that it did not deliver quite the end product that the producers had hyped last summer, NHL 2001 is presently the king of the ice. For the first time in console history, hockey fans are given a high quality title from the start. I have said time and time again, launch a console with a hockey game (especially in Canada) and you will sell systems based on that one title alone. NHL 2001 is yet another solid product from EA Sports and a title you should not be without.