NHL 2001

PlayStation console exclusive

In NHL 2001, there are five primary game modes: exhibition, season (where players can take a team through a full season and act as the team's general manager), tournament (involving up to 16 teams), playoffs (also a 16 team format), and shootout (where gamers play out the tie breaker format used in international hockey). Outside of the season and playoff modes, NHL 2001 allows gamers to use a total of 18 international teams and four all-star teams.

Released: 26 September 2000
Platforms: PlayStation PlayStation 2 Windows
Genres: Ice hockey Simulation Sports
Developers: EA Vancouver
Publishers: EA Sports
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Non-fiction
Country: Canada
Age ratings: ESRB E USK 0 ACB PG
Languages: Czech, English, Finnish, French, German, Swedish

About

NHL 2001 is a video game released by Electronic Arts in 2000. It is the successor to NHL 2000. An add-on featuring Elitserien and SM-Liiga was released on the PC version on March 8, 2001, that added Swedish and Finnish hockey leagues and teams to the game. It is the tenth installment of the NHL series, the final to be released on PlayStation, and the first to be released on PlayStation 2.

Keywords

ice hockey
artificial intelligence
box art - real photos
launch titles
year in the title
difficulty level
commentary
penalties
montreal canadiens
new york rangers
playstation underground

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Jim Hughson remains as play-by-play announcer in the game, with Bill Clement joining as an analyst for a second time, debuting in the previous edition, NHL 2000. This is also the first NHL game to appear on the PlayStation 2 and also to include Latvia and Ukraine to the 18 national teams first featured in NHL 98 (only available in the PC and PlayStation 2 versions). There is also a brand new feature called the Momentum Bar, which goes to the team who has scored goals, done big hits, etc.

Reception

The PC version received "universal acclaim", while the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 versions received "generally favorable reviews", according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Emmett Schkloven of X-Play gave the PS2 version four stars out of five and stated, "EA has spent a lot of effort making NHL 2001 accessible to newcomers and non-hockey fanatics. Easier controls, clean gameplay and a fast, slick interface all contribute to the company's success in this endeavor. Fortunately, the depth and realism that make hockey lovers like myself such fans of the franchise have not been sacrificed.

The game is not as flawless as it could be, but it is damn close. And it's still only launch year." Jim Preston of NextGen said, "EA's first NHL effort on Playstation 2 [sic] is almost as deep as it is pretty."