Four new play modes including Tournament, ShootOut, Practice and Draft combined with fast, fluid game play make FaceOff 2001 the hockey game for PlayStation2. Key Features:. All 30 NHL teams and players Pick your favorite team and thump your opponents with the aggressive style of gameplay found only in NHL Face Off 2001. Exclusive NHL. 315 rows  This is the list of players selected in the 2001 NHL Entry draft. There were 289 prospects selected across 9 rounds. Also included is each player's career NHL totals. If a player has no totals listed, this means that he has not played in a regular season game in the NHL. You can click on the headings of the tables to sort the information.

by Human Tornado

(IDG) -- Leaner, meaner, and cleaner sums up the way NHL 2001 skates onto the PlayStation for this new hockey season.

Pre-season

You know right from the start that NHL 2001 is going to be very different. The game opens up with pre-rendered highlight clips instead of the usual video highlights from the previous hockey season. Once you get into the game menus, which are much easier to navigate and load incredibly fast, the difference becomes even more apparent.

You can pick from exhibition, season, playoff, shootout, and tournament games (with up to 16 teams and four rounds). There is a draft that lets you automatically or manually pick players, as well as sign free agents. Aside from the typical game options of turning offsides, icing, and two line passes on or off, you can adjust the game's overall speed with a slider bar. On the lowest speed setting, the game plays fast enough, but a slider bar lets you crank it up to inhuman speeds. Splixio io. Other slider bar adjusted options include penalties and fighting.

Got A Nice Rink To It

Fans will like the rink size option which lets you pick the large international spec rink size or smaller NHL rink size. You even have the option in Season mode of picking a World vs. North America or classic East vs. West matchup. NHL Challenge is a fun extra that you can toggle on or off as well. Challenge mode assigns you tasks like scoring a hat trick or laying down five 'big hits' in a game. Meeting the challenge lets you unlock extra points for your custom created players.

Coaching strategies are excellent in NHL 2001, and you pick from a complete list of strategies for offense, power play, man-down, and forechecking. A Momentum factor, which is displayed in the scorebox during a game, can also be toggled on or off. The momentum factor plays a big role in real hockey, and including it as a selectable option makes perfect sense. Suffice it to say that NHL 2001 has a great set of options that will let any hockey nut customize the on-ice experience to a T.

On the ice, NHL 2001 shows some pep as well. The graphics have been cleaned up and the animations are linked together better. In addition, the frame rate has been given a kick. Overall, the game plays very smooth and fast, but the replays are very choppy. A good number of useful camera angles (as well as the important reverse angle) make NHL 2001 a pleasure to look at. Commentary is a little sparse, but that's a good thing, and the play-by-play keeps up with the action better than in years previous.

Cup Winner

NHL 2001 keeps its lead over Sony's NHL FaceOff, but every year, that gap gets smaller. Still, NHL 2001 has better controls and coaching strategies, and the plethora of options rounds out this excellent hockey package. NHL 2001 takes this year's PlayStation Championship, but it was a tight seven game showdown.

Pro Tips

• A quick cross-ice pass and one timer is still the most reliable way to score.


• Laying down a big hit or freezing the puck can chip away at an opponent's momentum rating.


• Good line management is essential to winning, so keep your on-ice players fresh. You can also prevent your opponent from getting a line change when they really need one, and their tired players are much easier to score on


• Use the Deke (triangle button) when you have the puck on a breakaway to fool the goalie.


• Slapshots are more effective a bit closer in, and be sure to aim for the corners of the net!

Analysis: Hoffman vs. Mirra: BMX Battle
October 10, 2000
Review: Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
October 9, 2000
Review: Pokemon Puzzle League
October 6, 2000
Review: Parasite Eve 2
October 5, 2000
Review: Midtown Madness 2
October 3, 2000

Review: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
(GamePro)
Review: The Sims
(MacWorld)
Review: Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
(GamePro)
First Look: Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX
(GamePro)
Sony tells North America to play on
(IDG.net)
Diablo II game review
(MacWorld)
Feature: Hoffman vs. Mirra: BMX Battle
(GamePro)
First Look: Project Justice
(GamePro)

Official Playstation site

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.