ESPN National Hockey Night

by Konami

Product Features

• Color commentary and play by play from ESPN National Hockey Nights Gary Thorne ad Steve Levy
• Recognizable ESPN graphical overlays

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000059Z80
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 26, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,220 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PlayStation2

Amazon.com Product Description

ESPN National Hockey Night features total ESPN integration with the game's fluid hockey animation and graphics, and features the sports network's eye-popping visuals, unconventional camera angles, and statistics, as well as entertaining and informative play-by-play commentary from Gary Thorne and Steve Levy. Officially licensed by the NHL and the NHLPA, the game features every NHL team complete with authentic uniforms, including the league's newest members the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild.

ESPN National Hockey Night showcases more than 800 motion-captured animations from actual NHL players, including Washington Capitals superstar Jaromir Jagr, enabling gamers to fully feel the physical, fast-paced action of the NHL. The Create-a-Player option allows gamers to build a player, determine his attributes, get him drafted as a free agent, and watch him blossom into a full-fledged NHL superstar. Players set out to capture the Stanley Cup by battle hardening themselves in three different game modes--exhibition, season, and playoff.

Product Description

This is the game ESPN National Hockey Night for the Playstation 2. This game may not come with the original case and instructions. We stand by our products and offer a 60 day guarantee. If a game does not work within 60 days from the time you receive it we will gladly exchange it for you.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost perfect, but not quite, April 13, 2001

By 

Andrew (Shrewsbury, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ESPN National Hockey Night (Video Game)

...when i first played it, i thought it was going to be the worst out of the three games for ps2 so far (others are nhl 2001 and nhl faceoff 2001) but as i got used to it, i realized its the best hockey game on the market. I'll admit, when playing defense, the control with the little analog thing is hard because players dont turn fast enough, but once you have the puck its perfectly fine. Everything in the game reacts as it would in real life. For example, when a player passes it from the right wing to a left hander, the one timer usually is not where u try to aim it. Why? because a left hander couldnt take a forward one timer from that angle, so he takes an unnaccurate back hander. When passing to a right hander though, from the right wing, the shot can be aimed for anywhere in the net. On top of this, the goalie makes very realistic movements and stops the shots that deserve to be stopped. Unlike faceoff, players actually are better if their ratings are higher. In faceoff, all the people seem the same. And although the graphics are not just as good as EA's game, the gameplay is ten times better. The broadcast view( I used to be a person that used the view that goes up and down the rink) in this game is very good, like a game being broadcasted on tv. Another thing better about this than EA is that it has absolutely no slowdown, all the players skate very fluidly and the game never skips. Two more huge benefits i found(that i actually despise about the EA game) is 1)you can actually shoot while moving in this game and 2)you can fake out the goalie by moving the analog pad to make ur deke, and its very realistic. A good stickhandler like modano or bondra fakes the pants off the goalie if you move the analog stick enough. So in a summary, this game is very good ...just work with it(such as turning up the game speed). Im hoping more buy it so they make a new one next year and fix the small problems it actually has.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The polar opposite of most console hockey games, August 4, 2001

By 

punkviper (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: ESPN National Hockey Night (Video Game)

If you have played NHL 2001 on Playstation, or FaceOff, or the PowerPlay series on N64, you will notice that most console hockey games take a very kinetic, chaotic, speed-ridden approach to the game. Skaters slash & dash all over the ice, turning on a dime, and basically doing everything that you shouldn't be able to do on real ice with real skates. This game takes a complete 180 degree turn and slows down the gameplay, forcing you to really control your players well to win. It is absolutely refreshing, but might put off gamers who are used to the "mad hummingbird" approach to hockey games.

If you remember back to this series on Genesis/SNES you will actually get a good idea of how this one works. The perspective is side-to-side rather than top-to-bottom, while the camera will zoom a little closer to replicate the television camera angles used on ESPN. The graphics are hands down better than EA's NHL 2001, and even those professional reviewers that dislike this game will agree with that. The AI is adequate, no glaring missteps, though I have seen isolated cases of my players standing there as the puck lies motionless 3 feet in front of them.

The game features all the real players, all audibly name-checked in the game by the above-average announce team of Gary Thorne and Steve Levy. One interesting error: I played a game with the Pens & Mario Lemieux was incorrectly referred to as Hans Jonsson throughout the entire game (kinda humorous actually.) Scoring is far from automatic, and chances are you will be racking up 20+ shots per period but only scoring maybe once out of those 20 times, depending on the skill of your players of course. The previous reviewer that noted the accuracy of the one-timers is correct, they are among the best ways to score but need to be used correctly to work, otherwise you will witness many embarrassing whiffs.

Passing is adequate, with both a straight pass and an off-ice flip pass (for those hard to reach places) which is one better than most hockey games. There is no separate wrist-shot / slap-shot button, it all depends on how long you press the button. Checks are actually realistic, especially along the boards, which is a far cry from EA's triangle "mug-shot" button that causes opponents to get dropped as if by gunshot. Changing players is accomplished by the R1 button and turbo is the X button. This setup is fairly counter-intuitive to every other hockey game in existence, but you will get used to it. The sounds is fine, the crowd reactions are accurate, the use of many ESPN-style trademarks and visual cues (after the whistle, the camera might pan to 2 players talking on the bench, like an actual hockey broadcast) serve to heighten the realistic atmosphere.

I can see why people would be initially turned off by the game. It is not your average console hockey game. I enjoy the slower pace, and still find myself hurting my thumbs as I try in vain to press the directional buttons harder to get the guys to respond quicker. But you need to work with it, because the overall pace does work, and does hold its own as a realistic hockey game. It isn't perfect: because of the controls defense is harder than it should be, faceoffs are a mystery to win, there are entirely too many shots taken, the loading times to get to game-stats are ridiculously lengthy, there is no franchise mode.

So the game does under-achieve a bit, but on the whole ends up being a great game for those that don't require the overly quick approach of other console hockey titles. It's one you need to think about and really pay attention to excel at. It's a nice change.

5.0 out of 5 stars National Hockey Night, August 23, 2011

By 

J. Mcbride "iowastate" (Rocklin California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: ESPN National Hockey Night (Video Game)

This game has gotten a bum rap over the years. The controls are not complicated and you don't have a franchise mode but some of the newer games left that option out. One season and you get to play with the real rules before they were sissified and watered down with the last change where some idiots thought attempting to make hockey a non contact sport would help the game. NOT.

also National Hockey Night has a create a player option that is as good or better than any I've seen in any sports sim. The equal of the very best in any of the Madden Games and probably better because you can make 30 players of any type to add throughout the NHL. If you like the real oldies you can make guys like Cyclone Taylor or Frank McGee who played before the NHL days. I added my personal faves Tim Horton, Red Horner, Bobby Orr, Ted Kennedy. I could have made twice 30 easy.

the controls have been called simplistic but once you get the hang of them they really are all you need for a game - some games have overly complex controls and are hard to keep track of everything they try to add as possiblities.

it is not the hardest game - but it is fun and a good way to kill some time during the NHL/ECHL season and Cup playoffs.

especially nice to have the teams loaded with players I remember fondly from the 2000 season.

I play a lot of video games and I never cared if a game had a rating as the most complex i just want it to be fun and National Hockey Night is good fun for a fan of the game

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