NHL Faceoff 2000

by 989 Studios

Product Features

• 1-8 Players
• Ice hockey

Product Details

• ASIN: B00002STSB
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,609 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

GameSpot Review

NHL FaceOff 2000 features incremental improvements over last year's mediocre FaceOff 99. For superfans of the series, the reworked AI could be enough to warrant a purchase, but for those of us who are just video-game hockey fans, FaceOff 2000 is prime rental material.

FaceOff 2000 has all the features and modes that last year's title had. You can trade players, release players, create a player, and sign free agents. The modes of play include the usual season, exhibition, quick start, and so on. One new feature that is quite nice is multiteam play, which lets more than one user play within the same season. FaceOff 2000 is, of course, officially licensed and has all the real NHL teams and players.

The Achilles heel of last year's FaceOff was its AI problems. Realizing this, the developers recruited Scottie Bowman, eight-time Stanley Cup champion and coach of the Detroit Red Wings, to help make the game play more realistically. What Bowman and 989 came up with is what they refer to as I.C.E. artificial intelligence. I.C.E. stands for intelligence, comprehension, and execution, meaning that the computer-controlled players on the ice aim to play each situation as they would in an actual hockey game. After playing several games, you'll notice that the blatant problems from FaceOff 99 are, in fact, gone, and that the computer does play quite well. Forwards fall back and help out on defense and sometimes hold off and wait for a rebound to get a breakaway.

The control of the game is just about the same as in last year's title, which if you're not familiar with it, is pretty good. The two control schemes - quick start and advanced - are great. Quick start makes it easy for beginners to simply pick up a controller and start playing, while advanced offers true puck pimps greater control and more options on the ice. This is especially nice when playing with four or so friends, since novice players won't be blown off the ice. The controls are otherwise fairly responsive and intuitive, and the choice to pass the puck with either the icon or regular method is quite nice.

Visually, FaceOff 2000 is just about the same as FaceOff 99, but 150 animations have been added that make the Y2K release a bit more realistic. Most of the added animations consist of new saves for the goalies. Also, some of the offensive animations have been reworked.

The sound and music in FaceOff 2000 are outstanding. Mike Emrick and Darren Pang once again provide the play-by-play and color commentary for the game. As in FaceOff 99, the banter from Emrick and Pang is incredibly fast paced and even funny at times, but the real credit goes to 989's sound engineers for doing a great job of keeping the play-by-play calls right on cue with the action on the ice. In tune with the commentary, the game's ambient noise, music, crowd, and other sound effects are also quite good.

Overall, NHL FaceOff 2000 is an improvement in just about every category. While the improvements are mostly minor, the reworked AI will definitely please fans of the series. But if FaceOff's brand of hockey wasn't your bag last year, this year is likely to be an instant replay. --Ryan Mac Donald
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Product Description

In this version of the hockey series, the options include Exhibition, Playoffs and season modes, as well as smoother gameplay and improved graphics.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars NHL Faceoff 2000, December 11, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: NHL Faceoff 2000 (Video Game)

This game in my opinion has it all from the different camera angles, authenic stadium sound affects like the big organ horn in Chicago to the Coyotes howl in Phoenix aftew a goal is score how more authenic can you get. I'm a huge hockey fan, actually purchased all the 2000 hockey games this season and this one is my favorite. The players skate so effortlessly actually feel like they are gliding, the checks are devastating and the commentary is excellent even with voice inflections on breakaways or huge stops. The only fault is the graphics compare to NHL 2000 or Fox NHL are a little choppy not as crisp, but it makes up with it's outstanding game play You can play all the teams in this game also during a season mode and pick what jersey your team will suit up in. If you only want to buy one game this year, not like me who own all three this would be my choice. I actually sold NHL 2000 to a friend my least favorite of the 3.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Whips NHL 2000 in many respects, January 27, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: NHL Faceoff 2000 (Video Game)

When I finally decided to buy a new hockey game for my playstation (the last hockey game I owned was NHL '95 for SNES) I did a lot of scouting around. Many magazines claimed that NHL 2000 was far better. So I took their word for it and boy were they wrong! When the players skate, they look like they are walking on the ice, but in Faceoff 2000, they move eloquently with side pushes and turns. Sometimes if I am moving a player from a stand still, it seems it will take him a second to get moving. However, this could be the effects of my Dual shock controller that has been used so much, it looks like one of those over-used worn down Best Buy controllers. The announcer is pretty cool, but like some football games, the comments are often a second off the events taking place. Replays are in nice detail but are not always so smooth. Overall, if you love hockey games or just want a game that you can pick up and play and have fun, then this is a game for you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars NHL Faceoff 2000 is better....but, January 13, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: NHL Faceoff 2000 (Video Game)

The game is very entertaining. However, I have found that at certain times the play by play calls incorrect names for players and does not pronounce certain Team names correctly. Instead of Philadelphia the game says adelphia. The all-star level is too easy. Overall it is an improvement from the 99 version.