I'll be honest, after playing
989 Sports' debacle of a football game, otherwise known as
Gameday 2001 for PlayStation 2, I was definitely skeptical about playing anymore of their sports games. However,
NHL FaceOff 2001 was nothing like I expected it to be, which turned out to be a very good thing. The graphics were much cleaner than any
989 game I've ever seen, as they used just the right amount of detail for a realistic looking hockey game. Plus, the player models weren't blocky, another quality I haven't seen in recent years, along with player animations being enhanced with the use of more than 1,500 motion-captured animations. The arenas weren't bad looking, although they left something to be desired here, as it seemed some of the features in the arenas looked all the same to me. However, the crowd didn't look atrocious, which blew my mind since I haven't seen one this good looking from
989 in a long time. In fact, the polygonal animated crowds would clap, drink, wave towels, bang on the glass and move in the aisles during the game. When did
989 learn how to do this?
The audio delivered punches at times, and left you waiting for more at others. I thought the sound effects like the checking, shooting and crowd volume were fine, as was the music selection. However, the TV-style commentary of Mike Emrick and Darren Pang sometimes sounded a little blocky and choppy, and it didn't seem to flow from period to period.
