While NHL FaceOff survives on its fun gameplay, a lack of effort on it's first PS2 outing will leave many disappointed.
For many, FaceOff stood out for it's devotion to realistic gameplay, if nothing else. While other PS1 hockey franchises like Blades of Glory and EA Sports worked on providing a pretty, fast paced, arcade style experience with a lot of extra options, FaceOff worked hard to keep it's style of play as realistic as possible, ignoring many options outside of gameplay, leaving many feeling like the game was quite the bare-bones package. After a reasonably good showing on the PS1, the FaceOff series skated into the next generation in 2001 with it's latest addition, NHL FaceOff 2001. And while that realistic, fun style of gameplay still lies underneath, many crippling problems will turn people away from this game.
NHL FaceOff's season mode is bare. You'll be able to trade players, look at your calandar, and not a whole lot more.
Perhaps the biggest problem in this game is the announcing. While many hockey nuts regard Darren Pang as a wise man when it comes to hockey, the announcing in this game becomes so painstakingly repetitive and errenous you'll want to turn it off. While playing as the Thrashers against the Blues, Atlanta was frequently referred to as Anaheim. While the slip only came out a couple of times during the game, it really ruined any true hockey atmosphere this game had going for it at that point. It didn't help, either, that a forward on the Thrashers was said to have made the save "quicker than a cat on a hot tin roof". Another problem the announcing has is how broken up it sounds. If you keep the puck in one players posession, Darren and his crew will go completely silent, regardless of how much time remains on the clock. It's also very far behind. The commentators had just said that my goaltender passed the puck forward, when I'd already had it in the offensive zone for at least 30 seconds.
Although Sony's hockey franchise maintained it's enjoyable, realistic hockey gameplay, the less-than-flattering graphics, poor announcing, and lack of any new features leave you better off with NHL 2001.