Whether the puck goes in or not probably depends on the relative qualities of the striker and the keeper, combined with a large dose of randomness.
Due to the small target, the aiming is minimal and it usually comes down to trying either a little flick, a slapshot, a cheeky one-two, or giving it some purchase with a power shot. PurchaseĪs for shooting, no pun intended, but it's often a hit and miss affair.
Other dirty tricks involve hooking and elbowing, and essentially it's a question of what you can get away with without being consigned to the sin bin. Tackling, as such, involves barging into the man on the puck, and if done properly you can actually put him through the glass, which shatters convincingly. A rudimentary pass and shoot game can be employed almost immediately, with further tricks mastered in time, including a speed burst, skating backwards, and throwing a dummy, or 'deke' in ice hockey parlance. The control system is manageable enough and the manoeuvrability of the players is spot-on, conveying a real sense of momentum. It really is easy to get to grips with, and within minutes it's possible to be pirouetting like Torville or Dean and hitting a small disc with a big stick in a fairly convincing fashion. Further help is provided by a comprehensive glossary of ice hockey terms, and it really does lead you by the hand, while of course offering hardcore options for those who know what they're doing, ie Americans. This is where NHL 2000s arcade mode comes in to play, offering entry level for the ice hockey virgin. Having shelled out 35 quid for a game, the last thing you want to be doing is clarifying the intricacies of the offside law. Naturally, no right-minded person has any idea as to what they are, nor any interest whatsoever in learning them. Admittedly, this is pretty much the case, although - perhaps surprisingly -there are a number of rules that must be adhered to. To the uninitiated, the sport of ice hockey would appear to involve grown men on skates knocking the shit out of each other and occasionally flicking a biscuit past the mad bloke out of Friday The 13th. No flaming pucks or bricked-up nets here, just solid gameplay and thumb-numbing thrills. The action is where it's at though, and it's excellent stuff, opting for straight simulation over cartoon gimmickry. The visual splendour doesn't end there - and it is a testament to the quality of the graphics that replays and cut-scenes are actually a joy to watch, featuring some emphatic attention to detail. Basically, they look great and we only hope the same technique will one day be incorporated into a FIFA game. One of the main human aspects that computers can't yet accurately reproduce is hair, a hazard conveniently sidestepped by the fact that ice hockey players permanently don helmets. Clearly, we wouldn't recognise an ice hockey player if he walked in here and started putting monitors with his stick, but they seem to have made a reasonable effort and photographs of the actual players are included as a reference point. Unlike EA's football games, the NHL licence enables player likenesses to be used, and their faces have been faithfully recreated, as was the case in their NBA basketball game. In these 3D accelerated times it's easy to be blase about graphics, but NHL 2000 really does look the business, from the reflections in the ice to the faces of the players, who can clearly be seen laughing, spitting, throwing tantrums and mouthing obscenities.
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The series is without doubt the definitive representation of the sport, and this millennial version maintains the impeccably high standards. Frozen water is in abundance here, and if ice hockey is your bag, NHL 2000 should rock your world. Okay, so it's not a universal truth, but it does at least provide the seeds of a theory. As a rule of thumb, any sport that utilises an expanse of water in any of its compound forms is usually a waste of time and effort. Although inexplicably popular in such bleak northern outposts as Durham and Crewe, ice hockey has generally struggled to capture the imagination of the sporting public in this country.
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