Completion time: 10:18

I went into my whole mindset with why I placed most major sports games in a “win one exhibition game, any difficulty” bracket for PSX Mania in my Madden NFL 2000 review a week ago. I won’t be treading back to that much after this review round up.

I completely forgot how much fun NHL 2000 was. It was like riding a bicycle – I really didn’t forget much how to play the game, and other than quite a few accidental shots and passes, I remembered the gist of it off the bat. It visually looks impressive for its time, with uniform logos very well represented. The sound of the puck slapping the boards, the checks and everything else, felt authentic enough.

What really sold me however, was how extremely tight the controls were. It played like a dream just about, and I remember it playing that well years ago too. It helps immerse you into the experience that much more. I didn’t try digital controls, though I imagine that the experience, when compared to the immaculate analog controls, wouldn’t have held up as well. Outside maybe NBA Jam, NHL 2000 controls just about flawlessly, putting other sports games to shame.

This was my quickest game completion of the project thus far, and I had strongly contemplated playing it some more, but alas, there’s still hundreds of sports games I need to get through, on top of the hundreds upon hundreds of non-sports games that I’m sure most of you would like to see and read about. NHL 2000 though, will forever be one of my all-time favorite sports games. I’m not a hockey fan really, and my knowledge of teams extends only til about that period of time, but you really don’t need to be a fan of the sport to find entertainment from this one. An absolute must play, must own for anyone who even faintly enjoys sports of any kind.

Rating: 9

Twitch VOD: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/956347124

YouTube video: x