NHL 2001 first impressions
By Raul

Video impressions

About the first thing you'll notice is an across-the-board increase in the level of detail in cutscenes. The EA team really went overboard with the extra power today's processors and video cards have to offer. The number of reflective surfaces is almost ridiculous - players' helmets, visors, even the ice now reflects the colors of the player's jersey. Some of these don't carry over to the actual gameplay, but it, too has a lot of added detail. Fans are still 2D sprites, but now they have moving arms and clap throughout the game.

In-game cutscenes have improved in quality and number so much that they also border on ridiculous. There are gratuitous full-screen facial shots, which clearly show the level of detail in the new facemaps, shots of the goalies handing the pucks back to referees, and first-person views as if you were a player on the bench - right down to the heavy breathing! The players have actual fingers, not skinned pads for hands, and you can see the players' faces much better through the visors. I'm not complaining about the eye candy, but after a while some of it starts to look overdone. Naturally, this game will push your hardware further than any NHL before it.

Audio Impressions

Soon after noticing the improved eye candy, you'll notice that the ear candy has been worked on as well. In fact this may be one of the more impressive parts of the demo. The crowd cheers and chants are much crisper and recognizable, and the on-ice sound effects on the whole got kicked up a notch in quality. The crushing "explosion" noise is there on hits, and now seems to grow exponentially in a multiple-hit situation. The grunts of players as they are hit seem more realistic. And you get a nice "whoosh" sound if you wind up to take a slapshot and miss, due to an untimely bump.

Of course, the color commentary is there, if a bit dry due to the limited breadth of the demo. I expect it to be much more uh, colorful in the final release.