This is a fantastic game. Most of the NHL games are nearly identical to their predecessor, sometimes even worse, but this game changed alot from '97 and all for the better. The main thing being that FIGHTS ARE BACK BABY! WOOO! This game is very challenging for a sports game. When I first purchased it, I picked the worst team in the game and set it on the most difficult setting. In a 25 game season I went 5-19-1. I was amazed at how difficult it was. The next season, however, I learned how to score and it was over. I suddenly had a 98% success rate on the power play and I never lost again.

Despite having a reply value hovering around 0, this is still a very good game. When the action stops it feels as if you are watching a Hockey game on ESPN, as different statistics will come onto the screen, or the camera will follow around a different player. Talk about sweet. There are tons of other little things that make the game enjoyable: the players all have their real faces and they push and shove each other in front of the goal, just to name a few.