Well, I've been waiting for this (*and* NHL '97) for awhile. I've only
owned the original FaceOff; I opted not to buy PowerPlay because of the
lack of stats and a few other features, so I have nothing really to compare
FaceOff '97 against except for the old one.

This is going to be pretty short since I've only played for an hour or so.
Here it goes (10 scale rating):

Intro (8/10): Very good. Mixes rendered stuff with live footage very well.
A lot less MPEG artifacts than the original's footage. 

Graphics (8.5/10): Pretty solid graphically with some pretty amazing new
player animations. Plus exceptional players like Lemieux, Federov, Gretzky
et al have their own 'signature' animations. I had Lemieux behind the net,
and he wrapped his stick around the front for a score. It looked so true to
life -- so Mario -- that I was blown away. Great stuff.

Something about the overall quality of the graphics sorta bothered me at
first, though. There seemed to be some sort of perpetual 'haze' floating
above the ice. This seems to 'wash out' the colors on the uniforms
somewhat, but I quickly for got about it and this doesn't seem like a major
issue.

Skating backwards looks to be well done and realistic, as well as the
goalie animations.

Sound (7.5/10): I haven't really paid a lot of attention to this, so my
thoughs may change either way. Overall, pretty good. Decent organ, a very
good announcer, and the players skate sample is very irritating.

The announcer is definitely a bright spot. I *think* he announces only
players names for goals and penalties, but maybe there's more. The
announcer also seems to announce special players (Lemieux, for example)
with an extra burst of enthusiasm (Mar-i-ooooo Lemieeeeeuuuuuuxxx!). Pretty
cool, except my &*$#@! PSX causes the damn announcer to skip half the time.


Stats (9.5/10): If your a stat freak, you'll be in heaven. Keeps track of
all the stuff you expect (individual and team stats) + more.

Gameplay (9/10): This may change drastically, but I'm very pleased with
Faceoff in the gameplay department so far. Your computer team mates work
*with* you now instead of constantly causing offside plays and never
planting themselves by the net. They play smart now. The computer's AI
opponents actually try to hold my guys up at the blue line. Overall, it
seems like *a majority of the time* the computer player's look as if there
is logic or thought behind their actions and movements instead of randomly
going after the puck.

Penalty shots (yeah!), 4 different kinds of checks, hooks, fights,
major/minor/double minor penalties, injuries (game or season) drop passes,
give and goes, one timers, re-directed shots, fake shots and defensemen
blocking shots all work great and add a ton to the game. The 'coaching'
offense/defense strategies change the 'feel' of the game and actually seem
to work. The AI, while I'm not ready to judge quite yet, seems solid and
better than last year's FaceOff.

I would be hard pressed to find a feature that Sony forgot to add.
Seriously, other than maybe improving the sound and tweaking the graphics,
I really don't see what Sony could add in FaceOff '98. Possibly a goal
light (I don't remember one) and announcing Hat Tricks (don't remember
that, either). As far as game mechanic features, Sony did a killer job.

Overall (9/10): This game barely falls short of being perfect. I knew I was
in for a treat when I lost Peter Nedved for *the season* and gave up a
penalty shot in the first game. Wickedly cool. If the AI holds up through
repeated play (which it seems like it should), this game is it... until EA
decides to get their act together, that is! :)


Jay
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       ,-~~-.___.            *********************************
      / |  '     \           * Jay Swartzfeger Pittsburgh Pa *
     (  )         0          *-------------------------------*
      \_/-, ,----'           *        Writer, Musician       *
         ====           //   *    Mac Addict, Bryce Addict   *
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       /  __/~|   /       |  *       evgenius@fyi.net        *
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