A season mode (later developed into a Franchise mode) with a retirement feature, drafting, and player trades were added to the series in this game, as well as the ability to use any photo for created players' faces, which is textured onto the head. Similar gameplay was used in this version, as well as the previous version,NHL 99.
Another mode inNHL 2000 is the Tournament mode, in which the user chooses 16 countries (only 18 countries were available in the game) to play a round robin. After the round robin, eight teams are eliminated and then the remaining eight have a "playoff," but instead of it being out of seven games it was single-elimination. Eventually, a winner is crowned gold in the championship match. There is also a third place match for the losers of the semi-finals.
The game has a total of 28 NHL teams, including the new expansionAtlanta Thrashers, which was the only team in the game that did not exist in the 1998–99 season. Online leagues of the game also became more organized.
Daryl Reaugh left the series as colour commentator in this game and was replaced byBill Clement.Jim Hughson remained as play-by-play announcer throughout the series.
The PlayStation and PC versions received "favorable" reviews, while the Game Boy Color version received "mixed" reviews, according to thereview aggregation websiteGameRankings.[6][7][8] Jim Preston ofNextGen said of the PlayStation version, "EA Sports once again proves it does hockey better than anyone else on the planet."[27]
Nash Werner ofGamePro said of the PC version that "it's easy to overlook the flaws when everything else fits like a glove. If you're a fan of NHL '99, you'll loveNHL 2K [sic]. It was worth the wait."[32][a] William Abner ofComputer Games Strategy Plus gave the same PC version three stars out of five, saying, "In the end,NHL 2000 is more of a side step than it is a leap forward. While the super goalie problem is gone and the online play is compelling, the AI problems mar the solo game to the point that in order to have a good time you must put limitations on yourself so as to not destroy the computer opponent at will. And that's just not much fun."[33]
^Ryan, Michael E. (September 20, 1999)."NHL 2000 Review (PC)".GameSpot. CBS Interactive.Archived from the original on April 15, 2003. RetrievedJune 21, 2015.
^MacDonald, Ryan (October 8, 1999)."NHL 2000 Review (PS)".GameSpot. CBS Interactive.Archived from the original on September 4, 2015. RetrievedJune 21, 2015.
^Bowen, Kevin (October 6, 1999)."NHL 2000 (PC)".GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Archived fromthe original on February 3, 2002. RetrievedJune 21, 2015.
^Morris, Daniel (December 1999)."NHL 2000".PC Gamer. Vol. 6, no. 12. Imagine Media. p. 163.Archived from the original on March 15, 2006. RetrievedMay 17, 2020.
^Abner, William (September 15, 1999)."NHL 2000".Computer Games Strategy Plus. Strategy Plus, Inc. Archived fromthe original on May 12, 2003. RetrievedMay 17, 2020.
^PC Gamer staff (March 2000). "The Sixth Annual PC Gamer Awards (Best Sports Game)".PC Gamer. Vol. 7, no. 3. Imagine Media. p. 54.
