NES Hockey Games

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Viper821
Posts: 1043
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

NES Hockey Games

Postby Viper821 » November 7th, 2007, 5:15 pm

Well, it's time I tried my hand at a few reviews. Since I'm a huge Nintendo and hockey fan, why not start with both of them. Let me review the 3 hockey games I have played for the system.

1)Blades of Steel (1988, Konami)
This was one of my first NES games, well before I even liked hockey. That still didn't change the fact this game is outstanding. It's a fast paced, arcade style brand of hockey with plenty of fighting (using an awesome close up view) and providing some memorable two player battle. Every time my brother is in town, we have to play this. Our games usually end up 2-1 or 1-0 in a shootout. Speaking of shootouts, the shootout mode is more fun than in any other hockey game ever made. We used to intentionally tie it up late to get to play it. All in all, a great hockey game and a NES classic. The only thing keeping it from an A+ is the ridiculously easy CPU.  Score: A

2) Ice Hockey (1988, Nintendo)
Around the same time Blades of Steel hit the market, Nintendo launched their own hockey game. The game was often overshadowed by its competitor back in the day. It plays similar to Konami's game, but is different in many ways too. The game features three different types of players (skinny, normal and fat) and while the controls aren't as responsive, the CPU is much more challenging. Shots are much more unpredictable in this game due to the lack of arrows telling your goalie where to move to and as a result, the games are much higher scoring. As well. who could forget the background music, something it's competitor lacked. I still don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. It takes second place, but is still worth checking it. Score: B

3) Wayne Gretzky Hockey (1990, THQ)
After playing these two games, I was hoping for some real players and teams. It looks like my prayers have been answered right? WRONG! This is without a doubt the worst NES game I have every played. Not only is it butt ugly (using an overhead view) but is practically unplayable. The reason can be summed up in one word.
OFFSIDE!
You can customize many things in this game, but you cannot turn offsides off. As a kid, I had no idea what offsides was and as a result, every 30 seconds it was blown dead. As an adult hockey player, I went back and STILL could not stay onside. The AI this game offers is among the worst of all time. They don't understand the game at all and look like ants, in a hurry to get nowhere. There's no excuse for this mess. I lost faith in #99 for years after this gaming disaster. This is a rare title and thankfully most copies ended up where they belong: in the landfill. Score: F-

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