
	Platform Genesis Genre Sports Developer/Publisher Electronic Arts Released 1992
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NHL Hockey

nhl hockey,sega genesis

As far as I can recall this was the first hockey game for the Genesis. Regardless, NHL Hockey is the first installment of Electronic Arts hockey games and a solid entry title. NHL Hockey is fun single and two-player game. The teams (circa 1990) are all included, as are the Conference All-Star teams. The rinks all look the same except for the center ice logos. The crowd is made up of clones. Sound effects aren’t plentiful. The referee is blind most of the time. Winning games are fairly challenging, unless you continually employ a cheat where you skate down the right hand side (from the goalie’s perspective) and, as you cross the blue line, cut hard across the rink and slap in an easy goal. The goalie has very limited control. Sounds like a mediocre game by anyone’s standards.

But it’s so much more than that, as anyone that has played it will testify. For one, there’s fighting. The fighting is basic: head punch, body blow or block. And fights can happen between any two players. Two heavyweights will go the distance, while lightweights will knock each other down after only a few punches. Having an enforcer go toe-to-toe with a Gretzky-type player . . . well, it’s not pretty. It should also be noted that each player handles differently. Forwards are quicker than defensemen and so on. Players can be injured. Depending on the severity they can be out for a period or the rest of the game. Control is solid. Except of course for the goalie. The goalie rides on autopilot until he has the puck. But once control is handled over things aren’t much better. The goalie control is limited to movement inside the crease. The officials seem to be blind most of the time, allowing some of the most horrendous infractions to go unpenalized. Then they turn around and make a bad call. But that’s hockey!

There are a few gameplay options to fiddle with that can make the game more frustrating or fun to play. Period length can be adjusted. Time plays out a lot faster than in real life so quick games before school are possible. Line changes are optional, as are some of the referee calls. There’s no season play. Instead players get to have single matches, pitting any team against any other team. There is the

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chance to play for the Stanley Cup. Some teams are incredibly hard to take to the Cup. The San Jose Sharks, an expansion team at the time, is a very difficult team to win the Cup with. The instant replay is a great option. Accessing the replay is easy and it allows you to review the last ten seconds of action at any given time. It’s especially fun to score a spectacular goal against a human opponent then rub it in by watching the replay 10 times in slow motion.

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The graphics are simple and move along at a good clip. The players look the same, except for the goalie. The player currently under manual control has a star at his feet along with their number. Animations are standard Genesis and it’s easy to see what each player is doing. A slapshot looks different than a pass, etc. The camera always follows the puck and when the manually controlled player is offscreen there is an arrow indicating his position. The view is nearly ¾ top down, and the screen scrolls up and down. You will always know what’s happening where and is beautiful in its simplicity.

Sound is nothing to scream about. Depending on the home/away situation the crowd will respond differently. Knock the star player of the home team out of the game and the crowd will boo. Slapshots have a great "crack" sound, and drilling an opponent into the boards is fun just to hear the boards reverberate.

Bottomline, a fun hockey game (even though it’s really out of date).

And yes, I do know that the screenshots are from NHL Hockey ’97. The graphics are virtually the same.

- Omni