Overview
The ‘Tecmo Bowl’ of hockey games, Nintendo’s Ice
Hockey is a simple yet wonderfully addictive hockey title that still
provides a hell of a lot of fun 17 years after its release.
Graphics
The screenshots pretty much speak for themselves
with regards to the rink graphics and player models. The game takes a
birds-eye view of the proceedings, but unlike common hockey games of the
past decade or so, the game flows from right to left, rather than up and
down. I always thought it was kind of odd that as soccer games
progressed, the default gameplay views became more like those you see on
TV, however in hockey games the default views have always been an
up/down ¾ view since EA Sports’ Hockey series started. You might have
also noticed that the games are 4 skaters vs. 4 skaters (rather than 5
vs. 5), but I’ll talk about that a bit later.
There are three different player models, skinny
guys, medium sized guys, and voluptuous guys. Okay, they’re fat, but I
just wanted to use the word ‘voluptuous’ in a review. The animations for
each, however, are the same and fairly basic with separate animations
for skating, shooting, checking, getting knocked down and celebrating a
goal. Jerseys are simple two colour jobs and the ref even makes an
appearance to drop the puck every once in a while. In between the 2nd
and 3rd periods you’re also treated to the zamboni’s coming out to clear
the ice (and, oddly, you can’t skip the sequence).
Sound
Crowd sounds. Rink sounds. Crap 8-bit music. An
auditory minimalist masterpiece….not really, but again it’s an 8-bit
sports game so the bar isn’t exactly set high.
Options
The options department is probably the only area
where Ice Hockey is a let-down, even for its time. The game features a
paltry 6 (yes, six!) international teams; Canada, USSR, USA, Sweden,
Poland and Czechoslovakia. However, the short list of teams isn’t the
main reason why Ice Hockey is a bit of a disappointment; the real
shocker is that there is no tournament or season mode! That’s right, all
you can do is play exhibition games! Now, while it’s important to note
that Ice Hockey’s greatest strength is its multiplayer, it would have
been nice to have at least a basic tournament mode. Other options do
include the ability to choose the length of the periods (either 7, 10,
15 minutes), the game speed (from 1 to 5), and the composition of your
team (do you want two skinny guys and two fat/voluptuous guys, or do you
want all medium? Would you like fries with that?).
Gameplay
No Advanced vs. Simple control schemes here, no
tie-up button, no deke button, and (thankfully) no fucking sliders –
like most 8-bit games Ice Hockey’s control is all about simplicity and
it pulls it off perfectly. When you don’t have the puck A is to switch
players and B is to check. When you do have possession of the puck B is
to pass and A is to shoot (the longer you hold it down the harder the
shot, though you cannot skate while charging up your shot). The d-pad
governs the movement of the skater you’re controlling, and it also
simultaneously moves your goalie in his crease. This rather simple
control method allows for one of the aspects of Ice Hockey’s gameplay
that really sets it apart from other games; the manual goalie control.
One
of the things that still bugs me about today’s ice hockey games is the
sense of randomness when it comes to the goalie skill. It’s so common in
today’s hockey games to pepper 50-60 shots on goal with no result and
have 10 two-on-ones thwarted, only to have the goalie let in a simple
floater from the blue line. This is frustrating enough against the CPU,
but in multiplayer, when bragging rights are on the line it can be
absolutely infuriating to have the CPU largely ‘decide’ when you’re
going to score (of course this is due to the fact that developers have
to compensate for poor defense and an unrealistic flow of the game by
having super goalies, but that’s a rant for another night). Ice Hockey
does away with this problem by having the player himself control the
keeper and as such there can be no complaints about the CPU screwing you
over by letting in a ‘soft one’. The system by which you control your
goaltender is also incredibly intuitive because you’re always
controlling your net minder (he doesn’t go wandering about because his
movement’s confined to his goal crease) and the smaller rink size (along
with the zoomed out camera angle) allows you to easily follow shots
coming from beyond the red line.
There’s also a nice bit of strategy present when
it comes to picking your team. The fat guys move slowly but have
howitzers and can check the shit out of other players. The skinny guys
have slow shots and can be checked easily, but they’re also the fastest
players on the ice and the best at taking face-offs. As you can guess,
the medium sized guys are somewhere in the middle. Selecting the make-up
of your 4 skater team is a lot of fun and allows you to tailor your
lineup to your style of play. You can also choose whom you want to take
face-offs by pressing the B button before the ref drops the puck which
allows you to have just one token skinny face-off guy on your team if
you desire.
The flow of the game is fast and full of action.
That you’re controlling the goalies adds so much to the excitement and
even though there isn’t a massive variation in the actual types of goals
you score (you’ll never draw a goalie out and deke him, neither will you
do a wraparound) the build-up play leading to goals is almost always
unique. As I’ve mentioned before, the real star in Ice Hockey is the
multiplayer which, due to the balanced nature of the game, is always a
riot.
Longevity/Replay Value
In single player there isn’t much here, especially
by today’s standards. There’s no tournament mode whatsoever and a
miniscule selection of teams. But it’s still a great game though to just
pick up and play the odd game here and there. Of course, the multiplayer
is phenomenal – it’s too bad there was no four player adapter for the
old NES….
Overall
I think the biggest praise that I can give Ice
Hockey is that, between Winning Eleven, NHL2K5, NFL2K5 and Top Spin, it
still gets a multiplayer shout when my friends and I get together for a
multiplayer gaming session. Amidst 128-bit games all released in the
past year or two is a 17 year old 8-bit gem that shows, once again, that
gameplay is the king of all.
Lavan Chandran
5/7/2005
Screenshots taken by me.
