Sega Genesis
Released in 1995 by Sega
Grade: D
This game rips off EVERYTHING from EA’s classic hockey games EXCEPT the stuff that really matters: flowy movement, responsive controls, and sensible game logic.
Where it falls in the series
Sega released Mario Lemieux Hockey in 1991, then waited around for three years while EA Sports perfected video hockey, peaking with NHL ’94, and THEN Sega made this shameless attempt at copying EA.
Gripes
From the opening screen and menu music, this game is a copycat. The in-game menu is meant to look like the arena scoreboard. Before the puck drops, you see an overlaid screen with a zoomed in view of the faceoff. Sound familiar? Even the team jerseys are simplified the exact same way as in EA’s games, and players have their number and position shown when they have the puck, and it looks like it’s the exact same font!
But once the puck drops, the truth reveals itself. The gameplay just doesn’t come close. The players don’t move naturally, they’re stiff and sticky. Passes are responsive enough, but shots are not. Holding the button for just a split-second results in a slowly animated slapshot, and wrist shots aren’t fired fast enough. The game does have one-timers, which are blasted off in an instant, but somehow don’t result in many goals. Instead, it seems that the puck gets by the goalie with no rhyme or reason.
I swear, it’s like they were trying to FOOL gamers into thinking this was, in fact, the next version in EA’s series. The fighting engine is more involved, but even that is kind of crummy; fights in EA games have a goofy charm to them and last maybe 15 seconds.
This game is just a reminder that EA dominated hockey in the 16-bit era, and it’s not even close.