Nintendo 64
Released in 1996 by Midway
Grade: C+
This game is certainly fun on the surface, but even by arcade sports standards, it wears out its welcome quickly with fussy controls and overly simple game logic.
Where it falls in the series
This had two followups on N64, Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey ‘98 and Olympic Hockey Nagano ‘98, and they’re both shamefully exact carbon copies of the first. PlayStation owners were treated to the 98 version only. I was surprised to learn this is the first four-player game on N64. (Thanks Wikipedia!)
Praises and gripes
The default settings put 3 skaters per squad on a small rink along with the most useless goalies ever. Snap off a one-timer shot or zoom in for a breakaway and the goalie literally moves out of the way! There isn’t any struggle to score, but it can be a struggle to get into scoring position because the fast, flowy control has some hiccups. This game seems to have its own brand of “sliding on ice” physics, which can be tough to handle. I do like how the turbo boost can only be used sparingly, though.
Defenders zip all over the place, but they don’t violently smash into other players like you might expect. The controls allow for body checks, hooks, and trips, but the most effective tactic is simply the “steal” button, which results in the puck magically changing possession without any animation to show how it happened.
The more dumbfounding aspect of this game, however, is its convoluted control scheme. You can’t assign a button to do something on offense and another thing on defense, which is, you know, how it works in every other sports game ever! And the default settings force you to hit a button to change control of your players, even when you have the puck! You can select automatic switching, which then affects defense as well, and again, this is the opposite of how it works in every other sports game ever!
Good to get that off my chest. Even if this game had more logical controls, the game logic itself comes up very short. There’s not much engineering behind which shots go in and which ones don’t, CPU teammates don’t do anything clever or even fundamentally sound, and the action tends to repeat its patterns. In short spurts, this isn’t a problem — the overall speed and chaos ensure light-hearted fun — but it’s bound to get old quickly.
I’ve said a lot of negative stuff about a game that I’m giving a somewhat respectable C+, so it’s obviously not all bad. There’s still something appealing about this game, enough that I end up revisiting it every now and then, not unlike another Midway creation, NFL Blitz. It’s easy to pick up. It’s fast but not completely cracked out. The 64-bit graphics haven’t exactly held up, but Midway’s loud presentation offers a certain spark.
The options include a larger rink, expanding squads to 4 or 5 skaters, and “simulation” gameplay that makes goalies slightly more competent. These alternatives don’t do enough to spruce up the overall experience, but I’ll admit I did enjoy 4-on-4 on the large rink on my last playthrough.
For a sports nut like me, it’s nice to have this game in my collection, but I don’t recommend going out of your way for it.
Published September 23, 2023