Xbox
Released in 2003 by Microsoft Game Studios
Grade: D
This game stresses me out. It’s just barely good enough that I can’t dismiss it immediately, but trying to enjoy it is a hopeless endeavor.
Where it falls in the series
It’s the one and only hockey game published by Microsoft.
Gripes
The action is very un-hockey like. Players are always standing still when they get the puck, so it’s hard to get going anywhere. And defenders easily blast you off your feet no matter what angle they come from or how slow they’re skating.
By the time you get in range for a scoring chance, you already hate the game, and the only saving grace would be that it’s easy to score goals.
Well, good luck with that. It’s basically impossible to score. Shots never go where you aim them. 90% of them go right at the goalie’s chest or into his glove. I even played the handy practice mode to slip one past the goalie without having to deal with defenders, and my shots still wouldn’t go where I was pointing.
Most goals are the result of a fluke bounce. Occasionally, you can score on a one-timer, but the success rate is way too low. And I was playing on the low difficulty setting.
There are no options for tweaking the game logic; no way to make goalies weaker or shooting more accurate.
Screw this game. It’s like it was made to convince people that hockey isn’t fun.