It's also a little too easy to accidentally hit the A button when winding up for a shot, which instead results in having you pass the puck toward the net. Other than that, everything is finely tuned.
The only drawback is that you need a fair bit of room to swing the hockey stick, especially if you're playing with a friend. Without a lot of space in a pretty big living room, you'll undoubtedly wind up clocking each other with your sticks and maybe wind up in a real hockey brawl. Everything here has been geared more for quick arcade fun than an actual simulation of real hockey. So pacing is a little faster, opposition a little lighter, and scoring a little easier.
Oh, and there is no fighting. Most aspects of the game have been relaxed to accommodate the controls. So you can pull off moves like bone-rattling checks even if you're actually a split second off when lining up the opposing player. The AI is also pretty sharp, although the game is geared more to solo exploits than pretty playmaking.
Playing locked to a position can be a little frustrating, as your linemates often come off like puck hogs. Shooting is the only part of the game that is rigorously modeled. You need to aim your shots precisely with the nunchuk stick to have a chance at scoring, even in high-flying peewee and bantam games where your linemates sometimes seem to be able to touch the twine at will.
All in all, this loose style of play fits the unique controller perfectly, as it would be tough to make this kind of twitch-game gimmick work well with a demanding sim. Sharp controls, thanks to the hockey stick peripheral, help bring NHL action to life. Modes of play aren't quite as simplistic as they first seem, either. Here, you start off as a little kid playing three-on-three hockey in an outdoor rink under the tutelage of Gretzky himself.
It's not nearly as elaborate as Be a Pro, but it's still pretty impressive. You gain experience points for things like great hits, smart passes, and goals then use them after the game to buff offense, defense, and athletic skill categories. These get more involved as you move up the ladder to the better leagues, too. You start with just the three catch-all categories, which are easy to max out by the end of a peewee season, and then move on to multiple classes in each.
So you no longer just assign experience points to a generic "offense. Completing on-ice objectives earns you boosts to these categories, improving the many specific skills. If you hit a target for something like assists, for instance, you unlock boosts that then enhance your passing skill. You can also choose from a wide variety of sticks, including Gretzky's famous Titan model from the s. Graphics are generally excellent, with sharp player faces and animations that roll out smoothly and realistically.
You'll never confuse the game for a TV broadcast, but it still looks really good and includes little broadcast touches like close-ups of players jostling and jawing after whistles. Backhands are particularly unresponsive, as are wrist shots in those moments where you pick up a loose puck around the net and must get off a shot in nanoseconds before getting checked or losing possession. The game did quite a lot right, and that was reflected in some pretty solid reviews, as you can see at Metacritic.
Even if the game was a total failure — which, again, it was not — this charmingly awkward footage of Gretzky playing the game would justify its existence. It does make me wonder, though. What if EA or another company put real effort into a hockey video game that takes advantage of virtual reality? Now, that hypothetical game would absolutely count as a niche within a niche. Even so, virtual reality games sometimes go that far, and a company like EA could conceivably bundle a hockey game with golf, football, and other sports.
Sure, that sounds like a long shot, but NHL Slapshot was unlikely and pretty solid too, so who knows? Gone are the days of being stuck in a menu or chat screen. Are you ready to take to the ice?
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