NHL '94: Real Sports Gamers Play Hockey
Written: Oct 16 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: great fast paced action, great features, one timers!
Cons: no blood, no fights, no true season mode
The Bottom Line: When it comes to video game hockey, nothing beats the classics.
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| kjell1979's Full Review: NHL 94 for Sega Genesis |
A Name Change?
Based on the bulk of my gaming reviews, I should change my user ID to Old School or something to that effect. However, Epinions doesn't like (read: allow) that, so here I am. Anyway, I spent last Friday night at a Philadelphia Phantoms game with my good friend Seth. We scored front row tickets just behind the blue line and within a battery's throw of the visiting bench. After 3 great hours of scrappy minor league hockey in the same Spectrum area where all those great Flyers teams once played, I was inspired to write about one of my other great hockey experiences. This game is NHL '94 for Sega Genesis.
Hockey is one of those sports that you have to see in person rather than TV. Video games also help to enhance its image as well. To me, some of the greatest sports video games were hockey games. Many people who remember the days where the NES was king can reminisce about Ice Hockey and Blades of Steel. I jumped on board in the days of NHLPA 93 and NHL'94. To me it's a toss up which is the better game out between the two. I'm still undecided even to this day. Perhaps I'll leave my review of the other game for a retro game write-off or something, but I digress. It was one of these two games that really introduced my generation to the world of hockey. These two games I think were two of the best products EA has ever rolled out.
I've arranged to take my wife to a game at the Worcester Centrum sometime this winter. As a testament to how good this game is, I intend on using it to teach her hockey as it did for me almost 10 years ago.
Gameplay and Features
When you sit down and play your first game on NHL '94, one of the first things you notice is how fast paced the game is. The rink is placed vertically on the screen and scrolls according to the puck position. Players move up and down the ice at about the same speed you would expect from a typical professional hockey player. Passes are crisp, while shots scream across the screen. Their exact speed and accuracy is based on your player's skill. Face-offs are shown through a small blow up window for you to time your stick jab. Line changes, penalties are options you can turn on and off, and are for the most part accurate. The exception being that the referees swallow their whistle when you decide to play rough. You can setup a one-timer (a quick shot off a received pass) to get the puck past the goalie. Power plays provide tension to score and crowd noise varies based on how much you're hitting and scoring.
There are a few modes of play you can choose from. There's season mode that is really the same as preseason mode in modern games. There aren't any season standings or stats; rather it's just a way for you to play with any team against any team. The ironic part is that the game features all the NHL teams, logos, and players including all-star rosters. So you can play a season game pitting an all-star team against a regular franchise. You can even match up one team against itself in a mirror match as well. There is also 2 playoff modes complete with a full 8-team playoff bracket where the winner claims the Stanley Cup. The first mode is single elimination. If you win, you advance in the bracket. The other is a 7 game series, which is how it's done in the NHL. That is, whoever wins four games in the series advances in the bracket. Finally, there's a shootout mode where you select 5 players from each of the two teams and pit them in a best of 5 shootout made up of penalty shots. This is fun against another player, but not so much against the computer as it has trouble scoring on penalty shots. In any of these modes except shootout, you can play one player, two players against each other, or two players cooperatively. The shootout you can't do cooperatively.
After you've settled into the game, you begin to notice little nuances, typically of mid-90's EA Sports games. For instance, fans bang on the boards, well placed (and hard) shots can shatter the plexiglas protecting the crowd. The organ music tries its best to reproduce the songs played at real team's home games. If you run your guy into the goalpost hard enough, it becomes unhinged. Boos, cheers and collective gasps are all well placed as well.
Statistics are important part of sports video games. NHL '94 doesn't fail here with a great representation of game stats. You can check the game or individual statistics at any point during the game. The team stats screen shows roughly 20 different categories for both you and your opponent. Individual stats are represented through team cards. While much less comprehensive, it does show a couple stats for each player while you are playing the game. Outside of the game itself there are user records, which track your progress, as well as how you've done with certain players. Your user records keeps track of your overall win-loss-tie record as well as the most goals or saves you've recorded with a specific player in one game. While not comprehensive compared to modern games, it does do the job of keeping you motivated during a blowout win instead of turning off the machine and later switching to another game.
Graphics and Sound
While I have never played the Super Nintendo version, I have to admit that the graphics of NHL '94 are ahead of its time and especially for the Genesis platform. The color scheme is bright and contrasts well (but not too much) with its surroundings. The puck is large enough for you to see and keep track of it. Player animations are great and you can tell exactly what you and your opponent are doing without wondering what's going on. One complaint about the graphics and this is probably due to the coax style output to the TV, is how blurred the edges are. There are no crisp edges you see with other games even from that era. It's a minor point that really doesn't interfere with anything important.
The sound isn't all that great. The organ music is nice, but there are only so many songs played. The game sounds are somewhat accurate although the game uses the same canned grunt noise for body checks. The accurate crowd noise makes up for the poor sound effects. However, I recently noticed that it's really the same sound effect from the early Madden games, only with an echo to simulate the rink environment.
Controls
The controls are what make the game so successful. NHL '94 doesn't use a whole lot of buttons, but it doesn't have to. While you have the puck, there's a button each for shoot, pass, and to loft the puck. The longer you hold down the shoot button the harder your shot is. You can also hold move the directional pad when you shoot to aim at a specific part of the net. On defense you have a speed burst button that acts as a check when you run into an opponent (but not a teammate). There's a button to hook or hold your opponent. Also, there's a button to switch players to the nearest teammate to the puck. If you are that person, it executes a poke check that can rip the puck away from your opponent of even trip them. My biggest beef with the controls is the switch player/poke check button on defense. In my opinion you shouldn't have a button that switches your player combined with another action. How do you know that pressing the button will poke check or switch your player? Many times it has switched my player to another closer one that was in a worse position to break up the opponent's scoring chance. They should have had the button either stay as a switch player button or have it poke check when you're in range no matter if there's a closer teammate to switch to.
NHL '94 does a good job of using the directional pad. The physics and skating mechanics are great and smooth. I really found myself playing better when I used my directional pad to skate rather than just point in the direction of the puck. To me, this was the greatest accomplishment of EA. The skating mechanic really was well done and makes the game fun and you better appreciate the skills of the players on the ice.
Replay Value
For not having a true season mode, the game has incredible replay value. Statistics play a significant role in this as you can break your own personal records for body checks or goals with a player. There are many different teams and players to use in this game. Each team and player has strengths and weaknesses. I don't know if I can really explain how this has such good replay value. My neighbor and I used to play this game for hours, just smashing the opponents. We quickly grew to dislike the Rangers, as they were typically harder to take down than the other teams. It was fun for us because I liked to be the crafty scoring machine, while he liked to be the enforcer. I scored the goals while he cleared the way with his nasty body checks.
Summary
If and when I ever make up a top 10 game list, this game will be there. I can't recommend it enough. Even if you know nothing about hockey, you'll find yourself captivated by the action on the ice. Except for what they've been doing recently with Madden, I feel that this was the golden age of EA Sports. This game is a true masterpiece that brings hockey to the masses. Perhaps, not hockey in its truest form, it does maintain the integrity of the game. Anyone who grows to like this game, can appreciate the game of hockey in general.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
kjell1979
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Location: Oxford, Mass
Reviews written: 281
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Still plowing through iPhone games.
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