EA Sports at work on a friendly, more accessible game of hockey.
Large-headed hockey gentlemen, relaxing at home.I don't take many sports games seriously these days. But it wasn't always like that. Back on the Genesis, I was constantly playing Joe Montana Football, Tommy Lasorda Baseball, and yes, even Madden. But the sports game I got hooked on the hardest was the Sega CD version of NHL '94. While I was competitive against other players, sometimes I just liked to select the LA Kings and rack up dozens of goals per game against an AI opponent who had no chance of keeping up. I eventually played so much of it that I started watching actual hockey. At one point, I even understood what the blue lines were for.
Then the PlayStation came out and sports games got way too complicated for a casual fan such as myself. I also realized that actual hockey games were boring as hell compared to my 16-bit icecapades and gave up on that, too.
But I'm still a sucker for a good, easy to understand hockey game. So I'm cautiously optimistic about the press release EA put out today, which announces the company's intention to bring a game called 3 on 3 NHL Arcade out for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in February.
SD Hockey Get!As you can see in the shots, it's a big-headed game of hockey, which is sort of a weird homage/throwback/jackmove of Midway's arcade sports classics like NBA Jam, NHL Open Ice, and Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey. It's weird that "big heads" have become the synonym for "sports games for people who don't play sports games," but it's certainly effective.
The game is being developed by the same team up at EA Canada that produced NHL 09, but it'll be full of trick moves and will attempt to offer more accessible controls. This certainly isn't the first time that EA has produced a more-friendly hockey game. The last attempt was NHL Rock the Rink on the original PlayStation, and prior to that, Mutant League Hockey. I have extremely fond memories of both games, so I've got high hopes for what EA Canada's cooking up.
Large-headed hockey gentlemen, relaxing at home.I don't take many sports games seriously these days. But it wasn't always like that. Back on the Genesis, I was constantly playing Joe Montana Football, Tommy Lasorda Baseball, and yes, even Madden. But the sports game I got hooked on the hardest was the Sega CD version of NHL '94. While I was competitive against other players, sometimes I just liked to select the LA Kings and rack up dozens of goals per game against an AI opponent who had no chance of keeping up. I eventually played so much of it that I started watching actual hockey. At one point, I even understood what the blue lines were for.
Then the PlayStation came out and sports games got way too complicated for a casual fan such as myself. I also realized that actual hockey games were boring as hell compared to my 16-bit icecapades and gave up on that, too.
But I'm still a sucker for a good, easy to understand hockey game. So I'm cautiously optimistic about the press release EA put out today, which announces the company's intention to bring a game called 3 on 3 NHL Arcade out for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in February.
SD Hockey Get!As you can see in the shots, it's a big-headed game of hockey, which is sort of a weird homage/throwback/jackmove of Midway's arcade sports classics like NBA Jam, NHL Open Ice, and Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey. It's weird that "big heads" have become the synonym for "sports games for people who don't play sports games," but it's certainly effective.
The game is being developed by the same team up at EA Canada that produced NHL 09, but it'll be full of trick moves and will attempt to offer more accessible controls. This certainly isn't the first time that EA has produced a more-friendly hockey game. The last attempt was NHL Rock the Rink on the original PlayStation, and prior to that, Mutant League Hockey. I have extremely fond memories of both games, so I've got high hopes for what EA Canada's cooking up.
I was way into NHL '94 for the SNES. Great game. Not sure about this big-headed nonsense but it did bring back memories of Goldeneye, so that's something.
I am really wishing for a new NHL Hitz game.As much as I love NHL 09 and its simulation style, I also love the arcade style of pwning your opponent with big hits.
If this game is anything close... i'll be really satisfied.
Hitz was also over the top with its unique arenas.. like the shark tank.. literally was a shark tank.. good memories.
I miss the days of top down, 2D hockey, leaving all-stars in a pool of blood, twitching. Let's hope they get the violence right, should lame-ass Betman permit such a thing.
Yea, this sounds like crap. im not a sports gamer at all. At best, fight night is what I will play. Love a good boxing game. Anyway, before I finished reading the article, first thing I thought of was Mutant league football. Barely played it, but as a casual sports fan that what I want. Something goofy, something fun. and with some depth in management that is FUN! I think a cartoon based M rated football/hockey game could do well if they spent some time on it.
I think the game is going to only be $10 and probebly would think they would only have like a 100-150 players it a cool idea I personaly wouldn't by it but I live in Canada and there for a snob to this sort of hockey game, people didn't even want to admit it when 2K series was better for a couple of years because it was to "american"
Even though I haven't played a hockey game since Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98(but I have NCAA Football and Madden NFL every year), I might have to check this one out.
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