Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey
Reviewed by Scott McCall
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey for the Nintendo 64 is a port
of the arcade version of the same name. The home version
tries to appease the hockey fans who like some simulation
in their hockey games. Unfortunately, while the game is
highly regarded by non-sim sports fans as being a fun,
fast-paced hockey game, it falls flat on its face when it
comes to the simulation aspects. But, hey, at least this game
is ten times better than its 16-bit counterparts.
Although Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey was never meant to
be a full-blown simulation sports game from the get-go, a
discerning eye has to be critical of the lack of simulation aspects
because, if nothing else, we expected too much from it.
With the inclusion of the simulation mode midway through
development, many of us got a new hope for the possibility
of a great game up there with EA's NHL series and Sony's NHL
Face Off series. This new optimism, from which we were
greatly let down, can only be seen from a critical viewpoint.
After all, if you're going to do something, you should do it right.
Most initial impressions of this have been fairly good. Upon
further inspection, many of those same initial fans of the
game will be asking themselves, "Boy, this game really isn't
that good, after all, is it?" Sure, this is a great multi-player
game, but how often will you play it multi-player? What
happens when it's just you and your system by yourselves?
Will you actually get your money's worth from an $80 game?
The first time you turn on Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey, you'll
be treated to some rather impression voice. And that music
is pretty good, too. From there, you'll notice all the nifty
options. You can set your Play Mode (Arcade or Simulation),
Rink Size (Arcade or Regulation), Team Size (Three, Four or
Five), Difficulty (Very Easy to Very Hard), Period Length (One,
two or three; five, ten or twenty), Penalties (Off, On or No
Offsides & Icing), Player Switching (Manual or Automatic),
Line Changes (Manual or Automatic), Play Speed (Normal or
Fast), Puck Streak (On or Off), Player Fatigue (Off or On),
Default Camera and Toggle Camera.
The list of options is long, but in all honesty, they don't do
much for the game beyond 3-on-3 or 5-on-5. If you pick the
arcade mode, then you'll have 3-on-3 action with flaming nets
and goalies turning into brick walls. The action is fast and
furious. This is the ideal mode that non-sim fans will enjoy.
It's probably also the best mode for multi-player action.
The simulation mode tries to add 5-on-5 with player fatigue,
line changes and more penalties. But that's all it does, and when
it does them, it sure doesn't do them well. The game contains just
four penalties (hooking, tripping, cross-checking and charging),
line changes are a pain to do, and a player fatigue meter isn't
very noticeable.
The game also presents quite a few other options such as
changing the controller configuration; changing the individual
audio levels of the announcer, crowd, sound effects and music;
and changing the camera angle.
Immediately upon playing the game, the first thing you'll notice
is the extremely weird button configuration. This also highlights
yet another of the game's flaws: the lack of moves, passes and
checks. Only one or two buttons double as something on offense
and defense. This is extremely annoying because every function
in the controller configuration must be assigned a different
button. For example, you can't have the check button be the A
button on defense because that's the shoot button on offense.
You have to choose one or the other. Both EA's NHL series and
Sony's NHL Face Off series let you use a certain button to do
something on offense AND on defense.
For those wondering just how weird the default button
configuration is, well, here's what it's like: Shoot/Kneel - A,
Shoot 2 - Z, Pass/Steal - B, Turbo - Bottom C, Check - Left C,
Hook - Top C, Trip - Right C, One-time/Dive - A+B, Switch
Player - R. This is relatively uncomfortable for those who like
to actually play some DEFENSE in a hockey game.
Once you get onto the ice, the flaws of the lack of the simulation
aspects become apparent. There are just a lack of moves in this
game. Sure, you can hook and trip, which will quite often lead to
a penalty, but one or possibly two check buttons would have
sufficed -- of course, assuming they let you use a button for
both offense and defense. That's minor compared to the next
point. One thing you have to wonder right away is, "Where are
all the moves at?" About the only thing you can do in this game
is pass, shoot a wrist shot and shoot a slap shot. This may
ensure that non-sim fans won't be confused, but those of us
who actually thought there might be some sim in the game
are wondering where the drop passes, give & go passes, flip
passes, fake shots and body blocks are at.
There's even more flaws to the game. One thing that is
extremely annoying is the huge number of steals that happen
in the game. You can't even keep the puck for five seconds before
one of the computer-controlled opponents is heading the other
way on the ice with the puck. Maybe if this game actually had
some simulation aspects in it, you could actually slow the game
down or kill a penalty. Speaking of penalties, why are the
penalties so short? It makes no sense. For example, if you like
to play 10 minute periods, a two-minute minor penalty would
only be for one minute instead of the full two minutes. And,
if you're playing five minute periods, then that same penalty
would be a mere 30 seconds. In all honesty how many people
play full 20 minute periods? Not many. Most probably play 5
or 10 minute periods. If there's a penalty, it should be for the
full-length, no matter what the length of the period is that you chose.
The other major flaw to the game is the lack of statistics.
It's pretty cool that you can accumulate your statistics a la
NBA Jam on your Controller Pak, but those of us who hear
"simulation mode" are wondering where the rest of the
statistics went. Here are the statistics it keeps for the team:
goals, shots and penalties. Here are the statistics for the
player you choose: goals, assists, points and shots. Yep, that's
it. It's not that hard to add more statistics. They could have
easily added some more and made it easy to skip them for
non-sim fans.
If you don't get the drift by now, if you're comparing Wayne
Gretzky's 3D Hockey to EA's NHL series (even on the 16-bit
systems) or Sony's NHL Face Off series, then Wayne Gretzky's 3D
Hockey comes up short by a mile. But on the other hand, if
you're a sports fan who doesn't like sports very much, then
this game may be up your alley. Fortunately, the aesthetics
of the game only help the experience (or the lack thereof).
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey arguably has the best in-game
visuals ever in a sports game. The players are large and
detailed. The rink shows visible details even up close. The
whole game moves at a brisk and smooth pace. The players
even have texture-mapped faces. The front of the uniforms
are graced with the NHL's team logo. And the back of the uniforms
have the player's actual number. About the only thing you can
critique here is that the players sometimes look disproportional
at certain angles.
The sound in Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey is both surprisingly
good and a mixed bag at the same time. The music during the
menus outside of the game is mostly rock 'n' roll with some
pretty good sounding guitar for MIDI. Unfortunately, and you
can call me crazy, it sounds too much like MIDI. The shining
star of the game has to be the announcer -- that is, the first
few times you play it. He's quite exciting in his play-by-play
calling. Although it seems like he may have a large number of
voice samples, he does get repetitive rather quickly. But if
you liked Wave Race 64's announcer, then you shouldn't have
any problem with him. This guy may actually be even better.
The crowd noise in the game is pretty good, too. They even
chant every now and then. I just wish that sports games would
start having a larger variety of crowd noise rather than the
standard booing, quiet and cheering crowds.
All the sound isn't that good, though. The sound effects (puck
sounds, smacking into boards, etc.) aren't bad, but the skating
sound is extremely annoying. Oh well, you can just turn up the
announcer and crowd volumes to try to keep it in the background.
The major disappointment for me was the organ music. I've
been a big fan of organ music since EA introduced it in NHL '94.
That was pretty much the first and only game to do it right.
The organ music is too soft and low in the background to be
effective. It's also not composed that well.
As far as I'm concerned, Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey will
always be a pretender unless they significantly jack up the
simulation aspects on the game to be on par with EA's NHL
and Sony's NHL Face Off series. In the game's defense, sure,
it is supposed to be an arcade game, but I think with some
more time they could have easily pumped up the simulation
aspects of it. It would be nice to get some more sound in
there (more announcer clips, more puck sounds, better checking
sounds), and they definitely need a better organist. If they
expect us to pay $79.95 for this game, then they could have
at least tried to include more simulation aspects in there.
I was thinking about saying, "Avoid this game like the plague
if you want some simulation in your hockey game," but instead,
I'll recommend that you rent this game first to find out if it's
your cup of tea. For me, though, I'm much more happier playing a
16-bit hockey game than this one. Sure, it's a great multi-player
mode, though nowhere near on par with Mario Kart or Bomberman,
and it's also great for non-sim sports fans, but if you're a big hockey
fan, then this game is a huge disappointment.
Graphics: 4.1 out of 5
Sound: 3.8 out of 5
Control: 3.4 out of 5
Gameplay: 2.9 out of 5
Lastability: 3.3 out of 5
Overall: 3.0 out of 5