 Overview
Over the last five or so years, I've gotten excited about playing three games:
Doom, Doom II, and Command &
Conquer. Excited to the point where homework didn't get done and
student papers didn't get graded, where I didn't worry about drinking coffee after
9 pm
because I knew I'd be up 'til 3 anyway chasing someone and trying to kill them. What's
significant about those games that have gotten me excited? Right, no sports games. For me,
EA's NHL '94 on Sega was the benchmark, and until I found a computer game that could rival
that cartridge -- looking and behaving enough like the real thing but still being
playable on screen -- I'd be a skeptic. Hardball 5 came close, but this game, EA
Sports' NHL '97, cured my skepticism.
Gameplay
The first thing you notice about NHL '97 is the amazing amount of work that went into the
overall design and user interface. 3-D graphics and cool animations are all over the
place. If you've played any of the recent EA games, you know they've got an outstanding
game engine (Virtual Stadium), but beginning with the solid metallic thwap when you click
the 3-D spinning checkmark to go forward, you know this is a solid game in every other
way, too. Killer details abound. The ice gets more scraped up as the period goes on and is
then (presumably) Zambonied at the intermission. The players move and tire. The replay
feature allows you to review a shot, check, or anything else from any angle you want at
any amount of zoom as long as you stay in the arena. And it's not even that easy to win.
 I read in the manual that there's a lot of management, trading, and other stats-type stuff
you can do, and I know there are a lot of fanatical stat-geeks -- like Haldi, our
hoops game critic -- who just love to do all that stuff. But because I only like the
action and I don't really care that Gretzky is now with the Rangers and no longer with the
Blues, I didn't do any trading. Rest assured, though, if you want to mimic every trade, or
you want to create, manage, and play a team of left-handed mutants, you can do it.
There are flaws, of course. I didn't subtract seven points from the review score
because I'm the Bulgarian judge and EA is an American gymnast. No, alas, there are a
couple of bugs. If you score and then view the replay you can't change your line; you're
stuck with whichever line you had before you started the replay. More importantly, there
are times when your goalie has the puck in his glove and the stupid ref won't blow the
whistle. So eventually you have to throw the puck even if there's someone standing right
there waiting for you to bounce it off them and back into your net. Though it's nice to
have Brodeur or Fuhr doing their thing without your having to ask, I missed the option I
had in my good ol' NHL '94 that let me move my goalie over a larger part of the ice
-- especially behind the net. In this version, you have no control over your goalie
whatsoever until he has the puck in his glove.
Computer AI
It's hard to say what's smart (for a hockey player), what's stupid (for a hockey player),
and what's just a limitation of the AI. Overall, I've found that the computer opponent at
the Pro level is okay -- maybe like playing your younger brother who's almost as good
as you, but keeps making stupid mistakes and refuses to learn from them (dang computers
can't teach themselves!). The most annoying AI play is when it has a potential breakaway
at center ice but decides to "dump and chase" or just dump it in for a line
change instead of going one-on-one with the goalie.
 Graphics
So I've already mentioned how cool the Virtual Stadium engine is, but it's not just the
overall stadium movement that kicks butt. The more subtle graphics, like player movement,
are amazing too. If that wimpy-ass Gretzky falls down in front of you, you hop over him
very naturally. You don't fly 50 feet in the air and bonk your head on the scoreboard. You
don't do a triple back flip. You just gingerly step over him and skate on your way. The
crowd, the cameras, the replays ... all the graphics are top-notch. I think the only
thing I could ask for is some sort of interpolation during the frame by frame replays
(hitting the pause button moves the replay on one frame at a time). While everything flows
just great in real time or in slow-motion, when you go frame-by-frame you see what you're
really missing.
Audio
A lot of time was spent editing the sound bites in this game. There are good and accurate
crowd noises: the sound of the puck hitting the post is just as gut-wrenching as in real
life; if you've got good speakers, the bass thud you feel when Lindros crunches a little
guy actually hurts; the arenas have cool soundtracks (not just Hava-Nagila on the organ);
and if your name is Dean you'll really feel in the game, because there's a sound bite
that's something like "Hey, Dean!" as in Hey, Dean, pass me the puck! EA made a
valiant attempt at coding the play-by-play, and I'd have to say it's the best I've heard
of the sports games, but there are still the inevitable: "Brindamour passes
to ...
Brindamour!" or certain other little words and names just shouted out at random.
There's also the occasional missed call: "What a shot! Great shot, Lemieux!"
when what really happened was Lemieux shot the puck, my goalie blocked it, and a defender
accidentally kicked it in.
System Requirements
Required: Pentium™ 75 w/ 8 MB RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, MS-DOS® 5.0 or higher, 1 MB SVGA
graphics card, SoundBlaster™ or compatible sound card, mouse
Recommended: Pentium 100, 12 MB RAM, 2 MB SVGA
graphics card, joystick (gamepad)
Supported: Windows 95 native, SoundBlaster™, Gravis
Ultrasound™, Windows
Sound System™, joystick, Gravis GrIP™ 4-player adapter
Bottom Line
NHL '97 is a game not just for hockey fans but for sports fans. It's for people who prefer
the intensity of a playoff game to the star-studded flash of an all-star game. It's a game
for people who would rather see an overtime than a slam-dunk contest. If you want to jump
over the heads of your opponents, do two flips and then jam the stupid ball while
holding your hand over your eyes, get NBA Live or its "high flying" automotive
equivalent, Destruction Derby 2. If you want to play and feel like you're really playing
the game, pick up NHL '97. I just completed my first 25-game season and finished
Philadelphia in first place in the Eastern conference at 18-7-0, and the playoffs start in
about five minutes.
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