Previous Next

Remember the Winter Olympics of 1980? No, neither do I! Well, it appears that the USA beat Russia in a thrillingly memorable final to win the gold medal. Now you have the chance to play in a similar match courtesy of Electronic Arts and it's only eight years late (and boy does it look it!).

The gameplay is atrocious. It starts with you and an opponent (computer or human) in the middle of the rink for the faceoff. You only ever control one player (the centre), the rest of your team try to put themselves into strategic positions.

Once you have the puck you have to skate down the rink, dodging opponents. You can pass to other players (preferably on your own team) and get them to pass to you. If you get within striking distance of the opposition's goal then you can play a slapshot, and, if you're lucky it might get past the goal-keeper.

If the opposition get the puck you can try to tackle or foul them to regain control. The instructions go into detail about this foul and that tackle, but as far as I can see all you have to do is catch up with the player in control, press fire, and watch him go sliding across the ice.

You have a choice of one-a-side or five-a-side game. The five-a-side game is very confusing and prone to graphic hitches (I once found myself with no legs and a hockey stick floating above my head - very worrying).

The control system is abysmal, it takes ages for a player to respond to the joystick and when he does it's usually too late.

The graphics are no better than the gameplay. The ice rink is nothing more than a few circles and lines (and badly drawn ones at that). The only nice thing I can say about the graphics is that the animation is reasonable.

The sound is bad. The graphics is too. There are limited sound effects and this occasionally annoying jingle. Often, you are scrolled off the screen.

I can't see Powerplay Hockey even appealing to ice hockey fans.