Hockey Power League Review

Anannya Sen’s Review

An unimpressive hockey game which has plenty of features and the potential to be good, but just seems to fall quite short.

This is a straightforward ice hockey game which has two modes, plenty of teams and reasonable graphics but is just plain poor.

The graphics are one of the better features of the game and the menu and in-game graphics are all reasonably done. The language selection and country flags all look good and the actual menu is passable. In the game the graphics are quite large and there is a really good feature of being able to change your team??s colours as often they clash. The sprites are fairly large and the rink, goals and background is ok. The player animations are not bad either and the players move with a certain weight to them so you get the impression they are on ice.

The sound is non existent, probably as memory was limited because of the number of languages in the game. Either that or the developers forgot.

The controls are a little tricky. The shoulder buttons will select all the menu options. In game you can use the D-Pad or key pad to move your player. The 5 or OK button is the action button and does one of several things. Here??s where it gets a bit tricky. If you are in possession of the puck then pressing 5 will attempt a pass or shot. A bar comes up over the players head. If you release 5 while the bar is green, you will pass to the player with the green cross underneath them. If you release 5 while the bar is red you??ll have a shot. If you just tap 5 you??ll flick the puck ??upfield??. While you are not in possession, the 5 button performs the following features. If your player has a yellow circle underneath, the 5 button will make them sprint. If the circle is red, they perform a tackle and if the circle is blue they will hit. This is why I found the controls tricky and never got really into the game.

The playability is disappointing. There are 8 countries to choose from, each with their own level of ability. When you start the game there are plenty of options, sudden death, penalty shot, time period, difficulty and the colour of your uniform so they don??t clash. This is all well presented. The problem is that the game just doesn??t play well, and with these options I so wish it would. The screen gets quite crowded at times and so often it is difficult to see what is going on, who has the puck and where your players are. When you have the ball, it??s tough to skate around people and also I can??t get the hang of passing. I can shoot alright, but I have find it nigh on impossible to score, even against the weaker teams. The goalie saves all my shots and also all my rebounds!! At the other end, the AI usually scores against me, although, like me, they only ever score from rebounds. The defensive side is equally as challenging. I can??t seem to chase and tackle and am only successful when the AI runs into one of my players. I haven??t got the hang of this sprint thing and my players are pretty slow to react. You can change players in the ??formation?? option, but you don??t have any formations or tactics to choose from.

The lastability is probably a bit better than the playability due to the game being so hard. There are two modes, exhibition and tournament and all the options listed above. This would potentially give the game a lot of depth if it wasn??t so hard, but as it is, maybe this game requires some serious devotion before you get any good. I had neither the time nor inclination for this though. And one annoying feature is that you can??t suspend the game, it discontinues if you try.

Overall, a If you want something better check out have a look at Federov Hockey