Thankfully, I had no such problems with good old DOS, and as ever my nice standard PC at work with it's ubiquitous Soundblaster 16 worked fine in Windows Anyway, I digress, the installation program is up to EA 's usual slick standards and proceeded without a hitch, I chose the middle of three installation options ranging from 25 to something megabytes.
The game starts with a pre-rendered sequence of some basketballs being melted down to make pucks and goalie masks. This is followed by a rapidly changing montage of action video clips. Then, there is a brief wait while some loading is done and then it's straight into a demo exhibition match. EA know all too well that the first impression that the game-player gets is a visual one and this is certainly very impressive. When EA introduced their Virtual Stadium technology for the '96 range NHL '96 was the first to be released and as such was less polished than it could have been, although nonetheless very good.
The first generation Virtual Stadium titles used motion-captured sprites, but second time around it's all polygons with the 3d models built from data obtained using enhanced motion-capture techniques. Additionally, a new technique trade-marked as Motion-Blending has been introduced.
As I understand it this improves the problem of switching from a skating animation to a shooting animation smoothly, by, I would guess, interpolating between vertex co-ordinates in the two animations to "morph" from one into the other.
Sound has taken big steps forward since the first NHL as well, now, in addition to the rink announcer and link man the guy who introduces the games we now have play-by-play commentary, which whilst lacking the variety and humour of FIFA '96 's Motson, makes up for it by being much more accurately synced to the action, unlike Motson who often says things like "oh and that was inches wide of the goal " when in fact it was closer to the corner flag than the net.
Hopefully this new improved technology will make the transition to FIFA ' The usual spread of options are available, choose from a quick exhibition game, take the in-depth option of a full season with anything from 25 to 82 games, followed by the playoffs.
Or, jump straight into the playoffs for the Stanley Cup, choosing 1, 3, 5 or 7 games for each round. If you only have the one machine but plenty of players then up to four can play at one time although this means using the keyboard, mouse and two joysticks or gamepads, or alternatively, the Gravis Grip system.
If you have more than one machine available, network, serial link or modem play is also supported with up to eight players on a network, although when you read the small print you discover this means four players on each of two machines.
However, only two buttons are supported on whichever control system you use, even if more are available. This leads to having to press combinations of buttons to perform some of the more exotic actions, like one-timers. Despite this, the gameplay is very intuitive, the players skate across the ice beautifully, leaning in to swooping turns and slamming into the opposition. You get a very satisfying feeling when you get a break-away and one-on-one with the goalie, you skate towards his left, then turn at the last moment and flip the puck past him for a goal.
Graphics and sound are all configurable as well as the usual options for turning certain rules on or off and changing the length of the periods.
Statistics are heavily featured, with team stats, history, player comparisons and even a video clip here and there, although the manual is a little creative in this area, implying that there was more video than I could find. The first component is the emulation program which can imitate the psx OS and software. Step 1: you can start by downloading a reliable and bug free emulator.
Once you have finished downloading Retroarch , extract the downloaded. After, double click the RetroArch In this version, you have no control over your goalie whatsoever until he has the puck in his glove. 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.
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 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.
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!
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 There's also the occasional missed call: "What a shot!
Great shot, Lemieux! 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 ' I just completed my first game season and finished Philadelphia in first place in the Eastern conference at , and the playoffs start in about five minutes.
However, instead of supplying sharp new features as the Genesis version did, this NHL '97 is almost identical to last year's fine offering. It has the same gameplay engine and options; the only real change is in the updated rosters. Using an overhead view, NHL'97 has exciting gameplay marred only by slightly loose controls.
The graphics are clean, but the players' movements are choppy and it's hard to gauge exactly where the puck is going at times. Organ chimes along with faint on-ice sounds and an intelligible announcer comprise the audio track. NHL '97 isn't a bad game, it just isn't a new one. Fans expecting a dramatic upgrade will be sorely disappointed. Once again, EA's NHL series skates to a Stanley Cup finish with topnotch new features, improved graphics, and the usual addictive action.
Even better, NHL'97 loads up star players with cool special moves that enable them to pull fancy feats and dekes on their way to the net. Beyond the usual shootout, exhibition, season, and playoff action, NHL '97 faces off with two sweet new modes. In the Skills Challenge, gamers take on four drills that test their skating prowess, shot power and accuracy, and goaltending skill. In the Practice mode you hit the ice alone or with a teammate to take on two, one, or no opponents.
Both modes really help you improve your game, but more importantly, they inject the game with another layer of raucous, competitive, Open Ice -style fun. In other respects, NHL '97 has changed little from last year's game. The sounds are virtually the same, which means bone-jarring effects and organ music straight from the rink. The controls also remain unchanged, so you'll find responsive handling and sweet moves like fake shots, drop passes, and more. Graphically, some hot new player animations liven up the game— the new goalie saves are particularly cool.
But the smooth player movements and respectable rinks stay true to NHL ' As always in this series, the latest NHL attains a new pinnacle of hockey action. On the surface, the game seems very familiar, but NHL '97's killer new features build added depth into the game. Diehard hockey fans will snap it up, but the less fanatical should rent first and scope it out themselves.
Improvements in this edition come mostly in the graphical arena, with a refined version of the "virtual stadium" system that adds new camera angles including the classical top-down one strangely missing from NHL 96 , and polygonal players instead of the bitmap-based ones with motion-captured animations.
Fifteen new signature moves have also been added to better reflect the skills of actual pro hockey players. The game is all arcade style, more than simulation, but it's something most people will love since it make the gameplay simple and enjoyable. Other innovations I have found in the gameplay is that players can be injured, which wasn't implemented in the previous one and fighting on the ring, which I personally enjoy doing every now and then. The graphics could have been better, but it gives a nice late '90s feel to it.
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