TV Sports Hockey
System: TG-16
Release Date: September 1991
Developer: Cinemaware
Publisher: NEC
Genre: Sports
The roar of the crowd, the slap of the shot, the blaze of the horn is waiting for you in TV Sports Hockey! After the pinnacle of the ice rink came to the Genesis with NHL Hockey, the TurboGrafx is ready for its turn. The question you need to ask, will it be able to compete?
Lloyd Christmas welcomes us to the games complete with bowl cut and missing teeth. You can choose to play an exhibition game or a tournament. There are eight teams to choose from out of the eight most hockey centered countries. Each team seemingly has their own strengths and weaknesses. The face off is contested from a closeup top down view. You press Button I and hope to sweep it away. Then the action pulls out to a view like NHL Hockey.
When you have the puck, Button II plus a direction passes that way. Button I shoots to the side of the net the moving arrow points toward. Tap for a wrist shot and hold for a slap shot. Sometimes you get a cut scene where the goalie stops the puck or lets it through. I found making it to an attacking position could be very difficult as the computer skaters are pretty relentless.
On defense, you check by running into someone. Button I will do a poke check and try to remove the puck from the puckhandler. Button II will switch between the player nearest to the puck and the goalie. I hate controlling the goalie, because if he falls to the ice, the computer will score. There are three lines you can switch from between plays by going into the pause menu and changing lines.
Be careful for offsides, icing, and two line pass infractions. Penalties are also randomly called on checks. If you get a particularly good check, it’s possible for a fight to break out. Block with Button II and punch with Button I. Only the loser gets put in the penalty box, so winning is very advantageous. Games have 20 minute periods and time seems to move at double speed.
Graphics: 3.0
Everything looks about as good as I would expect, but not exceptional or anything.
Sound: 0.5
The sound effects are so incredibly bad. It sounds like someone is saying swoosh for the skate sounds.
Gameplay: 2.5
Just skate up to the puckhandler and poke check for success. Win on shot volume.
Difficulty: 2.0
Doing things can feel sluggish. I think there should have been more polished.
Fun Factor: 2.5
Not my favorite hockey game, but pretty alright.
Overall Rating: 2.1
TV Sports Hockey earns a C. This is the most playable of the TV Sports games, but it pales in comparison to NHL Hockey on the Genesis.