Wayne Gretzky Hockey
System: NES
Release Date: January 1991
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Sports
Take it to the ice with the fourth greatest hockey player of all time in Wayne Gretzky Hockey! Choose from 10 teams complete with player licenses, but not the NHL License. Enter your name to begin. No Detroit present… Lots of Canadian teams are represented… I guess I’ll go with Paul Coffey and Mario Lemieux of Pittsburgh, though I feel disgusted, I’m choosing them.
We have a top down view of the ice and the sprites all look exactly the same. There is one flashing player and that is who you control. Whether you have the puck or not, you control the same guy. The Select Button moves through players in a fixed manner. Passing is accomplished with the A Button. Shooting is also accomplished with the A Button, which is very odd in practice. The B Button does nothing if you have the puck, but calls for a pass if you don’t. You’re supposed to do this to set up quality shots.
Penalties are called quite often. There was a lot of holding calls that gave me a good number of power plays. In fact, holding is called way too much, I just killed that guy and it’s a holding call? I even got into a fight at one point. The computer does a good job of avoiding an offside call, but you can still muck it up. I found that holding the puck outside of the offensive zone would cause everyone else to stand still. But a good goal is all you need to win.
Graphics: 1.0
Overall, poor. The sprites are small and movement looks janky. The referee animations are the only thing that look alright.
Sound: 0.5
Play on the ice is devoid of sound, except for a voice sample saying “He shoots.”
Gameplay: 1.0
The design is not very well done. Players control oddly and mapping pass and shoot to the same button is asinine.
Difficulty: 2.0
I was able to walk over the computer in both games I played, despite the poor controls.
Fun Factor: 1.0
There’s not much redeeming outside of having legitimate rosters.
Overall Rating: 1.1
Wayne Gretzky Hockey earns a D. When you can play Blades of Steel, there’s no reason to play this. At all.