NHL Breakaway 98

• Release Date: 1998
• Genre: Sports
• Style: Hockey
• Similar Games: NHL 98 (IBM PC Compatible), NHL 98 (Sega Saturn), NHL 97 (PlayStation), NHL 98 (PlayStation), NHL Powerplay 98 (PlayStation), NHL 96 (IBM PC Compatible), NHL Powerplay 98 (IBM PC Compatible), NHL 96 (Super Nintendo Entertainment System), NHL 97 (Super Nintendo Entertainment System), NHL 98 (Super Nintendo Entertainment System), NHL 97 (Sega Genesis), NHL 98 (Sega Genesis), NHL 97 (Sega Saturn), NHL FaceOff (PlayStation), NHL 97 (IBM PC Compatible), NHL 96 (Sega Genesis)

Game Description

Acclaim's first hockey game on Nintendo 64 takes a simulation-style approach with a wide variety of customization and team management options. In addition to 26 NHL teams with stats and player ratings from the 1996-1997 season, the game includes both All-Star teams as well as Olympic-style hockey in the international playoffs mode. Other play formats include exhibition, practice, season, shootout, and playoffs. Adjustable settings range from difficulty level and game speed to injuries, fatigue, fighting, and penalties. On the ice, players can call multiple offensive and defensive sets for key situations such as power plays and penalty killing. Lines can also be edited so teams have the right personnel for the right situation.

Seasons can be set to 25, 41, or 82 games as teams strive to win the Stanley Cup. Winning managers earn points that can be spent on upgrading a team's injury therapies, player development, and coaching staffs. Free agents can be signed and released, while trades support as many as six players at once. Of course, players are still free to create their own star athletes, whose names will be displayed on jerseys. The developers also incorporated each featured athlete's height and weight measurements in the motion-captured 3D player models. High-res graphics and advanced lighting effects help bring the arenas to life, as players decide on the best camera view out of eight possible options. Cover star Keith Tkachuk offers in-game scouting reports and strategy recommendations for those new to the sport.

Roots & Influences

Older games such as Electronic Arts' NHL Hockey series definitely had an influence on this game, which is the first in Acclaim Sports' NHL Breakaway franchise.

The sport of hockey evolved from the Irish game called hurling and flourished in Canada during the 1800s. In 1875 the so-called "McGill University Rules" were established, which laid down the basis for the sport the way Abner Doubleday did the same for baseball in America around that time.

The National Hockey League started in 1942 and was composed of only six teams until 1968. When this game was created, the league had 28 teams.

Review: Overall

NHL Breakaway 98 is an average game with sound and graphics that are just about on par with other games released in the late 90s; although the graphics could have used some work. They're too fuzzy, even with a Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak. You can never see the players' faces clearly, and all the polygons are a bit pixelated.

The backgrounds, from the crowd to the rest of the arenas, are just blurs; even the other players on the benches are ill-defined. None of the players are scaled, and their equipment is all generic. The goalies especially look weird; they're all tall and lanky and they don't have that "bulked up" look which goalies have when they're got all their pads on.

There are no play-by-play and color people in this game, so the only commentary comes from the arena PA announcer, who for some strange reason doesn't read all the players' names. For example, if Eric Lindros draws a penalty or scores a goal, his name is mentioned after his number, but players of lesser stature only have their numbers read, as if the developers wanted to save a few bucks by having their voice talent cut corners here and there.

Every so often he'll announce that a child is missing or he'll remind people not to throw debris on the ice, which is a nice ambient touch, but it's weird playing a sports game without anyone in the booth calling the game. Sometimes those guys can be lame, but at least they add a little flavor to the contest.

The crowds, which are never done really well in sports games, fail to live up to even basic expectations here. They cheer a bit here and there, but they never really get into it, even when the home team is doing well. Like most other sports games, they're just as blasé during the play-offs; you can win the Stanley Cup and they act like it's just another regular season game.

The AI, which real player Keith Tkachuck supposedly assisted with, is okay, although the CPU-controlled players don't always seem to know what to do. For example, if you set them on automatic control, the goalies will leave pucks sitting right by the net and won't go out to scoop them up like they do in real life. And players on the computer's team won't execute basic moves such as clearing the puck out of their own zone when they're shorthanded or checking one of your players standing right in front of the net.

In general, the controls leave something to be desired. Perhaps the computer doesn't clear the puck because you can't either. You can dump the puck, but you have to hold the button down to get any power behind it, which makes you a sitting duck as an opposing player comes up and clobbers you. The same holds true if you want to wrap the puck around the boards from the blue line. Electronic Arts got this feature right in their NHL series by making a separate button which allows you to flip the puck the length of the ice or wrap the puck around the boards.

This game has all the modes you'd expect in a sports game, although the Practice one leaves something to be desired. It's the same as Exhibition with the option of selecting the number of players you want on the ice for each team, so there is little reason to play it. There should have been a number of preselected scenarios which you can choose from, such as playing in a five-on-three situation or trying to win a game when down by a goal with two minutes left. Or, even better yet, allowing you to skate without any opposition on the ice just so you can try out your passing and shooting skills. That would have made more sense.

There's an interesting precursor of today's Career modes in the Season mode, which allows you to hire and fire coaches in addition to the usual trading and other tweaking you can do during the regular season in most sports games. You can build a better team by earning points for wins, high goal differentials, winning streaks, and so forth. You use those points to create and develop players who are nurtured in the minor leagues before being called up to the big time.

Overall, this is a game worth picking up at a discount price if you're a hockey fan and just want to have some fun, although a few other hockey games from the same era, such as the Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey series, do it better for the Nintendo 64.

Review: Enjoyment

If you like hockey, you'll have fun with this game, although it doesn't have long-term replay value.

Review: Graphics

While one must consider when a game was released, this title's graphics are still weak when compared to the Nintendo 64 competition of the mid-to-late 90s.

Review: Sound

See above. The developers obviously skimped in this area.

Review: Replay Value

See above.

Review: Documentation

The manual does a good job of explaining everything, especially the offensive and defensive styles of play which you can choose from.