Not very realistic, but definitely a unique take on hockey!
User Rating: 7.5 | Backyard Hockey GBA
Backyard Hockey is a unique, interesting game. It is not very true to life in representing the sport of hockey, but it does stand alone on it's own merits. The game is based around a group of kids playing pond hockey. When you start a game or season, you choose your team as normal, from any of the 30 NHL teams or from a few made up specifically for the game. Instead of the team you pick already having players, you get to pick them yourself. You get to pick 6 skaters and a goalie (this game is 3 on 3 hockey). The players are mostly just regular kids that were made up for the game, but there are a few youthful representations of true NHL players like Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman, Joe Thornton, Paul Kariya, Jarome Iginla, Mike Modano, Marty Brodeur, Brian Leetch, Curtis Joseph & Jaromir Jagr. Once you pick your team you have one of two options, to just play an exhibition game, or play a season. The season is a short one, only 14 games. The periods are fairly short too, anywhere from 2-6 minutes depending on the difficulty level selected. Once the season is finished there is a single game elimination playoffs which lasts four rounds. A unique feature of the game is that sometimes on a collision between 2 players, instead of penalizing one of the players it goes to rock, paper, scissors. You pick one of the 3 and whoever loses, their involved player goes to the penalty box! If it is a draw, nobody goes to the penalty box. One other cool feature of the game is the practice option, in which you have 2 choices. The first one is just a 3 on 1 practice, so 3 skaters shooting at 1 goalie. It is good just to practice passing, shooting, 1-timers, etc. The other choice is to play air hockey, which is awesome! Air hockey rules. The gameplay is good on this game, graphics are average, and fun factor is good. It is a good game, not great, but it is different. Considering how hard it is to find NHL Hitz 2003 or NHL Hockey 2002 for the GameBoy Advance, this game is pretty much an essential if you are a hockey fan!
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