One of the best sports game I have ever played for the old NES.
You play as either one of the 8 teams available. None of the teams have special names like a lot of NHL teams do today; they were more or less labeled by 4 major cities in the U.S and Canada respectively with particular coloring to represent those cities.
- New York (blue and red)
- Los Angeles (yellow and indigo)
- Chicago (red and grey)
- Minnesota (white and purple)
- Vancouver (orange and green)
- Edmonton (green and yellow)
- Montreal (amber and red)
- Toronto (teal and sky blue)
First, there is "Exhibition" mode for, obviously, a one-on-one match with the CPU on either Junior (easy), College (normal) and Pro (hard) difficulties or you can beat the game in "Season" mode. Pick a team, go through a single-elimination tournament on either of the same difficulties for the, well you can't call it the Stanley Cup since NHL isn't licensing this game, buy hey, you would've beaten the game if you go through the 3 teams in your way. Or, you can challenge your friend for a 2-player match. Yes, Blades of Steel supports 2 players, which makes the game a hell of a lot more fun, especially should the game ends in a tie.
Should a game in Tournament or 2-player mode end in a tie, you are moved to "Penalty Shootouts." Basically, the first team to score the most penalties wins the shootout and the game. Pretty straightforward stuff.
Graphic-wise: for an NES game, the graphics are really great. Bare none.
Audio: this is the first sports game that had actual voice samples, seeing as how rare it was to hear voices in games of that caliber. Sounds like "face-off," "hit the puck," and "fight" ring out as one of the more memorable voice bites of the entire game.
Gameplay: fast-paced arcade feeling, with a relatively quick clock. Twenty minutes on the board move rather fast while you're having fun, trying to beat the goalie or defend against an offensive attack.
Blades of Steel would forever be a classic for ice-hockey and non-ice-hockey fans alike, which is why I give this game an 8.5. For those who own a Wii, it only costs 500 points. So download and break some ice, people.