Sports games are a type of game where you get as much out of them as you want, providing you enjoy the core gameplay. Seasons can be incredibly long, and lots of these games are similar (especially yearly updates), so for the most part, I will be playing a bunch of matches and checking out different rules and settings.

My main knowledge of ice hockey is an EA game I played on the Mega Drive, but it’s a simple enough game to work out: get the puck into the opposing goal. I also picked the only team I recognized: the Mighty Ducks.

Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey is very smooth, fast paced, and a lot of fun. The controls are simple to use and there’s nothing to complicate things. I mainly played with Arcade settings, but more serious players can use Simulation settings which add things like fouls and injury time. You can also choose to have more realistic size ice rinks and up to 5 players.

The characters look a bit blocky, but in a way that is quite adorable these days. The game looks nice and clean, with the puck easy to see. There are also some nice silly little touches like the goalkeeper turning into a wall to signify a great save – with the voiced commentary making a reference to it.

You can play a single match, although oddly you can’t select your opponent without using a cheat code (the computer chooses at random). There is also a season mode which has a few options like half or full. Other than that, there aren’t a lot of modes for the game.

Still, the core matches are a lot of fun, and I can imagine it being great in multiplayer.

Fun

This super-fast, super-smooth Midway package turns out to be a strapping hunk of a game that’ll produce guffaws and gasps aplenty.

Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #6. Review Score: 75%

Remake or Remaster?

I think a remaster or new game would be quite nice. Sports games these days are either serious or cartoony, so serious-but-a-bit-silly would be a nice change.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey, and I don’t know enough about modern sports games to recommend an alternative.