NHL All-Star Hockey 98

"Hey, goalie! Get back to your post, eh. You're holding up the game."

This is my first hockey game I played, also the last sports game I bought for this system. When I was planning to buy a hockey game, I was thinking of getting the EA Sports or the Sega Sports version. After reading reviews for both games, I decided to buy All*Star Hockey '98. Besides, it cost $10 and I already got an EA Sports version of soccer, called FIFA '98. I want to know first hand how Sega handle this game.

In this CD, you get to pick 26 NHL teams, play in Exhibition, Season, Playoffs and World Tourney, create and trade players, and more. You can also remove the gloves and fight, but only if the ref is involve and you can't start one. You can just press the Y and B buttons to punch and uppercut your opponent. This game has everything.

The graphics are superb. A big improvement over INDEPENDENCE DAY, which Radical Entertainment made. The pictures are clear and detailed, especially in the reply option, where you can see the scene over in different angles, but it's hard to adjust sometimes. There are 5 camera shots in the game, but I use only 1, which is the All Star Top view, because the other 4 are hard to look at from those perspectives. The animation is smooth and fast, with little or no slowdown.

The sound is terrific. They have organ music during game play and regular music during option menus. Unfortunately, you can't them outside the game. It has one audio track, saying, ''This CD is used only in Saturn''. It doesn't have any play-by-play commentators, just an P.A. announcer, which I enjoy nevertheless.

The controls are amazing. They're solid but sometimes there is a delay factor in the response. It's not enough to damage the game and makes it real. They are simple to understand and not difficult for a new comer to play the game.

The game play is fast and smooth. The A.I. gives you a challenge, but not too hard. No more hitting the goal while the goalie is out on a break for the entire game. You got to work for it. You can play your favorite team and go for the gold.

Although the game is great, it's far from perfect. Here are a few minor glitches I discovered while playing: 1) Sometimes the music stops playing for no reason. 2) The P.A. announcer adds extra words in the third segment, like ''Time of the penalty, 52 seconds, 43.'' Sometimes the commentating is late, almost delayed until the end of the game. 3) I made changes in the game, like players' stats and controls. During the play, the goalie acts weird. He leaves his post and starts walking all over the field. That causes delays for more than a minute until he gets back to his post. 4) I used the code to get 2 extra teams, Red Army and Virgin. When I look at the stats, I noticed their goalies are switched and when the game finish its download, the screen goes white. Why? I don't know. Maybe my disc or my system is defected, but I don't think so. I wonder if anyone else had problems like that in their game.

Aside from these glitches, this is the hockey game for the Saturn. Rent it first to see if it's all right. If it is, get it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/11/01, Updated 04/11/01