Game: Blades Of Steel
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Konami
Release Date: December 1988
At the startup screen for Blades of Steel, you're greeted by a low quality voiceclip reading the game's title. Far removed from the hockey games of the present day, the game features nameless competitors representing 8 location based teams in either Exhibition or Tournament matches. Once one of these two game modes has been selected, you're thrown straight into a game of hockey. The aim of course is to outscore the opposing team and either win the exhibition match, or 3 tournament matches of whichever mode you've selected.
There are 3 different difficulty levels; Junior, College and Pro. It's nice to see themed names for them rather than just having Easy, Medium and Hard. The goalkeeping/scoring system seems quite innovative at first with a moving arrow which governs where your shot will be aimed, however it can make scoring goals frustrating when it's in the wrong place and goalkeeping for your own side easier. The fighting system is simple and works well when there's a conflict over the puck.
Players on both teams seem to move fairly slowly across the ice and passes only seem to go to the player nearest to the one you're controlling, no matter what direction you're holding on the d-pad. Other than this the controls are pretty solid and even without a good knowledge of the rules of ice hockey it's perfectly possible to play and enjoy the game. Graphically the game is basic to the standard of just about being able to see who's from what team. The voice clips used in game get incredibly repetitive, and the crowd is represented by white noise with the occasional whistle.
One nice feature of the game are the intermission shows, one of which is a Gradius minigame. Overall it's a decent hockey game for the time, with good playability and simple controls and gameplay. The lack of modes and differentiation between teams lets it down a little, and the sound is incredibly basic.
Rating: 70/100
Grade: C
Game: Blades Of Steel
Console: Nintendo Game Boy
Developer: Konami
Release Date: August 1991
Released 3 years after the NES version of the game, Blades Of Steel for the Game Boy features some improvements as well as some aspects which had to be stripped back due to the limitations of the Game Boy. In addition to the Exhibition and Tournament modes, there's a Practice mode which allows players to have either a mock fight or penalty shootout. It also features the same teams as before, although their coloured jerseys have been removed and replaced with a black and white system instead.
Players of both teams move faster across the ice than in the NES version and there's a nicely detailed animation upon scoring a goal, which has been added instead of the celebration in the original version. The intermissions remain in the game without the Gradius minigame and fights now use a health bar system instead of dots, although its essentially the same thing. A nice addition to the game is the arrow over the player that is currently being controlled which aids gameplay.
The Junior difficulty level seems to be a lot easier than that of the NES version; in one game in the original version the final score was 8-4 to me, whereas in one game on Game Boy the final score was 16-2. I think that the speed of play may have also affected this a little. Graphically the game is similar to the NES, but the voice effects and crowd sounds have been completely removed and replaced with music which although less realistic, is easier on the player's ears.
Overall with both good and bad changes to the NES version, Blades of Steel on the Game Boy is only slightly better. For two player mode you'd need two Game Boys, compared to one NES with two controllers. I'd reccomend giving either a go, although the extra speed of the Game Boy version makes it easier to enjoy.
Rating: 72/100
Grade: C
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