Pittsburgh have won a face-off. And why? Because the opposition p-p-p-put down a Penguin. Arf.

Ice hockey has a rep to protect. Blood, sweat and fear have never been an option, even before Michael Myers got hold of a mask. FG chooses the virtual game over real life rink-side action any day. Funny that.
James Price

It's curious how decent ice hockey games have a bigger following than the game itself. Perhaps it's the ease with which you can barge over attacking forwards during virtual play or maybe it's the simple rules, or the challenge of controlling player inertia.

EA's NHL franchise has long been considered the genre's grande fromage, but NHL '99 on the N64 is flawed at best. The Gretzky games are generally held in high regard but their arcade-style take on ice hockey doesn't appeal to all. There's a gap, then, for a game with sim pretensions. Konami's NHL Blades of Steel '99 skates gracefully into the breach.

As the first in a new series, Blades of Steel '99 is a fairly accomplished start. It's not an ugly game, by any stretch of the imagination. Its players move well, and some of the rink effects - shadows, reflections and the like - are really quite impressive, in a low-key way.

Its best feature by far, though, is the way it moves the puck around. There's a real feeling of 'weight' to it. When you crack a high shot at goal, you really feel for the man on the line.

Like all ice hockey games using analog control, Blades of Steel doesn't reconcile variable movement speeds with inertia in an entirely convincing manner. What it does do well, though, is basic player movement. They may not feel as authentically 'heavy' as, say, the participants of NHL on the PlayStation, but they're a pleasure to control.