by Wyatt "JOEDOG" Elliott
Welcome to the year of the cyber athlete. EA Sports new slogan for the 99 season of great sport titles. This year we even have Nintendo 64 titles. NHL '99 is a good improvement as it should be. The graphics are hot on both the Playstation and Nintendo 64. In fact, I like the N64's graphic look even more so than on the Playstation. But where the N64 accelerates it falls flat on the ice with its sound speed, and control. NHL'99 for N64 is SO agravatingly slow it makes me want check my Nintendo for a connection problem. I can skate faster than what's portrayed in this game. I don't expect Olympic speed skating or nothing, but I thought I saw a penguin skate past my player. All joking aside, the Playstation version isn't much better. The sound quality on the Playstation is fantastic. Its got all the classic EA trademarks. Dual announcers, humorous phrases, and exciting commentary. Not to say that the N64 version sounds terrible. For a N64 game it sounds great, but compare it to the PSX NHL and you'll agree it sounds like its coming out of an old television with rabbit ears. I have played all of the EA Sports N64 titles and believe me this one sounds the best out of all of them. NHL '99 does feature some cool action. A power bar to dictate how hard you make you're slap shots. Hi-res replays and nice polygon players celebrating a goal or the loss of one are quite good. On both versions I might add. what NHL really needs is a really good fight. Sure NHL '99 features fight sequences but their dumb, boring, and unfair. You might say its unfair to compare N64 to PSX because one is CD while the other is cartridge based, and who has both systems anyway. That maybe true and for that reason I want to this to. NHL '99 is a great game no matter which system you play it on. Just keep the sound down if you have a Nintendo 64.
PUBLISHER: EA SPORTS
(N64 / PSX)
GRAPHICS: 9 / 8.5
MUSIC / SOUND: 5 / 7.5
CONTROL: 6 / 7.5
ORIGINALITY: 8 / 7
REPLAY: 5 / 7
SECRETS: 5 / 6
OVERALL: 6 / 8
(thanks to ign for the screenshots)