Backyard Hockey

Obviously, there are lots and lots of different video-game genres to ensure that everyone can have fun playing their systems. Obviously, one of the most popular styles on the market are sports games and everything from soccer to football is covered on every handheld, console, and PC on the planet. A while back (as in starting in 1997), they took the sports games to more of a kids kind of perspective by going to the Backyard Sports series, which provided a fun and entertaining romp on grass fields, backyards, and driveways using likenesses of adult sports stars as kids getting into neighborhood pick up games, etc. Now Atari hits the ice rink with Backyard Hockey on the DS.

True to the Backyard series, Hockey is no different by giving players a variety of NHL stars as kids to play with either in single games, tournament style play, or multiplayer modes along with neighborhood-style buddies to hop on the ice with them as well in a three-on-three matchup (not including the goalie as the fourth player). Game options, like difficulty and penalties, can be adjusted, along with turning things like icing, offsides, fisticuffs (settled by rock, paper, scissors versus fist fighting) and fatigue on and off to make it arcade like or “realistic” as possible.

The control for Backyard Hockey can be played using either the control pad and buttons or tapping the stylus on the screen and dragging to make your player skate or by tapping the “shot” button and selecting a spot on a grid as to where you want to shoot the puck. The stylus play takes a little more practice and it’s easier to hop in and play with the control pad and buttons, and the stylus seems a little more frustrating to use due to having to stop and “tap / drag” every time you want to pass or shoot. The biggest issue with the controls here is the fact that the puck doesn’t really seem to want to cooperate when needed, sometimes flying into the goalie but counting as a goal or even going in untouched and not counting, and when using the control pad there is no way to actually set where the puck needs to be shot … so it’s just luck as to where it winds up going. In addition, the goalie cannot be selected and controlled so you just cross your fingers and hope the shot gets blocked.

If you do well playing, you have a powerup meter that gets filled and activates a variety of different general, offensive, and defensive boosts to help you overcome your opponent, which can also be turned on and off. When activated, you can do such things as a Bounce Check which causes a checking opponent to bounce off of you, Snow Storm to make you invincible as you charge the net for a goal, or Slushy Skates to make your opponents skate like they were on slush instead of ice. It can be a good addition to add in an arcade-ish style of gameplay, again if you choose to do so, but the computer seems to get these way more than the player does, which adds to the mounting annoyance and temptation to slapshot the DS cart across the kitchen floor and under the fridge.

Honestly, Backyard Hockey seems fun for the first few minutes of play, but gets annoying quickly when the AI is up 6 – 1 even on easy mode. This may be due to my lack of hockey-playing experience, but I doubt it considering I do way better on PS2 or Xbox versions. There is an air hockey and “penalty shot” mini game included in here as well, but neither is really enjoyable enough to offer up something extra when you don’t feel like getting slammed by the DS on the ice rink anymore due to problematic issues revolving around stupid AI, like a slow opponent or being able to pop off score after score on shooting penalty shots. Backyard Hockey could be a great idea, but you’d probably be better off leaving this one off the ice and in the penalty box for good.   

Gameplay: 5.0
There are lots of gameplay options, but the play controls seem really flawed. While responsive, the stylus takes way too long to execute commands and shooting the puck is a chore both with the control pad and the stylus. The kids who play also have different meters for things like skating speed and shooting, but they don’t seem to come into play at all. The puck also doesn’t want to cooperate, and why the heck can’t I control my goalie? Way too annoying to deal with.  

Graphics: 7.1 
Graphically, the game is decent. The kids look pretty funny all decked out in their hockey gear, some baggy and some too tight fitting, and the camera can be adjusted to different positions to make it easier based on what you want to do. The backgrounds also fit well with the overall theme, with games being played in backyard style rinks with hay bale sidelines or in school style arenas. 

Sound: 5.5
Music is dull and repetitive, and there are simple hit-and-smack sounds when passing the puck, etc. It’s not horrible, but there’s just not really a lot to it. Kids yelling at each other and carrying on would have made it a little more realistic.

Difficulty: Hard
This is supposed to be a kids' game, but it’s way too frustrating for adults so kids will probably like it even less.  

Concept: 6.0 
This is a great idea, but is poorly executed. Taking this back to the drawing board and fixing the gameplay issues would make for a good followup, but this one doesn’t work well enough.

Multiplayer: 
There is a multiplayer option available if both players have the game. I didn’t have anyone else to play with, so I didn’t get to try it out.  

Overall: 5.2
I really don’t know what else to say about this game … the bottom line is that it’s too flawed to enjoy, and way too frustrating to consider. Bypass this one and leave the sports to the adults for now.