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Olympic Hockey '98

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Olympic Hockey '98
North American cover art
Developer(s)Treyarch Invention
Publisher(s)
Platform(s)Nintendo 64
Release
  • NA: February 23, 1998
  • EU: April 1998
  • JP: July 16, 1998
Genre(s)Sports
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Olympic Hockey '98 is an ice hockey game for the Nintendo 64 that was released in 1998. It is a re-release of Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98, but this time not endorsed by Wayne Gretzky and featuring the license for the 1998 Winter Olympics that were celebrated in Nagano, Japan. It was the video game developer debut of Treyarch.[1] Besides the box art, in-game titles, and some minor graphic changes (such as team logos and colors), every single aspect of the game is practically identical to Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98. Due to this fact, it received highly negative reviews, with IGN rating Olympic Hockey Nagano '98 a zero.[2]

Gameplay

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Olympic Hockey '98 features 20 playable national teams from the 1998 Winter Olympics: Austria, Belarus, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.

While the gameplay is very similar to Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey, there are minor differences. The rink is bigger than the rink in the previous game (since it is Olympic sized). The game also lists the names of the players below the players.[3]

Release

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In Japan, the game was localized and published by Konami under the name Olympic Hockey Nagano '98 (オリンピック ホッキー NAGANO98(ナガノ98), Orinpikku Hakkī Nagano 98) on July 16, 1998.[4]

Reception

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Olympic Hockey '98 was panned by critics for being essentially a rebranding of Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98, which had itself been widely criticized for offering too little improvement over the original Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey. All four members of the Electronic Gaming Monthly review team decried its lack of change from the two Gretzky games, with John Ricciardi being particularly vehement: "This kind of shameless rehashing of the same game over and over makes me sick. Did you buy Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey or its incredibly unoriginal sequel with the '98 slapped on the box? If so, stay away from this baby, 'cause it's (once again) the same game."[7] IGN gave it a very rare 0 score, stating in its concise review: "We'll post a new review when Midway releases a new game."[10] Next Generation ran a similarly concise review, remarking, "Imagine Midway took the tired Gretzky engine, added Olympic uniforms, replaced trading with 'defections,' and released it without tweaking anything but the default ring size. Well, you don't have to imagine because Midway did it."[12]

GamePro took a more positive angle on the game. While agreeing that it was virtually identical to Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98, they argued that it was reasonably distinct from the original Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey. Since the '98 game was recent enough that many interested players would not yet have bought it, they reasoned that Olympic Hockey '98 was a worthwhile alternative for those who preferred Olympic hockey to the NHL rosters.[14] Nintendo Power was also relatively positive, praising the simulation feel of the Olympic mode, but also commented that "Olympic Hockey is so similar in most respects to the Gretzky games that Gretzky owners should think twice before making the investment."[13] In his review for GameSpot, Kraig Kujawa acknowledged that if one ignored the two Gretzky games and judged Olympic Hockey '98 on its own terms, it was a decent game, but argued that any rating for the game had to also take into account its lack of change from those games, especially since Midway could easily have put both NHL and Olympic teams into one game, effectively making Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98 and Olympic Hockey '98 a single release.[9] The game held a 44% on the review aggregation website GameRankings based on six reviews.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Hannley, Steve (August 22, 2016). "Call of Duty Developer Treyarch Celebrates 20th Anniversary". Hardcore Gamer. Hardcore Gamer LLC. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  2. ^ Robinson, Martin (October 15, 2014). "F1 2014 review". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  3. ^ "Olympic Hockey Nagano '98 Review". Tripod. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  4. ^ a b "オリンピックホッケー NAGANO98 [NINTENDO64]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Olympic Hockey 98 for Nintendo 64". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  6. ^ Cook, Brad. "Olympic Hockey 98 - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 16, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  7. ^ a b "Review Crew: Olympic Hockey '98". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 104. Ziff Davis. March 1998. p. 116.
  8. ^ "Olympic Hockey 98". Game Informer. No. 58. FuncoLand. February 1998.
  9. ^ a b Kujawa, Kraig (April 23, 1998). "Olympic Hockey 98 Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  10. ^ a b Casamassina, Matt (January 1, 1998). "Olympic Hockey Nagano '98 [sic]". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  11. ^ Kitts, Martin (May 1998). "Olympic Hockey Nagano '98". N64 Magazine. No. 15. Future plc. p. 64. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Olympic Hockey '98". Next Generation. No. 41. Imagine Media. May 1998. p. 108. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  13. ^ a b "Olympic Hockey '98". Nintendo Power. Vol. 105. Nintendo of America. February 1998. p. 93. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  14. ^ The Rookie (March 1998). "The Gold Medal Is in Sight with Olympic Hockey". GamePro. No. 114. IDG. p. 105.
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