(XBLA) 3 on 3 NHL Arcade

I miss the arcades

Posted 4 years ago By - Marko Djordjevic

Gameplay

3 on 3 NHL Arcade gives you the opportunity to play some fast paced hockey as you’ll take a team of 3 skaters and a goalie and try to get the required amount of goals against your opponent. You can pick anywhere from 5 to 20 goals in the match, great for those who want to just play a quick game or a marathon.

The game lacks NHL teams rather giving you the option to select from over 30 NHL superstars to create your own special team. Each player in the game has a different key feature. You have All-Round Players like Alex Ovechkin, Fast Players like Joe Sakic and Strong Players like Chris Pronger. Depending on how you want to play, you can mix and match to your liking.

On the ice, the game turns into non-stop action hockey with no rules. As you play, every time you perform a successful hit on your opposition, one of the eight available power-ups will appear on the ice. These include Big and Small Goalies, Freezing players and even double-score bonuses.

In order to dominate the game, you’ll want to collect the power-ups, but it does end up turning the game into a bit of a walk in the park. If you manage to collect the Small Goalie power-up then get another one, scoring a goal is a lot easier. The power-ups do disappear after a short period of time or once a goal is scored, but it still doesn’t stop this from making things feel really cheap. 

Controls are identical to NHL 09 with the button control scheme being the default here. If you are used to the Skill Stick controls from ’09 they are also available to use. On the ice, the simple button controls do allow for easy to pick up. On offense, you have your basic pass and shoot buttons along with a spin move and trick shot. On defense, your player can either lift the stick or check. You’ll spend majority of your time on defense hitting that checking button to get power-ups. It is very simple in nature but expected for this type of game.

Graphics and Sound

All the players on the ice do mirror their real-life counterparts with a slight arcade look to them. Players have large heads on small bodies and when you use power-ups, they can cause some alterations in player’s appearances. The animations are fairly well-done with no noticeable clipping or slow down when players are bunched together.

There is no commentary in the game, but it does feature an annoying announcer who will state the power-ups you have and remark if you win or lose. The annoying sounds don’t end there, as all confirm or cancel options in the menus includes someone going ‘Swoosh’ or ‘Hrrk’. It will remind you of those bratty kids in grade school who felt it was necessary to accompany their hockey playing with sound effects. The option is there to mute it and I suggest you do that. The game does feature a tiny soundtrack, but it is instrumental heavy-metal music and if you go through the menus quickly, you can also avoid it. 

Value

There are only two game modes in 3 on 3; you have Play Now and Online. This game is geared towards multiplayer enjoyment so if you’re looking for some sort of pleasure playing against the computer, you will be sorely disappointed. The game does allow for up to six people to play in one game, but this option is only functional online. The ability to have three players on one side locally is there, but having three people play against the computer is really boring.

Online play is quick and easy to pick up. Again, you can modify the number of goals required to win and you can also determine if power-ups are available. Other than that, the online is pretty bare and will only appeal to a small group of people.

Conclusion

3 on 3 NHL Arcade is a game that should not be a 10 dollar purchase, rather a bonus mode available in the regular NHL release. It seems as though this was simply released as quick cash cow or EA is finally planning on releasing an NHL game on the Wii and they wanted to use the HD consoles for testing. It is nice that you can create your own teams but it still doesn’t detract from the fact that there isn’t much else to do. If EA plans on releasing a similar game in the future, it would be better suited to either bring back the under-appreciated NHL Rock the Rink from the original PlayStation or putting in some sort of ladder option or tournament mode similar to arcade sports titles from the 90s. I can’t recommend this game to anyone, including hockey fans.