Pros: Best EA NHL Game Ever, Graphics, Fights, Easy To Play
Cons: Announcers Get Old, Need More Fighting, Can Be Fast Paced For Some
The bottom line: If you are a true fan of hockey, and love to play games, NHL 99 if the right game for you
EA Sports is at their best once again, with the release of NHL '99. I've had this game for a few years now and still find myself popping it in for a few quick games. I've never played NHL '00 or NHL '01, so I can't say they are any better or worse. But what I've seen over the past 2 years with NHL '99 is noteworthy. It's fun for all ages, anyone can play, and is a must have for any hockey/gaming fan. Here's a tad bit about the game!

PLAY MODES:
Exhibition: Play against the computer, or against your friends. It's a 2 team battle royal in one game. The most scores in three periods is the winner.
New Season: Just like the real thing, play an 82 game season with any team you want. If 82 is to much, they also have 26 game seasons. If you make it to playoffs, you can have best of 3 5 or 7. Also choose to have full or partial statistics tracking, and have a trade deadline or not.
New Playoffs: Don't want to go through a whole season just to get to the playoffs? This allows you to be a team in the 16 teams of the playoffs. Again, choose the best of 3 5 or 7 games.
New Tournament: This is a playoff series like, but with countries instead of teams. (USA, Sweden, Norway, etc)
Shootout: Have a 2 team shootout to see who can score on each teams' goalie. The most points of 5 players each team is the winner. In case of overtime, the order starts over again until one team comes out ahead after that round. This is great to test your ability to fake out a goalie.

OPTIONS:
You can setup your team as you wish: trade players, choose dressed/benched players on your team, choose form various offense/defense modes, and more. Under rules: penalties called, fighting, 2 line pass, icing, offside, injuries, line changes. Under options: music volume, games effects volume, crowd volume, speech volume, goalie control, auto replay. Under controls: configure buttons, change team to play as during game or choose none to allow pc to play itself if you need to take a break but want game to continue. Under camera controls: choose from 8 different angles, auto zoom, reverse angles.

CONTROLS: 8/10
The controls are easy as can be. In offense you can skate, pass/shot, draw puck in face-off, shoot or give a burst of speed. In defense you can skate, change active player, throw body to ice for a block, check, hook, and go from skating forward to backwards. There are a lot of options and ways to get around on the ice. For the most part there are only 3 buttons in which you need to know:

B: pass/change player/steal puck/
A: shoot/check/steal puck/pass if goalie
CD: burst of speed/check
Stick/Arrows: move around

For the most part you will find the default setup the easiest, but you can always change it. The controls may seems weird at first, but after a few tries you will be a master. After awhile you will know all the tricks and secrets of how to get past a goalie 1 on 1.

GRAPHICS: 8/10
The graphics are not that exciting. The player models are all the same, meaning no one person is fatter or skinner than anyone else. Face models are alike, but different. Don't expect to see Greztky's face on his character, he'll look just like any other player out there. There are slight differences in each player, but no resemblance of the real thing. The crowd doesn't look real at all, but usually you don't look at them anyways, so no big deal. They are all stretched out a not 3D models, it's just a crowd texture they stuck on a slanted wall. One thing I like about the ice surface is that is gets choppy over time. When a game starts the ice looks clean, but over time it gets chopped up like in real life. You won't expect to see a line in the ice everytime someone stops or cuts a corner, but there is wear during the period. Another great aspect, is that you can break the glass with the puck, if shot to hard. Don't expect to see players falling over the boards, or players breaking the glass, just a hard shot from the puck. Player movements can sometimes be realistic and then not. Like, if you are skating backwards and get the puck, suddenly you are facing forward with a burst of speed. There could be a few graphical glitches, but nothing major.

SOUND: 9/10
The music included is your standard light rock filler music. There are no popular bands appearing, just that generic light rock stuff they stick in a game. Thankfully, the music only lasts in the menus, and not during a game. The ingame sounds are awesome. You can hear the crowd respond to various occurrences in the game. If a team scores you might hear cheers and boos, during a fight excitement among the crowd grows. And with every crosscheck penalty, comes a reaction from the crowd. Also in game, you hear every sound you would expect to hear in a game: slap shots, whistles, ice skating shies, the crowd, horns in the background, announcers talking, pucks hitting the boards, players grunting, and anything else you can think of, because NHL '99 has it all.


OVERALL: 8/10
If you have played ANY hockey game in the past and thought it was stupid, then you obviously didn't play NHL '99. The graphics are standard, the sound is amazing, with all the options of play modes you can't go wrong. Be warned, you must have an empty 123 memory card in order to save your full seasons. If you just plan to stick it out with a few friends on game night, no need to worry about memory cards. Overall I'd say get this game if love hockey and have an itch for N64 games. True fans of hockey will not be disappointed by the gameplay of NHL '99.