V7 Entertainment's "Old Time Hockey" is bringing plain, old-school, senseless fun back into videogames, and it'll be hitting the arcades soon.
According to reports, the game "Old Time Hockey" was inspired by classics like "Techmo Bowl," "NBA Jam" and "Blades of Steel" - as well as the cult film "Slap Shot." The game will be the whole "fun over reality" kind of gameplay, along with violence over graphics. Anyway, the game is not endorsed by the NHL, which will make it easier for V7 Entertainment to go almost as crazy as they want with the game's style.
A trailer has been up and it features Stompin' Tom Connors:
"We wanted to try to capture that experience of, you know, playing on the couch, having a few drinks with your buddies, that whole old-school nostalgic experience," executive producer Mike Torillo mentioned in an interview with Polygon.
"We wanted to also have a good emphasis on all the stuff that you usually don't get to see, you know - the dirtier side of hockey," he added.
The players will be able to have "NHL 94"-style controls, which veteran arcade gamers from the 90s will enjoy without trying to always figure out the numerous buttons of the current gen games. Sometimes it's fun to just enjoy a few buttons to simplay mash or joysticks to work around with.
Maybe players can also enjoy the "beer mode" where players can play with one hand. Of course, it's a joke.
"We recognized that there's holes in the market, so to speak - there's gaps for these niches to fit into, and we feel that it's an under-served genre," said Torillo. "But we understand that, yeah, [EA's] NHL [franchise] has to have a squeaky-clean, good representation of the sport. (...) So we wanted to almost do everything you can't do in an NHL game."
"Old Time Hockey" will be available sometime early 2017 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam.
