Olympic Hockey 98
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 It plays like Gretzky, but without the man himself, and not in a good way.
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Olympic Hockey 98 (known as Olympic Hockey Nagano '98 (オリンピック ホッケー ナガノ98, Orinpikku Hokkē Nagano 98) in Japan) is an ice hockey game for the Nintendo 64 released in 1998. It is a re-release of Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey, but this time not endorsed by Wayne Gretzky and featuring the license for the 1998 Winter Olympics that were celebrated in Nagano, Japan. It is also a video game developer debut of Treyarch.
Why It Doesn't Deserve a Medal
- It's just a reskin of Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98. If you played Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98, you've already played this game.
- The presentation of the game falls flat and doesn't have many of the types of eccentricities that more fleshed out games such as the ones that NHL 98 or NHL Breakaway 98.
- The music is a bit generic and boring, plus it looks like something out of a game of Super Nintendo Entertainment System which is weird because this game is from the fifth generation of consoles.
- After you press Start, the music permanently disappears.
- The graphics are a little weird and seem little worked.
- The sound effects sound weird and distorted, the commentator is the worst example because it sounds distorted and you don't get it right that it says.
Reception
The game received mostly negative reviews by critics.
Next Generation reviewed the Nintendo 64 version of the game, rating it 1/5 stars, stating that "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. A waste of plastic and silicon."