The folks at Killer Game are no strangers to success in sports games. Faceoff '97 was one of the hottest hockey titles ever, an offered great graphics and tremendous control. Unfortunately, they seem to have fallen victim to what I like to call "The Sega Curse".

Let me explain. When Sega released the first of its Joe Montana Football series, the game was met with luke warm reviews. However, they improved on it and kept improving on it, adding the Sportstalk feature, a better passing system, a speed burst, different camera angles, and many other features which made the series one of the best ever. Sega finally reached the apex with NFL '94, in my opinion the best football cart ever.

But the success of NFL '94 left the developers with a major problem when it came time to make NFL '95. With no major flaws to improve on, they chose to scrap the old Montana engine and start from scratch. Needless to say, NFL '95 fell far short of gamers' expectations.

And that brings us to NHL Powerplay '98, a disc which contains only fragments of the original engine and subsequently serves as a major disappointment for those of us expecting an improved version of '97.

At times the graphics seem quite realistic and almost human, but often players resemble a formless mass in a hockey jersey. The rinks are well crafted and the action moves quickly -- too quickly. It's hard to get your bearings. Once again, four views are available (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and ice level), but neither the sprites nor the backgrounds seem as sharply rendered as in past installments of the series. The stat/info screens that pop up following a goal are well crafted, and players are clearly and easily identifiable by name. All in all, the graphics may be this game's strong point, but that ain't saying much.

Faceoff's sound isn't pathetic, but it's especially forgettable when compared to the digitized announcer and sound bites offered in Electronic Arts' NHL series. Only a select few of the effects are quality, punctuated by the decent crowd noise and the hopelessly phony grunts of pain which follow checks. We're led to believe the fights which occasionally break out are between really ticked off world-class athletes, but it sounds more like a slapping match. A laughable sound track.

Playabillity, however, is where this cart falls way short. The challenge, at least in the beta test version, was beyond belief. You could barely skate two steps with the puck before the opposing defenseman whacked you with a vicious check. The computer defense is virtually impossible to crack. In over 50 contests, I have yet to accomplish any better than a scoreless tie and have thus far been unable to slide the puck past the system's goalie. Passes are off target more than half the time. The result is a truly frustrating gaming experience, especially for devout hockey fans..

Control is marginal, at best, and the confusing button configuration typifies the playability problems inherent in the disc. The X button can be pressed quickly for a wrist shot, held for a slapshot, held and pressed again during the backswing for a fake shot, or held with the square to redirect a shot. There are four different kinds of passes which require various combinations of three different buttons to execute. Hip checks must be direction specific and are pulled off by pressing either the L2 or R2 buttons while moving backwards on defense. If you press L2 while moving forward on defense, you'll hook your opponent (which, but the way, is illegal) and if you press it any other time you'll bring up the game's icons, unless you're the goalie, in which case L2 is a kick save.

Sound like a lot to remember in a fast-paced, action-oriented game? That's just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, the beta version included four full onscreen pages of instructions.

While sports games have prided themselves on detail and realism as of late, this game takes the concept entirely too far. Ultimately, it winds up hurting the overall enjoyment potential, dooming this cart to join the hundreds of average sports which collect dust each day in bargain bins across the country. If you're a hockey fan, do yourself a favor and skip NHL Faceoff '98. ?