Backyard Hockey (series)

Backyard Hockey is an ice hockey video games series created by Humongous Entertainment and Mistic Software that has published by Atari and Infogrames. It was first released in June 2002 for Microsoft Windows. Additional titles were released for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. A total of four Backyard Hockey games have been released, these include the original Backyard Hockey, Backyard Hockey 2005, Backyard Hockey for Game Boy Advance, and Backyard Hockey for Nintendo DS. Over the different releases Backyard Hockey was developed by only Humongous Entertainment for the original and 2005, but was developed by Humongous and Mistic Software for the Game Boy and DS releases.

In a similar fashion to other titles in the Backyard Sports series, players create their own teams choosing from more than 30 "neighborhood kids" who each have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Players may also choose from several National Hockey League hockey players as children, some of these players are Steve Yzerman, Mike Modano, and Curtis Joseph.

Backyard Hockey (Nintendo DS game)

Backyard Hockey is a sports game released on October 2, 2007. This is the fourth iteration of the Backyard Hockey game from the Backyard Sports series. Backyard Hockey allows you to play ice hockey as professional NHL players as kids.The cover athlete for the game is Nicklas Lidström of the Detroit Red Wings. This was the first ice hockey game released for Nintendo DS in the United States.

Gameplay

Backyard Hockey recreates ice hockey as the player controls either a fictional kid or professional NHL player as a kid. The player can play either exhibition matches, pick-up games, or a season.

Reception

Backyard Hockey was highly criticized for its gameplay. Chris Adams of IGN Entertainment wrote "the core gameplay is so unreliable and poorly designed that it's a largely frustrating, unenjoyable experience." One of GameZone's staff writers wrote "there are lots of gameplay options, but the play controls seem really flawed." The game was also said to have repetitive and dull commentary. The game, however, was praised for its graphics.