Mutant League Hockey is the second and final game in the short-lived Mutant League series. After this game, EA abandoned the series for some reason. I can only assume that it didn’t catch on in the way that EA wanted it to, or that they wanted to focus on their other sports games.
Hockey is one of the games that translates well to an arcade game. Some of them lean into the violence, and the fact that fighting is built into the rules of the game. This is the only sport that forces grown men and women to take a time out when they do something bad.
My friend Joey rented this game back in the mid 1990s. It was released in 1994, and I remember liking the game enough to want to get it. When I started collecting retro games, this was one of the first games I bought after I got a Genesis.
TLDR: A step backwards but still fun.
Narrative
The story isn’t all that different from the football game. Unlike Mutant League Football, the whole backstory to the game’s world isn’t given in the manual (Link). Needless to say, several apocalyptic events took place, and a sports league was set up around the skeletons, orcs, robots, and aliens.
Gameplay
The gameplay is great! I love hockey games, and this translated well to the type of gameplay you saw in the football game. It has so many features that make this a wonderful game.
Just like Mutant League Football, some of the teams are parodies of professional teams. At least they have Detroit represented in this game, which instantly makes this better than Blades of Steel! Here is a list of the teams:
| Toxic Conference | Maniac Conference |
| Toxic All Pros (5 Skulls) | Maniac All Stars (5 Skulls) |
| Black Hearts (4 Skulls) | Pucksucker Pukes (5 Skulls) |
| Mutant Monsters (4 Skulls) | Ice Slashers (4 Skulls) |
| Montroyale Cadavers (3 Skulls) | Dead Things (3 Skulls) |
| War Slammers (3 Skulls) | Lizard Kingz (4 Skulls) |
| Deathskin Razors (3 Skulls) | Darkstar Dragons (4 Skulls) |
| Bruiser Bots (3 Skulls) | Terminator Trolz (3 Skulls) |
| St. Mucus Ooze (3 Skulls) | Turbo Techies (3 Skulls) |
| The Derangers (1 Skull) | Screaming Evils (3 Skulls) |
| Chilly Liars (2 Skulls) | Slaycity Slayers (2 Skulls) |
| Mighty Weenies (Zero Skulls) | The Shrimps (1 Skull) |
It is possible to play this game with four players. We never had the multitap for the Genesis, or any console for that matter, so we didn’t do that. This was a feature I didn’t know about. It is very cool to see this in any retro game.
The controls are very simple. You only need the 3-Button controller for this game. One button is for punching and using a weapon when you get one, another is passing, and the last is for shooting. Occasionally, the crowd will throw weapons onto the ice, and you can use them to kill your opponents. If you kill enough of the other team’s players, they’ll forfeit.
This is a hockey game, and it uses the standard rules of ice hockey. You can fight in the games, which is one of the better parts of the game. If you win the fight, then you get a 2-minute penalty. If you lose, then you get a 5-minute penalty.
The best way I can describe the controls is slippery. Shooting the puck feels totally random. I scored a goal, not sure how, but it was the only goal I scored during the games I played. Most of the time, I just killed off the other team, which was satisfying.
I really like the gameplay, but there is a bit of a learning curve, and the controls aren’t as good as they could be. It is a bit of a step down from the previous game. While the controls are decent enough, they aren’t as good as the previous game.
Visuals
There are some good things when it comes to the graphics in this game. The graphics aren’t too different from what was in Mutant League Football, which isn’t necessarily bad. I was expecting them to be a little better, but they weren’t too much better.
It can be very hard to tell what is going on. The game feels very frantic, and the graphics reflect that. Stage traps are few and far between, but they are easy to see. Weapons and the puck are easy to see but difficult to pick up at times.
The fight scenes look great! You’re not there very long, but they look very good. I also like seeing the corpses of the characters lying on the ice. They create obstacles for you to avoid, and it is a nice touch that they stay there until the period ends, which is when the ice is normally cleaned in a hockey game.
Overall, I like the graphics. Everything looks good. There isn’t anything that I can complain about when it comes to the look of this game.
Reviews at the Time
The review scores for Mutant League Hockey are all over the place. The scores at the time range from 5 to 10/10. Just like the other retro games I’ve looked at, the review scores tanked in the 2000s, but this was more extreme in this case. I used MobyGames for this, so I don’t have a full picture of all the review scores.
Computer and Video Games gave the game an 8/10. The reviewer has some issues with the game’s controls and tracking which player they were controlling. They also said that it is more fun with a friend.
Mean Machines gave the game a 59/100. They called the game a “nice idea” that doesn’t quite work. The reviewer didn’t recommend the game and said you were better off with one of the NHL games.
MegaZone gave the game a 62/100. This reviewer called the game a “disappointment… in terms of mayhem and fun (because it) promised so much.” They continued by saying that there were too many “frustrations, and confusion over what the game wants to be.” They pointed to the fighting in the game, which seems a little odd to me.
7.5/10. I like Mutant League Hockey, but it isn’t as good as the football game. There is a chaos to this game that is charming, but once you’ve played a few games, things get a little boring. I do like this ultra-violent version of ice hockey.
Pros
- Good Graphics
- Fun Gameplay
Cons
- Boring Computer-Controlled Characters
- Repetitive
- Cumbersome Controls
Conclusion
Going back to play this was interesting. I remember really liking this game when I was a kid, but it isn’t like how I remember it. The difficulty makes the game a little rough to play. I’m also not a fan of the playing style that the computer plays.
There are a handful of games that are similar to this one, but there hasn’t been a remake of this game. I would like to see a new version of Mutant League Hockey. Being from Michigan, I’m more of a hockey fan than a football fan. A lot of that has to do with the pro sports teams. The Red Wings have been better than the Lions during my lifetime.
At some point, I’ll have to go over the Mutant Football League games. They’re both fun games, and I like the style. Maybe we’ll get another version of Mutant League Hockey, but until then, I’ll just have to play Super Blood Hockey.
If you liked this post, check out my other posts on retro sports games. Some examples are Mutant League Football and Ice Hockey.