Bush Hockey League Review - Has Style, Lacks Substance

[ChaseB]

It's long been established by this point that when it comes to the world of hockey...

Written By: Kevin Scott

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[bapgap]

I bought and played this on the Xbox One when it first came out (it was called Old Time Hockey back then) and thought the controls were just awful. I didn't even finish playing the story mode it was that bad. The game play felt like it was in slow motion and was just not fun at all. 

[PhillyGuy11826]

Re: Bush Hockey League Review - Has Style, Lacks Substance

I bought and played this on the Xbox One when it first came out (it was called Old Time Hockey back then) and thought the controls were just awful. I didn't even finish playing the story mode it was that bad. The game play felt like it was in slow motion and was just not fun at all.*

The story of this game's release is so....odd. The original trailer had teams & imagery that were both inspired by & directly ripped from Slap Shot. Looked like they had plans to rip off everything & seemed to only plan to change the names of the teams ie the Charlestown Chiefs from the film became the "Charlestown Blues".& "Syracuse Bulldogs" from the film became "Utica Bulldogs" in the game, with the same uniforms and everything, I can only imagine that they were slapped with some sort of cease & desist as the OG trailer on the studio's YT page was blurred out on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY3UZ9uPhM0

Here's the unblurred version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6boHSPK5rbk

V7Entertainment hasn't tweeted for 5 years either.

EDIT: Actually I guess this review was posted because they released a Switch version about a month ago, & upon sifting through BHL's twitter account, it looks to have survived as Old Time Hockey for about 7 months before it switched over to BHL without warning (which I can only assume was due to some type of lawsuit from Universal or something).

They had also planned some DLC originally too.

https://twitter.com/BushLeagueV7/status/876984233083846656?s=20&t=gKeIaybxMSNBIIAjKTt_sg

I liked the story mode, but never delved back into after

[bapgap]

I think they got sued by the Old Time Hockey apparel company and dropped the name after it was released. I remember downloading a patch on Xbox that automatically changed the name to Bush Hockey League, which is a stupid name IMO. Either way the controls are so awful I don't think anything could save this game. If you want arcade hockey, Super Blood Hockey is the much better option. 

[GlennN]

Re: Bush Hockey League Review - Has Style, Lacks Substance

It's really a shame. I had such high hopes for this game! Loved the concept and the visual style, but the end product just wasn't very good. I wish they went back and tried again. I think there is a market for this kind of game (done correctly).

[rupe]

I enjoyed it for what it was.  Played it more than EA NHL and bloody hockey.  Wasn't great but I liked the challenges.  

[RAVEN000]

Re: Bush Hockey League Review - Has Style, Lacks Substance

Any chances this ever gets modded? Would love to work on a Slap Shot movie league