Game Reviews

Icebreaker Hockey

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Icebreaker Hockey

Smartphone gaming doesn't just have to fit into your pocket - it has to fit into your life as well. Epic play sessions are all well and good if you're sat on your sofa at home, but mobile gaming is about snatching a couple of minutes here and there.

That's why NaturalMotion and Digital Legend's Icebreaker Hockey works so well. It's a hockey game distilled and shrunk down into delicious bite-sized chunks.

Face off

In a way, Icebreaker has more in common with the early Tony Hawk games than any of the NHL sims you'll find on home consoles.

Your task in each level is to score a goal, and to do that you have to weave your way around opposing players, making your way into the scoring zone and then slotting the puck past the keeper.

The more points you score from avoiding challenges, passing through the scoring zones marked on the ice, showing off, and hitting stronger shots, the better your rating at the end of the level. Scoring a quick goal might move you on to the next level, but that's it.

Icing on the cake

It's a great system, and one that means you're rarely going to have to drop a game mid-play, with the average level only lasting a minute or two.

The controls are sweet and well thought out. But, while the game is Xperia Play-optimised, none of the menus' hint pages have changed to reflect that. If you want to work out what the buttons do, you'll have to check the game's description on the Android Market.

Little niggles aside, Icebreaker is a great piece of digital entertainment, perfectly designed to fit snugly into your hectic life.

It may not be an accurate representation of Ice Hockey, but it offers some neat, quick-blast gameplay that'll have you coming back for more.

Icebreaker Hockey

A brilliant blast of ice-based fun, Icebreaker Hockey is a wonderfully playable arcade sports title
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.