Hockey Nations 2011 THD Game hands-on [Video]

Just in time for the NHL season we present you with the latest and greatest game headed to the TegraZone and Android Market. In part by NVIDIA, we have an awesome and realistic Hockey game by Distinctivegames.com that is designed and beefed up to take full advantage of the NVIDIA Tegra 2 platform on our phones and tablets. They’ve increased tons of graphics and polygon counts to make this the best Hockey Nations available yet. With crowd movement and reactions, player reflections on the ice and more they’ve really thought of everything. See for yourself in the video demo below.

With Hockey Nations you have a realistic and fun full out hockey experience right at your fingertips. With 18 international teams, 40 city teams, custom jerseys, All-Star choices and more they’ve really covered all the bases (other than official logo’s and names). The video intro to start the game with crowd reaction, the lights dimming and fireworks lighting off it really gets you pumped up for the match. The team intro and ad banner on the scoreboard are pretty neat too, check it all out in my video then read on for more details and pictures.

Hockey Nations 2011 THD hands-on video demo
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With complete instant replays for goals where you can even control the camera we really can see almost every aspect of the game, and I can happily say fights are included. What would a hockey game be without being able to pull the gloves off and fight it out occasionally right? The AI with Honey Nations is some of the best I’ve seen from a game on Android, it really is exceptional. Here’s the full list of features:

• NVIDIA Tegra Enhancements: Specular maps on players, reflections on ice, increased polygon count, and animated crowd behavior.
• 18 International Teams: USA, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Latvia, Czech Republic, Belarus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Great Britain, Japan and Russia.
• 40 Customizable City Teams: Now you can customize a city to match your favorite team from anywhere in the world and bag the trophy in Playoff Cup.
• 6 Game Modes: Dive into the action with 6 game modes including World League, Go for Gold, Shootout, Exhibition, Playoff and Practice.
• Fight it Out: You asked for it and now it’s here! The gloves are off so fight your way into the penalty box for a cool down.

The menus and navigation are extremely easy to understand, no weird controls like we’ve seen in some games. The entire layout for settings and jersey selection is extremely easy controlled by simple swipes as seen in the video below. Controls during gameplay are also very easy to understand and are laid out in a very similar manor to what we are used to. With pass, shoot and turbo on the right and the directional pad to the left it makes things really easy on a tablet. When on defense pass becomes check and don’t hit people in the back or you’ll get a penalty — or if you’re lucky a fight like the big timers. They give you an opportunity to accept or deny the fight, and indeed I accepted it gladly.

I’ve yet to try the tournament mode but over the course of the next few days I’ll be sure to give it a solid rundown and see if I can’t win a few games. I just beat Windsor like 7-1 so I’m finally doing better than I was on my video (All-Star team might be helping me out). Like mentioned above, the instant reply feature is excellent and one of my favorite parts and I wish we could slow it down. Below in the gallery are a few screenshots of my goals, with different angles you can even be inside the goal and watch the action right in front of you.

In the gallery above as well as the full gallery below notice the players reflection in the ice, it really looks awesome and the power of the NVIDIA Tegra 2 platform has allowed this game to reach new levels visually and the developers are extremely excited to launch this on the Android Market and Tegra Zone. Here is what they had to say:

“The graphical power delivered by the NVIDIA Tegra hardware made it possible to create a visual treat for hockey fans including a spectacular pre match sequence.” — Nigel Little, Managing Director, Distinctive Developments Ltd.

Again, Hockey Nations 2011 THD will be available this month at TegraZone.com and in the Android Market. Hopefully it will be for sale within the next few weeks to hit the October timeframe and be just in time for the NHL season to start. Xperia Play owners can get the regular version now by clicking here. All of you NHL fans will really enjoy this game, I used to play as a teenager and this really brought me back to the good ol days. Check out all of the awesome pictures in the full size gallery below. Stay tuned right here at Android Community as we’ll be sure to update you once this and all future THD games become available.