Blades of Steel

In keeping with my run of sports games I wanted to try and find something really special and it seems BoS is such a title. Whether it is different forums, review sites or even YouTube, plenty of folk shout about just how good this game is some even claim it’s one of Konami’s best sports titles. So I eagerly paid a trip to EBay in the hopes of acquiring a copy. It seems to be pretty common thankfully and I had no problems in tracking a cart down for just a couple of quid. The condition of the cart was extremely good with not so much as a scratch on the cart label.


The title screens music is quite catchy and loading the menu for the first time there seems plenty of options from Exhibition to Tournament etc. Being my first play through I select a quick start and go for an Exhibition game, picking 2 teams at random. Now I’ll admit I don’t know a thing about hockey besides it involves skating and big sticks so I had my fingers crossed that I wouldn’t lose my way.

Thankfully it’s pretty straightforward to play and I soon find myself flying across the ice, passing the ball (no idea what it’s actually called) and shooting wildly into the net. There doesn’t seem to be many rules to this game and tackling the other team is a lot of fun. About 5 minutes in I’m constantly pestering another player when the game freezes. A side on view appears and both players throw down their hockey gloves for a fight! Inching forward I start punching the other player and after a few moments he falls flat on his face. For his trouble he gets sent off and the other team is a man down.


I can only think this is all part and parcel of the sport so spend several minutes knocking the hell out of the other team trying to start a fight. Whittling them down by 3 members I’m soon skating round the rink with my team, an unstoppable force as we go on to trounce them. I’m hooked at this point and go on to play several more games, some with less success but overall I’m having a great time with the game.

Just looking at some of the options you can limit the time of the game to 15 minutes down to 5 for some fast play through. A quick glance at the tournament option and I can see I might be on this for hours! There is a 2 player option and sadly I had no neighbour to pester this time (he was out) but I can just imagine how frantic it becomes between two people and it’s no surprise why it’s considered one of the best Konami titles. If I had a recommended list this would be right at the top.