PAX East 2020 has arrived early and there are a ton of games ranging from AAA down to the indie developers. Today, we got to check out Ultimate Rivals developed by Bit Fry Games that is currently exclusive to the Apple Arcade.
If you are a hockey fan and have enjoyed some of the EA Sports NHL games or even the arcade hockey games that come around every so often, this game is for you. Yes, Ultimate Rivals is a hockey game, but the twist is that there are players ranging from NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB and others.
Bit Fry secured groundbreaking licensing agreements with nine major professional sports organizations, including the NHL, NHL Players’ Association (NHLPA), NBA, National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), MLB, MLB Players Association (MLBPA), NFLPA, Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA), USWNTPA, as well as Wayne Gretzky. ‘
During our gameplay session we used an Xbox controller through the demo they had at their booth. The game is extremely simple to play as there is no skill stick and it’s strictly using the A, B, X, Y buttons and your left stick of course. It’s a super fast paced game where it’s a 3v3 as you’ll have a center, winger, and a goalie. When we were playing we had LeBron James and Alex Ovechkin as our two players on offense. As you notice one is a hockey player and one is a basketball player.
A cool part about using a player that isn’t involved with hockey is that if you charge up your shot with for example, LeBron James he will throw the puck like if it were a basketball and sometimes it will have a big affect on the goalie giving you a better chance to score.
Overall, Ultimate Rivals is a great party game that has a competitive side to it that can potentially get into the topic of esports if the game continues to grow with a solid community.
The first impression I had when I saw the trailer at first was not good, but once i was actually able to play 1 on 1 with another player it changed my perspective.
Speaking with the developers there are plans to expand beyond just Apple Arcade. Right now you can only play on iOS related devices.
