Sorry Wii hockey fans, no NHL 2011 game for you, but EA Sports is still going to show you the love with EA Sports NHL Slapshot for Wii.

It’s a ground level up effort for Wii that started out as a simple gathering that turned into tinkering around with duct-tape, Wii remote and nunchuk. Combine the 3 together, along with a healthy dose of Canadian beverages of choice (Labatt’s, we hope) and you get a few happy Vancouver based EA Sports developers who crank out a fun game with a cool Wii remote shell the shape of a mini-hockey stick.

Graphically speaking, the game looks clean and plays well. You pull the Wii mote in hockey shell (with nunchuk sitting closely behind) and rip a slap-shot by laying into it or just a quick flick for a wrister. shot direction is determined by the analog of the nunchuk, like you’d expect. Checking is completed by holding your hockey stick across your body and shoving, just like a real hockey shove.

Everything else from dekes, one-timers, passes (pressing the A button), speed bursts…they’re all here. The moves are motion enhanced and nothing is more fun than shoving hard for a body check.

EA Sports has thrown in a Wii exclusive feature (the game is a Wii exclusive) where you can start a player from pee-wee hockey (little kid hockey) all the way up to the NHL with every stop in between.

The effect is pretty cool and play is completely fun. However, fighting is nowhere to be found.

Unfortunately, have kids playing in a backyard pond getting into bench clearing brawls just might not sit well with parents and retailers alike, so EA did not include that in this game.

It’s okay, checking is totally satisfying. Besides, can you imagine fights in your house with all your buddies carrying a pseudo hockey stick/weapon?

The stick shell is well built with a soft blade at the end. Everything feels right and it’s not overly heavy. Just keep in mind one thing, you will be whipping this thing around, so strap it on your wrist you’d best be wearing a real helmet while you play.

Available in time for the holidays (November 2010) with one hockey stick shell included with the game disc. Exclusive for Wii, with no pricing information yet.

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