The Thrill Of Video Victory

So you didn't get everything on your holiday wish list, and now you're wondering what you can get in exchange for that battery-operated musical gravy boat from Uncle Chester. All is not lost. If you look, you can still find the season's best video games, maybe even on sale. These include outstanding new entries, as well as updates of old favorites, providing better performance and some innovative features for the avid sports gamer.

Leading the field is NASCAR '98 ( Electronic Arts, for Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn, $49.95). This game has a gritty feel that brings the sensation of speed to the fore—especially when the player chooses the in-car camera angle, whose perspective is from right behind the wheel. The player has a choice of 24 NASCAR drivers and cars, which show up in vivid and accurate colors. After selecting, for example, the rainbow-colored ride of this year's NASCAR champion, Jeff Gordon, the player can race on any one of 17 tracks. Before the green starting flag he must adjust the setup of the car, which affects the top speed and handling and adds a level of depth and strategy to the game. While the game threatens to crash at some points, it earns a place in Victory Lane.

Since its introduction two years ago, Nintendo 64 has been hampered by a lack of sports software. Now, however, two quality football games are available: Madden 64 ( Electronic Arts, $59.95) and NFL Quarterback Club 98 (Acclaim Entertainment, $59.99). Quarterback Club may be the most beautiful sports game ever produced, with amazingly clear and lifelike players and fields, but it suffers from poor artificial intelligence. There are too many plays that always beat the game's defense, but if you're playing against a friend, it's less of a problem. Madden also has terrific graphics, although not as good as Quarterback Club's, but has a much stronger artificial intelligence system. However, Madden doesn't have a license from the NFL to use team names or logos. That means the players have the names of real NFL players, but they perform in generic settings rather than for authentic NFL teams, and that takes away something from the ambience of the game. For solo players, the superior artificial intelligence makes Madden a better buy, while the groundbreaking graphics of Quarterback Club will make it very popular.

Often the updates of sports games are a waste of money, offering little more than revised team rosters. But NFL GameDay '98 ( Sony, for Sony PlayStation, $40.00) is a major step forward. The key is its fully three-dimensional look, in which the players have a real depth that comes through on the screen thanks to a polygonal-based graphics system. This is most noticeable in the running game, where now, instead of a jumbled mess of players on the screen, you can see holes in the line, allowing you to sneak a running back through a crack in the line and slide in between a linebacker and a safety. The movement of the players is smooth and fluid (fixing what is often a problem with polygon graphics). The game plays beautifully, with a tough computer opponent that gives even a veteran video-football gamer a battle. GameDay '98 is an MVP—simply the best overall football game available on any platform.

The other top buy among returning games is NHL '98 ( Electronic Arts, CD-ROM for PC, Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn, $49.95). The game play is outstanding—players respond instantly to your controls—and it pays off in the best hockey action in a market that includes nearly a dozen other games. NHL '98 scores a hat trick: Not only does it offer high-impact action, but it also has new features such as on-the-fly strategic adjustments, using plays designed by Colorado Avalanche coach Marc Crawford, and a clever presentation that feels like a television broadcast, complete with shots of the players skating to the bench.

Also in a wintry, but offbeat, vein is Cool Boarders 2 ( Sony, for Sony PlayStation, $45.00), a sequel to last year's popular snowboarding game. With a choice of courses, including a half-pipe and a trick course, the game lets you fly down the slopes while doing huge jumps, twists and flips without risking any injuries more serious than a thumb blister—an injury that the sports-video gamer could see a lot of with this season's crop of games.