NHL 2004
by EA Sports
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Video Game Reviews of NHL 2004
Customer Review: Good look, Good feel, Good game!
Summary: 5 Stars
I am more concerned with how "realistic" these games play more than how they look or what kind of gimmics there are. This game is good. The goalies do more than past versions. The board play is more realistic (players don't just skate right thru an opposing player). The game speed can be adjusted to your liking. Even when playing 5 minute periods (which is the only way to get "realistic" stats) you get a "real" two minutes on your power plays. You can actually set up a power play and move the puck around looking for a quality scoring chance. The computer plays good defense but still allows you to make plays. This game really makes you earn your victories. The look is very good. The fans are more realistic. The arenas look a little crisper. I thought 2002 was the best version but 2004 is better. You do need a computer capable of running it. The one thing I don't like is they took away the big save and big hit replays that 2002 had but still the game plays better. Also, it seems you can't save a game in progress? Either I can't find that control or they did away with it? Oh yah, the menu screens have too much info and the font is too small. Again, I look for realistic game play and this game has the best so far. All in all, this game is an improvement over 2002 (definitely better than 2003)! After reading some other reviews, I had to add this in. Why so much complaining about the number of controls? Don't use them all, you don't have to. I play this game with virtually 3 buttons, pass, shoot and speed burst. Yes, I could use more but I don't need to. Play the difficult level, boost your players and goalie to give yourself a slight edge and you will find yourself playing some really good games either against the computer or another human. So, if you don't like all the "control" options, then don't use them all and you won't get so frustrated. I guess it all depends on what you are looking for in the game. I like playing a game where I have to work to get a "W", so I set my options where I get the most "realistic" play I can. If you want to play the Red Wings vs. Avalanche and come out with a 3-2 finish and feel like "man, what a game", you can set your options and get just that! If your looking for a bunch of gimmics that a 10-year old would find amusing then I guess you play something else?Customer Review: Good Improvements, but can do more
Summary: 3 Stars
Well first of all, I am happy to say that this is nowhere near as bad as NHL 2003. The irritating color commentator + useless game breaker are gone from 2004, which makes me happier. This is long: dont read if not into novelsGameplay : Barely touched. that is all I have to say and now I am going to say this. The skating is the same, shooting + goaltending are the same. The thing that bothers me about the gameplay is that the defense is still as porous as the Pittsburgh Steelers secondary, even on tight D (or a 5 Star in the game) when you change the defense + when you have the best D-men in the game playing for you. It can do more by making it a better gameplaying experience
International Mode: As I said before, this was a decent attempt by the folks at EA to get people to buy a fading product with a possible bleak future. There are 3 leagues from you to choose from. Germany's DEL, Finland's Elitserien, and Sweden's SM-Liiga. But unfortunately, if anyone cared to try it out, this mode was botched, all the leagues are the same except for rosters + playoffs. The mode is nothing more than a glorified NHL 2003 franchise mode. You can even see that when you look at the mode's interface. And most likely you will not know 95% of the players on here. So if you were not a fan of ex-NHL'ers like Greg Adams or Mike Bullard or not from Europe, don't even bother about this mode.
Dynasty Mode- Due to the recent competition from ESPN NHL Hockey + it's worthless Franchise mode, EA has improved this mode. Like for a few examples, There are actually salaries on this game (in $$$, not points) and a good free agency where you dont have to overcome your horrible prestige to get a great player. But it's not that that has me upset about the mode, it's the concept of the mode that has me and most likely others fuming. Here is the concept: The Ebenezer Scrooge-like owners, realizing that they're "cash-strapped", take away every luxury item, release every staff member, + sell off every piece of workout equipment to "break even". That is where you, the naive GM, comes into play. you trade, sign + draft your way into a dynasty. But all this mode is only about is to please those cheap, Scrooge-like owners, by giving them a surplus in the finances, then they throw GM points around. When you get 100 of them, you have 1 point to spend on your locker room or your staff, + that is what you basically do for 20 years until they shove you out the door + give you a retirement present. Let me give you a hint, dont put it on Legal! even when you have it on level 10, it doesnt work real well. The GM office and the GM ranking are just a sad attempt trying to compete wth ESPN's "Cribs" the GM office you just look at, you do not control anything in that room, and The GM rankings are just, well, GM rankings. Trading is much harder to do, no longer can you trade your way from worthless deadweight to perennial scoring champion in no time flat. and that you can no longer sign people + trade them away. The main irk of the dynasty mode is that you cannot change the concept! it is stuck like this forever! and that is why I am somewhat disappointed with this mode.
Sound: It is crisp, sounding like you are watching the real thing in an arena. Unfortunately, that was true in NHL 2003. The commentary is definitely improved, why do I know this, the color commentator from NHL 2003 has been given the boot! the commentary is deeper, more serious than the distraction of last year.
Graphics: They are much better from last years version, unfortunately, the faces have seemed to take a step backward this year (on my computer, that is)
Final Verdict: I would've loved a better game out of EA sports, unfortunately, as always, it's the ONLY option on the PC. so once again hockey fans will have another scar to go with the possible strike coming up.
Customer Review: good hockey game
Summary: 5 Stars
This is by far the best hockey game Ive ever played. Ea games really improved over NHL 2003. Being an avid NhL watcher myself ; This is almost exactly like a reall NHL game ;with one exception, your the players.... This game is kool. PeriodCustomer Review: Good attempt, not perfect
Summary: 3 Stars
In certain areas this game vastly improved. I enjoy the franchise mode. There is more involvement in the total aspects of a hockey team. Unlike 2003 where there are two or three Gretzky caliber prospects every draft year that immediately dominate the league, 2004 is more realistic, having average prospects overall that will develop into great players. When it comes to trading, there are still some flaws, which is understandable until artifical intelligence is invented. For instance, occasionally there are ridiculous trades made where a the top team in a conference trades away their best player for a lesser player and a low draft pick. Atlanta does this often, trading away either Kovalchuk or Heatley for an average player, after which they fall drastically in the standings. There are usually no financial reasons for this. As far as the game play goes, it has become more realistic in certain areas, while overdone in others. One thing is the hitting. While it has become more realistic visually, it is a lot harder to hit opposing players. The skating is improved in certain aspects, but in others it is frustrating. The major problem with the gameplay is momentum. When the opposing team captures the momentum, it is sometimes extremely hard to do anything. The opposing team will knock you down every time you touch the puck, while stop any clearing attempts, and will slap pucks at your net at overly-rapid rates. But not just this. Even your players will be drastically affected. Every time you pass it to a player when the other team has the momentum, if they receive the pass, for some reason they are always skating the wrong way. So you have to turn the player, but then you are usually checked hard in doing so. Sometimes, in key situations always, my player I'm controlling will just stop. Nothing I do will move him. If I switch players, suddenly that player stop. This lasts a few seconds. And it only happens when the other team has the momentum. The balance, of course, is way off when it comes to this momentum factor. When the opposing team scores a goal, a slight majority of the time they will score another goal seconds later. I've played a game where I was winning and held the momentum. Suddenly I was caught offguard and the other team scored a goal. No problem, right? Well, in less than a minute they scored five goals on me. It was as though my players had suddenly smoked something and my goalie had fallen asleep. Suddenly the other team will make perfect passes to the front of the net where their teammate will be sitting unguarded. This is too skewed. It is extremely frustrating. On close games, more often than not, the opposing team will score within minutes of the end of the game off a shot from behind the goal line, while I'm controlling the momentum and in perfect position. At these points I come close to taking the cd and breaking it, it makes me so mad. It just doesn't happen in real life, or at least not that often. A common occurence is there will be a minute or so to go, the game will be tied, and a less than average goal scorer will float a shot past a defensemen that is obviously guarding him perfectly, they will be stationed on the goal line at the boards, the goalie is leaving absolutely no room for any puck to get through, as well as there being other players between the shooter and the goal, and somehow it trickles over the goalie and inches it way slowly past the goal line while the goalie is just standing there still looking at the shooter and other defensemen won't get to the puck, despite standing a foot or so from the puck. This needs adjustment. There are other things as well, but you get the idea.Customer Review: Hockey players hockey game
Summary: 1 Stars
Graphics on the menu screen are bad?? Are you kidding me!! You've been watching too much Trading Spaces buddy! Stick to the game...For historical perspective....
I refused to buy NHL 2003 because I thought it was a throwback to 1999 or 2001 with a fresh coat of paint. At first I hated the changed controls on 2004, but after case of beer and 10 games with my buddy (and hockey arch rival) my perspective changed dramatically. You skate way better and can turn on a dime. NHL 2001 was all about the one-timer. NHL 2002 was all about shooting. NHL 2004 is back to the emphasis on the pass, only with one hitch; you have to aim your passes rather than the computer pulling off impossible plays just because you tapped the "X" button.
This game is not perfect, but has the best hockey AI to date and the player animation is awesome (who cares what their faces look like???). I think it has moved computer hockey games forward by leaps and bounds. After seeing the feeble stripped down versions of these games on PC's, get out there and get a real game system. They are $250 CDN (half off for you Americans).
Play this game and I guarantee that at first you will hate it. But persevere, it is worth it. If you like your video hockey to be HOCKEY, this is the best that you can get. If you are in to fluffy crap, like how the fans look or how the menu screens are, I'm sure there is a Strawberry Shortcake Hockey that you can play with bunny rabbits and puppy dogs.