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THE SPORTS JOURNAL | NEWS FILE |
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REVIEWS
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NHL 2004 Review
Posted on Tuesday, March 16 2004
| REVIEW INFORMATION |
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By
munky
"NHL 2004 is by far the best hockey game on the market right now. EA has made huge strides and is beginning to realize what hockey gamers want. Here’s hoping they continue this path with NHL 2005." |
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| DISAGREE ? POST YOUR OWN REVIEW |
Publisher
: EA Sports
Developer : Black Box
Release Date : OUT NOW !
Genre : Sports - Hockey
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| 8 |
Gameplay |
| 8.5 |
Graphics |
| 8 |
Longevity |
| 7.5 |
Presentation |
| 8 |
Sound |
| 8 |
Overall
Score
(not average) |
Platform :     |
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HOW IT STACKS UP
| THE
GOOD |
| Great Strides made this year, heading in the right direction. |
| THE BAD |
| Still slips into arcade style on occasion. |
It looks like EA Sports is finally headed in the right direction with their NHL series. The last few years have been a trying time for hockey gamers – with EA Sports producing an arcadish, breakaway relay, shoot ‘em up game. It appeared true hockey gamers would be permanently left out in the cold. But things have started to get better.
This year EA has added some realism based features, like board play and a decent fighting engine (does anyone need to be reminded how dreadful the fighting was in 2003? I didn’t think so.), while tossing some unnecessary features, like the points system for those swell cards that served no real purpose.
Visuals – Not too bad by default. EA is starting to add some real brand names to helmets and skates, but basically it’s an ‘all generic, all the time’ viewing experience. Those interested in a truly amazing update to EA’s stock graphics should go to www.pnhl.tk to update to Project NHL. Nothing short of incredible.
Brand names and perfect jersey colours aside, NHL does offer some nice graphical touches. If you level someone drifting across the neutral zone you stand a good chance of knocking their helmet off, fans in the stands wear their team colours – including third and vintage jerseys, snow sprays when you change direction or stop and the ice degrades as the period goes on. All very nice touches.
Visuals – 7.5 (Stock) 9.5 (PNHL)
Sound – First the good news – Don Taylor is nowhere to be heard. Too many times in the past, gamers were subjecting to moronic comments with little or no bearing on the game. EA finally heard the call of the gamer, and Taylor is out of the booth.
In his place is former NHLer Craig Simpson. Simpson obviously knows his hockey, so the first few times you hear his comments that seem to be relevant to what’s happening on the ice. However, it doesn’t take long for the repetition to start. You’ll quickly get tired of hearing the same few comments over and over again.
Jim Hughson returns as the play by play man, and puts in another solid job. If you played any of the previous NHL games, you know what to expect from Hughson.
PC users can also add their own music to the game via the Dittie Importer. It’s a relatively simple little program that lets you specify what music to play in given situations – goals, puck going over the glass, fights, etc. I really wish Tiburon would add this to Madden. But then I really wish NHL would allow us to play our own music in the main menus, ala Madden.
The on ice sounds are pretty good. You get a nice satisfying ‘CLANG’ when you ring a shot off the post, there’s lots of grunting in the corners, and the refs call out some penalties as you head off to the sin bin (you never hear “Obstruction – Interference” though, only “Hooking” or “Tripping”).
Sound – 8
Gameplay – Armed with my new Logitech Dual Action game pad, this game had a very intuitive control system. The buttons are assigned in a logical manner (no using a shoulder button to pass by default), so it’s pretty easy to get the game under your fingers and play.
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