NHL 2004

by Black Box

Product Features

• Play as any of 39 international teams, as well as any team in the NHL
• All-new control system for a better passing game and specific checking
• Scaled players give you a better sense of scale -- watch as huge defensemen try to stop smaller, quicker wings
• Power-up your checks and watch as your men go across the ice -- but be careful, the more checking you do, the more fighting you'll start
• You can actually control fights now -- decide to end it quick or keep it going by pressing a button

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00009WAW7
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 22, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,503 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #3 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Sports > Hockey

Product Description

Platform: PlayStation2

From the Manufacturer

It's been called the Fastest Sport on Earth--and the faster the players, the tougher the contact. NHL 2004 brings professional hockey to life like never before, with crisp passes, searing slap-shots, and a variety of new ways to check your opponent to regain control of the puck. With the addition of international leagues and a Dynasty Mode that lets you build a powerhouse, NHL 2004 is the hockey fan's dream come true.

Product Description

NHL 2004 brings in a new world of hockey action as you try to take your favorite team to the Stanley Cup! Try your luck as a General Manager -- control every aspect of your team, and see if you can lead them into history!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For The Die-Hard Hockey Fan, October 22, 2003

By 

M. Buck (Brooklyn, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NHL 2004 (Video Game)

EA's NHL 2004 is so realistic, the average gamer might not like this game. However, if you are a die-hard hockey fan and gamer, you'll eat this game up on its realism.

The Good: Nearly everything. The graphics, vastly improved sound (no more cannon blasts for slap shots), better animations--board pinning, simulation gameplay, and total control keep me in awe every time I play this game. Where some may complain about the advanced control, most will appreciate the fact that you, the gamer, are in 100% control of your player--not the 50% by you with 50% computer assistance as in the past. What do I mean? Passing, stick-handling, shooting, choosing to get into fights, power level of hits and power level of dumping the puck are all "you". No more is the computer aiming your passes, making your players fight at bad times, or protecting the puck for you (you use the right analog stick to move your stick/deke away from poke checks). You have total control.

Another good point in this game is the realism. No longer can one take a puck from end-to-end by just going up the boards. With computer players trying to poke check the puck away or hook at you, there is going to be the need to either pass or dump the puck in once you cross the red line (you will find yourself dumping the puck a lot--which is good). No longer can you just start taking people out of position and make big hits. This will cause opponents to drive to the net untouched and you will pay with a goal against--Remember, this is a simulation (not arcade) game. You need to play this game like you see it on TV.

Another major improvement is the fighting engine. Sure it was a total joke in the past, but you are going to love it this year. No longer are there two players standing side-by-side like robots taking speedy punches from each other. This year, players grapple and struggle to get their fist to the other guys head or body. Goalies even get into the action when the game gets really heated.

The Bad: There's not too much to say here, but the game isn't perfect. During the game, you will notice the computer probably gets away with more hooks than it should, but it's not a serious problem because you should be passing or dumping the puck to avoid getting angry about this (I was at first, but I don't mind anymore). Also, there seems to be a problem with your goalie staying close (or "hugging") to the post on bad angle shots--too many goals seem to go in between the post and your goalie.

The only major problem I have with this game is the online play. The online server for NHL 2004 isn't nearly as good as the Madden server. It's seriously flawed with horrible glitches that need to be addressed by EA. [I have yet to get a game in due to a faceoff glitch at the beginning of the game--won't go past the opening faceoff]. EA's NHL online support is horrible and doesn't offer much support. If someone quits on you, you have no option to continue--so the game is over and done and the only thing that tells that game existed is a higher disconnect percentage under your username (you don't get a win if you had the lead when you were quit-on). The online experience seems to be okay from what I hear from other players, but it's seriously flawed.

Overall, this game is nearly perfect for the gamer that want total control and a total simulation hockey game (most real on the difficult level). You can play online, but expect some problems. Putting the online problems aside, you'll love this game.

To the average gamer that likes high scores and likes to go out and hit every player that moves--Stay away from this game as these things just do not happen.

To the serious gamer and die-hard hockey fan--You will not be winning many games by simply hitting and shooting. Oh, no--not this year my gaming friend. You are going to have to play hockey! Go and get this game!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Another average at best EA hockey game, September 24, 2003

By 

Ryan Yamada "icono68" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NHL 2004 (Video Game)

NHL 2004 shows some signs of being a quality game, but lacks far too much to actually achieve this. Some features were improved, others took a step backwards and the result is an average at best game that could have and should have been so much more.

We'll start with the gameplay. The computer is able to use this incredible little "Hold/Hook" feature to get the puck from you at will. Last I checked Holding and Hooking were penalties, but the computer is hardly penalized for these infractions. Naturally you might think that turning around and hooking/holding them would be successful, but don't worry, the computer is able to skate right through hooks and holds. This leads to many frustrating encounters as the computer effortlessly strips you of the puck while you have to bash a computer guy through the glass to get the puck from him.

The passing can also be frustrating, guys often cut or spontaneously change their direction after you fire off the pass. I thought I had finally got passing down, was getting 80-85% passing and then I was hit with a game in which I completed a whole 56% of passes. As far as I know I didn't change anything. The nature of the beast? At any rate, passing, while it isn't guarenteed anymore (that's good) is perhaps a bit too random now.

The camera angles are also rather poor. I don't know why EA messed with it's cameras, but for any of the vertical camera angles the "up" net and the area behind the "up" net is impossible to find the puck in.

The off-ice features are a mess as well. First of all, no more NHL Cards. OK, OK, so you never used them anyway right? But you could unlock stuff with certain cards and earning points to buy card packs was a nice extra element. Well all that is gone. Instead in NHL 2004 there is a menu option called "Unlockables". Oh, how original. I believe it is tied in with your EA Sports Bio and periodically it pops up and gives you a new unlockable. Exciting, isn't it?

Now how about that new Dynasty mode you ask yourself? Well, it's a start at a good mode but is riddled with problems. First of all is this upgrade stuff. You get your team in a crippled state, their facilities are horrible and you have to use upgrades to get them to average and then beyond. Until you do that's a big ol -10 OV to your players. But every other GM faces this problem too, so the playing field is level ... everyone just plays with slow 70-75 OV players until they get their facilities up.

Of course, that'll take about 35 more upgrade points than you start with, so you'll need 3500 exp points. That'd be 350 trades or 1750 wins. Win a Stanley Cup or two along the way and it's probably only 500 wins.

That's not the only problem either. Dynasty Mode conviently forgets to mention when players are injured and refuses to even give you an injury estimate. Perhaps this may be related to the medical upgrades, but I should still be able to know if he's in serious health trouble or not. The effect of back to back games on your players is also ridiculous, don't expect to win the back end of any back to backs: your players are literally pylons out there.

The big effort of NHL 2004 seemed to go into its Dynasty Mode. This means the other features are very bare bones and you really must use Dynasty Mode to get anything worthwhile out of the game. Unforetunately, while Dynasty Mode had some good ideas the execution wasn't there. And sadly the gameplay certainly isn't about to "hook or hold" you in where the features fail (haha haha ha ...)

The motto of NHL 2004: It had some good ideas, but the execution just wasn't there.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost there..., November 11, 2003

By 

I-Heng (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: NHL 2004 (Video Game)

I think this is the most realistic game in the NHL series. The player models are excellent, and the faces are very recognizable, although everyone sports short hair, which is a bit disappointing, I really wanted to see Anson Carter's dreads or Alfredsson's hair sticking out everywhere. The animation is smooth and fluid, although it slows down once in a while. The right analog control really lets you deke and hit with much more precise control. Once you learn how to deke and shoot in one motion by pressing down the analog stick after you finish your move, you will be looking for that breakaway all the time. Which leads to my next point, don't look for that breakaway all the time! You can't chase people all over the ice looking for the big hit like Kasparitis anymore. You have to stay in position and play smart by poking the puck away, by laying down to block the cross ice pass, and by holding and hooking your opponents. In that regard, the game is a lot more like real hockey than any previous versions. On the one hand it may seem slower gameplay, but on the other hand, it's much easier setting up plays behind the net and cycling the puck to create one-timers. The game clock also runs at real time during powerplays so you actually have 2 full minutes to get the powerplay goal or to kill. The last minute of the game also runs at real time, which allows huge comebacks. Although the high-speed up and down hockey is gone, you now have more chances to really create space by executing plays. And even though positional defense is the emphasis, you can still connect on some major hits, and they look a lot more realistic as sometimes your guy will fall to the ice with the poor victim, and other times the helmet would pop off and stay on the ice until there's a stop in the action. The fighting is also improved and much more exciting, with the new grappling and blocking system. There are also some European teams to choose from, too bad there are no Russian teams. NHL 2004 truly has incredible gameplay the series has never seen before. Unfortunately, once again, hockey fans will realize how hockey is treated as second class citizen by EA Sports. Incomplete retro jerseys and no player from the 2003 draft class are minor flaws I can live with, but what's with the lack of classic teams. Madden, NCAA Football, NBA Live all feature some sort of classic teams. ESPN NHL has classic teams, so why doesn't NHL 2004 have it? I'd much rather play with the 94 Rangers or the 84 Oilers than some German team I've never heard of before. Shootout mode is no longer available, which is too bad, cuz the improved deking is screaming to be used in the shootout. The Dynasty mode is not as good as Madden's either. Gaining experience points is too painful a process, and having all your players' rating being awful because of your poor facilities will eventually get on your nerves. And the worst is the fact that just about every other start player reaches the 200 point plateau. Just about every team has a 2 points per game guy, and 100 goals are no longer reserved for the guys you control. This game is worth buying. The gameplay is wonderful, I just wish that there would've been more features that will improve the atmosphere for this hockey fan.

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