NHL Rivals 2004 (Xbox)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.2 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Alex Navarro
• Reviewed on: 11/21/2003
• Released on: 11/18/2003
• Originally published on GameSpot: NHL Rivals 2004 (Xbox) Review

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced NHL Rivals 2004, the company's very first attempt at the sport of professional ice hockey. Rivals 2004 is a simulation-style hockey game that clearly draws influence from gameplay elements found in both EA and Sega's NHL games. Unfortunately, NHL Rivals 2004 doesn't do much to set itself apart from the competition, and, additionally, it has some rather problematic flaws that deteriorate its gameplay to the level of subpar, at best.

Anyone who has played either ESPN NHL Hockey or NHL 2004 ought to be able to pick up NHL Rivals 2004's controls pretty quickly. Rivals' primary player controls, when in possession of the puck, include deke, pass, dump, and shoot buttons, while dive, stick check, body check, and player switch buttons are used when not in control of the puck. The right thumbstick lets you pinpoint pass to other players by tapping in the appropriate direction; you can execute a drop pass by pressing the right thumbstick in. Coaching schemes can be altered by using the directional pad, and you can speed burst and pivot with the right and left trigger buttons. For the most part, Rivals' controls are fairly responsive, though certain actions, like deking and winding up for a slap shot, feel a little bit off and require a little bit of off-timing to perform correctly. Additionally, the lack of a "freestyle" deking system, similar to what EA and Sega offer with the right thumbstick, is a little disappointing.

NHL Rivals 2004 does have one unique control innovation that ties directly into what is referred to as the game's "role-playing" system. Each player in the game has his own specific type of role on the team, just as in real-life hockey. To elaborate on this a bit further, Rivals assigns one of four role types to each player. The four role categories are balanced, sniper, agitator, and enforcer. Each category is about what you would expect it to be. Snipers are your goal-scoring threats, agitators are your penalty-drawing guys who break up plays, enforcers are your fighters, and balanced players aren't especially brilliant in any one category but have respectable abilities in each. Roles are also defined by a specific action that can be performed by pressing a "role" button on the controller in the appropriate situation. For instance, snipers can use a nifty little spin maneuver when holding on to the puck, and they can also perform a stick clip move to disrupt the shots of opposing players. Enforcers can give a defender a little bump-and-go while holding the puck, and they can wallop opponents with hard can-opener checks when on defense. The role-playing system is definitely a cool idea, and Rivals actually executes it pretty well.

NHL Rivals 2004 is most certainly geared to cater to fans of simulation hockey but lacks the cohesive gameplay of its competitors. The game just feels very loose and sloppy in some key areas. Specifically, Rivals' AI is often questionable at best, especially when it comes to goalies. No matter what team you are playing and no matter how good your goalie is, he will give up a huge number of rebounds in every game. Sure, every goalie coughs up a few here and there, but in Rivals, more than half the scores in the game seem to come off of rebounds from previous shots that should have easily been swallowed up by the goalie, either with his glove or by a pounce-move on the puck. Your skating teammates aren't much better, either. Despite the hefty number of rebounds, AI players hardly ever jump on these scoring opportunities when they present themselves. Instead, they often skate right by the puck as it slides around near the net, thus leaving it unattended for an opposing player to pick up. On the defensive side, your defensemen don't seem to quite have as good of a knack for getting in front of shots and picking up loose pucks as they should. The AI does get a little less complacent as you turn up the difficulty level but only to a marginal degree.

Another AI-related issue stems from what really feels like some pretty cheap rubber-band AI when your opponent is down. No matter what team we were playing against or how long we managed to keep a lead, opposing CPU teams would frequently either tie-up or take the lead in the third period off of some quick, cheap goals or questionably timed penalties that led to long strings of power-play opportunities. One could make the argument that this sort of thing happens in hockey all the time, where--come the third period--a team will start rallying and will start using more aggressive tactics to get the puck in the net. Although this may be true, rarely in the NHL do you suddenly get a slew of oddly timed penalties in the third period right as a team is beginning to rally, nor do goalies often suddenly become prone to missing easy shots that they'd been stopping all game-long.

These things said, NHL Rivals 2004's gameplay has its positive points as well. The game's pacing is pretty well done, though it's perhaps a bit slower than competing sim-style hockey games. Slight adjustments to the default speed settings easily correct this, though. The game features an original method of handling faceoffs, with a three-button option menu that appears during one. Here you have the option to win clean, tie up your opponent's stick, or execute a body block. Deciding which button to press basically comes down to a game of rock-paper-scissors, but despite its relative simplicity, it does add a decent air of variety to faceoffs. Rebounds aside, scoring in and of itself is pretty accurate, with expectedly low-scoring games resulting when two defensive-minded teams play and higher scoring affairs resulting when more offensively explosive clubs meet. Checking is also pretty easy and fun to perform, as it lets you lay some very solid hits on your opponents. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the game's fighting system, which is really awful. When all is said and done, Rivals' gameplay system has its positive moments, but they are equally matched by its problems.

Continue reading