NHL Hockey 2004 (PC)

By PETER ELEY

Herald rating: * * * * *

Top-quality sports games seem to roll off the EA assembly line.

You can be sure that an EA Sports game will do what it says, run without any major problems, and be good value.

But not all EA Sports games are equal. The ones aimed at the North American market seem to have more effort put into them. Compare EA's Madden American football game with EA Rugby and you'll get the picture.

Madden is stunning to look at and just about perfect in every way. NHL Hockey is another case in point. Ice hockey is primarily a North American game, and is almost a religion in Canada and this shows in the game. I've never played it — risking life and limb in an excessively violent game AND being cold doesn't seem like fun.

The test of a good sports game is if a non-aficionado enjoys playing it. And I liked NHL Hockey a lot.

But the finer points were lost on me so I gave some hockey nuts a test run. They raved about it, going on about all sorts of technical details, drooling at the skating moves and the offence/defence models. And it was hard to find a bad word about the game on any hockey sites. Some went completely over the top in their praise.

It has realistic player animation and movement, officially licensed teams, season and playoff modes, and a complex franchise management mode that is almost a game in its own right.

A point, though, is that some full-on players found it hard to get full control using the keyboard and recommended using a third-party gamepad device.

(EA Sports, G)

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