As the game features a host of new checking, hitting, and collision animations, you'll get a pretty good variety of ways to take your opponents out of the game. Want to send an opposing player over the boards or crashing onto the ice? Just build up a head of steam, using the speed boost, and let him have it. With the new right-analog-stick checking system, knocking your opponents silly has become easier and more satisfying than ever. Lots of effort has gone into emulating the tighter, more defensive style of playoff hockey, and it seems that the effort wasn't for naught. NHL 2004 is far more hard-hitting and grittier than any previous entry in the series. The two players are routinely grappling, punching, and blocking each other while trying to stay upright on the ice.
![nhl 2004 rebuilt goalie guide nhl 2004 rebuilt goalie guide](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2021/12/20122736/NHL-04-lineups-screen-shot-e1640021292305.png)
The actual fighting looks very realistic. Both of these functions are button-controlled as well, though the right analog stick definitely seems to give you a better sense of control. So if you've got two players next to you, and you want to get the guy on the left, just tap left and you'll shove him off the puck. When checking, you can move in any direction. Right-analog deking lets you move and dodge the puck around in a freestyle manner, and it comes in especially handy when trying to fake out a goalie. It controls deking, when on offense, and hitting, when on defense. The right-analog control system can be used on either side of the puck. Both buttons are pressure sensitive, so pressing them harder or softer will determine how far your pass goes. Saucer passes fly higher than normal passes and can be used to lift the puck off the ice and over an opponent's stick. Two-button passing refers to the game's dual-button passing system: one for standard passing and the other for saucer passing. The game's controls have changed a bit this year, implementing two new functions: two-button passing and right-analog control. However, if you still want a faster, crazier game, the gameplay sliders will provide you with just that. The overall pacing of the game feels a bit slower by comparison, with less frenzied, exaggerated action. In NHL 2004, you won't find many arcade elements at all-rather, everything about this year's game feels simulation-style through and through.
Nhl 2004 rebuilt goalie guide series#
One of the biggest concerns about EA's NHL series is the arcade-inspired nature of its gameplay. We recently spent some time playing near-complete builds of all three console versions of NHL 2004, and what we've seen thus far has been very impressive. For NHL 2004, EA Sports has gone to great lengths to improve its game by adding lots of depth-both in gameplay and game modes-and much improved graphics.
![nhl 2004 rebuilt goalie guide nhl 2004 rebuilt goalie guide](https://www.dailyherald.com/storyimage/DA/20211123/sports/311239917/EP/1/2/EP-311239917.jpg)
Last year's NHL 2003 was a great game, by all accounts, but with Sega Sports' NHL franchise showing a vast improvement over all of its predecessors, hockey fans began to turn their attention away from EA's franchise. Throughout the years, the franchise has seen its share of ups and downs-with some iterations of the game being praised as the best ever created and others being met with less-than-stellar reactions. EA's NHL series has been around longer than any other, dating back to the days of the SNES in the early '90s.