NHL Rivals 2004

Few sports in Australia are as little understood with so much fascination as ice hockey. The hits, the speed, the shots and the fights have all led to some acceptance of the sport outside North America.

Accordingly, more developers have begun making ice hockey games in the last few years. NHL Rivals 2004 is XSN Sports' first effort, and a good one it is.

Whether you're in practice mode, a tournament or grinding out an 82 game season, Rivals nails every requirement of an NHL sim. All official teams and their rosters are available, and players can be traded, created, edited or deleted.

On the ice, players can perform special moves and master a variety of passes, shots and checking actions. A player's skill may depend on whether he has an enforcer, agitator, sniper or balanced role. Each player also has a speed, fatigue and fuse metre (for fights) which factor in gameplay.

The commentators and crowd react well to game events, but arena music is limited to breaks in play. Rivals offers four skill levels, and good goalie AI means scorelines shouldn't look like cricket scores. Adding to the game's longevity are the special teams and game types to unlock, as well as playing with updated rosters on Xbox Live.

Part of a very stable genre, Rivals has no glaring flaws. It's only what other titles have in additional teams, game modes and animations that might be the difference.

Verdict: 8
A quality hockey sim that is only outdone by the strength of its competitors.

Pros
All real NHL teams, players etc.
Plenty of moves.
Not too easy.

Cons
No arena music during the action.
Can't save replays.