NHL Rivals 2004 Review - Xbox

Rivalries are what the first penned in fixtures of the sporting season, the anticipation one gets from battling against your rival is that of great importance, more important than any other fixture that season. The last ounces of blood and sweat that you give to beat your rival are priceless to the fans, team-mates, employees and bosses. All this is because they are your competitor and you're fighting for the same goals or local pride. Sports are an overwhelming area where rivals are born; whether it is at the top of the level clashes between the top sides or the local rivalries, nothing can quite capture the spirit of a side in competition with their rivals. NHL Rivals 2004 is Microsoft's latest sports title for the Xbox, and it may find it tough to break into the NHL Market with both EA and Sega having a head start already, but with it featuring the XSN sports features and online play it's surely got a good pedigree for success. Can Rivals skate on the ice or does it spend more time on its knees?

Gameplay

Hockey is a game that can be played at lightning speed; this makes it exciting for the fans and obviously the gaming community. Many of us would have either played real hockey or have played some of the hockey classics like Wayne Gretsky Hockey on the Nintendo 64 or in more recent times both Sega and EA's hockey series. Built upon a solid gameplay standing stone that allows gamers to emulate the hockey played by they're heroes on the ice. Then there's other gamers who just love to play Ice hockey games.

For the un-enthusiast Ice Hockey fan the rules can seem like another language, especially when you're getting called for Icing or the double line pass rules. To the uneducated it can seem to be a lot to take in for just a game so there is an option to turn off these rules, but it just seems a little more realistic with the rules on. Other than the icing rule the main rules are easy to grasp with a little trial an error, no you can't just deck your opposing players! Well… Not always anyway.

The tutorial mode does a fantastic job in giving players the chance to learn the ropers of the game. Not only does it guide you through the different button features but it also allows you to free skate in the ice rink as you play so it's not a stop start experience but more of a free skate mode. It's the usual setup with your shoot button and various check buttons, in many ways hockey games have a lot in common with football games, having two tackle buttons and a shoot button also with a lob function, not only the buttons have similarities but also the camera is very much the (continued next page)