by Microsoft

Microsoft Game Studios’ first venture into hockey has turned out pretty much exactly like its other sports titles: All style and no substance. There is no denying that NHL Rivals 2004 looks good, but the hockey game underneath the pretty graphics leaves a lot to be desired. Other hockey titles this year have given us create-a-deke features and freestyle control but Rivals 2004 offers no such innovations. What we are left with is gameplay that is severely dated. Simple straightforward hockey was fine back on the SNES, but sports fans want to be a little more involved in their games these days and Rivals 2004 simply can’t compete with what EA and Sega have done this year.

Rivals offers pretty much everything that you would expect from a hockey game in terms of modes. It features all of the NHL teams and players as well as an in depth season mode. There are exhibition games as well as a mode called "Instant Rivalry" that slaps you into a game and doesn’t let you pick the teams. On top of all of that is the online mode complete with XSN support. Rivals certainly isn’t lacking modes of play.

The problem with Rivals 2004 is that the gameplay itself is, well, not fun. The game is easy to pick up and play with all of the controls you’d expect placed within easy reach, but if you have played any other hockey games this year, the game just feels too simple. The only thing the least bit innovative about Rivals 2004 is that you can pass with the right thumbstick, and that seriously pales in comparison with what you can do in other games. The worst part about this simple gameplay is that it just isn’t very solid. Everything feels far too loose and sloppy and you never feel that you have quite as sharp of control over the game as you’d like. Face offs are presented as a sort of rock-paper-scissors game where you have to choose to body check, hit the opponent’s stick, or hit the puck. In a way it is interesting, but it isn’t very realistic and I would rather just jump back into playing hockey rather than take a thirty second break every face off so the game could set up its little roshambo game. There is also a weird delay between pressing the button for a shot and the player onscreen actually shooting the puck. This makes for a lot of cases where you think you are going to get off a quick shot and instead run right into the defender you were trying to outwit.

The AI in Rivals 2004 is just as broken as the gameplay. Goalies give up a huge number of rebounds each game instead of snatching up the puck as they would in real life. This would normally be a big problem, but the computer controlled players rarely take advantage of the loose puck and will more often than not just skate right by it as is slides around the open ice. On defense the computer controlled players are pretty much worthless and do a very poor job of interrupting set plays or just plain getting in front of the player with the goal and trying to stop their progress up the ice. You can literally skate circles around the AI most of the time in this game, and coupled with gameplay that is already far too simple, you are left with a game that isn’t all that fun to play.

One interesting thing that Rivals does is separate the players into different roles. The different roles are snipers who are your goal scorers, agitators that break up plays, enforcers which are more likely to start fights, and balanced players who are pretty good in everything. Each role has a special action that you can execute – such as a spin move for snipers or an extra powerful check for enforcers – that help give each player a unique advantage. This role playing system is actually pretty cool and adds a little bit of strategy to the game, but it is wasted amid Rivals 2004’s shoddy AI and gameplay.

The online element of Rivals 2004 is just what you would expect. You can play standard online games as well as participate in leagues and tournaments complete with extensive stat tracking. There is also an online exclusive mode called Pickup Hockey that takes place on outside rinks. In this mode, there are only human players so games consist of 3 on 3 (or 2 on 1, or 1 on 1, or however many people there are up to 6) match-ups where you can only control one player rather than switching back and forth like in the regular game. Pickup games are only available on Xbox LIVE, which is a shame because they are probably more fun than the regular game.

The graphics in Rivals 2004 are very good, at least when everyone is standing still. The player models look great, if a bit blocky, and the arenas and ice are extremely detailed. The animation, however, can only be described as jittery. There aren’t any transition animations so when you go from a deke to taking a shot the game looks horrible because your player goes from a normal skating animation to a fully cocked and ready to shoot position in about half a second with no movements in between.

On the audio side of the presentation, Rivals fails to impress. The commentary is bland and is too slow to keep up with the action. The grunts and groans of hockey sound pretty good, but some sound effects like for a hard check or a hard slap shot just sound off. The crowd noise is very well done, however, and it is nice to hear the crowd reacts to the action on the ice at just the right times. You can also use custom soundtracks with Rivals 2004, and being able to listen to your favorite tunes almost makes the game bearable.

If you are looking for a hockey game on Xbox, it is best to look elsewhere because Rivals 2004 just can’t cut it. Its only saving grace is its online play, but Sega’s ESPN NHL Hockey does everything a lot better. The gameplay is too simple when compared to the other hockey titles out there, and the AI is pretty much worthless, so Rivals 2004 just isn’t very much fun to play. Pickup hockey online promises to be a lot of fun, but it isn’t worth it to pick up this game based on one mode that only LIVE users can enjoy. Give it a rental if you have nothing better to do, but there are better hockey games available on the Xbox that are more deserving of your cold hard cash.

Eric Qualls   (12/09/2003)