It’s tough to be a rookie hockey game nowadays. It used to be that there was EA’s NHL series and nothing else, so EA tried to be all things to all people, and that left room for up-and-coming series to fill niches that EA neglected. Today, however, there is a good arcade-style hockey series for the casual fan (NHL Hitz), an excellent simulation for the hockey fan who lives and dies by each drop of the puck (ESPN NHL Hockey), and EA’s usual attempt to bridge the gap. Needless to say, there isn’t much room for a scrappy newcomer to break in. Of course, steep odds and stiff competition have never stopped Microsoft before. So, carrying the banner of XSN Sports high and proud, Microsoft attempts to enter the video hockey market with NHL Rivals 2004.
Unfortunately, as a hockey game overall, NHL Rivals leaves something to be desired. There’s nothing wrong with it, per se; it does do an admirable job of covering all the requisite aspects of a modern hockey game, and adds a handful of interesting gameplay features to boot. When push comes to shove, however, it almost feels like Rivals’ designers had a checklist of features to include and called it a day once they had put a checkmark in every box.
The standard modes present in just about every hockey game published in the last five years can be found in NHL Rivals as well. There is the standard single game mode, as well as season and playoff modes. Unique to Rivals is the “Instant Rivalry” mode, which is really just a single game with randomly selected teams. The matchups are supposedly chosen according to established NHL rivalries, but the picks I got often seemed to be tepid rivalries at best. Maybe I’m spoiled by the intense rivalries in the Northeast and Atlantic divisions, but I don’t remember any long-standing rivalry between the Atlanta Thrashers and the Columbus Blue Jackets; they’re not even in the same conference, let alone the same division. The season mode has some issues as well, particularly with game scheduling; when I picked a mid-length season, I ended up with several weeks that had no games scheduled at all, followed by weeks with games scheduled for five out of seven nights. Granted, when picking a shorter season, the scheduling will be different than it would with a full-length one, but there’s no reason to not at least provide a balanced schedule regardless of the number of games in the season.
The gameplay itself is something of a mixed bag, and lacks polish overall. First, the good: NHL Rivals introduces a few interesting features that can make the game more interesting. In particular, I really like the way Rivals handles changing strategy in-game. Instead of providing a multitude of options to choose from in a split-second, the strategy menu allows the player to customize three strategy schemes: Normal, Score Goal, and Protect Lead, all of which are assigned to buttons on the d-pad (along with CPU Pick). Given the relatively short amount of time one has to switch strategies in the middle of a play, this effort at streamlining the process is greatly appreciated.
NHL Rivals also attempts to introduce some new control mechanics. A press of the left trigger allows the selected player to pivot 180 degrees. While this sounds extremely useful on paper, in reality, one has to almost force himself to remember to use it; while it is undoubtedly useful in certain situations, there is often so much to keep track of that thinking to pivot simply doesn’t figure into the equation more often than not. The other main control feature that Rivals attempts to introduce is Precision Passing, which is simply passing via the right analog stick as opposed to the A button (though the latter method is available as well). Again, this is an interesting feature, and some will find it indispensable, but it comes at the expense of manual deking, which is easily a better use of the analog stick, and it requires removing one’s thumb from the face buttons, making one-timers that much more difficult to achieve.
This would all be well and good if the core gameplay were solid, but it instead leaves something to be desired. Passing and shooting feel random at best; setting up beautiful shots often results in nothing, while pucks that are simply thrown at the net will often slip through as though there was no goalie in the net. Checking is completely out of control, as players can check other players several times in succession with no recovery time; this makes both offense and defense extremely frustrating, as the checker often succeeds only in slowing the checkee down, and the offensive game slows to a snail’s pace as a result. The goalie AI also could use some improvement; occasionally the goalie will poke a puck away with his stick, but the goalies seemed glued to the crease; even when on the power play, they will rarely, if ever, come out of the crease to play the puck, which creates an unrealistic disadvantage for the team on the power play. The net result is that the game really doesn’t feel like it has any good flow, as there are more turnovers than there are even in real NHL games.
One other cause for frustration, as it is in most hockey games, is that the differences between the difficulty levels are too stark. Playing on Minor League, I would consistently win games by a three or four goal margin; when I moved up to Pro, the goalies turned into veritable brick walls. The difference between NHL Rivals and other games in this regard is that the other hockey games have sliders which can be used to tailor different aspects of the gameplay to your preference, allowing for a more enjoyable experience despite (or because of) the increased difficulty. NHL Rivals has no such sliders; the difficulty settings are as they are, which makes for either a boring or frustrating gameplay experience, respectively. Given that gameplay sliders have been a standard in hockey games for several years now, it is a rather glaring oversight on Microsoft’s part that they were not included in Rivals, and single-player games suffer as a result.
It should be noted that NHL Rivals is a part of the XSN Sports line, and thus takes advantage of XBox Live. Of course, so does ESPN NHL Hockey, which is a better hockey game overall, so this really does not tip any scales in NHL Rivals’ favor. Content downloads are available through live in addition to online play, but the selection is extremely Spartan. As of this writing (well after the NHL trade deadline and close to the end of the regular season), there were exactly two downloads available. One was an All-Star Game logo for the Minnesota Wild’s arena, and the other was a roster update that makes the game current as of the beginning of the regular season. Given the number of transactions that have transpired in the league since then, it’s pretty surprising that there has not been at least one more roster update supplied after all trading had completed; unless I was mistaken, being able to get roster updates for Xbox sports games was supposed to be one of the reasons to shell out $70 for Xbox Live, was it not?
Graphically, NHL Rivals looks good, but has some inconsistencies that seem to stand out given the overall graphic quality. First the good: the arenas and players are all detailed nicely, and many of the marquee players are instantly recognizable. There is never any slowdown or clipping that I noticed. The problem is that the programmers used the same stock faces over and over again, and this becomes extremely noticeable with repeated play. For example, many of the non-marquee players have a generic face that looks nothing like their own, and there are apparently two coaches that handle all thirty teams. What’s worse, there are some obvious bugs that really kill the suspension of disbelief. One glaring one occurred at the end of a game in which I had pulled my goalie; typically, one of the forwards will pat the goalie on the shoulder after a game, but since there was no goalie in net, a forward patted another forward, who just happened to be standing in goal as though he was the goalie. Again, it’s not a really big deal, but it leaves a sour taste in one’s mouth, and should have been caught in playtesting.
Sound is an equally mixed bag. The commentary, provided by John Davidson and Same Rosen, does an adequate job of describing the action on the ice, but really sounds very generic; there is very little color commentary thrown in, or really much of anything to warrant leaving the commentary on. They even go so far as to mispronounce a few names, like Ronald Petrovicky (who they call “Petrovicksky”). The soundtrack is an odd mix, eschewing modern rock for songs predominantly from the 70s and 80s; while “Don’t Stop Believin’” may be a good song, it just doesn’t say hockey to me. Custom soundtracks can remedy that issue, but only in the menu screens; the songs are never used during stoppages of play in-game, which is rather disappointing. Sound effects are also somewhat generic; the same checking sound is used regardless of whether the check in question is a gentle tap or a concussion-inducing knockdown, for example. There’s nothing wrong with the sounds, but they just sound a bit too similar and not always in tune with the action.
Overall, NHL Rivals 2004 is a decidedly average hockey game in a field of above average hockey games. Were it the only hockey game with online capabilities available for the Xbox, then it might be possible to see past its flaws and enjoy it for that reason alone. However, given that ESPN NHL Hockey is also online-capable, and does everything that Rivals does, only better, there is no real reason to lay down your hard-earned money for NHL Rivals. The series certainly has potential, and it will be interesting to see what Rivals can bring to the table in future seasons, but for now, this is one rookie who needs to be sent back to the minor leagues.
