NHL 2004

NHL 2004, developed by the EA Black Box studios, is an ice hockey video game. It is the successor to NHL 2003 and is widely considered to be a major turning point in the NHL series. The game adds 3 European Elite Leagues: Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), Sweden's Elitserien (SEL), and Finland's SM-liiga. (This is not the first time that European teams are included in an EA game; EA released both Elitserien 95 and Elitserien 96 for the Mega Drive in Sweden only and Elitserien and SM-liiga 2001 as an expansion pack for PC in Sweden and Finland which included those teams.) The ratings of the teams in the Elitserien and SM-liiga were comparable to the NHL rosters, however future installments had the league teams inferior to the NHL.

Released: 22 September 2003
Platforms: GameCube PlayStation 2 Windows Xbox
Genres: Ice hockey Simulation Sports
Developers: —
Publishers: EA Sports
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Non-fiction
Country: Canada
Age ratings: CLASS_IND L ESRB E PEGI 12

About

NHL 2004 is an ice hockey sports video game developed by EA Black Box. It is the successor to NHL 2003. The game adds three European Elite Leagues: Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), Sweden's Elitserien (SEL), and Finland's SM-liiga. The game was heavily modded during the last 20 years.

Keywords

ice hockey
national hockey league
ice skating
online
artificial intelligence
high score
instant replay
customizable characters
character select screen
polygonal 3d
year in the title
character creation

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The game included many improvements to its gameplay (more realistic puck and rebound control and better checking) and game modes (a completely reworked franchise mode renamed "Dynasty"). In addition to the gameplay improvements, one particular non-gameplay improvement was added. When a team wins the Stanley Cup Final, a large-scale celebration ensues. It included players skating around the ice holding the Cup over their heads.

This then led to the common snapshot of the team and the coaches that holds true in the NHL. A "secret" song ("Shatterday" by Vendetta Red) plays while the animation shows the stats of the players in the picture, ending with the captain. Because of these additions, it was praised as one of the best games in the series to date.