Nhl 2004 rebuilt mod tips manual#
Nhl 2004 rebuilt mod tips full#

A beautiful goal on a beautiful shot after a beautiful setup will be rare and many things including your abilities will have to fall in place for it to happen. It's in this way that NHL 2004 is a lot more like Madden, in terms of depth of realism, than ever before. Mastering passing and taking whatever opportunities a defense gives you on offense is key and you'll have to work to make it look pretty.

Nhl 2004 rebuilt mod tips full#

The real NHL isn't as graceful and full of awesome displays of skill as it used to be and so this game has taken a step in that direction as well. The gameplay will only be as fluid and smooth as you make it. On the other hand you may score more goals and have more fun initially if you do.

So you have an auto-deke button, a check button and all of that but you'll never become a crotchety, old hockey purist by playing that way. The developers brilliantly made sure to include more traditional controls for those who can't digest analog control. These two specific systems are extremely difficult to master, but provide a more satisfying experience if you can ever get the hang of it. Similarly you can use the freestyle control system to both pull off your custom deke move and shoot in one motion. The new Bruise Control system allows you to power up your checks first and then unleashing a more powerful blast in a direction of your choosing. This means you can check puck carriers without skating precisely towards them and lining them up for a vicious hit. Likewise on defense you can throw checks using the right analog stick while still controlling the hockey player's body on the left stick. This isn't like last year's NBA Live where you can freestyle your way up and down the court.

Since you have independent control of both the stick/puck and the skater's body and momentum, you have to manage both to pull of an effective deke move. The physics are a little less forgiving in NHL 2004. Being able to maneuver the puck around your skater's body and avoid the defense is a great tool to have but it's not as loose and easy to use as you might expect considering the system was introduced in last year's game. This feeling is best replicated by using the dual analog sticks of a gamepad. If you want to score goals in this hockey videogame you have to be precise and master all of the nuances of the sport just like a real hockey player. It plays a lot more like real hockey but that doesn't necessarily translate to a lot of fun right out of the box. This makes the learning curve in NHL 2004 a little steeper than you might expect and we fully expect some casual gamers to miss the boat on this game.

Nhl 2004 rebuilt mod tips manual#

Now that you can pass to open areas, create manual dekes and throw checks in any direction, the game expects you to put all of that free choice to good use and make your hockey team a fluid, cohesive unit. This goes hand-in-hand with the new level of control players are given. The NHL has changed to a more defense oriented, low scoring hockey league and NHL 2004 reflects this by making every goal in the game (as long as you're not on the easiest difficulty level) precious and hard-earned. This year, NHL 2004 is a lot more serious but it ends up just as fun as its predecessor from two year ago. There are brand new controls, a now mandatory EA Sports style franchise mode and a fighting engine that almost makes the hockey around it irrelevant.

We're talking 'Gordie Howe on a frozen pond wearing moose fur' hardcore. The threat from Midway's NHL Hitz was taken that seriously.ДЇor NHL 2004 the developers at EA Canada have taken their brand of hockey and made it more hardcore than ever. But NHL 2003 left a bad taste in the mouths of longtime fans because of a looser, more arcadey approach. After the outstanding NHL 2002 hit in the fall of 2001, hockey fans thought they had nowhere to go but up from there. It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride for diehard fans of EA's NHL hockey franchise.