ESPN NHL Hockey - Xbox

Long story short: This is a great game!I have been a fan of EA's NHL Hockey for a long time, but have been a bit disapointed with that series lately, so I switched over to ESPN Hockey. And I do not regret doing so.This game has great graphics, and (more importantly), it plays well. The controls are intuitive and allow for great plays. At the same time, it is relatively easy to get into the game.The presentation of the game is very good. The announcers are doing a pretty good job, and the visuals are stunning. Everything off the ice is straight out of Sportscenter. The in-game visuals are great as well. I only wish I could adjust the number of times replays are shown, because I would actually like to see more of them. (One can always manually replay a scene, but still...)Compared to EA's game, this game has one more thing going for itself: Xbox Live! This game plays very well online. I especially like that more than one player (per xbox) can part take in a game. So you can invite a friend over, and both of you can log on and play a bunch of guys somewhere else on the planet.I found live gaming to be very lag-free with this game, even when a warning about the connection speed is shown. This is very important for a game that moves as fast as hockey.PS: If you play this game on a higer difficulty level, things can get frustratingly difficult! The game itself is not that hard, but it is next to impossible to score more than one goal per game, since the keepers seem to catch almost everything. I mean, c'mon! Hockey simply is a game where more than one goal per game should be scored. And if you are on the receiving end of that single goal, you might as well throw the controller in a corner right away, because the best you will probably do is tie the game. If you want to play on a high difficulty level, pick the high level and tune the golie skills down just a tad (which should affect both sides), and you will see more realistic results (you will probably both score and receive more goals), and you will probably have more fun.

I own both EA sports 2004 and this one. By far and away, ESPN is king this year in Hockey play. I am a devoted EA sports guy, but I've been waiting for something else to come along and compete with them. This is it!I really enjoy Gary Thorne and Bill Clement as a commentating duo. I know others may not, but I'd rather have these guys then the guys on EA Sports Hockey 2004! Repetitive is always going to be there. It's a game. You would need more man power to implement countless lines of code to make play calling more unique. Repetitivness is important, but not as important as others make it out to be. Gameplay, a challenging AI, and a large dose of realism is much more important to me and that's what ESPN delivers.Besides, on the xbox system, this game can go online, unlike EA sports(for xbox anyways).If you are a hockey fan, this game rules the for 2004!!!GO SHARKS!!

Super Speed. Enough said. The greatest hockey game of all time.

nhl 2k4 is one of the very best hockey games ever1 the only thing lacking is the fighting, everything else about this game is tight!.

I've been playing the EA Sports NHL series since 2000. With both user and critic reviews for NHL 2k3 and now NHL 2k4 (a.k.a. ESPN NHL Hockey) outpacing EA Sports, this was the year I made the switch. I am very happy.I can sum up the difference between the two games with one sentence: the more you enjoy playing video game hockey true to the actual game of hockey, the more you will enjoy ESPN NHL hockey. Let me illustrate with a few examples. Passes will bounce of defender's skate and do so quite often if you don't learn to create passing lanes. You won't reverse skating directions instantaneously, so don't miss that body check on the guy with the puck or you won't catch back up to him. You won't be able to score on a spinning slap shot from the point with two defenders on you, so dump the puck instead. If it doesn't happen in real hockey, it won't happen in ESPN NHL hockey. And this is one of the greatest things about this game.I can't really compare to NHL 2004 because I haven't played the game, but here are some things that I love about ESPN NHL hockey over NHL 2003:1. Compete with others and download updates to roster information via Xbox live.2. Pin a guy against the boards. This is essential to the game of hockey.3. Puck and players can hit and interfere with refs. Very cool.4. Penalties seem more accurate and justified. The game correctly identifies when I've personally charged a guy into the boards.5. In general, gameplay just feels better. I can try to take a slapshot without really having the puck on my stick. You can't shoot a backhander nearly as hard as a shot from the forehand. Each time I ram into the boards, they give and there is a loud bang. Again, more realistic to the actual game of hockey.6. Gameplay sliders allow you to adjust the game as necessary. Increase or decrease puck friction, pass completion, game speed, etc. I always love video games where the game developers realize that sliders/options give gamers customizable freedom.Here are the two disadvantages I have found:1. Rookie and Beginner are incredibly easy. I started winning 7-0, 8-0, 6-1, doing tons of scoring with my third and fourth lines. Then I upped the level to Pro. I'm losing 3-1, 4-0, 3-0. So there is a very big difference between these two settings. Hopefully as I become more skilled I can compete on the Pro level. But I'm still waiting for my first tie or "breakout" game on Pro.2. The commentators are okay, comments do get repetitive and I'm not exactly sold on Gary Thorne. Sometimes he sounds like a drone. The comments beat EA Sports attempt at color commentary but I liked the announcers of EA Sports better. Sounded more natural.Compared to EA Sports NHL 2003 offering, I'm very, VERY happy that I made the switch.

en general ce jeu est quand meme bien fait et parfois amusant mais il y a rien de bien neuf dans le monde du hockey , ce jeu ressemble a pas mal de jeu que j ai deja vu et n apporte pas grand chose de neuf. les graphiques pourraient etre mieux , j ai joue a nhl 2002 sur dreamcast et gamecube et je les prefere a cette version de xbox. l option xbox live semble bien mais le hic c est que les statistiques ne sont pas compilees correctement par xbox live , lorsque l on perd la connection a une partie , l on se vois parfois credite d une defaite... parfois l on perd la connection et ca peut se produire frequemment. cela m a extremenent decu. ce jeu comporte certaines erreurs de programmation pour ce que est du jeu en ligne. pour ceux qui ne jouent pas en ligne ca pourrais etre pas si mal mais a part ca non. j ai parfois eut aussi des problemes avec le jeu comme parfois il gele meme en mode 1 joueur. je ne le recommanderais pas.