Ice hockey is a fast-paced game and EA have done well here to recreate that. The action is certainly furious. The puck may travel from one end of the rink to the other and back again in a few short seconds and keeping up with the game can sometimes take your breath away. Players new to the sport may take a few games to adjust to the speed of the title. The controls are fairly easy to pick up though with pressure sensitive controls for passing and shooting.

The players themselves move well, and the feeling of momentum one gets from skating is certainly there. Turning quickly is made more difficult by the momentum a player carries, as it should be, although an option to plant your skates for a quick stop would have been nice. Also as difficult is the puck control, which doesn't seem as safe as it once was. Keeping the puck is now more difficult, as is the ability to put it in the net. Passing and overall team strategy are now more important factors, and this shift to a more realistic game is a definite improvement.

To help with overall strategy while in the midst of a game Quick Plays have been added to NHL 2004. Accessed easily through the d-pad the player can quickly change both offensive and defensive strategies depending on the current situation. Trailing by 1 at the end of a game? Switch to all out attack and get the goalie involved in an offensive play. Leading by 1 in a close game? Switch to an ultra-conservative approach that protects your net. It's a feature that is well designed, and players will soon find they can enhance their overall game by utilising these Quick Plays at certain times.

Fighting is an inherent part of ice hockey it seems, and to better facilitate this EA have overhauled the fighting control for 2004. Instead of mindlessly bashing a button when in a fight there are now upper and lower jabs, along with upper and lower blocks. This makes for more strategy in a fight, with a typical fight now taking longer to resolve than before. The outcome is the same though, with both players leaving the ice for sin-binning and this sort of leaves us wondering about the futility of fighting and the reasons for improving the control for it. There were no injuries caused as far as we could see, no advantage to either winning or losing a fight. The fights have been made optional, with players pressing the Select button at certain times to start a fight. Breaking up or slowing down an offensive play by the opposition would seem to be the only benefit to starting a fight, apart from being able to let some frustration out while trailing by 3 points.

The main mode in NHL 2004 is the Dynasty mode, where players can take a team through up to 20 seasons of play in their quest for the Stanley Cup. New for this year in this mode is the ability to take on the role of General Manager for the team, as well as coach and player. With this role comes financial responsibilities, as well as control over the well being of the team and franchise as a whole. In terms of financials, the General Manager can set ticket prices and will need to deal more closely with the salaries and contracts of players. Other factors such as the level of support staff, facilities and training sessions will also need to be considered. It is a deep addition to Dynasty mode, and while some players may just want to concentrate on the actual games others will revel in having this much control over a club. There is a lot to do here, and acting as a GM while simming the games is quite a rewarding experience.

Other modes are available in the game including options to play just one game, one season, a tournament with international teams, or just the playoffs. These are great options for players looking for a more immediate fix of hockey rather than the more long-term commitment of Dynasty mode. In the season mode, the length of the season can be dramatically shortened, something that is not possible in the Dynasty mode where a full season of 82 games (not counting playoff games) must be played. Having these sort of options for playing with a team is great. It's good to see the season mode retained, as opposed to a game like Madden where the Franchise mode is the only way to play through a season.

In addition to being able to play in the NHL players can now play in Europe with the addition of three top European leagues. Players can choose to play a season in either the Swedish, Finnish or German leagues, each with their own specific teams and rules. This adds another 39 teams to the roster of available teams to play as in the game, and adds something slightly different for those wanting a change to the NHL. Unfortunately these teams are made to stay in Europe. Providing the ability to make an international tournament with club teams would have been great to see, and not so hard to implement.

Graphically the game looks very good. The players are well animated and skate around very smoothly over pristine ice. The reflections are well done with images glinting from helmets and the ice. Pucks are generally easy to see, and interact well with the game. Hockey is a very physical sport, and this is well illustrated here with some hard hits and fast action. Unfortunately there is a lack of a 60hz option, which slows the play down ever so slightly, and there is a slight border on the game. Full optimisation for PAL regions that includes a 60hz option would have been great to see.

The camera angles could certainly still do with slight tweaking. While the default setting seems to work the best, sight of the puck is occasionally lost. With the game emphasising more overall control of the puck this is a little unfortunate. The other setting we found to be of use is the 'action' setting for the camera. This does indeed get the player down amongst the action, with a close up view of the puck and the immediately surrounding players. In the context of the overall game though, this type of angle lowers the player's ability to play the type of strategic game that wins matches. A better balance between the default setting and the 'action' setting would have been good to see.

Another batch of EA Trax have been added to the game. Most of these seem to fit the style of hockey well with more of an emphasis on rock tracks than a game such as Madden. Still slightly annoying though are the five second snippets of these songs in a break in the play. Game specific music would have been better used in those breaks, rather than starting a song from the default soundtrack. The commentary is generally well done and entertaining. It does suffer after repeated plays of the game, as does most commentary, but it does seem to add some more excitement to the atmosphere. With the commentary switched off the game seems overly quiet, especially in a single player game with no mates to shout at.