I have gotten the EA game the past three years on PS2 and the only good game was NHL 2002. 2003 and 2004 game play sucked. They didn't even have Pitkanen on the Flyers roster despite several updates. I was thinking about getting ESPN's hockey game, but I'd rent it before I buy it.
ESPN 2005 will be better, more realistic hockey... i used to play the EA series until 2003 when i bought the game then played ESPN and i havent touched the EA series since, its way too arcadey and fake... just my opinion though i think ESPN is a lock as the best hockey video game series out there
From what I heard, NHL 2005 is alot better than 2004, and has a lot of better features. I guess I'll wait for the reviews to come out before I decide which 2005 hockey game I'll buy.
I've stuck with EA for a while mainly because their games come out on computer and I don't have PS2, XBOX, or GameCube because there are enough good games on the comp. But I was very disappointed with NHL 2004 and I may consider buying PS2 and getting the ESPN game if NHL 2005 doesn't get some great reviews.
I would,but I don't have PS2 :lol I have NHL 2004 and it took alot of getting used to,but now my team is 35-0 in Franchise mode and my player leads all rookies with 30 goals and it's not even January
Iam definately going to get 2005, I really love EA's games. Although I have one problem with 2004 that I can't seem to fix (if anyone can help me please PM me)
Iam on the 2005-2006 season and Iam trying to get the playoffs completed, but after every game I play it shuts off automaticly and goes right to windows. If iam luckey and it dosen't shut-off, The playoffs are like I haven't even played......If I win a game it just makes me play that game all over again and again and again.
So to make a long story short, I can't get past game 1 of the playoffs without problems.
Alot of problems come from your rosters Fleury. Might pay to cheak out your database. I used to have the same thing when ever I played against or with ottawa, so I checked the data base moved a couple of prospects to free agents team... and hello it worked .
I've had the problem a few times, and its always ottawa. The one player I always move is charlie stephens...I don't know way but it works for me.
I'm actually going to be going to Vancouver in early August to play-test NHL 2005 and meet with producers of the game in order to provide some feedback from the community. I help to run an online hockey league (www.sinbin.ca) that uses the NHL series on the PC.
If anyone has any specific suggestions as to what the problems were with NHL 2004 and what you feel are your major concerns for NHL 2005 and beyond, please feel free to post them!
I'm actually going to be going to Vancouver in early August to play-test NHL 2005 and meet with producers of the game in order to provide some feedback from the community. I help to run an online hockey league (www.sinbin.ca) that uses the NHL series on the PC.
If anyone has any specific suggestions as to what the problems were with NHL 2004 and what you feel are your major concerns for NHL 2005 and beyond, please feel free to post them!
Brian
I would like to know the kind of game play it has. If its fast pace or like the last two games from EA slow.
I'm actually going to be going to Vancouver in early August to play-test NHL 2005 and meet with producers of the game in order to provide some feedback from the community. I help to run an online hockey league (www.sinbin.ca) that uses the NHL series on the PC.
If anyone has any specific suggestions as to what the problems were with NHL 2004 and what you feel are your major concerns for NHL 2005 and beyond, please feel free to post them!
Brian
A few Game play suggestions
1. There was no notice when a player on your team got hurt when simulating
2. There was no notice when a player on your team retired
3. I liked the year by year stats for each player but the teams for which they played for was not identified.
4. Stats for players in the minors would have been a nice added feature
Best plan, use Madden 2004 Game play style (Stat tracking, off season options) but implement MBA 2004 minor league style.
Last edited by Cuiffitelli: 07-19-2004 at 08:31 AM.
But I was very disappointed with NHL 2004 and I may consider buying PS2 and getting the ESPN game if NHL 2005 doesn't get some great reviews.
If you're buying a console just to play ESPN NHL 2K5 then I'd suggest buying an Xbox. That version will have 3D crowds and the ability to use your own music, that you've ripped to the Xbox's hard drive, in the game.
I'm actually going to be going to Vancouver in early August to play-test NHL 2005 and meet with producers of the game in order to provide some feedback from the community. I help to run an online hockey league (www.sinbin.ca) that uses the NHL series on the PC.
If anyone has any specific suggestions as to what the problems were with NHL 2004 and what you feel are your major concerns for NHL 2005 and beyond, please feel free to post them!
Brian
My friend and I managed to play through about five seasons of NHL 2004, and these are the issues we had with the game (X-Box):
1. The injury tracking system was virtually non-existant. Injuries were easy to miss while playing the game. After that, if you went ahead one day (which we often did) without pausing to read the slow scrawl on the bottom of the screen, you had no idea who was injured or for how long. It's very frustrating to wait two months hoping to see a band-aid appear next to a player's name, all because they couldn't put in simple injury tracking.
2. There was no way to review player stats in computer-offered trades. All you are given is the name and overall rating of players. No way to look at stats, age or salary. Tough to make an informed decision, especially if the trade involves lower-tier players you are unaware of.
3. Again involving the trading system - salary isn't taken into account at all. So we signed the best free agents every year regardless of the price, and promptly traded them for the highest rated younger (cheaper) players. Both football and baseball (that I play) have a much better trading system in place. Perhaps the hockey team should collaborate with them. There was a nifty trading bug too... you can trade for Boston's 1st round pick before the season starts for a very low player without fail. It only works before the season starts though, and the pick is worthless until after you play the first game... then it gets its 1st round status back.
4. Crashes. Over the time 2004 has been out, we played it on three X-Boxes using three different 2004 disks. Two of which were in pristine condition. They all crashed. Especially in the Contracts screen. Followed somewhat closely by the Trading screen.
5. Why do you have to exit your season to save your profile? We quickly learned to save our season after each game (due to the potential for the crash-freezes previously mentioned), but we often didn't exit the dynasty mode to save our progress in the EA Profile. This cost us approximately 1/3 of our games played in our profile.
6. The formula for determining GM points shouldn't be quite so heavily slanted towards making a profit. A team that made excellent profit and won the Stanley Cup would often get less GM points than a low-salary team that didn't even make the playoffs, or got eliminated in the first round. Seems like this sends the wrong message out to the fans... profit is all that counts, not winning.
That's about it. In general, the game had a somewhat-rushed feel to it. If they had a bit more quality control, and had the same kinds of menus the other EA titles have, it would have been excellent. As it was, it was good. I'm hoping 2005 can get these things ironed out.
1. The injury tracking system was virtually non-existant. Injuries were easy to miss while playing the game. After that, if you went ahead one day (which we often did) without pausing to read the slow scrawl on the bottom of the screen, you had no idea who was injured or for how long. It's very frustrating to wait two months hoping to see a band-aid appear next to a player's name, all because they couldn't put in simple injury tracking.
I agree, this was my biggest pet peeve about the game.
Ditto for Tumo Ruutu in Chicago.
.
