The game offers not just updated rosters, but a completely new user interface, dubbed “ESPN.” This offers entirely new features, particularly in season mode. These days, seven people do the bulk of the ongoing work. Around 200 people have contributed to NHL Rebuilt at one point or another, according to Trent. Then, in 2009, EA Sports stopped offering PC versions of its NHL games altogether. “We had very nice little community going for a year or two,” said Trent. This is the only game, for me, that still feels like real hockey.”īecause of this, Trent and a few like-minded people decided to update NHL 2004, long after most modders abandoned the game in favor of newer titles. “But I still get my arse kicked in NHL 2004.

“I was able to win my first NHL 09 game, at the hardest difficultly, 8-0,” he said. NHL 05 to 09 were all, in Trent’s opinion, easy to the point of being broken. “When NHL 05 came out, I was disgusted,” he told Digital Trends.

He’s the coordinator of NHL 2004 Rebuilt, and feels strongly that NHL 04 is the best hockey game EA Sports ever built. Trent (not his real name) is a longtime hockey fan who lives in Finland. So who made this? And why? Gamers just liked NHL 04 better There are so many little tweaks that make this possible.

Players and coaches’ in-game faces are up-to-date as well. Jim Hughson, the game’s play-by-play man, calls the team the “Winnipeg,” and also knows the names of most players who joined the league after 2004. Their rink, the MTS Center, is re-created with accurate on-ice paint, and even advertisements on the boards.

“This is the only game, for me, that still feels like real hockey.”įire the modded game up, though, and you’ll find the Jets.

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