
Last year, the offensive AI was simply atrocious, seemingly limited to just one or two attack strategies. For starters, the computer now gives you more to think about offensively. The recently purchased design house has done yeoman work revamping the series, using the lessons learned while making the highly acclaimed NHL 2K for the late, great Sega Dreamcast to fashion the most authentic version of hockey to ever bear the EA label.Īs you probably expect, enhanced artificial intelligence is the biggest factor in the dramatic improvement between NHL 2003 and NHL 2004. Most of the improvements are, no doubt, due to the new development team at Black Box. This year, however, the company has followed through. Almost every September, a new edition of NHL arrives along with lip service about how the developers toned down the arcade emphasis to give us a game that Bobby Orr would recognize.

Of course, EA Sports has made those promises before. All the graphical glitz and "in the game" glam is still present in NHL 2004, although there is also a refreshing dedication to providing more than good-looking, rock-em-sock-em sound and fury. The venerable EA Sports franchise has practically been reborn after more than a decade of wowing shinny fans each autumn, with an all-new development team and a sharpened focus that brings realism to the fore. The list may differ on other platforms.Consider this a new beginning for the NHL hockey series. This is the list of games available on the Xbox version of EA Play. This costs £10.99 / $14.99 / €14.99 per month and, for that, you also get access to more than 300 Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and original Xbox games, 200 games for PC, Xbox Live Gold (required for online play on an Xbox machine), and Microsoft's cloud gaming platform. However, the most cost-effective solution might be to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. It is exactly the same price for standalone EA Play membership on an Xbox console as it is on PlayStation - £3.99 / $4.99 / €3.99 per month or £19.99 / $29.99 / €24.99 for 12 months. EA Play on Xbox One / Xbox Series X / Xbox Series S

It's a simple proposition and can be purchased through the PS4 or PS5 itself - via a dedicated EA Play app. It works slightly differently depending on the platform. Paying for an entire year's membership works out a lot cheaper - around 50 per cent cheaper, in fact - but you might prefer a smaller monthly payment. You can pay for EA Play either monthly or annually.
