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. You might assume, then, that you can’t play as the Jets in NHL 2004 Rebuilt. In 2011, the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Manitoba and became the Winnipeg Jets.

It’s in the game (because fans put it there) But this is the best PC hockey game you’ve never heard of. There’s the latest rosters, player photos, arena designs, and a complete alternative to the default interface. The graphics are, by today’s standards, woefully outdated, but the mod is surprisingly modern otherwise. The result is NHL 2004 Rebuilt, a patched version of a game first released in 2003. So fans took the matter into their own hands. Hockey fans would either buy a console or stop playing hockey video games. Pre-Internet, the story would likely end there. EA Sports hasn’t released a PC hockey game since the year before the first iPad came out. The Stanley Cup Final is just around the corner, meaning one team will drink from the best-looking trophy in professional sports. Gamers who want to play along at home, however, will have to buy a Playstation 4 or Xbox One.

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