Great New Features, Senile AI

EA's NHL franchise never seems to disapoint me whenever they release a new NHL game, although I felt NHL 2004 wasn't as good as some of its 'founding fathers', the game's Dynasty mode kept me playing for months. The game's appearance gets better ever year. most of the graphics this year looked improved, the player models appeared improved this year but the crowd look liked a bunch of people outta the Sims; there was room for improvement for the graphics and animations used for the crowds. The game's AI is well.. devistating how senile it is. Defensemen play like they are practically blind and are afraid to poke check, although the only time the AI seems to click is when the computer is set to the hardest difficulty. The new hooking / tie up controls add depth to the game, but the engine was really picky whenever I tried hooking or tying someone up at the boards, The Bruise control system i thought could of been a little better, like just holding down the triangle button instead of having to stray down to the r3 just to make a little more decent hit. The bottom line, NHL 2004 has added depth to keep you playing for months with the Dynasty Mode (play as your favourite team or fantasy draft).