Spotlight:

Sparks on the Ice

Fuses. Everyone’s got one. 

Some people are blessed with the long slow-burning kind. You knew that kid in school—you could tease him, shove him into the lockers, pour a milkshake on

his head, call his mama names, and he’d suck it up and just walk away.

Then, there was the other kind of kid. You held your breath when you walked by him, staring straight ahead because, for the love of all things good and decent, you did not want to make eye contact with him or say something that might set him off. Think Joe Pesci in Goodfellas. With a short fuse, it’s one strike, and you’re out.

You’ll find hockey players of both types. It’s a physical game, and everyone reacts a little different to physicality. You’ve got the Lady Bing types, who keep their minds in the game. If someone leans on them, they take a couple deep breaths, and all is forgiven. Then, you’ve got some guys that thrive on chaos. You almost want to take them into the boards a few times, just to see if they’ll react. But, when they do react, and you’re picking yourself up off the ice, you think, “Maybe that was a poor decision on my part.”

It’s no surprise that NHL Rivals™ 2004 does a great job recreating this aspect of hockey in its Fuse/Frustration system. Every player on the ice has a vertical red bar visible next to his name. This is his Fuse Meter. If a player’s Fuse Meter is at least halfway full, he can take a little punishment and still come out in a good mood. If it’s closer to empty, though, he might just take the next hit personally.

If he does take it personally, you’ll know it right away. You’ll watch both players skate in and begin to size each other up. At this point, a fight isn’t inevitable. You can still get out of it if you want to. For instance, if you’re down a couple points, you might not want to have one of your key players cooling his skates in the penalty box.

Another thing to pay attention to is your would-be scrapper’s Fatigue Meter, the green bar above your player’s head during the pre-fight. If your guy has less green above his head than his opponent does … well, you might want to walk away before you get your butt kicked. Food for thought.

If you do want to back out, press the B button as fast as your little thumb will work. This usually backs you out of the fight, but if you’re playing against a human opponent, he can try to force the fight by pressing A as fast as he can. It’s like a virtual tug of war, and whoever presses his button the fastest gets his way.

If the gloves are dropped, you’re in for a treat—win, lose, or draw. NHL Rivals 2004 offers one of the fastest, most graphically stunning, and most fluid fighting experiences you’ve ever seen in a hockey game. In fact, the design team actually consulted with designers from fighting games to ensure a fun, well-balanced experience. Jabs, uppercuts, grabs, ducks, and dodges—master the moves, and you’ll leave your opponent on the ice. Don’t lollygag, though. After 30 seconds, the referee will skate in and put an end to your fisticuffs. No matter how the fight ends, you and your opponent will both spend some time in the penalty box, to think about what you’ve done and vow to do better in the future … or not …

A lot of people (myself included) might put too much emphasis on the fighting in hockey games. But, it’s hard not to get excited when you see a game like NHL Rivals 2004 pull it off so well. It’s not just the fighting that makes it such a great experience; it’s everything that leads up to the fighting, too. It’s watching your opponent’s Fuse Meter burn down and going in for that next big hit, knowing that you could be starting something. It’s pressing that A button like crazy when you know you’re facing a guy who you could beat with his thumbs tied behind his back. And, of course, it all pays off when you hear Sam Rosen say those three magic little words:

“It’s fight time!"

By Mat Parker