Strategy:

You're in Control

Video games are a lot like life (go with me on this one). No matter how good you are—how talented, or smart, or beautiful, or fragrant, or whatever—there will come a point when you realize that you can only get so far without a plan. You need a strategy. This is doubly true in sports video games, because if there’s one area of life that magnifies the need for a solid strategy, it’s sports.

Think about it. Can you imagine watching a pro sports game where the athletes took the field, court, or ice without any plan for how they wanted to beat their opponent—if they just went out there made it up as they went along? Granted, sometimes it seems like teams do this from time to time (especially the ones I follow), but no matter how bad the beating or incompetent the play, it’s a million times better than it would have been without a strategy.

So, if you’re playing a game of NHL Rivals™ 2004 on Xbox Live against some bad mo-fo from Peoria, and you’re just planning to button mash your way to victory, you’re probably going to get your butt handed to you on a plate of sterling silver. Nothing personal; you just need a strategy.

Even if you’ve perfected passing, skating, and shooting, you might be overlooking an important part of your game. NHL Rivals 2004 gives you control over your team’s Strategy, Aggression, and Line Changes. All of these things are automatically handled by the computer, but the distinguishing mark of a novice gamer is letting the computer make too many decisions for him. It may be less convenient, but making those decisions yourself can give your game much more flexibility and responsiveness.

Fortunately, you can make changes to all three areas on the fly, while the game is in full flow. It’s called Real-Time Coaching, and it’s sitting right under your nose (well, your thumb, actually).

Let’s start with line changes. To change lines in the game, simply press left on the D-Pad. A small Heads-Up Display (HUD) will appear in the bottom-left corner of your screen. This HUD shows all the different lines you can choose from, each of which can be sent onto the ice with another press of the D-Pad. Simply press the D-Pad in the direction of the line you want: Scoring, Healthy, Checking, or CPU Pick (which returns responsibility to the computer).

To adjust your team’s Aggression, press up on the D-Pad during gameplay. The HUD will again appear to display your aggression options. Press left for High, right for Low, down for Normal, and up for CPU Pick. Changing your aggression settings will affect how your players check, pursue the puck, and shoot on the opposing goalie. It also changes your chances of drawing a penalty, so choose wisely

Finally, if you press right on the D-Pad during gameplay, you’ll activate the HUD for Strategy. After this HUD is activated, you can select Score Goal, Normal, Protect Lead, or CPU Pick. You can also customize your three Strategy options by pausing the game, selecting Team Options, and then selecting Edit Strategy. Here you’ll find every strategy broken down into greater detail, allowing you to change defensive and offensive aggression, forechecking, formations, special teams, and more. The NHL Rivals 2004 manual comes packed with plenty of information on the purpose of each strategic element.

Of course, these are just the tools you need to control your strategy. Knowing when to pull back and shore up your defenses and when to crash the net takes practice and experience, but here are a few hints:

Against strong offensive teams, good use of your checking line could be your only chance at containing the threat. Play a physical game to keep the other guy’s snipers away from the shooting lanes.

• If you’re playing a team with a weaker defense, hammer it with a lot of aggressive shooting. This is doubly true if the team doesn’t have a lot of talent in goal.
• It can be tempting to step up your own physicality when you’re getting taken into the boards, but it might not be the best decision. If you can draw the other guys into committing penalties, a powerplay goal will more than compensate for a few extra bruises.
• If your team is getting walloped on the scoreboard, you might need to start throwing your weight around. Physical play (and maybe even a fight) can help get your team (and your home crowd) back into the game.
   

Whatever strategy you try, the important thing is to be flexible. If your approach isn’t working, try something new. If one of your players can’t seem to deliver, edit your lines and give someone else a chance. With Real-Time Coaching, you’ve got control—so use it!

By Mat Parker