NHL Rivals 2004

NHL Rivals 2004 is the first NHL title for the Xbox, developed by MGS (Microsoft Game Studios), and the second title developed under the XSN Sports banner - the development team's first foray into hockey on console.

At the time of its release, the visuals in this game were its major selling point, with each player's face mapped onto their model ingame. The game features a fully animated polygonal crowd, tons of motion-captured animations, NHL licensed players, teams and arenas. The look and feel of the game are much different than games like EA's NHL series.