NHL 2005

NHL 2005 is an ice hockey video game released in 2004, the successor to NHL 2004.

NHL 2005
North American cover art with Markus Näslund
Developer	EA Black Box
Publisher	EA Sports
Series	NHL series
Platforms	Windows, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox
Release	Windows NA: September 14, 2004[1][2] PAL: September 17, 2004[3][4] GameCube, PS2, Xbox AU: September 17, 2004 (GC, Xbox)[5] NA: September 22, 2004[6] EU: September 24, 2004 (Xbox)[7] AU: October 1, 2004 (PS2)[8] EU: October 8, 2004 (GC, PS2)[9]
Genre	Sports
Modes	Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

NHL 2005 features Open Ice Control, including moving players without the puck and also a complete World Cup mode where each team can be created from scratch. The user was now allowed to import digitized home arenas for the scratchbuilt teams (the 30 NHL arenas plus Nuremberg Arena, Kölnarena, Stockholm Globe Arena, Helsinki Hartwall Areena and Prague Sazka Arena were available). Additional NHL jerseys and logos were also available including those of the defunct Atlanta Flames, Winnipeg Jets, Colorado Rockies (NHL), Quebec Nordiques as well as the old style Los Angeles Kings, Washington Capitals and Vancouver Canucks uniforms of the 1970s and the 1980s.

The IIHF license which granted the World Cup mode also allowed EA to use real-life international jerseys for the only time (previously released games used unique jerseys designed by the game's staff which only bore a passing similarity to their real life counterparts, so the jersey shows their flag.) The PC version of the game was stripped down to the bare essentials, including the omitting of the create-a-player feature. These omissions were possibly due to the labour dispute that had cancelled the season, but EA explained that they had not perfected the new create-a-player interface, which would have allowed for far greater customizability than what was previously available.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
	GameCube	PC	PS2	Xbox
Metacritic	75/100[10]	66/100[11]	75/100[12]	77/100[13]

Review scores

Publication	Score
	GameCube	PC	PS2	Xbox
Electronic Gaming Monthly	6.33/10[14]	N/A	6.33/10[14]	6.33/10[14]
Eurogamer	N/A	N/A	N/A	6/10[15]
Game Informer	8.5/10[16]	N/A	8.5/10[16]	8.5/10[16]
GamePro	N/A	N/A	[17]	[17]
GameRevolution	B[18]	N/A	B[19]	B[19]
GameSpot	7.9/10[20]	7.9/10[20]	7.9/10[20]	7.9/10[20]
GameSpy	[21]	[22]	[23]	[24]
GameZone	8.4/10[25]	N/A	8.8/10[26]	8.3/10[27]
IGN	8.3/10[28]	8.3/10[28]	8.3/10[28]	8.3/10[28]
Nintendo Power	3.7/5[29]	N/A	N/A	N/A
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine	N/A	N/A	[30]	N/A
Official Xbox Magazine (US)	N/A	N/A	N/A	8.5/10[31]
PC Gamer (US)	N/A	64%[32]	N/A	N/A

The game received "generally favorable reviews" on all platforms except the PC version, which received "average" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.^{[10][11][12][13]}