NHL Hitz 2002

Midway introduces hockey with its no-rules twist that is seen in NFL Blitz. Hockey may have fewer rules than football, but NHL Hitz features hard-hitting action and very simple 3-on-3 gameplay. The game has franchise modes for a created team that you can design along with championship and exhibition modes. You earn attribute points and credits that you can use to unlock items and improve your players along the way.

Released: 24 September 2001
Platforms: GameCube PlayStation 2 Xbox
Genres: Ice hockey Sports
Developers: —
Publishers: Midway Games
Series: NHL Hitz
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Country: United States
Age ratings: ESRB E
Entry: #1 in NHL Hitz

About

NHL Hitz 2002 is an arcade-style ice hockey video game released by Midway in September 2001 for PlayStation 2 and November for GameCube and Xbox. It is the first game of the NHL Hitz series. Midway launched the game along with NFL Blitz.

Keywords

ice hockey

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Reception

The game received "generally favorable reviews" on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Jim Preston of NextGen's final issue called the PlayStation 2 version "the best 'wacky' sports game we've played in years." The magazine similarly said of the Xbox version, "If you're up for a game of hockey where players quite literally catch on fire and suffer frequent flights through the glass, this is superb stuff." Atomic Dawg of GamePro said that the GameCube version "might not be real NHL hockey, but it might be all the hockey you really need."

The D-Pad Destroyer said of the Xbox version, "It's no NHL 2002, but Hitz should be a blast for arcade sports fans." 1 out of 10, calling it "a terrific blend of arcade-style gaming (as in with the players steaming and bursting into flame) and straight-ahead sports simulation." However, X-Play gave the PlayStation 2 version two stars out of five, saying that it "has neither the gameplay nor the presentation to make its solid concept deliver. If you're truly desperate for a franchise mode in a hockey game, or if you've always wanted to play the Redwings with a team of gladiators, Hitz 2002 may be worth a rental or two.