NHL Hitz Pro

NHL Hitz Pro is an ice hockey video game developed by Next Level Games and published by Midway Games. It's the third and final game of the NHL Hitz series. It was released on September 25, 2003, for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Xbox. Unlike the previous titles in the series, this game has 5-on-5 gameplay instead of the usual 3-on-3 gameplay with the earlier titles.

Released: 25 September 2003
Platforms: GameCube PlayStation 2 Xbox
Genres: Ice hockey Sports
Developers: Next Level Games
Publishers: Midway Games
Series: NHL Hitz
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Country: United States
Age ratings: ESRB E
Languages: English
Entry: #3 in NHL Hitz

About

NHL Hitz Pro is an ice hockey video game developed by Next Level Games and published by Midway Sports, in the NHL Hitz series. It was released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox. Unlike the previous titles in the series, it has 5-on-5 gameplay instead of the usual 3-on-3 gameplay with the earlier titles. The game does not include penalty shots, and it is still an arcade-type hockey game like its predecessors.

It also has a lot of hard hitting. The cover athlete of the game is Nicklas Lidström, and features commentary from Tim Kitzrow and Harry Teinowitz.

Keywords

ice hockey
national hockey league
ice skating
polygonal 3d
difficulty level
commentary
montreal canadiens
xbox 360 backwards compatibility

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Reception

NHL Hitz Pro received "favorable" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. GamePro said of the game, "It's a tight three-way race on the hockey front this season, and the only real downside to Hitz is what its fans will actually appreciate: its heavily arcade-style approach. If you like your hockey more serious, EA's game falls halfway between Hitz and the technical, highly realistic ESPN game. If 'serious' is the last thing you associate with hockey games, you'll have a blast hammering out checks on Hitz' rink—especially since Midway's rolled back the price a notch."

The game was nominated for the "Console Action Sports Game of the Year" award at the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' 7th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, which went to SSX 3.