NHL Hitz 20-03
Score: 96% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Midway Developer: EA Games Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 6 (Multitap) Genre: Sports
Graphics & Sound: Midway delivers all the excitement of hockey without those pesky penalties in their latest title, NHL Hitz 20-03. As always, the graphics for Hitz 20-03 rival that of any simulation hockey game on the market. For starters, all of the NHL arenas look true to life. The logos at center ice look great. The players leave trails and kick up a cloud of ice whenever they change directions. Midway also sports the best crowd rendering I've seen in any sports game. The crowd does the wave during the intermission screens. If that isn't enough, Hitz 20-03 features a vast amount of special arenas, such as a disco, a pirate ship, and even an arena on the Moon. All of the special arenas have a very unique atmosphere to them and are a blast to play in. NHL Hitz 20-03 sports one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard for a video game. It features songs by Rob Zombie, Moby, Drowning Pool, and more. Hitz 20-03 is a little disappointing on the commentary aspect though. It never has commentary that is out of place, but it's just a lot more bland than I've seen in other games, such as MLB Slugfest 20-03.
Gameplay: NHL Hitz 20-03 is played as 3-on-3 hockey with all the penalties taken away except for fighting and goalie interference. Hitz 20-03 has a ton of ways to play. You have an Exhibition mode to get you warmed up before you take on the more in-depth modes. This also allows you to play a friend (or 5 for that matter). Then, you have a Season mode where you can select an NHL team and choose to play from 14 to 82 games. After the season (if you qualify) there are the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This is also customizable, from a one game playoff setup to a best-of-7. Hitz 20-03 moves away from the classic Midway Challenge mode to a more in-depth Franchise mode. In this mode you create a team. You get to choose the team's location. Then, you choose from a list of nicknames and logos. You can then edit players individually, or have the computer randomly generate players. Once you have your team, you are sent through a series of 'levels' where you are given certain tasks you need to accomplish in each game. If you accomplish tasks and win games, you slowly gain experience and increase your players' stats. You start off playing made up 'Minor League' teams, then move up to play weaker NHL teams, then the hard teams. It's basically an NHL RPG! If that isn't enough for you, NHL Hitz 20-03 also includes a Tournament mode. This is basically the setup from the World Cup in soccer. You start in a group with 4 teams. The two best teams in each group then move on to a playoff format with 3 rounds. The winner of the playoff wins the tournament. NHL Hitz 20-03 has even more options for you, however. There is also Hockey School and Mini Games. Hockey School mode is basically a place to work on the little tricks of the game, from one-timers to body checking. The Mini Games are one of my favorite parts of the game and are great in a multi-player situation. The games are 'Three in a Row' (a variation of Tic-Tac-Toe), 'Own the Ice', 'King of the Rink', 'Keep Away', 'Shootout', and 'Shooting Gallery'.
Difficulty: NHL Hitz 20-03 has four skill settings: Beginner, Rookie, Pro, and All-Star. Beginner is easy enough for anyone to be able to compete, even if you've never played a hockey game before. Rookie doesn't offer much more of a challenge than Beginner does, but Pro starts getting the competition level up for more advanced players. There is a jump in between Pro and All-Star, but it doesn't take very long to get adjusted. I basically went from winning by 5 goal margins in pro to having games decided by a goal or two. In addition to the overall skill settings, Hitz 20-03 has A.I. sliders for just about every aspect of the game. This includes everything from size of the puck to the maximum number of fights allowed per game. If you are having too much difficulty in any one aspect of the game, chances are there is an A.I. slider for you to adjust it.
Game Mechanics: The default camera angle in NHL Hitz 20-03 is very good for viewing the game. If you don't like that angle, however, there are other views to choose from. Hitz 20-03's controls are very easy to learn. Basic acts like passing and shooting are done with the X and Square buttons. The game allows for using either the analog sticks or the directional pad for movement, which I think all games should do. The game doesn't have anything that is too tricky to do with the controller. The loading times are about 15-30 seconds to load a game, and about 2 seconds in between the main menu and everything else. This time is really not bad considering that Midway has every fan in the crowd wearing a jersey, suit, or T-shirt. Memory Card space is significant, but not outrageous at 513 KB. It should be noted that this game has a lot more stuff to keep track of than most of Midway's other titles. NHL Hitz 20-03 kind of moves away from the straight up extreme action Midway usually brings to a more in depth, re-playable style of game. There are so many modes in this game, you can spend weeks to months trying to unlock everything. This is not just a great arcade game, it's one of the best (if not the best) hockey titles out there right now.
-Dark Hornet, GameVortex Communications AKA Clovis Mello
NCAA GameBreaker 2003 MLB Slugfest 20-03