Easily the most replayable hockey game of all time!
User Rating: 10 | NHL Hitz 20-02 GC
NHL Hitz 2002 for the Nintendo GameCube is easily the most replayable video hockey game ever! It’s maybe not the most realistic representation of NHL hockey around, but that is it’s only weak point, and I don’t even think that is a weak point, depending on what you are looking for. It is a 3 on 3 hockey game. The thing that separates this game from the others is the speed and ease of hitting in the game. Once you get the gameplay down you can wheel about the rink with ease and just lay guys out like crazy! There’s nothing more satisfying than putting some hapless fool through the glass or headfirst in to the boards. The periods are short in this game, only 3 minutes, and it is all about the violent hits and the scoring. They may as well have just turned the nets around backwards because the goalies definitely never “steal one” for you. If you want to win, you’ve got to hit and you’ve got to score. There are quite a few modes to this game. First there is Exhibition Mode, in which you just play a regular game between any of the teams available to you in the game. Next is Championship Mode. In this mode you select a team and take them through a tournament where you have to defeat all 30 NHL teams. At the end, when you’ve beaten them all, you are awarded the Stanley Cup! In this mode you are given credits for each win that you can spend in the Hockey Shop (more on that later). You are also given a trivia question at the end of each game (win or loss) that you can earn bonus credits on, if you answer correctly. The next mode is Franchise Mode. This is similar to Championship Mode, but more complex. On this mode you can use one of the available teams in the game, or create your own team, and take them through a 50 team tournament instead. This tournament consists of all 30 NHL teams again, followed by 20 teams made specifically for the game. Six of these teams feature human opponents, while the other 14 teams feature skaters with all sorts of different head types on them like sharks, cows, aliens, babies, etc. It sounds bizarre, and it is bizarre, but it is a whole lot of fun! Once you defeat all 50 teams in this mode you are awarded the Midway Cup! On this mode you earn 6 Attribute Points for each win. You are also given trivia questions after these games as well, in which you can earn supplementary Attribute Points. These points you use to strengthen the attributes of the players on any of your created teams. This mode is very addictive and has caused me to play well over 700 games on NHL Hitz 2002! The final mode is the Skills Mode. Here you can hone your skills in 7 different mini-games designed to concentrate on your poke check, skating, shot accuracy, hitting, one-timer, faceoff & slap shot abilities. These games are fun, but a couple of them are hard to the point of throwing the controller through the TV screen. You’ve been warned! The other features in the game include the hockey shop. Here you can use all those credits you’ve earned to buy lots of good stuff. You can buy all sorts of alternate jerseys for teams both past and present. You can purchase all of the different rinks that the 20 special teams in the game use. You can purchase all of the different heads that the special teams use (you can use them for any of your created players), as well as buying those entire special teams themselves. Another feature is the Custom Team feature. This is where you can design your own team to compete in Franchise Mode. You take care of all the details, from the type of jerseys the team wears, to each player's height, weight, number, etc. Lots of fun! The last feature of the game, and my personal favourite, is the Records feature. When you play a game you have the option of logging in as a user. When you do that the game keeps track of all of your stats when you play as that user and then ranks you against other users in the Records feature. It’s amazing how fast you can pile up those hits, goals, shots and more! Overall, this game is not the most realistic representation of NHL hockey, like I said earlier, but the fun factor and flat out addictiveness of this game make it arguably my favourite hockey game of all time! If you can still find this game, buy it.
