NHL Hitz 2002

NHL Hitz 2002
North American cover art for GC, featuring Scott Stevens
Developer(s)	Black Box Games
Publisher(s)	Midway Games
Designer(s)	Daniel Rosado
Platform(s)	GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	PlayStation 2 ^NA September 24, 2001 ^EU November 16, 2001 Xbox ^NA November 14, 2001 ^EU March 14, 2002 GameCube ^NA November 17, 2001 ^EU May 10, 2002
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

NHL Hitz 2002, also known as NHL Hitz 20-02, is an arcade-style ice hockey video game released by Midway Games. It's the first game of the NHL Hitz series. Midway launched this game along with NFL Blitz.

Summary

This video game was a launch title for the Nintendo GameCube and was also released on Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2. It differs from traditional NHL games in that it does not try to accurately simulate real-life ice hockey. The rules are much more relaxed and the attributes of players dramatically increased, giving the game its arcade feel.

The game features three players on the ice for each team, with an additional 3 players on each teams' bench. Line changes could be done in between periods. Fights were included in the game, but the rules of such greatly differed from NHL rules. Fights last until a player is knocked out, and the losing player is taken out of the game permanently. Since there are only 6 players per team, after one team loses 3 fights, no additional fights are allowed. Hits are encouraged rather than penalized, with players able to knock over other players to remove them from play, incurring no penalties.

If a player scores 3 goals in a row on their respective team—the other team could score in the midst of this streak—that player becomes "On Fire", making them tougher to knock down and giving them a more powerful shot. If any team scores three one-timers in a row, they achieve "Team Fire" in which every player has Blue Flames surrounding them and have all the advantages of the aforementioned On Fire. There are no line changes during a period and there is no regular season play. The front cover features now retired NHL defenceman Scott Stevens of the New Jersey Devils.

The game had a skills competition section with multiple different challenges.

Also featured was the ability to unlock sickening heads, stadiums and throwback jerseys.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (GC) 81.19%[1] (Xbox) 80.44%[2] (PS2) 80.15%[3] Metacritic (GC) 79/100[4] (Xbox) 79/100[5] (PS2) 78/100[6] Review scores Publication Score AllGame [7] EGM 8/10[8] Eurogamer 6/10[9] Game Informer 8.5/10[10][11] (GC) 8/10[12] GamePro (Xbox) [13] (GC) [14] Game Revolution B[15] GameSpot (GC) 7.2/10[16] (Xbox) 7/10[17] (PS2) 6.7/10[18] GameSpy (PS2) 78%[19] (GC) 68%[20] GameZone 9.1/10[21] IGN (Xbox) 8/10[22] (PS2) 7.6/10[23] (GC) 7.4/10[24] Nintendo Power [25] OPM (US) [26] OXM 8.4/10[27]

The game was met with positive reception. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 81.19% and 79 out of 100 for the GameCube version;^[1][4] 80.44% and 79 out of 100 for the Xbox version;^[2][5] and 80.15% and 78 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version.^[3][6]

References

1. "NHL Hitz 20-02 for GameCube". GameRankings. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
2. "NHL Hitz 20-02 for Xbox". GameRankings. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
3. "NHL Hitz 20-02 for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
4. "NHL Hitz 20-02 for GameCube Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
5. "NHL Hitz 20-02 for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
6. "NHL Hitz 20-02 for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
7. Marriott, Scott Alan. "NHL Hitz 20-02 (Xbox) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 16, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
8. EGM staff (February 2002). "NHL Hitz 20-02 (Xbox)". Electronic Gaming Monthly (151): 168.
9. Bramwell, Tom (April 5, 2002). "NHL Hitz 20-02 (Xbox)". Eurogamer. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
10. "NHL Hitz [20-02] (PS2)". Game Informer (104): 94. December 2001. Archived from the original on April 10, 2005. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
11. "NHL Hitz [20-02] (Xbox)". Game Informer (105): 87. January 2002.
12. "NHL Hitz [20-02] (GC)". Game Informer (106): 87. February 2002.
13. The D-Pad Destroyer (December 7, 2001). "NHL Hitz 2002 Review for Xbox on GamePro.com [score mislabeled as "4/5"]". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 14, 2005. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
14. Atomic Dawg (December 20, 2001). "NHL Hitz 2002 Review for GameCube on GamePro.com [score mislabeled as "4.5/5"]". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 9, 2005. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
15. Dr. Moo (October 2001). "NHL Hitz 2002 Review (PS2)". Game Revolution. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
16. Satterfield, Shane (November 21, 2001). "NHL: Hitz 2002 Review (GC)". GameSpot. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
17. Satterfield, Shane (November 9, 2001). "NHL Hitz 2002 Review (Xbox)". GameSpot. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
18. Satterfield, Shane (September 28, 2001). "NHL Hitz 2002 Review (PS2)". GameSpot. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
19. Hiscock, Josh (October 26, 2001). "NHL Hitz 2002 (PS2)". GameSpy. Archived from the original on December 15, 2004. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
20. Moen, Michael (December 21, 2001). "NHL Hitz 2002 (GCN)". GameSpy. Archived from the original on February 16, 2005. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
21. Lafferty, Michael (November 20, 2001). "NHL Hitz 20-02 Review - Xbox". GameZone. Archived from the original on October 10, 2007. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
22. Boulding, Aaron (November 14, 2001). "NHL Hitz 20-02 (Xbox)". IGN. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
23. Zdyrko, David (September 25, 2001). "NHL Hitz 20-02 (PS2)". IGN. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
24. Mirabella III, Fran (November 20, 2001). "NHL Hitz 2002 (GCN)". IGN. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
25. "NHL Hitz 20-02". Nintendo Power 151: 170. December 2001.
26. "NHL Hitz 20-02". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 170. December 2001.
27. "NHL Hitz 20-02". Official Xbox Magazine. January 2002.

External links

• NHL Hitz 2002 at MobyGames