Midway’s early ’03 announcement that its sports titles would feature a renewed focus on realism was a surprising but welcome move for fans of their games. NFL Blitz and NHL Hitz were far from tired franchises, but gamers had begun to value sports simulations more than games that draw their entertainment value from over-the-top action alone. Most of the subsequent buzz focused on NFL Blitz Pro, the new name for Midway’s revamped football title, while NHL Hitz Pro, the company’s re-born hockey franchise, skated right past the eyes of many a sports fan.
Football is hands-down the most popular video game sports genre, so the lack of attention paid to NFL Blitz Pro was understandable. Yet with a much smaller stable of hockey titles, the revamped NHL Hitz Pro is likely to have a larger impact on its gaming audience. And with authentic five-on-five gameplay, full league rules and online head-to-head gameplay, NHL Hitz Pro is going to slam more than a few unsuspecting gamers against the boards.
The most obvious change to NHL Hitz Pro is the inclusion of five-on-five teams with authentic NHL rosters. Statistics matter in real life, and now they’ll matter in NHL Hitz, as well. Each team will even feature its actual offensive and defensive formations, which will appeal to hockey "purists," and players will grow fatigued and switch up their lines as you’d expect from a title steeped in "simulation" gameplay.
But steeped in simulation NHL Hitz Pro is not, and Midway has wisely chosen to retain some of the franchise’s hard-hitting arcade flavor. The game may include full penalties and violations, but gamers will have the option to turn those penalties off. NHL Hitz Pro may slow down the pace to a more simulation pace by default, but players have the option to crank up the speed and race down the rink with fire in their eyes. It’s a gradual (and near perfect) evolution of the franchise that caters both to hardcore "hockey sim" fans and to players looking for a more "traditional" NHL Hitz experience.
The control scheme mimics this balance of simulation and superlative with stick handling that’s extremely detailed yet easy to pull off. For example, when you’re close to the net you can move juggle the puck using the right analog stick, then swing around the goal for a wraparound shot. It’s an intricate move you see in real life, but not a move you’ve not always been able to pull off in a hockey video game. Until now. Mix the tight controls with online competitive gameplay, and you’ve got the fixings for some all-out hockey wars via Xbox Live and the PS2’s online service.
Players who like to "go deep" will appreciate NHL Hitz Pro’s introduction of an upgraded franchise mode that lets you build a team through intelligent drafting and good old-fashioned experience. But the experience you’ll gain isn’t limited to just on-ice encounters; the game also includes a "Hockey School" that lets you run rookies through the paces. Although it doesn’t include any RPG "leveling up" or build-a-character elements, the School is still helpful when learning to handle different players and positions.
Speaking of "school," one of my favorite new elements in NHL Hitz Pro is a Fantasy Mode that allows you to play as a team of 10-year-olds outside during winter break. Rather than arenas with Zamboni-polished rinks, you play on frozen neighborhood ponds. Rather than crowds yelling from the rafters, you hear birds in the distance and your skates cutting through the ice. Rather than authentic teams battling for the Stanley Cup, you play as a bunch of adolescents seeking nothing more than the sound of car horns blaring with every goal. It’s a magical mode that brings home hockey fans’ love of the sport, and it’s one of the most purely enjoyable aspects of the revamped NHL Hitz franchise.
Midway is taking long strides in reinventing NHL Hitz Pro as more of a simulation, but the company has retained just enough of the traditional Hitz flavor to keep its hockey game approachable for casual fans and interesting for people who thought they knew what Hitz was all about. From what we’ve seen and played, NHL Hitz Pro is shaping up to achieve the hat trick of video game hockey: in-depth, irreverent and irresistible.
