NHL Hitz Pro: Surprisingly Good

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 12:03 am

I´ll give everyone update impressions but I just got the game today from gamefly.
 
 Here´s a quick review.
 Grahpics - Kinda blows. There´s some slowdown and there´s not as many animations as in the other games. Goalie animations were pretty good. Actually they seemed a bit canned at times and don´t have the fluidity but they aren´t walls and they will let all sorts of goals by them.
 
 Gameplay - Just like in Rivals, and NHL there´s some cheap goals but not too often. With the right sliders, you can have a very messy, hockey type game. Shots fly all over the place.
 Sending the puck into the crease can be dangerious on both sides. Plus I saw something cool. There´s a kneel down block in the game. So I line up to block a shot and in most hockey games they could just fire away. Instead, I see the CPU cycle and take a shot from the high point. Not only that but they were wide open with no one in front of the goalie. This game is a lot more wide open that the other three.
 
 Sliders - Unbelievable in terms the amount of sliders and their drastic affect on gameplay. I set the shot acc. to 0 and shots are going all over the play. Even an open net can lead to a miss. Oh an you can turn down the hits and arcade style play. There´s even goalie sliders but they aren´t what you think. You can get bonuses to different types of shots. For instance, you can give a wide open shot less of a bonue than a one-timer. Or you can give breakaways more of chance of scoring than rebounds. It´s really neat to see these choices.
 
 The sliders in terms of clicks is a bit wierd I can´t really explain it just that the interface for them is a bit clunky.
 
 
 Puck Physics - Doesn´t feel too canned. I don´t see any shot bounces like in NHL.
 
 Goalies - You can score with messy goals. Unlike the other three where firing away was more of a hit and miss experience. Here you can take good shots or you can take bad shots.
 
 The verdict is...I need more time. But for the get-go it´s not all bad. And it´s not all the much of an arcade experience. It´s not as good-looking as NHL or Rivals, nor is it as frustrating as ESPN. If you like hockey there might be somethings that rub you the wrong way about this game but it´s worth a rental atleast.

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 9:58 am

I got this game when i got my Xbox and am having a blast with it. Keep in mind that most of my hockey gaming has been on the PC (NHL 1998-2003) so I can´t compare to the other games.
 
 I have been having a blast. I started a ´franchise´ (Start as a minor league club and if you do good enough you can join the NHL for a season) and have been really enjoying it. I also like to mess around and play some of the other modes (pond, roller hockey, etc). Not realism, but for someone like me it is a lot of fun. I look for realism in some sports games and just fun in others. One thing that I like is that the games are not scripted like the EA games on the PC always felt to me. I lose because I play bad - bad passes, can´t clear the puck, etc.
 
 I know that some others here say that the game lost the ´fun factor´ pretty quickly, but I feel like I have got my money´s worth out of it.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 11:55 am

I kept mine and enjoy it from time to time, but I am majorly bummed by the inability to make on the fly line changes and (moreso) the tendency for defensemen to fall into a forward ´slot´ where they continue to play like a forward until they fall back into proper position, usually at a stoppage.