| 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
Xbox
GameCube
|
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
NHL Hitz 2002, also known as NHL Hitz 20-02, is an arcade-style ice hockey video game released by Midway Games. Midway launched this game along with NFL Blitz.
This video game was a launch title for the Nintendo GameCube and was also released on Xbox and 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.