That’s Hockey Without Hitz?
- NA release: 16th September 2002
- EU release: 1st November 2002
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Black Box Games
- Publisher: Midway
- NGC Magazine Score: 65%
- Mods Used: Widescreen Hack
On paper, NHL Hitz 03 seems like a massive upgrade to the previous year’s version. It has more teams, a singleplayer mode where you have to complete tasks within matches, a bunch of minigames and all sorts of other features. Despite this, I didn’t enjoy this one at all. The over the top nature of the game seems to have been dialled back, with shots not feeling as powerful and the game feeling much slower (even on the fastest setting).
It still has the crazy teams and ice rinks, although even these are somewhat more subdued, and even the graphics have taken a step back, with the marks left by the players being the most notable absence in this version. Overall, it feels far more like a step towards the simulation style of ice hockey games, instead of the over the top fun that made the previous so much fun.
Fine
Over-the-top versions of otherwise ordinary sports games have been Midway’s main stock in trade of late ,and this, a FIFA-style annual update, is fairly sucessful in meshing an effective recreation of ice hockey and cartoon violence (although, of course, ice hockey has never really needed much help in the cartoon violence stakes.
NGC Magazine #74
Remake or remaster?
If they did a collection of Midway sports games, I’d prefer it to be based on Hitz 2002.
Official Ways to get the game
There is no official way to get NHL Hitz 2003.
GameCube Games by Date
2002: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2003: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2004: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2005: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2006: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
