One day, a man had an idea. Extreme sports were becoming all the rage, adrenaline rushes to the max. Such sports like snowboarding were quickly gaining in popularity, and their respective games were selling through the charts. Electronic Arts had an iron grip on the sports genre, releasing and dominating the sales charts with such games as NHL 95 and all the crappy ones that came after NHL 95. There had to be a way to capitalize on both the extreme sport regime and the classic sport fan base. One man, a man who happened to work at Midway, had an idea. That idea was realized and formed in the shape of Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey.

He was promptly fired.

But that dream lives on! And for that, GameCube owners (and PS2 and Xbox owners… 5 dolla, me give you good port) have the chance to get their grubby mitts on NHL Hitz 2002 this fall.

With NFL Blitz dominating the extreme football videogame genre (take that, Kurt Warner’s Arena Football), Midway has decided to venture back into the hockey realm, where they had immensely failed just years ago. Offering fast paced, arcade style gameplay coupled with denture loosening body checks, slashes, and punches, Midway’s attempting to breed a staple of their potential ‘_itz’ brand name. Will Hitz ’02 help their cause?

Yes. Graphically, Hitz looks pretty darned spiffy. With only 8 players on the ice, one may initially be dismissive of any praise regarding graphical prowess, but one need only look past the glass. The entire crowd in Hitz is made up of fully polygonal and animated characters. The players themselves are well animated and sport some great textures. Appreciated lighting effects, detailed textures, and a smooth framerate all compliment each other nicely. The overall imagery package is quite impressive, and does help feed the hard-nosed gameplay.

As I mentioned, Hitz will only feature 8 players on the ice. 3 on 3 hockey, 2 goalies, and no referee. You know the drill. Kill everything and then put the puck in the net. The rinks in Hitz are noticeably smaller than the standard NHL rink (I can see the Europeans sweating!), which results in more goals, more brutal collisions, and more fun. Add in the turbo meter and a smooth framerate, and you’ve got one fast paced game.

The controls and the mechanics of Hitz mesh perfectly. You’re basically given the standard set-up, which consists of using four buttons for shooting, passing, checking, deking, and the like. Pressing a face button may result in a different action from your player, depending on whether you’re on the offensive or the defensive. Veterans of hockey games will have no problems whatsoever.

By (presumably) pressing a shoulder button, your player will get a burst of speed thanks to your turbo meter. The meter drains while you’re using it, and refills when you aren’t. When your player is using his turbo, not only will he skate faster, but he will also shoot, spin, and hit harder. If you were to skate up to an opponent and check them, you might make them teeter, but if you come at them while holding the turbo button, expect to see their helmet fly farther than a Canadian team being relocated.

The entire gameplay mantra of Hitz is basically a tight combination of the game of hockey and ‘rock, paper, scissors’. Every situation has its solution, but every apparent solution might have a situation. If you have the puck, and an opponent tries to steamroll you, pressing the ‘deke’ button will allow your player to evade the hit. If your opponent tries to poke check you, you can press another button to guard the puck. But if you press the guard button, thinking he’s going to poke check you, and it turns out to be the wrong choice… grab me a hotdog while you’re in the stands.

The same idea comes with face offs. There are three ways you can try and win a face off, going for the puck, slashing the other guy’s ankles, or punching him in the head and taking the puck. If he tries to punch you, but you go for the puck, it’s yours. But if you go for the puck, and he goes for your ankles, he wins the draw. Rock, paper, scissors. This mindset works perfectly with the game, as it allows for blistering action, strategy that is accompanied by the sport of hockey, and a chance to win or lose in any situation.

With that idea in mind, Hitz’s fighting system benefits the most. Light and heavy punches, blocking, evading, grabbing, it’s all there, and it rocks. Though fighting in Hitz is not as outlandish as Midway could’ve made it, the basic system is all that’s needed. Add in the fact that which ever player loses the fight is forcibly put on the bench for the rest of the entire game, and you get some exciting and tense moments. Also leaning to the arcade side would be the fire system, which stems from NFL Blitz. Score a hat trick, and your player is literally set on fire. This causes his attributes to improve, making shots more precise and hits more painful. If you’re able to torment the other team enough, your entire team can be set on fire, which leads to some nice bullying.

Don’t expect too much on the audio sides of things with Hitz. From the intro music of Limp Bizkit’s “Keep Rollin” to the menu music of Limp Bizkit’s “Keep Rollin”, you’re going to find yourself smashing buttons like a monkey to get a game to start. The (purposefully) loud and obnoxious announcer is surprisingly tolerable, but the overall soundtrack and sound effects are par. Whoops, this is a preview. Err, expect the overall soundtrack and effects to be par for the Nintendo GameCube version! Go GameCube!

As Hitz is undoubtedly a pick up and play title, Midway decided to pack in an extensive list of options, secrets, and features, to keep you coming back for more. You can create your own characters and teams, and then attempt to lead them to the Stanley Cup. Or you can do that with your favorite NHL team. By winning games (and answering trivia questions offered at the end of each game correctly), you will receive a certain amount of ‘points’. Head on over to the Hockey Shop, and you can spend them on anything ranging from classic jerseys to fictional, but very cool rinks. How does facing off against the Atlanta Flames while on a Pirate Ship sound to you?

Seeing as how NHL Hitz 2002 is developed by Black Box, creators of the best hockey game in the last five years (NHL2K for the Dreamcast), all you people on the fence should at least give this one a rental when it’s released for the Cube. Whether you’re looking for a great multiplayer game to sit next to Smash Brothers Melee, a cool arcade game to lean against Super Monkey Ball, or a fun sports game to compliment Madden 2002, Hitz will have you covered. Now all we have to do is wait for Midway to release NBA Quitz, with the cover sporting commissioner David Stern standing on the Canadian flag…