Introduction
You see a puck flying through the air, bodies are slamming into
the boards, glass is shattering, then a siren wails. The crowds are
going wild, roaring with excitement as you take your victory lap, and
do a little dance. Everybody starts to settle down again, and you're
back for another face-off.


Gameplay
The graphics are amazing for being rendered realtime. Not only
are the major physical attributes-- Height, Weight, Number, Name,
etc.-- easily shown, but the details-- fish swimming under the ice
(certain levels), 3D crowd, scores from the skates remaining on the
ice, etc.-- are truly amazing. The details don't stop there! They
extend to the sound as well. Though the announcer quickly makes a
pain of himself, and I usually turn him off relatively quickly, the
crowd, sound effects, and music more then make up for that fault. The
noise of the crowd is pretty good, but it's background noise, just as
it's supposed to be. Considering that players groan as they're
crawling over the boards to get back into the game after smashing
through the glass, I would say that the effects are just plain cool.
Finally, there's the music... If there's one thing that I hate, it's
a game with sucking music that plays over and over. Not so with Hitz!
Limp Bizkit, Korn, Fuel, Staind, and Puddle of Mudd, just to name a
few of the bands that I can remember off the top of my head. There's
a huge in game list of all the bands and songs sorted by genre.


Story
From the creators of NFL Blitz comes NHL Hitz! Do you see the
slight name resemblance? Neither could I... (Reviewer's Note: This is
sarcasm. (Reviewer's Note's Note: This is pointing out the painfully
obvious.)) Keeping in the Blitz pattern, Hitz is a fast paced,
penalty free, high hitting game.


Graphics
After you build up your team, buy all the junk that you want,
win the Stanley Cup, and win the Midway Cup (all of which comprises
of 80+ games, 12+ minutes each... comes to be 60+ hours), there's not
much else to do alone, but play mini-games, or work on a new team. On
the other hand, if you play with friends (as most games should be
played), the play time is literally endless! Then there's all the
other games you can play like, knock off all the opponent's helmets,
get all your helmets knocked off, score only in at certain times
(when the goalie's down, one-timers, etc.), etc. The list goes on,
just use your imagination!


Sound
Wrapping up, this is a great game. If you liked Blitz, get it.
If you didn't like Blitz, rent then get it. If you hated Blitz, rent
it.