1 of the best games i have bought to date is NHL Hitz 2003. This game at first has a sense of amazement at just how big the hits are and how much fun u have executing them and playing with your friends. But the real fun comes after some more playing.
First off, the 1-player mode consists of Franchise, which is a Great way to keep the replayability in the game. There are certain tasks that you must complete against each team to get more upgrade points, to make your created team become better. This mode is the basis for unlockables, as well as getting new equipement for your team.
From that, i go to unlockables, while not unbelievably gratifying getting them because most of these are useless, however, the unlockables definitely do not take away from the replayability.
The real fun is with the Multiplayer. You will have endless fun playing this no matter who u are, hockey fan or not. It is easy to get used to and fun enough to keep u hooked. I have played over 600 matches already and i'm playing nearly daily with friends and brother. Then there are the Mini games that can keep your interest for a bit once u get it at first, but then u just pass them off as other ways to keep you entertained, i found breaking the glass and King of the Rink intensly fun 4 players and a definite worth a try.
Then there's the graphics and sound, the graphics are below-par, however the character models are recognizable and the animations for hits and the physical aspects of the game are top notch.
Sounds in the game are well suited and effective, the hard hits will give that bone breaking sound that just makes u squirm. The glass breaking audio is as effective as it gets, and the in game music like Hoobastank, Rob Zombie, Powerman 5000, and Incubus suits the hard hitting game well and are easy to listen to while playing the game.
Although the game itself is good, there are plenty of glitches to be found that just make you wish that instead of releasing Hits pro, they just released this game, improved the graphics, fixed the glitches and the AI. It seems like the more you play, the more often these glitches appear, face-offs are often won by game glitches, as well as hits not hitting. Then there's the absolutely awful AI of goalies more so then players. Facing a computer is a piece of cake, especially when their goalie will dive out at you 80% of the time. The key is to turn up the difficulty, and change some advanced settings around to make the goalie's stop the puck easier. Just experiment until u find something that worx and then the game gets challenging.
If you're a person that'll likely play games with friends more then alone, this game is a definite buy. Just don't just pass this off as another sports game, because it's not, it's leaning closer to a party game with the amount of fun you'll be having 4-players.
