Highly Addictive!
The graphics, sound, and all those technical issues are fine, but really aren't the reason your here (personally, I've never really gotten the obsession with detail in sports games, since you're too far removed from the action to even notice them, but anyways...). Hitz is all about the gameplay, and that's where this game really shines. This game is nothing but fun, fun, fun. The action is fast-paced and the intensity never goes down. As far as controls go, if you've played Jam, Open Ice, or Blitz, you know what to expect here: controls that work.
The single-player experience is a mixed bag. They give you lots of modes and full stat-tracking, but the gameplay is just too repetitive for any lengthy single-player undertaking to be really enjoyable. Once you become good at the game, beating up on the CPU is just too easy and becomes boring. Unless you're the kind of guy who likes to play all his sports games on rookie and absolutely throttle the CPU, the real fun you'll be having here is in the multi-player mode, which I think I've made abundantly clear is absolutely incredible.
Where I do need to credit Midway here is for the Franchise mode, which is in itself enjoyable to play through (once), but whose greatest reward is the creation of your own team. Create-a-player is nothing new in sports games, but due to the limited number of players on these rosters and on the ice, coupled with the intensity of the multi-player mode, there is nothing better than going head-to-head with your friends playing as created teams composed of you and your friends. If you and your friends actually play hockey, that's an even bigger bonus. In that case, you create everyone modeled on how the really play and their real positions, average everyone out enough to make everyone worth selecting, and then just go nuts with the game.
There are a few complaints worth noting, although most are minor. The only complaint about the Franchise mode is that you don't have complete freedom in the assigning of ratings, because the various playstyles have preset values and the equipment which is used to boost ratings comes in values that grow by increments of 5 or 10. Admittedly, this is only nitpicking for those who want the most accurate of player ratings. The stat-tracking for user stats is generally good, but more categories, like wins and losses, game-winning goals, and more per-game categories would have been nice. More players on the FA list and/or the ability to simply create players for the NHL teams would have gone a long way to helping maintain updated rosters (although I don't think you'd ever be able to maintain the Penguins line-up), especially since this looks like it'll be the last 3-on-3 Hitz made. And, as usual, online would have been great (on any system).
There's no doubt about it, I absolutely love this game. Of course, being a hockey nut helps, but even so, if the game couldn't stand on it's own merits there would be no way I'd enjoy it this much. If you're not in it for the multi-player experience or you're expecting a hockey sim, then it's understandable you'd score this game lower than I did. But if you're looking for a fun game to play with your buddies, there's nothing that beats this game.