After delivering a series of rights and lefts, alternating between the body and head, Raven reaches over and grabs his opponent, bending him over before flipping him up and back with a well-timed knee to the face.

World Wrestling Federation? Nope. Remember that old cliché about “watching a pretty good fight when suddenly a hockey game broke out?” Well, that is what is on tap here, with NHL Hitz 20-02, from Midway and Black Box Games, for the Xbox.

The action is incredibly fast-paced, the hitting is definitely teeth rattling, and the players can get so hot, that they are actually on fire.

This is a terrific blend of arcade-style gaming (as in with the players steaming and bursting into flame) and straight-ahead sports simulation. If this games can’t get a sports fan’s blood pumping, and raise calluses on his fingers from working the controller to death, then nothing will.

A well-timed hit will send helmets flying, or propel bodies through the glass surrounding the ice. Work it well enough and you can leave so many bodies laying on the ice, that you attack the goalie virtually unchallenged. However, there is that one little thing that may spoil a goal opportunity – this game is endorsed by the National Hockey League Players Association, which means that the goal keeper you are relentlessly attacking may be a Patrick Roy, or any of the league’s best net-minders.

You can create your own team (franchise), and fiddle with each player’s attributes. Skating, passing, shooting, checking are among the areas that you will need to pay attention to. Each new player starts off with all attribute numbers in the red (which is weak). As you play, you can gain attribute points for winning, or answering the game-ending NHL trivia question correctly. These points can immediately be transferred over to you team. Yellow attribute points means those particular skills are fair; green means they are strong.

Your franchise team will face 50 games en route to the Midway Cup. You only advance through the games by winning. If, say, the Chicago Black Hawks visit your home ice in your second game of the season, and you lose, you are facing them again, and again, and again until you can advance past them to your third scheduled game. That may be a drawback, but you do pick up a lot of valuable game experience along the way – and some frustration, especially if you have taken them into three overtime games, only to lose there. Of course, giving up a two-goal lead in the final three-minute period didn’t help matters much.

The one thing about having your own franchise, as opposed to selecting to play as one of the NHL teams, is that NHL players cannot be edited, while you can apply all the attribute points correctly to make your team a dynasty for seasons to come.

There are three skill levels to suit players of all controller abilities, and you can turn the fighting off if you prefer not to allow that aspect of the game. Actually, though players may get hit, the fights can often seem tamer than the hitting taking place within the rules of the game.

The games are played three-on-three with each team having a fourth player – the goalkeeper. Gamers can choose to play as only one player during the game, locking in the choice during the lineup selection. That can be a little nerve-wracking when trying to cover a zone and hoping the other players do their job.

Three camera angles give this game a great look. You can go with the traditional overhead view, or view the game from the side of the ice. But for all the action, you really want to view the game at ice level. That affords the best view of the skill that went into designing this game.

The player details and animation are nothing short of spectacular. Players can be customized, and you can have the name of your choice, as well as the number, displayed on the back on the jersey, for all to see anytime the team takes the ice.

Unfortunately, the customized name won’t be called, so you have to give the players a nickname. There is a long list to choose from, so you won’t be stuck with the same old boring nickname. That, though understandable, is about the only hitch in the soundtrack. The crowd is loud, the ice sounds are excellent, the play-by-play is a little pedantic but still strong, and the music rocks. Players can choose the type of music that they would like to hear during the game play, and this program allows players to download their own favorite songs to incorporate into the soundtrack.

The controls are kept rather simple, and taking the skills challenge (akin to training) will allow players to learn the controller functions quicker.

NHL Hitz 20-02 is an absolute joy to play. It has tremendous graphics and audio, and a solid options package. To paraphrase an old NHL announcer, this game “shoots, it scores!”

Install: N/A

Gameplay: 9.3
This program features absolutely flawless action from the beginning of a period to the end. The only interruption is when the gloves come off and two players stand toe-to-toe for a slugfest. The game interface is well designed.

Graphics: 9.5
Yes, you know that these are computerized characters, but you also will have a tendency to forget that. The animation is amazing, and the player details are wonderful. Sometimes, if you look behind the action, you will see other animations taking place that make this a totally believable game. Of course, you can also take this game out of the realm of the believable by creating a team with outrageous heads, playing against aliens on a lunar ice rink. However, even there, the detail is amazing.

Sound: 9
Each aspect of the sound track will very solid, and really accelerates the game’s graphics.

Difficulty: 8.5
The player interface is well designed, the control aspects are kept simple and the game features a nice options package that will enable players to customize what they want to see (as in turning off the fights). The three difficulty levels will enable most players the ability to compete well.

Concept: 9
Sure, this is one of the first hockey games created for the Xbox, but it is incredibly well done.

Multiplayer: 9
This game enables multiplayer gaming, and allows players to lock on (or control) a certain player. While the single-player game is fun, this game was built for multiplayer gaming. Up to four players can participate in the game.

Overall: 9.1
While it would be easy to give this game a much higher score, it is important to note that this is the first hockey game for the Xbox. So what is wrong with it so that it doesn’t get a 10? Not a thing. However room has to be left for a better game to come along. That said, it should be noted that this Midway/Black Box product sets the bar for hockey games for this console system. The graphics are superb, the sound terrific, the action incredible, and the overall game is very addictive.