Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is the latest game in the established arcade racing franchise. Developed by Criterion Games, the creators of the Burnout series, Need for Speed places you behind the wheel of some of the world’s hottest and fastest cars. Experience races from both the cops’ and the racers’ perspectives as you strive to be the best in your field in the Seacrest County area.
Let’s put the pedal to the metal and start the HOTs and NOTs.
HOTs
Level system
Leveling up unlocks better equipment and new cars for racers and cops to drive, keeping the game new and fresh as well as unlocking harder events which keep a constant competitive challenge going throughout the title. Unlocking new cars is a great part of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, but it is out-gunned in a sense by unlocking upgraded equipment. Road blocks beef up to do more damage and spike strips almost double in size, which causes much more hectic races when this deadly equipment is used.
Combined Experiences
One feature of Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit that is great for letting the game be one massive experience has to be the fact that XP is earned overall in the Career and Online modes, rather than earned separately. This is completely different from many other titles and is the perfect way for gamers who would normally stay away from multiplayer to join in without the feeling of being completely behind the usual online players. To date I have managed to enjoy a totally lag free online experience, which makes the transition from single to multiplayer much easier; other developers should certainly take note that a lag-less online is necessary for maintaining players’ interest.
Presentation
Need For Speed both looks and sounds amazing with great effects that help fully immerse players into the game. Being a racing title, the most important part is that the cars and the tracks look stunning; from the burning of tires along the road to the smoke and dust that flies up into the player’s vision from the cars in front, the attention to detail is nothing less than impressive.
What is even more impressive is the lighting in the game, which becomes evident when driving a cop car through a tunnel and seeing the blue and red lights flash off the walls. The incredible lighting, combined with the blurring effects when travelling at over 200 mph, the visuals really help immerse players and give them a true feeling of fast exhilarating racing.
Cars You Want To Drive
Unlike other titles, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit hasn’t aimed to have the same range of cars other titles do, the difference being it has allowed the developers to make every car look amazing. Make no mistake, with over 60 cars available the game certainly does not skimp on options. Every car in the game is a car you would love to drive, enabling fast paced gameplay from the first to the last race, either as cops or escaping racers. This cuts out the boring start which many other racing titles seem to go for, giving a welcome break from slow-paced starting cars.
Equipment
The equipment is a great part of Hot Pursuit, causing frustration for all racers and cops alike in the hot pursuit races both on and offline. The most satisfying is possibly the tire spikes, as they are not only great fun to call in to stop the driver behind you, but are rather effective if used at the perfect time to avoid EMPs. All the equipment options add an extra edge to the gameplay, turning an otherwise tedious ramming race into a full on race to the death. This allows races to be played multiple times with different things happening every second of the race and even allows players miles behind to affect the outcome of the pursuit, not only increasing the replay value but making for exhilarating gameplay throughout the entire race for any level of player.
Online mode
The task of the police gets much more competitive when the game is taken online. Wiping out friends or other players from around the world gives you that extra feeling of accomplishment that the AI doesn’t quite manage. The modes are perfectly built around it too; while you can do a planned race, the game is truly alive in the interceptor or hot pursuit game type. Hot pursuit mode puts a maximum of four cops vs. 4 racers in a battle to busting and escaping; Interceptor mode takes this down to the personal level with a 1 v 1 between a cop and racer where the race does not end until either an escape or a bust has been made. Both of these last two modes create the perfect environment for competitive racing at its finest.
Simplicity
The way Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has been developed means the entire game is very simple to play and navigate, leading to a lot more enjoyable experience. Not only are the menus, car details and equipment laid out in an easy to navigate and clear way, but they are also introduced when players unlock or use them.
This quickly and efficiently gives the player all the relevant information, especially when it comes to the game modes which are fully explained; so no guess work has to be done, allowing players to fully enjoy the races themselves.
NOTs
Open Game World
The world apart from other drivers or racers is just one step away from feeling like a proper living breathing world. While the traffic goes well enough to make the world feel full the game just misses that full spark that would make the game world and the game overall have that wow factor.
Odd Car Physics
While clearly it is an arcade racing title and overall the handling of the cars is fine when the player attempts to PIT maneuver another car, instead of causing it to spin, it pushes the entire rammed car in a direction. This can get rather frustrating when playing as a cop, as it means simple takedowns don’t happen, although for racers it does stop the frustration of constantly spinning around.
Missing Features?
With more and more emphasis being poured onto the multiplayer aspects of games it is strange to find a title—especially a Need For Speed game—ignoring the split-screen racing feature. The single player is extremely enjoyable, the multiplayer is fantastic; but what happens if a friend pops round? Passing the controller is the way forward, which seems not only slightly outdated but unfortunate because the game is so good online.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit surprisingly has very little customization options for vehicles. When it comes to the cars, apart from picking your ride, the only other option presented is from a pre-selected list of colors. While this lack of customization helps keep online races fair it does lose an element of possible personalization.
Verdict
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit is the most fast paced racing game I have experienced in a long time. With a great on and offline experience, it nails the presentation, gameplay and, most importantly, the fun factor. While there are a few reasons that hold the title back from being perfect, not many titles will let players drift around corners perfectly while using NOS. There are loads of reasons to love this game and the fact it is so fun is just one of the many reasons why the game has so much replay value, no matter what your skill level.
[Editor’s Choice: Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit was reviewed on a PlayStation 3 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]