Not much has changed, but Hot Pursuit still blazes with the insanely intense racing that the series is known for.
(-) doesn't do much of anything that hasn't already been done before / races often last for far too long / lots of trial and error mishaps / disappointing free-roam mode
The Need for Speed franchise has been going on for a long time now, with a different installment or two every single year. It's an impressive feat that the series which is honestly milked out just a bit can consistently produce good games, and each one sells a good bit regardless of whether or not it was critically successful. This is apparently a curse as well, because if the developers knew that people would the king of dedicated fan to rush out to buy any installment in the series, then they'll never aspire for any innovation, stay safe in the water and take no chances with the series. This is especially fitting because this time the creators of Burnout, a long-time competitor to the Need for Speed franchise, has taken the initiative to create a new game which oozes with the influence in every single turn. It offers the same jaw dropping speeds in exotic cars that many of us aren't wealthy enough to acquire in real life, nor brave enough to shoot a lid off the speed limits and evade the police. It's an ambitious title that seems like it could have been at the top pier of the series, with a lot of promise to the player to be the definitive Need for Speed experience, but somewhere along the way it comes up short, and ends up at the same good-but-flawed pantheon as the rest of the series.
The game's presentation is a lot more cleared up this time around; meaning for better or worse, you won't see any sexy women strutting their stuff that legends are made of, or seeing faceless criminals getting beat to the ground before having a date with a pair of handcuffs. It's as simple as going from one event to the next, which is good because if there's a clear cut way to make a worthwhile story in a Need for Speed game, it hasn't been found yet. What you do know, however, is you'll be taking the role as both a racer and a police officer in beautiful and varied Seacrest County.
There aren't nearly as many different race types to toggle with as other installments, but the racing itself is so intense and satisfying that you're liable to forget that check-point races and speedbreaker challenges ever existed. The other AI racers are believably challenging, acting like they have feelings and emotions of their own, hogging the shortcuts and bursting their nitrous when their left behind. They're tough right from the start, which can be frustrating for anyone who's not up to an intimidating challenge (though it is a bit odd how there's no difficulty settings), but winning the races is all the more rewarding because of it, and not just because you're unlocking another awesome car along with another event to stride through.
Your racing is only a part-time job, and even alone its enough to satisfy most who crave some racing action that makes use of 100% of their skill, but you'll also get the chance to act as a police officer and chase down other racers. You might break down an entire pack of those more focused on getting the hell out of the distance than escaping you, making them significantly easier than chasing a single rival crook, who will do whatever they can to weasel their way away from you. Even if the thought of taking control of a cop freaks you out at first, you'll eventually try it out and most likely end up surprised how much you like it. The game does give you liberal breaks from the intensity, somewhat anyway, in some missions that only ask you drive by yourself to a destination within a time limit, which allows you to acquaint yourself with the surroundings without worrying about other racers. This would probably be better handled in the free-roam mode, now called free-drive mode, but it's disappointingly weak in Hot Pursuit. It won't take you long to realize that while Seacrest County is certainly a sight for sore eyes, it's little more than a realm of connected highways with very little civilization, and even worse, no cop chases. Even know day and night interchanges as you explore, there's little point in exploring such a large yet simplistic city, and you'll get bored quickly because of it.
As you reach the checkered flag a couple of times, the difficulty will ramp up rather quickly. Not only with the opposing AI become more sophisticated, you'll and they will also acquire access to weaponry, which feels downright phoned in here in Need for Speed, but still a useful twist. These come in the form of EMP shots, which target and hit a player in the distance, a jammer which can temporarily shut off all technology of the opposition for a short amount of time, and a spike strip, which is a deadly landmine which will nearly total a car that happens to be slip-streaming or unintentionally rams into it. It doesn't stop there, of course, there's also road blocks and helicopter support, and how you use it skillfully will depend on which side of the law you're on. They can be very helpful in certain circumstances, but they're much too overpowered. For example, the spike strip is practically powerful enough to single-handedly keep you from winning the race because it stops you for a dreadful five seconds, and it can be next to impossible to recover that lost time, which means you'll need to restart. And a lot. The unpredictability does a lot to add immersion to the races, but too often they make winning a form of random chance, and this trial and error makes progressing through the game much slower than the list of events suggest. Magnifying these issues is the races last a long time, often as long as ten or fifteen minutes you'll have to battle the odds and the arsenal of the already challenging opponents, and it can be difficult to keep your focus in tip-top condition during the entire race, which makes trial and error even more damning. But at least if you're persistent it makes winning the ending medal even more rewarding.
The most obvious sign that this was created by the same guys responsible for Burnout was the higher emphasis on crashes, going as far as giving you a cut-scene real time while the AI swaps your control with your vehicle for a second. While it's cool to watch these cars bite the dust, it can be scary thinking of where you'll be left off when its over. What if you're feet away from a straight wall, or about to run into another damn spike strip? Who knows! But if you're just driving in a straight, already aware of what's ahead, you should be fine.
No matter if you're racing or busting, you have a slick selection of awesome automobiles to choose from. Try the Lamborghini Galladro for size, a slick powerful ride that's sure to please you with its healthy balance of power and coordination. All the hit-maker models like Ford, Chevy, and Nissan give you a widespread selection of cars to choose from, all which become unlocked as you play, and switching from one to the other has a substantial impact on the result of the race. And choosing your favorite ride and becoming seasoned with it is a no brainer, because the controls give you maximum precision with your ride. You'll accelerate with the back trigger, with works ingeniously for racing games, and steer with the analog stick, reserving the face buttons for the special items to send the race's balance out the window. Taking turns can be tricky at first, as the break button is entirely pressure sensitive, and it can be easy to accidentally do a doughnut and lose the race indefinitely from your ignorance. But once you get the hang of it, it allows you to take some pretty sharp turns at high speed, and makes the game much more playable thanks to these improvements.
You'll be spending plenty of time in the single player mode it you're determined to beat it, and how long it will take you will depend entirely on how often you get stuck, which might vary drastically among players. You can use this acquired experience to experience Auto Log, which is the game's online interface to allow people to compete in racing or cop challenges and communicate with each other easily through messages and posts similar to Facebook. Finding a match is quick and easy, you even have separate lobbies for different classes of cars, so if you want a slower, more tactical race you can step in a lobby for beginner cars, or if you need more adrenaline and challenge, use the exotic lobby. The experience is also smooth and lag free. The events themselves are only redo's of the various challenges in the campaign though, but the action is so intense that it's easily forgiven. The only kicker of having all this available to you is the requirement to activate an EA Online Pass, which new retail copies come with it, but if you buy it used you'll need to purchase one on the Playstation Store for ten dollars. It's a good business move for sure, but only one account can use the pass, and its inconvenient for the customer. Hopefully the trend doesn't continue with other developers.
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit is one of the prettiest racing games to come along in a while. There's nice, lush flair with the colors, you'll see lights blur as you drive through a tunnel, and red and blue lights when the cops approach from behind. The environments are varied and gorgeous, even having occasional variants in weather which really do help break up the sameness once in a while. Putting it plain and simple, Hot Pursuit is one of the best looking games on the Playstation 3. Audio isn't up to snuff though, but its by no means a slouch. The opening song on the title screen is pretty cool, and much of the other music is good stuff, even if most people don't know what the bands are, because the recording is very high quality. The weather effects are even more noticeable through the sound.
Despite its challenging races and straight A production values, a game that wants to be a revolution in the series ends up just standing in the audience, because much of the racing events and even environments you'll see really make one think of the past, particularly the last generation Hot Pursuit. What makes this a problem is that this game was capable of being the top pier Need for Speed title if it really wanted to, but doesn't do enough things to truly separate it from everything that's come before it. And coincidentally everything it excels in is to be expected from a game on this strong of hardware. But those who have loved Need for Speed before will certainly love this more, but it'll hardly reach the level of the "favorite game in the series status", rather compliment the rest of the series in general.