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Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
I remember playing the original Need for
Speed on the 3DO and thought “wow”, this was the future of racing. It
had everything… gorgeous locales, luxury sports cars and high speed
police chases. This was definitely not your traditional racing game. So
here we are again, 16 years since the original Need for Speed Game and
two years after the latest title.
The Need for Speed franchise has had
its ups and downs over the years but this time developers Criterion have
come to the rescue after there excellent Burnout series. So what is Need
for Speed Hot Pursuit? Imagine Burnout meets the traditional Need for
Speed series and you'll have idea. It works well!
The best aspect of Hot
Pursuit is that the developers have gone back to basics as the player
attempts to outrace and outwit the police. Who cares if the premise is
politically incorrect but at its racing heart pumped full of fuel, Need
for Speed: Hot Pursuit is a classic arcade racer from start to finish.
With a variety of
real-world cars to select from, you’ll be racing at some insane
speeds on these luxurious locations such as forests and beaches but just
be warned, one incorrect manoeuvrer may see you in a whole world of
hurt. It's all about speed and accuracy here.
The track design of Hot
Pursuit is perfect and although it looks a little too clean, the road
design is great as are the various backgrounds and obstacles in the way.
It’s the subtle things of Hot Pursuit that put a big fat smile on your
face such as cars flashing their lights at you if you get too close or
drifting around a bend as you attempt to outrace the police.
Hot Pursuit features
some interesting gameplay modes such as traditional races, pursuits and
for the purists, test drives. Races and pursuits are definitely the
winners here, however test drives are entertaining to "test" those
luxury cars and also fine tune your racing abilities.
Apart from your high
speed opponents, the police are definitely the thorn in your tyres.
Imagine watching those high speed chases on TV but as opposed to the
careful PIT (precision immobilisation technique) manoeuvre, the police are
definitely more aggressive as they attempt to nudge you to a stop. This
really turns Hot Pursuit into an action packed racer that is definitely
the highlight of the game.
For gaming incentives,
there are new tracks, classes and cars to be unlocked and then you have
multiplayer. The modes can also be tweaked such as cop versus street
racer or
to something more challenging, 4 cops versus 4 racers.
With the police,
they will dry their dandiest to stop you in almost any means possible,
besides their thuggish
takedowns. For example, roadblocks, spike strips, helicopters and even EMP bursts await you on the tracks once you break the law.
Add in some
multiplayer modes and you have everything you need to play this
game for a considerable amount of time. Although there is no local split
screen support, the autolog feature allows you to display your top
scores to friends that gives you something to beat. Imagine FaceBook for
Need for Speed.
The game also contains a wealth of real-world environment influences
such as realistic lighting, day and night drives and a variety of weather effects
such as storms and whatnot. Nothing is more realistic than racing up a
mountain and then racing down the other side as the rain begins to fall.
You won’t see any of this in the latest Gran Turismo game my friends.
All these environment influences can sometimes play havoc on your
racing, especially as you attempt to slide around the corner in a storm
or misjudge a section of the road due to heavy fog. Then again, if you
use nitrous in the wrong spot, it could be quite hazardous.
Graphically, the game is
pure eye candy and on some occasions, I just pulled over to see what was
going on. The graphics are quite realistic and the attention to detail
is great from the leaves on the trees to the beautiful locations from
seaside towns to mountain areas. The stars of the game are the various
vehicles which look lush and help create a sense of speed.... Add in a
loud pumping soundtrack and all the noises of cars and crashes and this
game was made to deliver.
If you loved the Burnout series, than Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is a
must have title and best of all, it pays homage to the original Need for
Speed game. Even though the chase scenes are clichéd, fast and furious,
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit takes arcade racing to another new level. Great graphics
and gameplay to die for... I've not had this much fun on the XBox 360 in
a long time. |
