Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit


The thrill of the open road - it's something that appeals to anyonewith more than a drop of testosterone coursing through them; hot blacktarmac stretching as far as the eye can see unfurling under a clearblue sky while tall pines and rock faces sculpt miles of automotivepleasure that offer the ultimate in male hedonism. Video games havebeen treading these tracks since their inception, from OutRun's breezytake on the experience through to the studied autism of Gran Turismo.

And it's something that was core to the very first Need for Speed, agame that wowed some 16 years ago and spawned what's become one ofgaming's very biggest racing franchises. There have been someinteresting detours since, whether that was the Hollywood excess ofUndercover or the white-knuckled brilliance of Shift, but the firstgame was essentially about nothing more complex than the joys of oneman and his machine pitted against miles of winding road.

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Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Criterion's much-anticipated spin on theseries, takes this basic concept, furnishes it with the Burnoutdeveloper's experience of connected play and polishes it to within aninch of its life. The result is a promising and potentially potent mix;a racer that's aware of its heritage while acknowledging the connectednature of its hardware – and it means that Need for Speed: Hot Pursuitcould be the most exciting driving game in some time.

First the basics; Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit excels on the road,something that's immediately apparent during our first demonstration, astraight-up Time Trial behind the wheel of a Carrera GT. The car itselfis heart-stoppingly attractive; this may be the first time thatCriterion has been charged with replicating real-life vehicles butyou'd be hard-pushed to tell. The in-game models stop-short of theprecision offered by the likes of Forza and Gran Turismo but to atoneit seems they've been oh-so-delicately caricatured, the curves andbumps bought to the fore and ensuring that the cars are just screamingto be chucked around.

Hot Pursuit's handling plays well to this impulse. The cars feelpendulous with a real sense of momentum, and while teasing the rear endout with a dab of the brakes is straightforward, maintaining apowerslide with grace is a rewardingly tough endeavour. They feelalive, making Burnout Paradise's cars feel restrictive in retrospect –and it seems as if Criterion has struck the perfect balance between itsarcade heritage and the Need for Speed's more straight-faced demands.



Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Criterion's much-anticipated spin on theseries, takes this basic concept, furnishes it with the Burnoutdeveloper's experience of connected play and polishes it to within aninch of its life. The result is a promising and potentially potent mix;a racer that's aware of its heritage while acknowledging the connectednature of its hardware – and it means that Need for Speed: Hot Pursuitcould be the most exciting driving game in some time.

First the basics; Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit excels on the road,something that's immediately apparent during our first demonstration, astraight-up Time Trial behind the wheel of a Carrera GT. The car itselfis heart-stoppingly attractive; this may be the first time thatCriterion has been charged with replicating real-life vehicles butyou'd be hard-pushed to tell. The in-game models stop-short of theprecision offered by the likes of Forza and Gran Turismo but to atoneit seems they've been oh-so-delicately caricatured, the curves andbumps bought to the fore and ensuring that the cars are just screamingto be chucked around.

Hot Pursuit's handling plays well to this impulse. The cars feelpendulous with a real sense of momentum, and while teasing the rear endout with a dab of the brakes is straightforward, maintaining apowerslide with grace is a rewardingly tough endeavour. They feelalive, making Burnout Paradise's cars feel restrictive in retrospect –and it seems as if Criterion has struck the perfect balance between itsarcade heritage and the Need for Speed's more straight-faced demands.



It helps that the roads Criterion have crafted are so spectacular. Thefirst we see, Oakmont Valley, looks every inch the tribute to the 1994original. A rain-slicked road winds through pines and North Pacificwilderness, swinging around the Eastern-most part of Need for Speed:Hot Pursuit's fictional Seacrest County. It's all very handsome, but asit swiftly descends into night-time it reveals itself to bespectacular.

Lights dance off the puddles and bounce from the walls of tunnels onthe route, red trials streaming from the rear of the car while nitrousbursts paint the road in a phosphorous blue. A downhill run to anilluminated dam feels like it could be ripped straight from OutRun 2,though Hot Pursuit's impressive deferred lighting and handsome visualsmakes it clear that this is Criterion pulling the strings.

It's not the only time that Criterion's influence is felt. A laterevent dubbed Sun, Sand and Supercars shows the studio is expertlytowing the line between its own philosophy and the series' persona. An11.4 mile run modelled on the Pacific Coastal Highway takes in somebreathtaking sights, from the dust-storms at the course's start to aglimpse of the ocean that's so breathtaking it almost sends uscareering off the road.

The long stretches and audacious elevation changes bring to mind thevery first Need for Speed game, but get the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder intimate with its opposition and its clear who's makingthis game. Grind a rival car into the environment and the action willslow, the camera pulling back for a slow-motion look at the carnagethat's been instigated as a million dollars worth of supercar scrapesalong the tarmac. It's not the only borrowing from Burnout – there's afamiliar nitro bar that's filled by familiar tasks, be that checkingtraffic or holding a lurid slide.

This arcade excess is even taken further than Criterion has venturedbefore in the previously detailed Hot Pursuit modes, though they'restill in keeping with the series' mandate. These are manic affairs,especially in the new Blacklisted mode that we get to try. It's astraight point-to-point run with one twist; the cops are out in force,and their numbers steadily increase as the course's end is reached.



What starts off as trading paint with some black and whites – which, inNeed for Speed: Hot Pursuit's wonderful alternate world, are allsupercars themselves, with the stock cop mount being a GTR Spec V –soon escalates as the force starts to implement its arsenal. There arespikes which can be dodged and road blocks that can be threadedthrough, all done while a helicopter swoops overhead, it's flashingblue and red lights brilliantly strobing around the scenery.

Then the big guns come out; in this instance the police decide toroll-out a Pagani Zonda decked out in stealth black paint and completewith some flashing lights of its own. That's when it gets reallyhectic, and as night quickly descends the scrapes and sparks of theensuing duel light up the dark. Getting to the finish line withoutbeing spun out, spiked or pummeled into oblivion is a herculean task,and it's something that elicits a little scream of delight when wemanage to pull it off.

The police may put up one hell of a fight, but the player's greatestrival in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit will always be their friends.Autolog, Criterion's own bespoke social networking service, dynamicallypulls in recent achievements from friends lists and models eventsaround them. It's presented in a feed that's familiar from the likes ofTwitter and Facebook – hot times mix with status updates and photospulled both from the game world and a own photo studio where dreamshots can be posed.

What's really impressive is how this informs the on-road action; eventsare suggested off the back of friend's recent activity, while a'speedwall' serves as Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit's leaderboard. It'spervasive too, as friends' hot times that are within the player's graspare displayed on the in-game HUD.

This borrowing of social networking traits is something that's beentried before with the likes of Blur, but never has it been sofundamental to a racing game's make-up. But while it's certainlyinteresting, making for a game that's connected in a much more naturalway than Criterion's Burnout: Paradise, it's the other aspects of Needfor Speed: Hot Pursuit that really excite; the glorious open roads andferocious supercars alongside all the brawn and dazzle that's becomethe studio's territory. 16 years on from the original and it looks likeNeed for Speed has found its perfect partner in Criterion - and theresult could well be the best in the series yet.

good job man !! , im not sure if im gonna buy this one , looks like another boring nfs :S