Need for Speed Hot Pursuit PS3 Review

The Need for Speed Hot Pursuit games have been missing for quite some time as Electronic Arts has focused the Need for Speed series on underground/street racing that was made mainstream through the Fast & Furious movies. Along the way, the series lost its focus, which was high speed chases between cops and racers in exotic cars. Finally, Electronic Arts either noticed the lackluster sales of those previous street racing games or listened to fans. I would like to fondly think it was the latter, but most likely it was the lack of sales. Luckily, Criterion, the makers of the Burnout series, was behind creating this great game.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, takes everything that was fun in the Hot Pursuit series, which was the cops and racers format of gameplay and meshes it with the spectacular crashing and aggressive racing of the Burnout series. As a result, the finished product is a game that is ultimately fun and hard to put down, especially the online portion.

Single player campaign mode in Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is composed of a police pursuit campaign and a racer campaign. The cop campaign consists of three events: Hot Pursuit, Interceptor, and Rapid Response. Hot Pursuit is an event where the cop needs to shut down a race with multiple racers. The Interceptor event is one cop trying to bust one racer. Rapid Response is basically a time trial event to reach the destination in the fastest time. The racer campaign is composed of five events: Hot Pursuit, Race, Time Trial, Duel, and Gauntlet. Hot Pursuit pits the player against other racers and cops trying to shut down the race. The goal is to win the race in first place. Race is a standard race with no cops involved. Time Trial is a race against time with no other racers, with the goal to beat the milestone time. Duel is a one on one race to the finish. Gauntlet is a one person race to the finish line against the clock and numerous cops trying to stop the racer.

There are over 50 total tracks to traverse and both racers and cops have a multitude of tools to assist them in their duties. Cops can setup roadblocks, disperse spike strips, deploy an EMP, or dispatch a helicopter to incapacitate racers. Racers have tools also to deter cops. Racers have a limited turbo to boost away from danger, EMP, spike strips, and a jammer to prevent cops from deploying any tools against the player. All tools have a limited supply per race and cannot be refilled. Players get a bounty for avoiding cops and winning races as racers and for busting racers and using tools as cops. There are 20 ranking levels for both cops and racers separately and level progression unlocks new cars and tool upgrades. Ranking can be increased through offline campaign mode or online versus modes. There is also a Free-Run mode that allows the player to test out any car anywhere without worrying about crashes or time limits. Races can occur during the day or night and with different road conditions such as rain or snow.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit allows the player to take photos of gameplay or cars at any time during the game. Need for Speed introduces a new feature called Autolog that tracks in game achievements of the player and friends. Autolog recommends challenges for the player that if accomplished will net the player bonus bounty. Also, the Autolog informs the player when their own records have been beaten in races. Comments and photos can be posted on the Autolog wall for viewing by others and Autolog also recommends new friends to the player to connect with.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit also has an online multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode allows for friend matches or general public matches in three modes: Hot Pursuit, Interceptor, and Race. Hot Pursuit pits four player racers against four player cops in a race to the finish. Busting all four racers nets an automatic win for the cops and wrecking all the cops nets an automatic win for the racers. Interceptor pits one racer against one cop. Race is a generic eight player race with no cops or tools available. Bounty is obtained from all online modes and added to player ranking. There are a multitude of cars to choose from and five car types: Sports, Performance, Super, Exotic, and Hyper.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit takes the Need for Speed back to its roots and improves upon a game that has not seen an update in many years. Having a studio such as Criterion that created the Burnout series, develop the game has contributed to making Need for Speed Hot Pursuit a stellar game. Between the high speed chases and spectacular crashes, players will not be able to put this game down. The game takes the best of Burnout, the high speed crashes, and the cat and mouse gameplay of Hot Pursuit, and melds it into gaming perfection. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit should be the future of Burnout. There is also DLC content that provides a few more cars and tracks for both cops and racers and also an unlock DLC that allows the player access to all of the cars from the beginning of the game for those like myself who purchased the game a month after release and are lazy. Buy this game, it will not disappoint.