Game review: Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit

Published on Sunday 19 December 2010 10:42

The Need For Speed series seems to change every year. One minute it's an illegal street racing title, the next it's a professional circuit racer.

It certainly covers all bases but in Hot Pursuit, the series returns to its cross country, cops 'n' robbers roots. Burnout developer Criterion Studios has been brought in to work its magic, and as a result, the game positively thrills.

Based in fictional Seacrest County, the campaign is split between Racers and Enforcers, with each strain offering various game modes and events.

Cops come equipped with heavy-hitting gear to help slow down racers, such as spike strips, EMP blasts, road blocks and helicopter support. It's genuinely exciting as a racer to be barrelling across a coastal highway at 200mph with six cops on your tail, but it's also just as fun being the cop in pursuit.

That both modes are as enjoyable as each other, speaks volumes about how well balanced the game is.

Visually, this is an absolute treat, delivering a real sense of speed as you fire through the lush forests, blazing desert plains and weather-beaten mountains of the game world.

Add to this a superb risk-reward system, that rewards players with boost for near-missing oncoming traffic, driving on the wrong side of the road and drifting, and you have one of the most intense arcade racing experiences to date.

It's also refreshing to see that the career mode is so vast, putting the recent trend of short games to shame.

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit44.99, PS3/Xbox 360

This article was first published in The Scotsman, 18 December, 2010