Game: Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Electronic Arts
Release Date: 25th March 1998
Before the Need for Speed series focused on street racing, the games featured races on varying terrain, with both real and fictitious supercars and fairly long tracks, meaning that races could last anywhere from 6-12 minutes. While the standard Single Race, Tournament and Knockout modes have been carried over from previous instalments, the Hot Pursuit is a new feature and allows players to compete in a one-on-one race with another racer on a police filled track.
The racing action itself is pretty enjoyable; the cars handle well though not particularly differently from one another and there's a few to choose from. Tracks can be a little difficult to master, but there's enough time in the default 4 lap races to get used to the twists and turns and make a comeback after any errors. There's a choice of arcade or simulation handling, and arcade is definitely the better of the two, with the ability to drift around the corners and less of a weighty feeling to the cars.
Graphically the game isn't particularly impressive, with blocky cars, flat looking scenery and an overall lack of definition. Obviously it's for the original Playstation so players shouldn't be expecting too much, but it's not a huge step up from previous games in the series, and it really shows its age in the modern day. Soundwise there's a mix of music to accompany gameplay, but none of it really stands out as being great.
Overall the game definitely could have done with more of a career mode than what tournament mode offers; unlocking cars just isn't enough of an incentive to continue playing the game, no matter how thrilling it can be at times. The Hot Pursuit subtitle is also slightly misleading since it's one of the less enjoyable modes of the game, with police basically getting in the way of a duel race and barely affecting opponents.
Rating: 66/100
Grade: C
Game: Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: EA
Release Date: 25th October 2002
Building on the formula of the original Hot Pursuit, the sequel brings bigger and better racing to almost every aspect of the game. Firstly and most importantly there's now 'You're the cop' mode where players can take the role of the police, chasing racers and filling their ticket quota as well as enjoying the use of roadblocks and helicopters in order to stop fugitives. The main mode is far better in terms of progression also with a tree style diagram indicating which races unlock tracks and cars, and the final race unlocking the McLaren F1 car in all game modes.
There's both regular racing and police chase missions included, and the regular racing still outdoes the police version, but it's far closer now. The police are fairly persistent and it's annoying to get 5 minutes or more into a mission, only to fail thanks to an aggressive police cruiser. Unfortunately the unlocks in both modes are the same, so there's no real reason to play through both modes, but it's nice that they have some sort of structure.
The racing action itself is pretty good, cars handle nicely but not in such a way that hairpins and other difficult bends aren't given their fair representation. The courses feature many shortcuts; some of which can win races outright thanks to their efficient corner-cutting. There's a big selection of cars to unlock, and most of them are the type of things players will be keen to race, which is nice to see, considering that after this the starter car in NFS games would be the Fiat Punto.
The AI aggressively rubber-bands if the difficulty level is set to Advanced, but this is only option other than beginner, so it's really the only choice players have. It can be annoying to lose out on races when courses are very long, and events can take upwards to 10 minutes to complete, but it keep competition close, and as long as mistakes aren't too big it can work in the player's favour also.
Graphically the game was definitely the best in the series up until that point, and represents the cars and racing landscapes nicely. There's a good sense of speed overall, and the jumps and bumps on track add to the experience. Musically, this was the first game to feature EA Trax; a selection of licensed music that could be adjusted to player tastes, but unfortunately I didn't like many of the songs at all; they were just okay.
Overall Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 is perhaps the first Need For Speed game in the franchise to show true potential and pull off most of what it tried to achieve. As an indicator of games to come, the high thrills racing experience certainly carried through to the underground series, with bits of the handling and car selection too. It's a real feel good racing game with nice Career Mode progression and some intense, if a little frustrating police action.
Rating: 81/100
Grade: B
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