Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit
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Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
Parents need to know that Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered is a racing game for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Switch. This is the latest title in the Need for Speed franchise, which is a remake of an older title. In it, players engage in illegal street races on roads that are open to the public. Players not only have to avoid oncoming traffic, but also have to outrun or take out any police officers who try to stop you. That's unless you play as a cop, in which case the situation is reversed. Either way, the game does have rather violent crashes, and while you hear the police asking for medical assistance, you never see anyone being hurt or killed, and there's no blood or gore. But there are songs on the soundtrack with racy lyrics -- though they're more suggestive than explicitly sexual -- as well as ones that mention drinking alcohol. The game features real cars -- including by such companies as Chevy, Dodge, and Porsche -- and includes information about both the cars and the brands. Communication between online players isn't monitored.
As for what this remake adds, well, aside from giving the game a visual upgrade, it also boasts most of the cars they added to the game later. Unfortunately, a handful of vehicles are still missing in action. It also now lets online races take place between players on different consoles. What isn't different, though, is how much fun these races can be. Sure, weaving in and out of traffic is harrowing in real life, but it's exciting in this game. Doubly so since this not only has nicely twisted tracks, but it also has intuitive arcade-esque controls, as well as cars equipped with nitro tanks for when you need a jolt of speed. While knocking cops off the road is a thrill when you're a racer, it's even more fun when you're the cop and can not only ram criminals but use such toys as spike strips and an EMP to disable their vehicles. Although the game's lacking some modern amenities -- like optional assists that can change it from an arcade game to a realistic simulation -- and the soundtrack hasn't aged well, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered still manages to be as fast and furious as it was when there were only four of those movies.
Like the original, the remastered edition focuses on head-to-head competitive pursuits. With abilities like helicopters and spike strips being implemented, most of the driving techniques have been simplified as well as the control scheme. This works well as drivers focus on strategically outmaneuvering the competition while maintaining high speeds. Any seasoned Need For Speed player should have an easy time managing themselves behind the wheel. Whether online or playing career, moment to moment action remains relatively the same.
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered brings the original up to par with standard racing games. I do not believe the game was meant to blow anyone away with its visuals. If it was, it certainly does not. After testing on two different consoles across multiple modes, I did notice several audio issues with clips tearing or abruptly going in and out. Most of it happened with the menus. There was some occurrences of this during pursuits as well, but they were largely unnoticeable once the rubber starts burning.
I would love a new Linear Ridge Racer game, just bung every car and track possible and then sub title it, Ridge Racer Lineage insta hit for the 30 pluses. I will keep my eyes on a sale for Hot pursuit, nearly got it but I have spent too much this month with new games etc.
@Realness Heh I can relate on the terrible sound track, I don't have hot pursuit, but I did buy heat when it was on sale a few weeks before this released. That soundtrack is pure trash, normally I can tolerate the tracks in most games, but in heat it's hard to even navigate the stations for some reason you'll wind up listening to the same 3 songs and most of them sound like electronica and dubstep. I know it's a pipedream to expect similar now, but vice city still has one of the best selections of music in it
The one thing I learned from reading this review is that companies really need to push the fact that their games are cross-platform more heavily. Had I not read your review I wouldn't know that and this game would be a never gonna get it... Now it's on my watchlist with a borderline hard buy at full price.
The core of what made the game such a success is retained in this incarnation. To start with, the handling model is deliberate and wonderfully drifty. Cars have a weight to them, and you need to be pretty decisive about your manoeuvres, but when it clicks, the handling feels great. A breakneck sense of speed coupled with wide, sweeping roads make it a joy to play, and that's no different in this remaster.
@QuintumplyCan you fast travel on the map and easily restart races? Or do you need to find the starting point for each event on the map and drive there manually?I believe the latter was true in the original game until a patch was released further down the line.
Harkening back to the linear driving challenges from the original Hot Pursuit games, Criterion's iteration in 2010 modernized Need for Speed in several big ways. For one thing, the heavily arcade-like driving experience from Burnout games was almost one-for-one integrated into Hot Pursuit. There was also the implementation of "Autolog," a newly engaging multiplayer component that allowed friends to compare stats and achievements to score more "bounty." In an at-the-time new generation of consoles, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was the exact kind of evolution the franchise needed.
The issue with 2012's Most Wanted was the open world largely felt soulless, and in general the game had a much less concise creative direction compared to Hot Pursuit as well. Rather than being placed in a narrative-based open world racing game, like the original, 2012's Most Wanted largely just felt like an empty playground where friends would occasionally swing by to race. Police AI during pursuits simply wasn't up to par in a sandbox setting, and without any story to adhere to, there was largely no reason to stick around in the game's world. This game would've been less offensive if it didn't have the "Most Wanted" name attached to it, which turned off fans of the original.
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When I play hot pursuit in the computer with my g27, it works with no dead zone after trying the second option. However, the input of the wheel encounters a (0.5 second) delay in the game. Is it the problem of my computer ? thanks in advance.
In General The Bus Came Back: The McLaren F1, which first appeared in Need for Speed II, missed two games (not counting the Porsche-exclusive Porsche Unleashed, and the F1's GTR "Short Tail" and "Long Tail" models appearing in High Stakes) until returning in Hot Pursuit 2.
The Lamborghini Diablo SV (which first appeared in III: Hot Pursuit) followed a similar pattern to the aforementioned F1, but it returned much later, in DLC packs for Hot Pursuit (2010).
Call-Back: All of the Hot Pursuit titles have a Lamborghini on the cover. Additionally, they all feature a racer being chased by a cop on their covers.
Cool Car: A given for Need for Speed games, from sports cars to blisteringly fast hypercars.
Darker and Edgier: III is this to II, brought back police pursuits and turned the exotic car street racing into a serious Blood Sport.
The 2010 game is this to the fairly legal Shift and the wacky Nitro.
Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Or rather, Getting Arrested is a Slap on the Wrist: This seems to be the case in-universe for both III: Hot Pursuit and Hot Pursuit (2010) where being stopped means a simple speeding ticket and fine. In III: Hot Pursuit's case, you get as many chances as there are laps in a Hot Pursuit Race, and the first time being pulled over will have the cop simply urge you to watch your speed or "pretend your accelerator was stuck". In the latter case, it seems that completely trashing the carbotanium body of a Pagani Zonda Cinque Roadster simply means that the racer was issued with a ticket, judging by the dialogue in SCPD events.
Marathon Level: Event 30 of Championship mode in the Black Box release of Hot Pursuit 2: Ten laps on Palm City Island. It takes about half an hour to complete.
Events 28 and 29 in Hot Pursuit 2's Ultimate Racer mode are 8-race tournaments, with 3 laps per race. Takes even longer. You have to finish first in both tournaments to unlock the next event, but fortunately, you can restart individual races without having to start the whole tournament over again.
Tournament mode itself in III: Hot Pursuit is this, driving four laps in eight of the available tracks in order to unlock two new vehicles.
The Seacrest Tour in Hot Pursuit (2010): a 43-mile, roughly 15-minute race across almost the entirety of the virtual county you've been burning rubber on throughout the game. Tends to be a Curb-Stomp Battle against you if you make too many mistakes. The last racer event in Rivals is just like this, but adds cops into the mix.
The Most Wanted: All the Hot Pursuit titles have the racers being chased by the police and having as objective not just win the races, also avoid getting caught by the cops.
Nintendo Hard: Sure, the missions at the beginning of Hot Pursuit 2 are easy, but watch out for some of the missions after halfway through. The opponents really stop going easy on you. The Hot Pursuit event branch adds traffic to the mix, alongside the police. At higher stars, the AI will end up defaulting to spike strips first and roadblocks second - if at all. And in the PlayStation 2 port, you have to deal with both spike strips and a helicopter firing bombs, missiles, and spike strip bombs at you at the same time.
The first Hot Pursuit was no slouch, either. Tournaments and Knockout races at Expert difficulty generally lead to you having to race through rain at night at very high speeds.
Hot Pursuit (2010)'s response missions are incredibly hard as they require to dodge everything and perform a perfect run while under a time limit at more than a hundred miles an hour. Weather conditions amp up these missions considerably. And there's that damned Bugatti Veyron response mission which does all of this at more than two hundred miles an hour, and it's recommended to reach its top speed of 250 MPH(!) during that mission for max points!
Off-Model: The majority of the cars from Hot Pursuit 2 suffer from this on the PlayStation 2 version. However, this is somewhat averted on the inferior EA Seattle version (though there are a few cars that do this, like the Ford Crown Victoria and the McLaren F1 models).
Racing Game: You either try to get to the finish line before your rivals do or attempt to stop racers from doing so.
Shifting Sand Land: Desert levels appear in all Hot Pursuit titles. III: Hot Pursuit (and High Stakes) had Redrock Ridge and Lost Canyons, Hot Pursuit 2 had Desert Heat and the Outback.note The point-to-point equivalent is Rocky Canyons, though it's primarily set in Outback. All three only appear in the PlayStation port of the game. Most likely as a homage to both, Hot Pursuit (2010) had desert levels.
Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The tracks in III: Hot Pursuit (and High Stakes) can (or occasionally have to) be raced on in the rain. Summit, however, a track that's Exactly What It Says on the Tin already, replaces rain with snow. And no, you don't get any vehicle that's halfway sensible to drive on this track in such conditions. Good luck keeping a Countach on the street.
Villain Protagonist: Street racing is illegal, so the player character is this while playing as a racer. Even if playing as a cop, you are still indulging in Police Brutality such as destroying properties and other cars, making you a villainous Rabid Cop at the worst.
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