Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (PS3, 360, PC)

[Neon Ignition]

I'll write this up better in the morning when I have access to a keyboard but in short this is Criterion on an off day. Still great but not without it's issues.

[Kubrick]

Are people just playing through the career unlocking new events or are you trying to beat your friends times?

Both. I've been making sure I'm fastest before moving on to the next event.

[rmoxon]

The online on this is great, nothing beats the feeling of being the last remaining racer and outwitting a bunch of cops, I've had some really epic moments.

The single player is still great too though, even if the difficulty is all over the place with some events being really easy to gold and some being almost impossible.

[mikewl]

I really like this this game except for those darn cars that are just on the track stationary that I keep crashing into to grrr.

[Neon Ignition]

OK, here we go.

The racing itself feels really good, especially the Outrun like drifting around freeway turns. I've largely ignored the shortcuts as the most interesting ones tend to turn out to be longcuts which cost you the race. Visually, the sense of scenery as it comes together is lovely. The wet races in particular look great. I'm not a fan of the music in the game but it goes well with it and there's always the custom soundtrack option.

On the downer side, At the moment the game seems to be leaning towards the Cop mode more when the strongest (yet least featured) events are the straight up races. The collisions are a bit random too, sometimes shunting you and sometimes stopping you dead. The AI is pure rubber band. It's not OTT like most racers but it's still very prevailant especially when the other racers give up near the finish line.

The road traffic is surprisingly badly done. There's not much of it but sometimes a hill will mean you've no chance to see it or avoid it which considering the Burnout series seems a bit sloppy. The cop chase sections are entirely too random for proper time trialling and perhaps the single biggest mistake the game makes for me is the point to point races. Absolutely 100% a 2-3 penalty for collisions is completely too severe. You're given that penalty, plus lose another 2 seconds to recover and get up to speed meaning one slight clip in a 4 minute race gives you a potential whopping 5 second addition which is completely unnecessary and is making those events a real chore.

I do really like it though overall and I'd be all over a new HP2 should it arrive, though (despite them really being pretty different) it's nowhere near Burnout Paradise's level of AMAZE.

[rmoxon]

In single player I think the stright races are actualy the weakest part, not the best.

The rubber band A.I. that will virtualy stop in its track and let you win every race near the end makes them virtualy pointless, though at least it isnt like split/second where the AI would always fly past you on the finishing stright.

I still dont understand why they have it at all though really, I guess its easier for the developer than creating multiple difficulty levels.

[Neon Ignition]

I think I like the races best because they're so straight forward. They lack the randomness of the cop events or the OTT penalties of the timed runs. I've yet to try the online modes though yet, hopefully they're a good draw.

I agree that the rubber banding is deffo much better handled here than S/S. I think overall Hot Pursuit is a good racer that I'm going to enjoy but not finish. A bit like Shift in that regard. There's some kinks to work out but unlike Paradise I don't expect this will get the post-launch support that that game did.

[TheForce]

autolog is bad for my progress through the game.... I keep on trying to beat my friends scores, not all of them but there are a few races where I just have to try to keep the top spot, yesterday I saw an autolog alert telling me a friend beat me on a track, so I accepted the challenge to beat him, after a few tries I did beat him only to see he just beat me on another track, so tried to beat him on that track as well, when I did I thought I could carry on with some new events... only to see he beat me again on the first track !! hehehe, excellent stuff, it kept us both busy for quite some time trying to beat each others times

Played it also online, it's works really well, I really liked playing with 4 people being cops and 4 being racers, it was great fun !
I can see me playing this for quite some time

[dvdx2]

[QUOTE
I do really like it though overall and I'd be all over a new HP2 should it arrive, though (despite them really being pretty different) it's nowhere near Burnout Paradise's level of AMAZE.[/QUOTE]

I didnt think Burnout paradise was great; driving around endlessly waiting for something to happen, bored me after an hour; although i must admit do like something with more structure.

NFS HP is probably the best arcade racer (next to RR7 of course) ;-) i've played in a while

having loads of fun with it - imagine the game engine of outrun 2, merged with burnout 2;and your nearly there!

Very impressive graphically and audiowise too (full uncompressed 7.1 on the ps3 version), with cars revving up in the rear centres.

only grippe; no 60 fps/too much loading (no install to HDD), bland 'prize' ' award' sequences - not even any music

minor though

[BaronSqwelch]

ive not played anything but online as a racer so hadn't realised about the opposition quitting near the end.

I like that idea tho cuz straight races are my least favourite part so will make getting thru them faster for the 100g

The no damage races are very hard too but as soon as you notice the traffic is the same every time you can prepare your tactics accordingly.

only thing that makes you encounter them in different places is how fast you have been going!
(so that when you do a record run and are 5 secs ahead of time the van you havent accounted for wipes you and your distinction out lol)


I have convinced 4 people to buy this so my autolog is bound to have taken a hammering since I last played!!

[Dezm0nd]

Really enjoying this and will definitely buy it when I got some monies. The only downside for me, playing in first-person, is that the shortcuts are insane due the camera shaking about.

Sticking the camera in 3rd person solves the issue but then I have the issue of the 3rd person mode being not my favourite style. Minor gripe, mind.

[merf]

as I'm getting older I'm more of a bits & bobs gamer so finding the short nature of the events in this perfect for my attention span.

stuck a few ok times up on some police events now but every time you turn this on your autolog is a flashing mass of beaten times, will drive you nuts to keep on top of it as every event is its own self contained leaderboard.

I can't fathom some of the times I'm seeing on the timed runs as I go clean and am 10s+ off the leader on my friends list, not implying skull duggery just wonder what I'm missing ! (I'm looking at you Force)

Like the pic mode too, its a nice diversion

[rmoxon]

as I'm getting older I'm more of a bits & bobs gamer so finding the short nature of the events in this perfect for my attention span.

stuck a few ok times up on some police events now but every time you turn this on your autolog is a flashing mass of beaten times, will drive you nuts to keep on top of it as every event is its own self contained leaderboard.

I can't fathom some of the times I'm seeing on the timed runs as I go clean and am 10s+ off the leader on my friends list, not implying skull duggery just wonder what I'm missing ! (I'm looking at you Force)

Like the pic mode too, its a nice diversion

I would imagine youre not utilising the boost well enough?

I dont know though, as much as Im loving this Im crap at racing games, I always think I have driven really well and then see that my times are miles off whats considered good.

It always makes me feel like the triggers broken on my pad or somthing, as I never seem to be going fast enough.

[TheForce]

yeah, damn that autolog ! soooo addictive
I have a 50-60h job and I'm busy with an eduction next to it and all my mind is thinking of is getting back to this game to see who beat who and where I stand on the leaderboards.....

Using boost at the correct times is really important (coming out of drift and on the straight and I don't use when near topspeed) and to fill up that boost I drive on the "wrong" side of the road and try to get near miss as much as possible. It's all about risc and reward !
I have quite a lot of people on my friendslist playing this at the moment and it's great, my progress in the single player is going very slow at the moment because of the autolog...
The more I play it the more I start comparing it with Burnout2, and that is a huge compliment !!

[rmoxon]

I only just realised that if youre a cop you dont have to drive on the wrong side of the road to gain boost, you are always gaining it, unless you are full obviously.

Im either really ignorant or the game didnt tell me that.

Guess it makes sense though, and at least those pain in the arse Rapid Response missions seem a bit easier now.