NFS Hot Pursuit Demo Impressions: “Most Fun I’ve Had In A While”

I’ll get this out of the way. Remember how fun the original NFS 3: Hot Pursuit and 2002’s NFS: Hot Pursuit 2 were? Yup, Criterion’s NFS: Hot Pursuit is that much fun if not more. From the moment you load up the demo, the intro music makes you ready to be a cop or a racer.

The demo only has two locations – one night time “cop” track and a sunny mountainside race track. There are only two cop cars – a Nissan 370Z and a Ford Crown Victoria. Race cars included BMW Z4, Porsche Nissan 370Z and others.

If you had reservations that the gameplay will be too similar to Burnout, it’s not. In races, you can’t take out your opponent and they can’t take you out. But you can (and will) crash with oncoming traffic. Drifting, sliding, driving on the wrong side nets you boost as Burnout players will be familiar.

One important aspect Hot Pursuit shares with the Burnout series are the crashes and damage models. As a cop, taking out any racer and watching him crash is really satisfying.

Which brings me to the cop mode. Personally, this was the most fun I’ve had with a game in a while. I won’t bore you with why being a cop is fun as you’re well versed in the Hot Pursuit universe. What I will tell you are the differences. You have four weapons at your disposal: spike strips, road blocks, EMP charges and a Helicopter fly-by. The last two were unavailable in the demo. Every racer has a “health” bar on top and you can stop the racer only after the bar has been depleted. Slam him, ram him, lay out some spikes and roadblocks and you’ll eventually nail the suspect racer. The cop chatter in the background adds more to the excitement.

The race-only mode is locked in the demo unless you have a friend who has downloaded and played the demo. It is typical NFS stuff, awesome exotics paired with exotic locations. However, cops were missing in the equation and I hope they will be featured in the full game. Having cops chasing you down while trying to retain first place will be a blast.

The newest addition to this year’s Hot Pursuit is the NFS Autolog. Essentially, it is a Facebook type menu with Wall posts and pictures so you can stay connected with your friends. This will be fun if a couple of your friends play online, with you guys competing against each others’ best time and posting the results (with your own witty remarks ofcourse). Not to mention the actual online play itself, however, the demo did not have online play. Then again I doubt how many Bangladeshi players will get the original game and play online. If you do, the PS3 version is your best bet as PSN is free.

I have only one gripe. The visuals didn’t look as sharp as I wanted it to be and my friends echoed the same comment. In particular the lines are a bit aliased or jaggy. It could be a problem in the demo only and Criterion may polish it in the full retail release.

Other than that NFS: Hot Pursuit looks well on track to be the most fun NFS in a while.

GamesMaster Magainze (UK) was the first to review NFS: Hot Pursuit and gave it a 93%.

Hopes
(+) Exciting gameplay
(+) Online play/interaction
(+) Exotic cars and tracks

Fears
(-) Visuals
(-) Not many Bangladeshi users will play online