Friday, November 26, 2010

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit Review - 6 out of 10

Opinion Piece:
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit - Box Graphic
I love EA Game' Need For Speed franchise. Few games have had longer or more fruitful tenures. That said, with any dynasty, there are ups and downs. Take for example: Need For Speed V: Porsche Unleashed (2000). It was a masterpiece of realistic driving mechanics.  It had incredibly deep coverage of just the Porsche brand.  It absolutely pushed the envelope with graphics. The only problem is: NFS was never about any of those things. It was about driving fast and loose in a wide variety of invincible cars, doing things real-world-physics would never allow.  For me, that made it one of the worst games EA Games ever made.  Flash forward to today, after the break.

From the filming of the Pegani - Lamborghini mountain chase scene.
Flash forward to 2010. The marketing hype for Hot Pursuit, a return to NFS' roots, was greater than any NFS title in its storied history. The expense and effort that went into shooting promotional video scenes like the Pegani vs Lamborghini mountain chase was absolutely mind-blowing. Unfortunately, all that effort simply did not translate once you get to the game's substance. What a shame. Better luck next time, EA. Here's a breakdown of the Pros & Cons.

Pros:
- Great graphics
- Great sound
- Wide variety of cars
- New things you can do as a cop

Cons:
- Free drive is AWFUL
nfs most wanted (the best nfs imho) had an insanely expansive free drive system. The whole game ran through it. It was awesome. I spent hundreds of hours going 200mph on highways getting into insane police chases - man that was fun. This simply does not exist any more. What a shame.
- Driving mechanics feel way off
car sways violently, doesn't move the way I expect, making precision driving next to impossible
- Interface is "heavy"
they took a stalin-esque approach to getting in and out of games - you can't escape cut scenes, or intro explanations, or reward descriptions of what you've won, or...
- Ads ...
that's right ... a game you paid $60 for, force feeds you ads for other ea games. Absolutely, positively, unacceptable.
- Cut scenes on EVERY collision
nfs most wanted did cut scenes on roadblock collisions. those were awesome. this game does cut scenes on every major collision. Combined with poor driving mechanics causing you to have lots of collisions, and you've got a recipe for irritating game play.

So, save your money. Otherwise, you'll be seriously upset that you paid for something this mediocre.

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