Sunday 22 January 2012

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit


Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is a BAFTA Award-winning 2010 racing video game in the Need for Speed series developed by British games developer Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Wii, iOS, Android, and webOS. The Wii version was developed by Exient Entertainment. Hot Pursuit is the sixteenth title in the franchise and was released in November 2010, with digital download versions released within December 2010.

You'll experience stunning speeds, takedowns, and getaways as you battle your friends in the most connected Need for Speed game ever. Through Need for Speed Autolog and its innovative approach to connected social competition, your Hot Pursuit experience will extend beyond the console onto the web, constantly moving your gameplay in new and unique directions.Loaded with action, this game will challenge you to become Seacrest County's top cop or most wanted racer. For the first time ever in a Need for Speed game, you'll be able to play a full career on either side of the law.

Hot Pursuit goes back to the Need for Speed series' roots and takes on the gameplay style of earlier "Hot Pursuit" titles in the Need for Speed franchise with exotic cars and high-speed police chases. It is primarily inspired by the original Need for Speed on 3DO. Hot Pursuit lets players be either a cop or a racer and features a full career mode for both roles. The relationship between the cops and racers is described as "a dog chasing down a rabbit", with the cops being more powerful compared to the racers. Each side has several power-ups including calling for roadblocks and radar jamming. According to Criterion the single-player section is somewhere between 12 and 15 hours long, but with lots of replay value.

The game takes place in a fictional location known as Seacrest County. It's an open world and features over 100 miles (160 km) of open road, four times larger than that of Burnout Paradise, Criterion's previous title.

Hot Pursuit features a new social interaction system called "Autolog" described as "Facebook for the game". The game features both single-player and multiplayer game modes with up to eight players; as an option to live multiplayer racing, players can post records and achievements on the Autolog feed for friends to see, which they then can try to beat. Autolog also contains an experience system called "Bounty".

The driving model of the game is described as "fun and accessible", not as arcade-styled as Burnout Paradise, but far from a simulator. All vehicles in Hot Pursuit are licensed real-world cars and SUVs, described as "all the cars you dreamed of driving, in the way you dreamed of driving them". Most vehicles are available in both racer and police variants, but a few are exclusive to each side. Also exclusively featured in the Hot Pursuit is the Porsche 918 Spyder. Ferrari however, last seen in a Shift DLC-pack but notably absent from all other Need for Speed games since Hot Pursuit 2, is also absent from Hot Pursuit. There is no car customization and tuning, "just because the game really focuses on the Hot Pursuit element." The game also lacks a cockpit view, with no in-car dashboard view à la Shift.

Reviews

Hot Pursuit was well received by critics at E3 2010 and was most notably awarded with "Best Racing Game" from the 2010 Game Critics Awards as well as several other media outlets. Upon its release, Hot Pursuit was met with high critical acclaim averaging 90% on both review aggregate websites Metacritic and GameRankings, making it the highest-rated game in Need for Speed series history and one of the seventh generation's highest-rated racing games. It won several Best Racing Game awards, including Best Driving Game at Spike’s 2010 Video Game Awards. Reviewers praised the game’s graphics, visuals, crashes, sound and soundtrack, excellent presentation, dramatic races, high-speed chases as well as the new Autolog feature and that it brought the series back to its roots. According to EA, the game has sold more than 8.5 million copies on all platforms combined.


Following the high praise it received at its release, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has received numerous awards from various magazines, trade shows and gaming websites. The game has won over 30 differentially awards, including Racing Game of the Year from major publications, more than any other racing game that year.

At the E3 2010, Game Critics Awards gave Hot Pursuit the Best Racing Game award.

At the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards, Hot Pursuit was named the Best Driving Game.

Hot Pursuit was awarded Best Competitive Multiplayer on Xbox 360 by IGN. It was also nominated for Most Addictive Game on Xbox 360.

Hot Pursuit was nominated for Multiplayer That Broke The Mold by GamesRadar.

Hot Pursuit was nominated for Best Racing Game by GameTrailers.

Hot Pursuit was given GameSpot’s Best Driving Game award for 2010.

Hot Pursuit was awarded Best Racing Game by 1UP.

Hot Pursuit was awarded Best Racing Game on Xbox 360 by VGChartz.

Hot Pursuit was nominated for Best Racing Game by Game Revolution.

Hot Pursuit was awarded Racing Game of the Year by GameSpy.

Hot Pursuit won the Most Improved Franchise award by Giant Bomb.

Hot Pursuit won the Racing Game of the Year award by Shacknews.

Hot Pursuit was awarded the Year's Fastest by Gamereactor.

At the 2011 Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Hot Pursuit was named Racing Game of the Year.

At the 2011 BAFTA Video Games Awards, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit won the Multiplayer award.

At the 2011 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, Hot Pursuit was nominated for Favorite Videogame.

At the 2011 Golden Joystick Award, Hot Pursuit was a runner up for Racing Game of the Year.

At the 2011 BAFTA Kid's Vote Award, Hot Pursuit was nominated for Best Game.

No comments:

Post a Comment