Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

This game is not worth the time it took me to put it in my Q, the only reason why I gave this a 3 instead of a 1 is because of its graphics

PS- where did the story go?

I had never really been "on the fence" about buying this game because I've been a big fan of Criterion's entries into the racing genre. It seemed a natural fit to let Criterion have their go at the Need for Speed franchise after the lackluster NFS titles of the recent past. The demo solidified my desire for the game. It became a day one purchase. So in 11/16, I ran right out and picked it up.

I wish I had saved my money.

First, I need to give praise where praise is due. The collaboration with DICE is easy to see as the terrain has a very "Battlefield Bad Company 2" look to it, which means it's very photo-realistic. The playable world of Seacrest County looks like I could step through the screen and be in a very real place. The attention to the car modeling and detail is phenomenal.

Unfortunately, that's all the praise I can give the game.

In single player career, the Seacrest County Police Department path is full of short, boring, events (much like the original NFS Hot Pursuit, which I still have installed on PC!). Far too many of them are just hot lap style events where you're not even chasing a speeder/racer - you're just racing the clock with sirens. Hot Pursuit and Interceptor gametypes are marred by the fact that the AI is almost flawless, and their deployment of counter-weapons also are almost flawless. The racer side of the game plays almost identically to Burnout, smash and drive recklessly to earn nitrous.

In both race and police single player, AI cars can merely bounce off of walls and other cars without losing speed, but if you even tap a wall you take damage and lose speed.

Overall, all the cars feel the same in the game regardless of side. A Lamborghini Gallardo handles the exact same as a Dodge Viper SRT in the same class. Maybe I'm silly for expecting licensed cars to retain at least some of their unique characteristics other than looks.

Multiplayer is light, only 4 modes, only two of which is more than 1v1. Boring and marred by Online Pass.