System requirements:
CPU: Intel C2D 1.8 GHZ or AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4GHZ
RAM: 1.5 GB for Windows XP and 2 GB for Windows 7/Vista
Free HDD space: 6.5 GB
Graphics card: 256 MB DirectX 9.0 compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher
Compatible video card chipsets: ATI RADEON X1950, HD 2000/3000/4000/5000 series NVIDIA GeForce 7/8/9/100/200 series
Sound card: DirectX 9.0 compliant sound card
Net speed for Online multiplayer: 2 - 8 players, 512 Kbps or faster
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Review
Enlarge picture
EA's Need for Speed franchise hasn't exactly been going through its most exciting period, as recent titles failed to keep the innovation going, and only last year's NFS: Shift managed to take the series back from the dead and give it some degree of success.
Now, EA went all out with Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, tasking one of its most prestigious studios, Criterion Games, the creators of the Burnout series, to get the NFS franchise back on its feet and manage to fight it out with this year's other big racing game, Gran Turismo 5.
Promising to bring back the racer and cop mechanics, as well as to introduce some combat racing features, Hot Pursuit seems like just the thing for people that still have hope in the series.
So, is NFS back in full throttle or should Hot Pursuit be taken down as soon as possible? Let's find out.
Story
You won't find any big story in Hot Pursuit, as Criterion opted to leave out complicated and cheesy back stories, like the ones found in previous installments like Undercover or Carbon, and just focus on putting players into as many powerful supercars as possible.
You have two campaigns, one as a racer, the other as a cop, and your goal is to become the greatest in your respective field and reach a maximum of level 20.
You get to experience different races, all across Seacrest County, which will test out your racing skills and take you from snow-filled mountain tops to beautiful seaside coasts or through dense woods or desolate deserts.
This is basically the less-is-more philosophy that was seen in Criterion's previous game, Burnout Paradise, but you won't find any complaints.
Gameplay
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is definitely a move in the right direction for the whole series, as the game once more feels like the arcade racer many of us fell in love with, many years ago.
The cars feel great, have the sense of weight associated with their respective power and handling figures, and, in the case of extreme performance ones, like the Pagani Zonda R or Bugatti Veyron, stick to the road like a fly to a pile of … peanut butter.
Criterion opted to replace the whole mechanic of winning money and then using it to buy new cars, and just plain out offers all of the cars you unlocked, each grouped in certain categories, like supercars, exotics or performance ones. This is great as you can experience any car you unlocked, and don't have to worry about saving up enough money to purchase it.
Tuning is out of the picture, however, as you can just change the color of the car you go out in, and only that when you choose to play a racer. Cop cars have the same type of vinyls, and you can't do anything about it.
Still, many racing game fans won't complain, as Hot Pursuit more than makes up for it with the array of weapons it supplies to both the cops and the racers, each handy in taking down members of the other side.
Cops can use spike strips, deploy road blocks, use EMPs or call in helicopters to apprehend (more like destroy) racers. Illegal racers can also use EMPs, turbo boosts for that extra dose of speed, jammers or spike strips, in order to get right of the police.
You only have a certain number of items you can use, and the more you use to take down enemies, the more quickly they level up and become even more effective. This adds an extra layer of strategy to the racing, as you need to easily change your approach depending on what weapons you have at your disposal.
You also have different rewards, in the forms of medals, which aim at making you retake events and aim at getting the best time or completing all of the objectives.
You have different types of races, which really keep things interesting. Racers can enjoy regular races, ones against cops, time trials as well as duels between a close selection of cars, like just roadsters, or just Porsche models.
Those that play as cops can also choose between regular Interceptor events, where you must take down a series of street racers, one single, more hectic racer or their own version of time trials (which force you to not damage the car).
As you can see, variety plays a key role in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, but what's even more important is that the game never forces you to play just a single campaign, and you can easily go from racing events to cop ones, without a hitch, and enforce the law as the boys in blue.
Destruction also plays a big role in Hot Pursuit, as Criterion implemented some of the systems seen in Burnout Paradise. When you play as racers, you can take down cop cars by hitting them until they crash, as well as opponents, even if you don't see the life bar for the latter ones. When playing as the police, your only method of taking down racers is by slamming into them, or luring them into traps like spike strips or road blocks.
Needless to say the car combat is very well implemented, especially as it forces you to also take care of your own vehicle's safety. If you get totaled, the race automatically ends, so be careful about plowing into regular cars on the road or different obstacles.
The streets of Seacrest County are extremely pleasant to drive on, as they range from snowy mountain tops to coastal roads by the seaside, and are just a pleasure to drive, especially in convertible exotics, and with the sound cranked up in order to hear their beautiful engines.
While the car selection doesn't have as many vehicles as Gran Turismo 5, for example, Hot Pursuit brings the best of the best, from Lamborghini, to Bugatti, McLaren, BMW or Porsche, so you won't mind that there aren't a thousand or so cars to choose from.
The difficulty curve is pretty good, but the slingshot effect is still clearly obvious, especially when chased by cops. I once hit the special Turbo power-up, which the game says it offers a clear speed advantage for racers in order to beat the cops, but a regular police car immediately got in front of me and stayed there until the turbo wore off.
Also, you'll be hitting the restart option quite a few times, especially later in the game, when opponents really try to ram you into oncoming traffic or other obstacles.
Still, overall, the gameplay of Hot Pursuit is one of the best in the series, and will no doubt keep gamers interested for a long time.
Graphics and Audio
Criterion pulled out all the stops with Hot Pursuit, and this is by far one of the prettiest titles in the long-running franchise. From racing in foggy mornings to going on chilly mountain roads or racing towards the sunset on a coastal road, NFS: Hot Pursuit will amaze you with its graphics.
The cars are very detailed, even if they may look a bit jaggy from time to time. The shadows are crisp and the details on cars in traffic will certainly surprise you, as Criterion implemented a lot of licensed vehicles, in order to give it a better sense of reality.
In terms of sound, the game also shines. Regular races benefit from the usual array of alternative rock and techno tracks, while chases or cop missions usually use an orchestral score to keep things tense.
Many racing game fans will also applaud the great sounding engines, as almost all of the cars manage to sound impressive and unique, from powerful muscle cars to exotics or Japanese imports.
Multiplayer
This is another area where NFS: Hot Pursuit really shines, as it is the first title in the franchise to receive the new Autolog feature, that will encompass all of the multiplayer aspects of future NFS racers.
The system was crafted with the help of the team at the EA DICE studio, which once again proves its multiplayer abilities. Besides offering a great system for racing against friends or other people, Autolog also uses its abilities to chart the performance of friends in their single-player campaigns, and post their times on your Speed Wall.
If a friend obtains a better time or performance in a race you also completed, you have a chance to retry that race and one-up his performance. Needless to say, this can quickly lead to grudge matches, and you might lose or win quite a few friends with the "help" of the Autolog system.
Besides the Autolog system, Hot Pursuit also has multiple regular multiplayer modes, including the titular Hot Pursuit, which sees up to eight players compete as racers or cops in different races. Cops need to work together when playing this game, but racers can only rely on the reflexes they developed in the single-player mode to escape the traps of the police.
There are multiple other modes, so you will certainly spend many hours going up against friends and others in the multiplayer of Hot Pursuit.
Conclusion
Overall, Criterion Games managed to craft one of the best Need for Speed experiences in recent times, polishing up all of the classic trademarks of the series, and adding some of the best elements in the Burnout series.
If you don't want a hardcore simulator like Gran Turismo 5, then Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit will offer some of the best racing experiences of the year.
Source Of softpedia
Download at : Ziddu
Brothersoft
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar