Hot Pursuit 2010 tries to be a remake or "reboot" of what was already seen in the classic NFS era such as NFS3, High Stakes or Hot Pursuit 2, however, it shows that they only understood its basic concepts from a surface level . It's just that you only have to play the game for an hour to realize that something is wrong with it. First, let's talk about handling. Oh my god, they screwed up the handling of the series. Remember all the angry fans of brake to drift in modern NFS? Well, this is the first to introduce it. The problem with the brake to drift never for me had to do with the challenge or anything like that, but god... it's so stiff and awkard to drift, plus all the cars are similar in stats that in the end it doesn't make sense. While I had no problem if they reutilized the handling of games like MW or Carbon, for a game so based on the classic NFS (or at least what the developers intended) one would expect a more similar handling, a more free and lightweighty like NFS3 or High Stakes. One in which there is complete control over the car and it feels super tight to drive, with an interior view, with customization of tracks, free races, real information about the cars, an accessible and beautiful simulator in other words. None of that is present here or present in a very minor way. I think what people fails to see about the NFS franchise is that it was never meant to be arcadey to begin with it. The first NFS games included Hot Pursuit were basically Gran Turismo on the open road in a nutshell, but nowadays is more like generic mobile game on the couch. This is what happens when you give a developer like Criterion (who are responsible for the Burnout series) the opportunity to make NFS games. I think NFS Hot Pursuit 2 was also responsible for this but even that game tried more. Instead of trying to make a game that really respects what the classic NFS did and try to improve it, Criterion just wanted to replace it with their vision. Starting with this game now the series doesnt differentiate in any way with the Asphalt series.
The graphics? Yeah....they're not that good. On one hand, the car models are impressive for the time, but the environments have low textures, at least on PS3. In fact I think there are times when Hot Pursuit 2 on PS2 still looks better, and the music is super forgettable. Do you remember the super epic techno and rock songs by Rom Di Prisco? All that goes to the garbage, with generic themes. The gameplay itself doesn't work either, there are only sprint races or time trials, nothing more, no tournaments, no circuits, no split screen, nothing, and in each race you are given a number of "weapons", but these are fixed per track. Along that I don't even remember the names of the track and this makes each race feel more like a mission. There is also an open world mode in the game, but this has to be the most USELESS open world in the history of video games, I will not lie if I say that many games of the PS1 era have a more interactive open world, and on top of that the game doesn't lend itself to this, since as I said nothing can be customized, neither weather or anything and without an interior view or the ability to see the map or spawn wherever you want, it simply ends up being nonsense!
As I said, Criterion seemed to want to make an NFS up to the classics, but it's as if they had only read in community forums the good things they had without having tried them, in addition to having that excessive vision of wanting to replace it with their style. . Don't get me wrong, it's WAY better than MW 2012 for the simple fact that... well... the brake to drift works better here, the car is more resistant and therefore the crash cam is not as annoying and... The car progression system is not broken as hell, but the truth is that it is a super disappointment, and things like loading times and constant interruptions in the race only take away the little desire that one has to play. People can say what they want about the classic NFS, but that doesn't change the fact that 1998 Hot Pursuit is fundamentally better to play.
The graphics? Yeah....they're not that good. On one hand, the car models are impressive for the time, but the environments have low textures, at least on PS3. In fact I think there are times when Hot Pursuit 2 on PS2 still looks better, and the music is super forgettable. Do you remember the super epic techno and rock songs by Rom Di Prisco? All that goes to the garbage, with generic themes. The gameplay itself doesn't work either, there are only sprint races or time trials, nothing more, no tournaments, no circuits, no split screen, nothing, and in each race you are given a number of "weapons", but these are fixed per track. Along that I don't even remember the names of the track and this makes each race feel more like a mission. There is also an open world mode in the game, but this has to be the most USELESS open world in the history of video games, I will not lie if I say that many games of the PS1 era have a more interactive open world, and on top of that the game doesn't lend itself to this, since as I said nothing can be customized, neither weather or anything and without an interior view or the ability to see the map or spawn wherever you want, it simply ends up being nonsense!
As I said, Criterion seemed to want to make an NFS up to the classics, but it's as if they had only read in community forums the good things they had without having tried them, in addition to having that excessive vision of wanting to replace it with their style. . Don't get me wrong, it's WAY better than MW 2012 for the simple fact that... well... the brake to drift works better here, the car is more resistant and therefore the crash cam is not as annoying and... The car progression system is not broken as hell, but the truth is that it is a super disappointment, and things like loading times and constant interruptions in the race only take away the little desire that one has to play. People can say what they want about the classic NFS, but that doesn't change the fact that 1998 Hot Pursuit is fundamentally better to play.