You're probably going to read this a lot, both here and in other outlets (because sometimes, all of us games media goons agree about the same thing), but Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit is probably my favorite non-Burnout racing game. It's easily the NFS title that I actually played more than required for work, and was the reason I bothered trying Need for Speed: Most Wanted (as someone once describe it as an homage to NFS: Hot Pursuit). Well, Criterion is going further than that; it's not making an homage or an "inspired by" game -- it's a Hollywood-style remake of the original game, but done with Criterion's flair. I think of it similarly to the recent remake of Bad Lieutenant: same concept, but executed in its own unique way.
Creative Director Craig Sullivan likes to use the phrase "connected world" when talking about arcade racer design -- a concept that came to fruition for Burnout Paradise. Online connectivity is an even bigger deal this time, as NFS: HP takes a page from Facebook for its social gaming. Dubbed "Autolog," you have a dedicated space that updates you on what your friends have been doing every time you play. Even when you're not actually playing online with each other, Autolog will track and notify you if your buddy happens to race the same track or challenge as you but with a higher score. You can scroll through your "wall" to see what your friends have been up to, and can answer each challenge or record with a simple button press. It even collates all of your friend data and personal record, and does a Netflix/Amazon-style "recommended for you" suggestion for what you should play next. Also, Autolog tracks your career as either a Cop or a Racer, and tells everyone about your total bounty (the main scoring mechanic) and unlocks to date.
But enough about the social Facebook-y stuff; how does it actually feel when driving? For a total lack of surprise, it feels a lot like Burnout. The insane sense of speed, even when you're "only" driving 140 MPH, carries over. Tapping A for nitrous inspires a beautiful burst of speed, while crashing and finally taking out your opponent results in some beautiful slow-motion carnage. There's a hint of Burnout Paradise, in that Sullivan implies that there's a "patrol" mode when playing as a cop that might let you just drive around and look for random racers online without using any sort of lobby.
Though, the gameplay structure is more Need for Speed; it retains the basic "Cops chase Racers, while Racers evade Cops" principle. The Cop just smacks the Racer around until said Racer is totaled, while the Racer just has to get out of the Cop's detection range (depicted via a large circle) and stay out of there for a few seconds. While I only get to play one-on-one (the Racer gets a Koenigsegg CCX while the Cop drives a Lamborghini Reventon -- these are some fancy cops apparently), Sullivan promises that we can have up to eight players in any configuration: such as an even four-on-four split, or maybe seven Cops chasing one Racer, or one Cop hunting seven Racers.
On top of this structure is another Need For Speed-ism: power-ups. Cops gain access to road blocks, EMP charges, and a freakin' helicopter that will pester the Racer and drop some road-spikes. The Racer gets stuff like a radar jammer and decoys to throw the Cops off. I earn these abilities by performing well -- my first time playing as either Cop or Racer, I only get to use the first ability (Roadblock for the Cop, and radar jammer for the Racer).
Click the image above to check out all Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit screens.
Offhand, based on my brief playthrough, I'm thinking of leaning more towards Racer than Cop. It takes a couple of matches for me to bust/takedown a Racer as a Cop; I do stupid things like crash into my own roadblock or overtake the Racer and while decelerating to get behind him -- only to find myself getting smacked instead of laying down the smacking. As the Racer, I find the "get out of the circle" aspect to be akin to Grand Theft Auto 4 and Red Dead Redemption, and I naturally use a combination of weird shortcuts and radar jammers to evade away. Sullivan even points out that Racers can sometimes hide in weird places, let the Cops drive by, and then speed away in the opposite direction -- something that you can only do in an online race against real people, as driver A.I. simply wouldn't fall for that trick.
This isolated bit of racing has me intrigued to see more of how Criterion is putting its own stamp on Need for Speed. Burnout sense of speed, crazy cool cars, an open world map, and a super-easy-to-use Facebook knock-off for matchmaking and record-boasting/breaking? Sign me up.
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