Hands-On Preview: It ain’t a crime if ya don’t get caug…aww damnit, they caught me. ::sobs::
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 has to be one of the most delayed games of 2002. When it was first revealed last year, the game was set for a March release. Then it was delayed until May, as a PlayStation 2 exclusive. Finally, the game was delayed into the fall, to make time to create versions for the Other Consoles, namely Xbox and GameCube. As someone who’s been eagerly awaiting this game since it’s announcement, all I can say is – it’s about damn time the game is released!
Thankfully, this NFS fan has had the chance to give a the game a test drive, and bring you, the viewer (or, perhaps reader), a hands-on look at one of the most explosive racing games on the PlayStation 2 this fall. After speeding through the short demo of EA and Blackbox’s latest racing effort, it’s pretty easy to see that this is one game that racing fans will eat up, whether or not they enjoy arcadey racers or full-on simulations. With the release finally a couple weeks away, it’s certain that October will be a fairly “speedy” month.
The short trial of Hot Pursuit 2 throws you right into the mix of the title game mode – Hot Pursuit. For those not in the know (nor bright enough to figure it out), the Hot Pursuit mode is a regular race against other cars, but with one extra twist – super pissed off police officers. Obviously they don’t take too kindly to you ripping up their roads in street races, and they’ll do anything possible to run you off the road. If they bust you 3 times (why they let you go after getting caught the first time, I’ll never know), the game is over and your car is eliminated. Of course, the same goes for the other cars, so being able to knock them around and into the hands of the coppers works well.
In HP2’s Hot Pursuit, the cops go after you in stages. First off, they’ll just send a single car after you, hoping to run you off the road or be right there to trap you if you make a mistake. If they can’t catch you, they’ll deploy a roadblock of a couple police cars to catch you unknowing – even though they typically are placed around a shortcut that can be used to generate some big air points (more on that in a bit). When you get to the last part of the race, the Law breaks out the heavy artillery – a helicopter dropping what look like harmless landmines onto the road, hoping you’ll run into them, because doing so will cause you to slow down and go backwards a bit. Suffice it to say, the Hot Pursuit mode can get very, very intense, especially when you have a race to contend with (one that I managed to race perfectly and finish 4th out of 4, go figure).
What’s interesting is how NFS: HP2 implements a point system. Similar to the Kudos system in Project Gotham Racing on the Xbox (only it’s not as emphasized in this game), you acquire points for pulling off certain goals in a race. For instance, overtaking a car and getting a higher position will get you some points. If you manage to get some air while racing (a major possibility in quite a few places on the demo track), you get points there – and sometimes you even get a cool cut-scene showing your sweet jump. You also can get points for beating the cops – avoid a roadblock successfully and you’ll get big time points. Race a section of the track perfectly (a tough task in HP mode, but probably not in regular, police free races in the full game), and you get points there too.
When racing, controlling the cars is easy enough – though not one that doesn’t require a bit of time with it. Some cars are fairly touchy on the controls and will swerve around if you don’t know how to drive it. While there were only a couple cars to race as in the trial (randomly given to you), both drove fairly differently, creating multiple strategies for driving the beasts. Effective use of the regular brake and the emergency brake is the key to taking some corners. HP2 has 2 ways to control your car by default – the traditional PS2 way (that being the X button to accelerate, the Square button to brake, R1 for E-brake), or the dual-analog stick way, where the left stick moves the car, and the right stick accels and brakes. Both do their job, though I’ll never get the dual-stick way of racing down, it just doesn’t feel natural to me.
On the graphical end, NFS is really a pretty racer. But that’s not the important thing. The important thing is that this game is fast. Really. Freaking. Fast. The frame-rate is a rock solid locked 60 FPS, so you know that means speed madness. And Hot Pursuit 2 has that in spades. The sense of speed is amazing, so much that you can get caught up in it and completely miss turns or hit a tree on the side of the road (without dying a fiery death, even). This is one of those games that requires your full concentration if you want to win, I can see.
The demo track was a Forest track, so there’s a ton of details like trees, leaves on the road, and other effects you might find. The track itself is well designed with plenty of smart and challenging turns, as well as shortcuts. It feels very similar to the opening track in the original Hot Pursuit, which is definitely not a bad thing.
For sounds, EA made it so the demo let you hear the sound effects more than the music. Those sound effects are pretty well done though. The engines were loud and noisy, something you’d expect from a game full of high-powered racecars. The other integral sound effect, the cops, are also nicely done. There’s some samples here and there telling you what they’re planning on, so you get a head-start on being prepared. The sirens of the cop cars are done well too, and the effect of the siren getting quieter as you run away, and closer as they edge nearer to you is realistic and helpful if you’re unable to look in the rear-view mirror.
