One of Criterion’s best installments is back as a reminder that the studio has a talent capable of making time go to waste.
Let’s start with the basics: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is one of the best installments in the series. Criterion Games, since 2004 part of Electronic Arts, made Burnout an emblem with deliveries such as Burnout 3: Takedown or the anarchic Paradise back in 2008, remastered only a few years ago with more than remarkable results. Now, the North American giant has looked back again to recover another of the famous works of its other great intellectual property of driving with a lazy remastering that, despite the minimum changes compared to the original, continues to hold on to the elixir of eternal youth.
Because surely Hot Pursuit has many more elements of Burnout than Need for Speed compared to previous iterations of the latter, but what difference does it make? Regardless of the nomenclature, regardless of the surname and the logo that accompanies the cover, there is one thing that does not change: Criterion Games does not fail. The credit this time goes to Stellar Entertainment, who have already done the same with Burnout Paradise Remastered with a philosophy very similar to the product that arrives this November on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch: total respect for the playable mechanics and a shy technical facelift on textures, lighting and resolution.
Adrenaline of all colors
Hot Pursuit was the beginning of something new, of a path of successes and errors that give for a long history, but the first thing we understood when starting our first game of the remastering that concerns us today is that to choose this and not other beloved titles (and demanded) by the players makes all the sense in the world; Which is not an obstacle for us to have the return of Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005) or Burnout 3: Takedown in a few years. Ten years have passed since Hot Pursuit became known as a reminder that Need for Speed could regain that vibe, that intensity and that love for doing things right. Every vehicle design; each stage design; with extremely narrow paths and others with greater spatial clearance; it still feels intact in the middle of 2020, and that has a lot of merit. Regarding the sensation of speed, a couple of notes: we have played on Xbox One X, which, like on PS4 Pro, runs at 1080p and 60 FPS or 4K / 30 FPS; but on the Microsoft and Sony base consoles we will have to settle for 1080p and 30 FPS (also Nintendo Switch in TV mode). The debate on whether or not the difference is notable leaves room for the subjective interpretation of each one. Our opinion about it is that it does show, a lot, and that is why we recommend going for the versions that guarantee 60 frames per second. That is a sensation of speed.
Seacrest County is not an open world like Paradise City, which catches us very recently, but it is a cohesive map where the routes have a specific place on the map. It is possible that some missions take place taking sections and routes already covered in part by other pursuit tasks or races, and the truth is that it was a good decision to make that decision, because as the hours go by you think you are there … without the need to be manually traveling each road to go to the next phase. This point is essential for users who prefer to lend themselves to short games. That takes Hot Pursuit to the letter, with races rarely exceeding three minutes in length and a variety of options in the main campaign enough not to tire you out. Repeating in your head that “I’m going to play last” is more than recurring.
Hot Pursuit Remastered maintains its personality and always carries the banner of exuberance, opulence, anything goes. Cars, blows, takedowns, speed, waste. Without complex. The types of evidence are divided into two because there are two roles that we can play: seeking or being sought. In other words: police or criminals. From there, time trial challenges where depending on the time we will receive a gold, silver or bronze medal; races with up to seven other rivals with moderately satisfactory artificial intelligence; or chases with robust police cars in which the mission is to finish knocking down that creature at the wheel. Is it still satisfying? Indescribably satisfying.
In addition, Hot Pursuit took very seriously that to unlock content you have to win races. In addition, all the additional DLCs are included, so we must add some thirty extra challenges. Nothing has changed here, there are no adulterated or facilitated design elements. If there is something that worked really well in this installment, it was its progression system, with small incentives —vehicles, tests, higher pilot level… – to continue playing and let yourself go. This remastering has missed an opportunity to get more ambitious on a technical level, and that’s a shame. Mainly because of the generation heights in which we find ourselves, with arcade driving works that have set the bar so high that they print some demand on the rest to be at the same height. Stellar has retouched the minimum, and we say after having screen to screen the original version that we keep from PS3 with this one on Xbox One X. Few corrections in the textures of vehicles or environments. It is not that it looks bad, it is that it gave much more. Luckily, on a chromatic level, a better job has been done than with Burnout Paradise Remastered in 2018, where its particular color palette was more gray and dazzling. Here the lighting is noticeably better, especially when we play at night, where everything looks really good, and there is more support for greens and reds. It’s more saturated, but it looks noticeable enough that we don’t have to blame anyone for a little slap on the wrist.
On the right, the remastering: improvements in lighting, shadows and color intensity.
Seacrest County, personality and competition intact
History? None of that, forget it. If you’ve never played Hot Pursuit, the only story here is getting across the finish line sooner than the clock ticks; before rivals. If we are policemen, more of the same, with the exception that on this side we have to stop the others – especially when we are unlocking unlikely weapons to equip the vehicle, with their direct effects on the stage. The feeling of reward is total, and the difficulty curve is too. We did not remember some such complex tests. It’s not that it’s difficult, it’s that it doesn’t leave room for error. A crash can make you lose enough seconds to make it almost impossible to reach the goal in first position. No rewinds and other practices that make things easier. Special mention for the rest of the cars in the area, which are part of the traffic. It is generally moderate, almost more like a handicap than avoiding something else, but it does its job as it should: they get in the way and you have to avoid or crash them to receive rewards. The rules have been followed and, to tell the truth, we applaud it. It remains as before.
Another point that we cannot overlook is how well differentiated the five types of vehicles are. Putting yourself in the role of a Racer and taking a Supercar has nothing to do with a standard Sports car or a High Performance. The other two types, the Exotics and Hypercars, are much faster and more powerful, but the arcade flavor that the former gives off is surely more fun and realistic (within the implausibility of the whole). There are even differences in each brand, with hardly any sensitivity in the skid with some Nissan or the acceleration of a Porsche. The get hold of everyone feeling is well conveyed.
Photo Mode is still a delight.
Autolog, an asynchronous multiplayer as a social network
And we come to the Autolog, which is part of the hallmarks of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Broadly speaking, it is about its online multiplayer mode, but with the particularity of being asynchronous; that is, it is based on an accumulation of statistical data, including the times of each test, and synchronizes them with the rest of the friends and players in the world to generate competitive hunger. It is not necessary to play simultaneously with another player to compete, but it works as a social network where everything is always connected. When you turn on the game and update the Autolog, you will see the leaderboards of many tests, which are constantly updated with people who may have outdone us by a few tenths of a second. Piques, in short, with the incentive that we receive notifications to remind us that a player has passed our records (including a direct access to that test so that we do not have to search). And yes, this time there is cross-play: the Autolog is shared between PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC.
On the other hand, the standard multiplayer mode, to which we have been able to participate in two test sessions promoted by EA on the occasion of the Reviews period of the video game. Due to the addition of the DLC we have new modes, such as Most Wanted and Career with weapons, the latter especially fun because of how crazy it can be. As you can imagine, the number of players was reduced, so we have not been able to dedicate many hours to it, but enough to verify that the match is agile, it does not suffer on the technical level when there are six or even eight riders at the same time and no flickers on rival vehicles.
For the rest, little to add. At the sound level it is still a pleasure to listen to many of the sound tracks – it is not the best soundtrack of the saga, but it defends itself well and they are well chosen songs – on the visual plane it has aged wonderfully and playably it is a total pleasure . Those who have played the original will be able to identify changes in the HUD and the appearance of the interface, with reduced load times for transitions between menus and phase loads. Much more could have been done, but we celebrate that it reaches all platforms at a discounted price without missing anything. Good appetizer for whatever Criterion Games is currently doing for the new generation of consoles, a Need for Speed that we hope to know more about in 2021.
We have reviewed this game on Xbox One X and Xbox Series S via a download code supplied by EA.
CONCLUSION
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has aged wonderfully. Ten years have not been enough for this work to begin to show seams, because both in the playable and in the design structure of its tests, with that intelligent differentiation between police and runner, it is still intact. The remastering work is minimal, only technical, and a greater effort is needed to improve some textures, the fluidity of the images or the models, which do not stand out excessively. It is still a video game of the past generation. Luckily, on the playable level it is still excellent in almost all its sections, the Autolog is a sensational idea and there are always reasons to return: wasted content. Available at a reduced price and available on all cross-play platforms, Hot Pursuit is back in 2020 to remind us just how good it is.
THE BEST
- The gameplay is still excellent.
- The map and its structure: layout design brand of the house
- Autolog, secured pits now with cross play
- Content: all DLC and progress system intact
WORST
- Technically it is a very discreet remastering
- AI continues to behave strangely
- No 60 FPS on Switch and standard PS4 / Xbox One
Very good
A game with a remarkable finish that we will enjoy and remember. A good buy, highly recommended for lovers of the genre. It is well cared for at all levels.
