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Excellent revamp of the series.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 32 / 35
Date: October 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 excels on many levels. Its "free run" style has always been a welcome addition to the racing genre, not to mention the licensed sports cars that we all can only dream of owning. This new offering is deep with gameplay and hard-nosed driving.

Controls:
Easy PS2 layout with an almost non-existant learning curve.

Controls II:
The cars handle the way they would in real life, as much as possible on a video game. If you hold the "pedal-to-the-metal" approach, you're going to lose races. There is a setting for an easier control, but that defeats the purpose of the game. My advice is to learn in some practive races before you start any of the championship modes.

Gameplay:
The police are relentless this time around with an upgraded AI. Lots of times they lull you into a false sense of security by backing off the chase and you'll run into a roadblock, spike strip or the cool helicopter that drops barrels of explosives on the road.

Championship modes, including Hot Pursuit and World Championship are 30 races long with each getting tougher. To unlock certain tracks and to progress, there is no win by "the-skin-of-your-teeth." Which means you may win a race that way, but you must do just that, win. In many of the races there is objectives to complete to unlock cars, tracks, and other goodies.

Visuals:
The game is full of eye candy. Explosions, a warp ahead feature to let you see down the track, a slo-motion cam feature, replays, and FMV jump sequences which earn you points. The cars, tracks, and landscapes are gorgeous and if you're not careful, the beauty of the surroundings can cause a slip-up. You can cross through mountains, find a variety of short-cuts, get los in fog and smoke, or crash into a firetruck. Everything lifelike is placed into the game and fused with the gameplay.

Overall:
All in all, this is the best and most ambitious Need for Speed title ever created. it leaves the pack of racing games in the dust with pure adrenaline. Get yourself into the game and relax...this is a joyride, no? Watch out for traffic for Sunday drivers come in swarms and can cause an opponent to slip by at the last, pivitol moment.

Robert Eldridge (...)

Whoa!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 26
Date: December 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

When I got Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 on 10/11/02 I thought wow this game will be the bomb! And it was!

It has the best graphics in the world!
The cops are very dangerous and drive as badly as you do! They send helicopters that drop bombs on you, fire missiles at you, and drop mini spike strips in front of you! The cops also set up roadblocks and spike strips to keep you from breaking the law.
The damage is realistic, but your car doesn't get all bashed up if you run into a tree at 221 miles per hour!
There is a lot of traffic, so you'd better watch out!
I have beaten the game a long time ago, so I know the cars are:
The McLaren F1, F1 LM, Ferrari F50, 550 Barchetta Pininfarina, 360 Spider, Lamborghini Murcielago, Diablo, the new 911 Turbo, the concept Carrera Gt, Mercedes-Benz Clk-Gtr, Cl 55 Amg, Ford TS50, Mustang, Lotus Elise, Opel Speedster, Vauxhall VX220, BMW M5, Z8, Holden HSV Gts, Jaguar XKR, Aston Martin Vanquish, Chevrolet Corvette, and the Dodge Viper!
Need for Speed addition cars have special colors and improve performance:
NFS Vanquish, NFS Elise, NFS Cl 55, NFS Clk-Gtr, NFS Speedster, NFS VX220, NFS HSV, NFS XKR, Challenge NFS Ferrari 360 Modena, NFS F50, NFS 550, NFS Mustang, NFS TS50, NFS Viper, NFS Corvette, NFS Diablo, NFS Murcielago, NFS 911, NFS Carrera, NFS F1, and The NFS F1 LM!
These are the cars the police will have:
Pursuit Ford Crown Victoria, Pursuit Mustang, Pursuit M5, Pursuit Corvette, and a Pursuit Murcielago!
The ways you could win these are to win an event or get enough points!
To get points is to get air, run a roadblock, lead a lap, drive a clean lap (don't run into anything), accelerate to top speed, or beat the cops!
The fastest you could go is 240 M.P.H. with any one of the McLarens!
You must buy this game!

Best Racing Title on the Market

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: March 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I don't prefer to play many racing games, until now! This NFS title is the best in the series, not to mention the best racing title created for a next-gen system! The graphics are great, the conrols aren't impossible, and the songs are well chosen by EA. Also, the cars are fabulous mean machines that feature top dogs such as the Lamborghini Diablo and Ferrari F50. A slew of other decent vehicles are at hand to drive, completing the racing experience. The courses are certainly gorgeous, and the only thing that's missing is inner-city tracks. However, that's not a big deal for this game and a factor that Midnight Club 2 provides. 2-Player modes are very fun, though not as fun as the hilarious party game Super Smash Bros. Melee. Above all, if you enjoy any sort of racing title for the PS2 or cool cars on cool courses, then you'll love this game!

Fun, but numbingly frustrating

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 14 / 19
Date: October 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

For the first few hours this game is a BLAST. The concept here is a good old fashioned car chase, with you controlling cops or speeders. The game physics are very forgiving, making this an easy game for beginners to enjoy. This, however, is where the game also fails. Because it forgives so much (no need to steer, guardrails will bounce you back on track; no need to worry, you will magically catch up if you fall too far behind, you never flip, you accelerate about the same whether you are on sand or road, etc), it also never rewards you for driving well. You can race flawlessly for x number of laps, only to have some cheesy accident/cop/tree/competitor come out of nowhere to steal your victory in complete CPU cheeseball fashion. This game offers a wealth of cool licensed cars (Ferrari, Porsche, Lambo, etc), but since the driving/physics model is so unrealistic, they all pretty much drive the same (ie: brakes stink, cars oversteer like nobody's business) and make the game's career mode ultimately unrewarding.

The graphics are good, and the sense of speed is nice. The sounds are great and lead to the ambience, the control is arcadey (a plus or minus, depending on your POV) and the replay value is decent. It's a fun game, but don't look for too much depth or realism here (get GT3 instead).

This is what arcade racing is all about

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: November 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Groove your way around the s curve, avoid that truck in the left lane, cut off that BMW Z8, ram that cop in a corvette into a palm tree, use that incline to jump over the road block, dodge that missle the helicopter just fired off at you, take the shortcut through the abandoned mine, and start your second of 5 laps. Of course words cannot begin to express the intensity of this game, but once you play it, your hands will be shaking, and you'll realize how appropriatley titled this game is.

This is one pretty game to look at. The framerate rarely drops, the relfections are impressive, and the locations look great. Not to mention the drop dead gorgeous models of the cars. It's one of those games you'll want to show off to your friends.

The gameplay is instantly likeable, and the deeper you go into it, the better it gets. The game has 60 events, each taking any where between 5 to 30 minutes, and ranging from piece of cake to hard as heck. In other words, it will keep you busy. The physics are fun, despite the lack of realism. But seriously, looking at the cover of this game, do you expect realism? I sure didn't, and I was pleasently suprised how much effort they put into the handling, speed, and overall performance of each car. They don't act like they would in real life, but you won't care.

The sound of the game is a mixed bag. The sound effects, terrain noises, and engine roars all sound fantastic. However EA's choice of music could have been a lot better. My only other real problem is that it can get frusterating, however it can also be extremely rewarding.

This is what an arcade racer is supposed to be, it has very memorable moments, nifty gimmecks and effects, and creates a racer vs track vs clock vs cop environment that gives you the ultimate rush. In a holiday season of Vice City, I really hope people don't over look this title for their..well..need for speed.

So good, it cured my Burnout addiction!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 31, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Let me get one thing out in the open: I am a huge fan of Acclaim's Burnout series. The intense racing, blazing sense of speed, nerve-wracking crashes, and traffic-weaving are all amazing, and (I thought) unmatched among arcade racers.

Enter Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2.

EA's cop chaser came out about the time of Burnout 2: Point of Impact, which meant I was having such a blast with Burnout that I completely ignored NFS. But I kept hearing about how cool NFS was, so I gave it a rent, after exhausting Burnout, and was shocked out of my socks by the result: I think NFS: HP2 is a superior game, all things considered.

I will admit that Burnout 2 looks better, runs faster, and has a certain European style that I find highly appealing - not to mention the immortal Crash Mode. Hot Pursuit 2 might not have the technical advantages of Burnout, but what it lacks in style, it more than makes up for with substance.

First off, having licensed cars DOES make a difference. Blasting round a curve in a Ferrari is miles more sexy than speeding through the streets in a Sports Car. And what licenses: Porsche, Lambroghini, Aston Martin, Jaguar, BMW, Corvette! All modeled accurately, and gorgeously - there are over forty cars in all.

NFS's gameplay has more depth as well. While Burnout can seem at times like a tech demo for its superlative crash physics, NFS concentrates strictly on the racing. The well-rendered courses are long, with single laps lasting three minutes, and riddled with shortcuts that can make or break the race. Should I risk taking the narrow back road through the canyon and possibly nab first place, or play it safe and hope the other guys screw up? EA deserves a big hand for producing some of the most devious clever track designs you're likely to see.

You have a wealth of options to customize the races as well. All the cars have two different settings for handling: Classic (i.e. safe) or Extreme (for the powerslide freaks). You can race with commuter traffic on or off, car damage on or off, lap number, controller configuration, AI difficulty, weather conditions, camera views, HUD, car color.....I hope you're getting the picture. You can even adjust the licensed in-game soundtrack to play instrumentals only. Not since the Dreamcast's beloved Metropolis Street Racer has an arcade racer had so many options.

There are several race modes as well, which break down roughly into two categories: Hot Pursuit (i.e. the cops are lurking) and World Racing (no cops). Each mode has a 30+ race bracket with individual challenges, which get progressively tougher. The races also range from timed runs to GPs to some where you drive as the police themselves, chasing down reckless speeders under a strict time limit. Whereas Burnout can be beaten within a rental period, it'll take quite a while to unlock everything in HP2. And the variety, constant unlocked items, and non-linear branching gameplay ensures that it never gets repetitive.

While World Racing is noteworthy in its own right, Hot Pursuit is where the gloves come off. As you & your opponents (or a friend) barrel along the twisting roads, the police are waiting. You've got a radar detector that lets you know when you're targeted, as well as a scanner that contains some brilliant cop commentary: "27 to Central, I'm tracking a green Lotus Elisse that's doing 100+ and driving on the shoulder. Let's test his air bags." Ha ha - just try it. Elude the black & whites for a while, and they might call for a roadblock. Or a spike strip. Or a bomb-dropping helicopter. Yeah, it's all over-the-top, but oh man, what a rush: four cops on your tail, weaving around commuter traffic, dodging bombs from above, all while hanging onto first place by the skin of your teeth. Even the most traffic-choked Burnout streets didn't get this insane. Then you hear that police cruiser smash into a wall, and your scanner says: "27 to Dispatch - my cruiser is out of commission. Am unable to continue pursuit. Over." Awwww yeah!

Did I mention you can play as the cop and chase down your friends......even calling in the chopper and roadblocks to stop them? And that you can unlock Corvette and Murcielago versions of a police cruiser? Let the trash-talking begin.

My intent is not to bash Burnout 2 at all - it's a definite keeper based on the amazing graphics and Crash Mode - but as far as pure pulse-pounding intense arcade racing action, I've never played anything as fun and insane as Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2. Toss sim racing out the window and smash down the accelerator - this game'll give you whiplash!

Superb arcade racing

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is, to date, my favorite racing game for the PS2. Others are more realistic, a couple may even be faster, but for sheer fun this is the one I always come back to. The track design is superb, the shortcuts are numerous and appropriately tricky, the car selection is diverse and exotic, the control is tight superb, and the racing and police interaction cannot be matched. It's challenging without being frustrating, and even the most veteran racer will have some trouble beating the later challenges. There's plenty to unlock, and I find myself coming back to challenge and multiplayer mode over and over again. It's unfortunate that more recent NFS titles have lacked the track design (and shortcuts), the police element, and the remarkable cars that make this game such a good time. Here's hoping that, eventually, the franchise will come back to its roots and give us a Hot Pursuit 3.

One of the best racers ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is by far one of the best racers ever. Black box E.A. did an outstanding job with this one. The only other racing game that is better is gran tourismo 3. I really love the car choices in this game I am a big fan of the holden monaro and ford falcon wich are aussi cars in case you did not know. The gameplay is awsome and very addicting. I'ts a shame that black box blew it with need for speed underground in making a sub par game I only hope that they will redeem themselve's in the future with a better game. This game is highly recomended!!

I'd give it 6 stars if I could!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: September 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Forget your nice driving techniques, throw away the "Worlds' Scariest Police Chase" videos, cause here comes Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2!Race the worlds' best high performance cars from, Jaguars, Lamborghinis, Porches, and McLarens on exciting and sometimes grueling street tracks from across the globe. Whether you want to run from the cops? Or just race to see whos' the fastest, this game has got you covered. You won't get bored with it, it's constant racing action with awesome hills for soaring jumps, off-road shorcuts to out maneuver your daunting opponents (or Cops), and a hefty engine under your hood to take you to the extreme of street racing. The controls are fairly simple, especially if you've played some of NFS previous titles, but you'll have to be careful with some cars for they might be more sensitive to steering than others. Car handling is very near to realistic. Graphics are in a league of their own. Every solitary detail is expressed, from flying gravel, to the reflection of trees off of your car. Realistic is the key factor in this game.Music just rocks and you can never get tired of it. While playing, the songs particularly picked by EA seem to just drive the andrenaline out of you to race these fast cars.The COPS. Uh oh, you're racing with your buddies on the streets, but all of a sudden you hear the sound of a blaring siren! The cops are on your tail, and sending reinforcements! Now you have to turn up the heat and out maneuver the cops to win! But these guys aren't stupid, they'll do anything (and I mean ANYTHING) to get you busted! From road blocks, spike strips, to the desperate sending of their Helicopter to drop explosive barrels all over the road to knock your car out of throttle, these guys are experts at catching abusers of the traffic laws, and they INTEND to uphold the law. But most importantly...THE CARS! Did you ever want a 49 car garage? Well yes you can have it! Any high performance sports car from American models to the ever so popular European models. You start out with the relatively small and weak HP cars until you keep racing to build up points to unlock cars. Play the tournaments in both "World Racing" and Hot pursuit modes' "Ultimate Racer" to unlock the cars, and the tracks. Speaking of which, you get 30 tracks from beginner to expert, so whatever you feel like handling your car on, you have the option to chose it. Basically folks, this game tops all the factors of the essence and sheer power cars can dish out on the streets, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who is a car fanatic.

Failing to live up to it's namesake

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: November 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The original Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has to rank up there with the best all time race games. It was so much fun because of features like damaged vehicles, realistic physics, notable variances and modeling in the licensed vehicles, great police and competitor AI, gorgeous scenery and effects. Now, after quite a wait, the next in the line of NFS: Hot Pursuit line is here...unfortunately it doesn't live up to it's predecessor and namesake. To be fair though, let me list the positive qualities that make this game a choice for some players.

Arcade feeling. If you like the driving games that you normally have to dump $.50 in to play, this is probably a game for you. Graphically, the scenery and tracks are very pleasing to the eye, though not quite what one might expect with today's capabilities. Still, it's hard to argue that it doesn't look good, if nothing else.

On to the negatives.

Arcade feeling. The original NFS felt and played far more realistically. You wanted to drive as fast as possible but worked hard to keep your car intact and damage free. Not so with this game. You can crash and smash to your hearts delight...no damage modelling or concerns that your vehicle will perform any less than when you started.

AI. The police are as fast as you are. They have little problem harrassing you and no matter how effective of a driver you are, the only ways to really loose them are to duck through a short-cut or manage to wreck them somehow. Furthermore, police have the annoying habit of ignoring other drivers. No matter how many other speedsters dash by a waiting officer, they seem to stop eating their donuts only when you pass by. Thanks to the poor physics and gameplay, more often than not you will have an officer stuck to your car doors for most of the track. Being speedy has little to do with this game and outrunning any pursuit is unlikely. This aspect alone is a sore point with the gameplay and AI.

Physics. While this goes along with the arcade flavor of the game, for those who might prefer it, they are still horrible at times for even an arcade game. Flamboyant wrecks spin you awkwardly and utterly unbelievably. It actually looks silly and mockingly unreal or unarcade like. As arcade like as the game plays, it ends up failing in that respect as well. It's sad to say, but I recall driving games on the Intellivision and Atari that played pretty much like this NFS.

Gameplay. The cars all perform pretty much like each other. Regardless how effective your driving, you won't find any reward. In some ways, when you win, you just feel that you got lucky rather than skillfully achieved your finish. It just doesn't have the same fun factor one expects from an NFS game. What a crying shame too.

Graphics. While the graphics are notably good in many respects, there seems to be missing some of the things that made the previous NFS games that much more delightful. No bugs on the windshield, dust plumes or the like to create that immersive feeling. Overall, the graphics are nice and neat. Perhaps to neat to feel as satisfying as you might want.

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Overall? If you like arcade racers, this is "OK" to spend your money on, despite the flawed game play. I would probably recommend saving your money or buying another game altogether though, particularly if you are a fan of the previous "pre-porsche" NFS games. This one is just lacking in all the qualities that made players enjoy the NFS series.

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