- For the 1998 Hot Pursuit release, see - Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit
For the 2002 Hot Pursuit release, see - Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
For the Hot Pursuit Game mode, see - Hot Pursuit.
For the Wii release, see Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010)/Wii.
For the iOS release, see Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010)/iOS.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010) is an arcade racing game developed by Criterion Games, DICE, IronMonkey, and Exient Entertainment. It is the 16th title in the Need for Speed franchise and is the first since Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 to feature a police career mode.
The game was revealed with a trailer at the EA Presentation of the 2010 E3 conference in LA on June 14th. A gameplay demonstration was given by creative director Craig Sullivan playing the role of a cop and producer Matt Webster playing the role of a racer.
This is also the first title in the series to also have officially licensed cars as traffic vehicles in the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC releases. The game was released on November 16th 2010 in North America, November 18th 2010 in Australia, November 19th 2010 in Europe, and December 9th 2010 in Japan. It was released for the PC (except in Asia incl. Japan), PS3, Xbox 360, iOS, Android, and Wii.
The PS3, Xbox 360, and PC releases were developed by Criterion Games in collaboration with DICE whilst the Wii release was developed by Exient Entertainment and the iOS and Android releases were developed by IronMonkey. The Xbox 360 release offered a Dodge Viper SRT-10, Porsche Cayman S, and Porsche Panamera Turbo as DLC cars available for the racers as part of a promotional offer from Dr. Pepper.
The Wii version's gameplay is similar to Need for Speed: Nitro and has new modes including "Rush Hour" mode which sees players racing against 99 other racers.
Gameplay
There is no plot involved within Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Customisation options were drastically reduced and only allow players to change the paint of a racer car with factory colours. Cockpit views, Quickrace Mode, manual transmission and performance mods were not made available in the final release. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010) allows players to choose either a racer or a cop in specific career.
The handling in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is reminiscent to the gameplay seen in the Burnout series. The handling follows a mixture of realism and arcade with cars being able to drift at high speed but many differ depending on their real world attributes such as weight.
Players can also momentarily increase their vehicle's acceleration by using nitrous. Players can earn nitrous by arresting racers, destroying police vehicles, dangerous driving, and drifting.
Career Mode
Both racer and cop careers feature ranking systems. Players progress by earning bounty in each event with more bounty being offered for better finishing positions and driving ability. New vehicles, equipment, and events will be unlocked for the player as they earn more bounty. Players can earn bounty towards their ranks in both single player and multiplayer events.
Freedrive
The player can alternatively enter a free roaming gamemode known as Freedrive. Freedrive can be accessed from any event region on the map and allows players to drive any unlocked vehicle within Seacreast County.
Freedrive doesn't feature any form of reward system, competitive racing experience, or pursuits.
This mode is perfect for players to hone their driving skills and test how each car performs. They can also take Dreamshots to catch an elegant scenery with their car or the environment.
Location
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit takes place in a fictional setting known as Seacrest County. Seacrest County is located along the West Coast of the United States of America. There are a number of different regions in Seacrest County such as a beach, forest, snowy mountain range, barren desert, and dam.
Event Types
Every event in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is a Point A to Point B track. They generally follow the same principles as in older titles. Players will compete with up to seven other opponents. Players will face the SCPD in Interceptor, Hot Pursuit, and Most Wanted modes.
Players will always be shown a short cutscene at the beginning of an event to either illustrate the course or players involved.
When a racer/cop vehicle gets totalled/busted in any event, the player will be eliminated and not able to complete the event.
Single Player (Racer)
- Race - Up to 8 racers will compete to see who is the fastest in along the course. The winner is the racer that crosses the finish line in pole position. Racers can receive damage from each other, traffic and walls making it possible for them to wreck their vehicle before they can finish the race.
- Duel - 2 racers face-off against each other in specific vehicles to see which is quicker on an A to B course. The winner is the first racer to cross the finish line.
- Hot Pursuit - Up to five racers will have to complete an A to B course whilst facing the force of the SCPD. The winner is the first racer to cross the line. Equipment is made available to both the racers and cops but a wrecked racer will not be able to complete the race.
- Gauntlet - A racer will have to complete an A to B course as quickly as possible whilst facing the SCPD on their own. Equipment is made available for use.
- Time Trial/Preview - A racer will be given an A to B course to complete in a certain amount of time and a specific vehicle.
Single Player (Cop)
- Interceptor - A cop has to bust a racer in a certain amount of time. The event is completely open and allows the participants to travel along any road. Equipment is made available for use to both the Racer and Cop. The event fails if the target Racer evades their engagement circle for 30 seconds or wrecks the player's vehicle.
- Hot Pursuit - A single cop has to bust all the participating racers before any of them reach the finish line. Equipment is made available for use.
- Rapid Response/Preview - A cop will be given an A to B course to complete under a target time. The cop will be given a specific vehicle. They will receive a penalty time added if they come into contact with a traffic vehicle (+3 seconds) or a barrier (+2 seconds). A wrecked cop will fail the event.
Multiplayer
- Race - Up to 8 racers will compete to see who is the fastest along a course. The winner is the racer that crosses the finish line in pole position. Racers can receive damage from each other, traffic and walls making it possible for them to wreck their vehicle before they can finish the race.
- Interceptor - A cop has to bust a racer. The racer has to escape or wreck the cop. The event is completely open and allows the participants to travel along any road. Equipment is made available to both the cop and racer. The first to wreck loses the event but the racer can win if they leave the cop's engagement circle for 30 seconds.
- Hot Pursuit - Up to 8 players are split into 2 teams; Racers and Cops. The racer team has to complete an A to B course but the cops have to bust all of the racers. The racers team wins if any of them crosses the finish line first or wreck all the cops. The cops win if they bust all of the participating racers. Equipment is made available to both cop and racers.
Armed & Dangerous DLC Events
The Armed & Dangerous Downloadable Content Pack was released for the Xbox 360 & PS3 on February 22nd 2011. The pack included 2 new online only multiplayer events; Most Wanted and Arms Race.
- Most Wanted - Up to 8 players are split into 2 teams; Racers and Cops. The event is completely open and allows the participants to travel along any road. Equipment is made available to both the cops and racers. The racer team has to protect a member of their team marked as "Most Wanted." The cop team has to wreck the racer marked as "Most Wanted."
The racers win if they wreck all of the cop team members or the "Most Wanted" racer escapes the cops' engagement circle for a long enough period. The cops win if they wreck the racer marked as "Most Wanted."
- Arms Race - Up to 8 racers will compete to see who is the fastest along a course. The winner is the racer that crosses the finish line in pole position. Equipment is made available to all racers. A wrecked racer will not be able to finish the event. Cops also randomly deploy Road Blocks and Helicopters along the course.
Equipment
Both racers and cops can use equipment weapons in events with each having a differing effect on a participant. Equipment can be upgraded as a player progresses through into higher ranks of both the cop and racer careers.
Dreamshot
Dreamshot is a new feature encompassing the Photo Mode seen in older Need for Speed titles. Dreamshot allows players to share pictures captured within singleplayer events using Photo Mode. Players can edit the world colour, contrast, brightness, motion blur, focal length, depth of field, and damage effects before capturing a picture in Photo Mode.
Car List
SCPD
The Seacrest County Police Department is the agency that serves and protects Seacrest County from crime including illegal street racing. They own over 55 vehicles in their fleet to combat the fastest of all speeders.
Autolog
Autolog is a social network featured in the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and iOS releases of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Autolog allows players to compare career event times, send each other messages, and share dreamshots among their friends.
Demo
A demo was made available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 between October 26th and November 9th 2010. The demo contained 2 events; A cop event - Dark Horse and a racer event - Roadsters Reborn.
The cop event was a Hot Pursuit where players could choose between the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor and Nissan 370Z Coupe.
The racer event was a Race where players could choose between the Nissan 370Z Roadster Touring w/ Sport Pkg. (Z34), BMW Z4 sDrive35is and Porsche Boxster Spyder. The racer event was unlocked after a player befriend someone else who had the demo through Auto Log.
Special Editions
Limited Edition
The Limited Edition of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit could be pre-ordered and was available in various shops for a short time. It was not purchasable throughout Asia. The Limited Edition included additional cars such as the Alfa Romeo 8C Comptizione and Ford Shelby GT500 as well as unlocking several vehicle earlier in the career progression.
EA Crew Edition
The EA Crew Edition of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was a gift given to EA employees during the Christmas season of 2010 and wasn't directly purchasable. The EA Crew Limited Edition included a unique package with a flap containing a written message from EA's CEO, a special Christmas theme, and additional vehicles which where also released to the public in the form of the SCPD Rebels DLC Pack.
Title Differences
The various releases of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010) differ from each other due to the different development studios and the capabilities of their targeted platform. The Wii release, designed by Exient Entertainment, is almost a completely different game, with different settings, music, gameplay, and graphics.
Soundtrack
Trivia
- Criterion Games have stated that Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was inspired by the first Need for Speed installment - The Need for Speed.
- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit's car handling is also very similar to that seen in Need for Speed II.
- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is the first in the series since Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 to feature a narrator commenting about real-life information concerning a vehicle. The female narrator is the same heard concerning SCPD and Racer announcements. She has also appeared in Criterion's Burnout series.
- Some areas of Seacrest County contain advertisements of the Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.
- The PC release of the game didn't receive any downloadable contents.