Differences

Differences can be found across the multiple releases of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2.

General

• The PlayStation 2 release was developed by Black Box, whilst the PC, Gamecube, and Xbox releases were developed by EA Seattle.
• The PlayStation 2 release uses letters of the alphabet for its car classes, whilst every other release uses numerals for its car classes.
• The PlayStation 2 release allows players to switch the gender of their driver.
• Police cutscenes in Black Box's PlayStation 2 release are shown in black and white with only one cop arresting the player. In EA Seattle's release, they are shown in colour, with multiple cops and police dogs arresting the player.
• The police helicopter in the PlayStation 2 release resembles the Hughes MD 500, whilst it resembles the Bell 206B III Jet Ranger in every other release.
• Whilst driving a police car, outside of 'You're the Cop' mode in a non-PlayStation 2 release, the police will sometimes identify it as a stolen vehicle.
• The sirens of the police cars in the PlayStation 2 release can be activated outside of 'You're the Cop' mode.
• Every car in the PlayStation 2 release can have its headlights turned on during a race.
• Every police car in the PlayStation 2 release, except for the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, can have flashing headlights activated.
• In the PlayStation 2 release, police officers wearing blue uniforms will appear in Coastal, Forest and tropical island tracks, and state troopers wearing brown uniforms will appear in Desert, Mediterranean, and Alpine tracks.
• The menu soundtrack in the PlayStation 2 release can be played during races. The PC release requires the player to replace the menu soundtrack in order to do so. However, this feature is not included in the GameCube and Xbox releases.
• The police loudspeaker for the non-PlayStation 2 releases were previously featured in the PlayStation and PC demo releases of Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit.
• The PlayStation 2 release reuses a siren sound from the PlayStation release of Need for Speed: High Stakes. In every other release, the USA police siren sound was previously used in the PC release of Need for Speed: High Stakes.
• The PC release doesn't include sun rays or lens flare visual effects, despite the console releases including them.
• The Xbox release supports custom soundtracks, although it is not indicated on the back of the box art cover.

Gameplay

• In the PlayStation 2 release, players can choose between a 'classic' or an 'extreme' handling mode.
• The PlayStation 2 release includes a boost feature that only the police can use in 'You're the Cop' mode.
• In the PlayStation 2 release, police vehicles can be immobilised, but this isn't possible in other releases.
• Whilst playing as a cop, players will damage their tyres if they drive over a spike strip in the PlayStation 2 release, but will not incur damage in other releases.
• In the PlayStation 2 release, players can see roadblocks on the mini-map.
• Players can call for backup during a pursuit in all non-PlayStation 2 releases.
• The barrels that are dropped from police helicopters may occasionally contain spike strips in the PlayStation 2 release. The helicopter may also fire missiles in the PlayStation 2 release.

Car List

• The Ferrari 360 Modena is used as an NFS Edition variant of the Ferrari 360 Spider in the PlayStation 2 release.
• In the PlayStation 2 release, the Ford Crown Victoria is missing its push bumpers that are seen on its EA Seattle counterpart.
• In the PlayStation 2 release, the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR appears in its racing variation and is fitted with the street variant's wheels.
• Every police car in the PlayStation 2 release has antennas fitted to their the roofs, whilst in every other release, only the Ford Crown Victoria is equipped with antennas, although they are placed on the trunk.
• Every police car in the PlayStation 2 release has six strobe light bars, whilst they have seven in other releases. The light bars in the PlayStation 2 release also appear to be based on the Code 3 MX series.
• EA Seattle's release features exclusive pursuit variations of certain vehicles;
  • Pursuit Dodge Viper GTS
  • Pursuit Ford TS50
  • Pursuit HSV Coupé GTS
  • Pursuit Lamborghini Diablo 6.0 VT
  • Pursuit Porsche 911 Turbo

Courses

• The Desert Heat, Outback, and Rocky Canyons courses are exclusive to the PlayStation 2 release.
• The PlayStation 2 release features different weather condition for all courses.
• The courses set in the Alpine location greatly differ between PlayStation 2 and every other release:
  • EA Seattle rendition of Alpine Trail is comprised of the southern part of Black Box's rendition, which features the starting line, dam, and farm areas, with the remainder of the course being the initial lake area of the Black Box rendition of Fall Winds.
  • EA Seattle rendition of Fall Winds is comprised of the northern part of Black Box's rendition of Alpine Trail, with the remainder of the course being the initial lake area of the Black Box rendition of Fall Winds, thus making most routes of Black Box's release of it exclusive to its platform.
  • EA Seattle rendition of Autumn Crossing is considerably shorter and with a vastly different route, as the Black Box rendition of it shares routes with the PlayStation 2 release of the Fall Winds course, which has most of its routes absent from EA Seattle releases.