Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 is a 2002 racing video game, serving as the debut Need for Speed (NFS) title from EA Black Box, and the first Need for Speed for the sixth generation of consoles as well as the last of the Classic Era Need for Speed Games. In 2003, the game was awarded Console Racing Game of the Year,at the 6th AnnualInteractive Achievement Awards. Like Porsche Unleashed before it, Hot Pursuit 2 was not released in Japan.
GAME PLAY:
Hot Pursuit 2 draws primarily from the gameplay and style of Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit; its emphasis was on evading the police and over-the-top tracks featuring lengthy shortcuts.
As with the original, the player also has the option to play as a police officer trying to arrest speeders. To do so the player rams the speeding vehicle multiple times to disable it. The player must turn on their lights and sirens while in pursuit, and they automatically turn off after arresting the suspect. Police can call for a road block, spike strips, and request help from a helicopter to assist in chasing the target vehicle. At the end, the player is awarded for the cars busted. In the PlayStation 2 version this mode is called You're the Cop mode while in the PC, Gamecube, and Xbox versions it'sBe the Cop mode.
Races take place in four environments which differ in atmosphere, with a handful of tracks per environment. The different tracks in an environment are formed by different roads being connected or separated by road blocks. A fictional tropical island, reminiscent ofHawaii, is the most varied environment; the track traverses a city, volcano, waterfall, beach, forest, and two villages. The coastal forest environment, reminiscent of the Washington coast, sometimes has foggy weather, but this does not effectively limit visibility during races. The Mediterranean coast and so-called Alpine environments are more homogeneous, with little variation except the occasional short cut. Compared to the original Hot Pursuit, which features weather and day/night variation independent of track, and widely varying environments from snowy mountains over cities to desert, Hot Pursuit 2tracks have significantly less variation.
Hot Pursuit 2 is also the first in the series to lack an in-car view that was available in preceding Need for Speed titles. There is only a "driver's perspective" view available, without a visible dashboard. There is one race however on the PlayStation 2 version, with a Ferrari, in which the player drives with this in-car view.
Race types
All types of modes can only have a certain class of cars to be used. Faster cars are used near the end of the "Championship" and "Ultimate Racer" modes. Delivery is a timed point-to-point dash, with the police in pursuit. This is similar to the delivery mission in Porsche Unleashed while the police pursuit makes it more challenging.Sprint is a point to point race where competitors try to get from one end to the other before their opponent. Time Trial gives players three laps on a level with the goal being to beat the required time to get the gold/silver/bronze medal. Lap Knock the last racer in each lap until one player remains the victor. Knock out follows a similar principle, but eliminations are made to the last racer at the end of each race. Several other modes, such as Tournament, Single Race, and Championship/Ultimate Racer are also available.
Publisher: EA Games
Operating systems: Windows Me, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP
Additional requirements: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, 933MHz CPU, 256MB RAM, 32MB DirectX 9-compatible video card (Geforce2 or higher)