First Generation NFS - Need for Speed VI: Hot Pursuit 2

Review:
Need For Speed - the name is synonymous with racing fans all round the world. Chances are that if you have owned a pc, you have played a game in the Need For Speed series. There had been no big movements in the NFS scene for a while and all of a sudden EA announced that they would be going back to their roots and releasing a follow up to none other than Hot Pursuit, the game which many consider to be the best in the series. Well its here, lets see whether it lives up to its expectation or not.

Frontends:
The first impressions of the game. Pop the cd into the drive and you get the install menu. This imo hasn't been done as well as the previous versions, it doesnt have the same graphics and style that we have come to see in NFS opening screens. Installing as usual was a breeze with no problems whatsoever.

The intro movie for all of the previous NFS games have been really well done and this one is no different. Racing cars, cops chasing and a few other things which I wont tell you yet. My only qualm with this intro is that its way too short. This is where the game begins. The main screen, the special effects are well done but they are not as good as the previous versions.

The Game:
The main menu has 5 main options. Hot Pursuit, Championship, Single Challenge, Multiplayer, and Quick Race.

Hot Pursuit and Championship are modes where you compete in 33 career races each to become the ultimate racer which lets you unlock various tracks and cars as you progress through the events. The main differences between the 2 being that Hot Pursuit is strictly competing in races where you either run away from the cops or be a cop. Championship has you competing in various single tournaments, time trials etc. Single Challenge lets you race in a track or car which you've unlocked through the Hot Pursuit and Championship modes.

Multiplayer includes Private games, LAN games and most importantly Public Games that you can compete in by just getting a new list of servers, kinda like CS if you ask me. Its a really nice feature that will keep gamers coming back for more.

The Main Gameplay:
The main feature of the game this time around are choppers. It's true EA have put emphasis on choppers that will drop barrels that will explode when you hit them during a chase or even assist you during Be A Cop missions, it add's to the fun factor of the game they say but I wonder how such a feature would actually work in real life. On to the handling part, the handling of the cars is good but a little bit heavy compared to other game's in the NFS's series. Experienced NFS players shouldnt have a problem in this department :) The game's graphics are breathtaking, probably the best for any NFS game till now. Sound's are nicely done with the various environmental effects and engine sounds that make you feel as if you are really in the game, I would suggest that you have something like a 2.1 series speaker system to hear the sounds as they are meant to be heard.

As far as the system req's go I would guess you would have to run it on a 1 ghz + pc with a GeForce 2 to run the game smoothly. There are many aspects of the game that would be checking out on your own. EA has done a good job making this game but it doesnt rekindle the same kind of passion as some of the previous editions and that speaks a lot. Hot Pursuit 2 is a good game with good online abilities that will keep the gamer coming in for more; how long is something that only the gamers know.

Enviroments:	Cars :
Alpine	Aston Martin Vanquish
Mediterranean	BMW M5
Parklands	BMW Z8
Tropical	Chevrolet Corvette Z06
	Dodge Viper GTS
	Ferrari F50
	Ferrari 360 Spider
	Ford Mustang Cobra
	Ford TS-50
	HSV Coupe GTS
	Jaguar XKR
	Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0
	Lamborghini Murciélago
	Lotus Elise
	McLaren F1 LM
	Mercedes Benz CL55
	Mercedes Benz CLK-GTR
	Opel Speedster
	Porsche 911 Turbo
	Porsche Carrera GT
	Vauxhall VX220