Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (GameCube)

This game has almost everything you need from a racing game. The graphics are superb. If you can tear yourself away from the driving, take a look at the stunning backdrops. Waterfalls, volcanoes, oceans, ancient ruins etc.

The cars you can select are all real, and all mouth watering !! BMW, Ferrari, Vauxhall, Ford and many more are catered for and the better you drive, the more vehicles you unlock.

The tracks you drive on all look different, but you soon realise that many of them are just variations of others. Altering the start/finish line or running the course backwards does not constitute a different track in my book, but the tracks that are featured are very impressive. There is a mix of tight mountain roads, open freeways, grass and dirt tracks etc.

There is a decent mix of 'alternative routes' to discover. A nice touch here is that they are not all short-cuts, so it pays to learn which ones are the quickest. There is an option to drive round the courses with no opponents and no police cars, so it might be wise to try this out.

Racing wise, there is a variety of different events you have to compete in. Timed laps, straight forward races, mini championships and elimination events. On top of this, you can also opt to have the police on your tail (hot pursuit mode) This makes for a whole different racing game, as you can deliberately hang back in second place so that the cops target the guy in front !! Racing with the police on your case can become a little annoying after a while, so I found myself 'dipping into' this option rather than playing with it full time.

If that wasn't enough, you can choose to be the cops and go after the racers. You don't earn many points for this, but it does make a nice change. It is also great in multiplayer mode.

The driving feels more like a rally game. You have to pre-empt some of the corners, and learn to use the gas and brakes well. I prefer this, because it feels like you are more in control of the vehicle.

Musically, there is a selection of thumping rock tracks that include Uncle Kracker and Bush. They fit the mood of the game well, but if it's not your cup of tea then you might find yourself turning the music down

Overall this got 4/5 from me because the number of tracks is not as many as they claim. I rate this as good as (if not slightly better than) Burnout, but who knows how good Burnout 2 will prove to be.

This game is definately worth investigating.

This latest version builds upon the rather good original need for speed : hot pursuit and thankfully improves it in nearly everyway.

The physics (and this is the most important part of any driving game)of the ALL cars finally resembles real driving. Before only your car used real physics, the AI cars just tried to look as if they did...and to be honest they did it rather badly, being able to slide sideways to avoid obstacles rather than driving round them! Not so any more, they handle brilliantly...still verging on the arcade side but only just.

The graphics are probably the biggest let down of the cube version, they're good don't get me wrong...but not brilliant like GT3 on the ps2. The detail on the the tracks and background more than make up though as the tracks are genuinely interesting with plenty of twists turns and surprises including short cuts and alternative routes.

The game itself is excellent, and there is plenty to do. There are 12 tracks in all but each one can be mirrored, reversed and revesred/mirrored to produce the advertised 48 tracks. Sounds like a con but the tracks are so different in reverse and/or mirrored with new scenary visible that wasn't before that they really do feel like totally different tracks. There are plenty of cars too, ranging from low powered vx220s to the high powered Mclaren F1s.

Initially only one track and a handfull of cars are available to drive. To unlock more you earn points by either driving a single race such as a championship, elimination or Be-A-Cop. You get points by winning the race, avoiding the cops and a few others. You can then spend the points on new cars and tracks.

That basically was what you got in the original hot pursuit game. In addition to this you have a the championship mode and hot pursuit mode which are massive games in their own right. The championship starts out with time trials in low powered cars working up to full championships and model specific challenges. The hot pursuit sees you delivering cars while avoiding the police, as well as campionship races with cops etc. These sections can earn serious points and there are loads to do. Theres about 80 stages in total.

In conclusion this is a great game. The way you get to choose which car, which track and which race you play or unlock next gives you the feeling like you control the game in the same way GT3 and similar do. Everything is pretty much perfect and i'm even more pleased to find that EA have gone the extra distance with giving you interesting things to do, look even the music is great and you even get a little cut seen when your arrested of you trying to run away and i really have to go play it again....