Franchise Focus - Need for Speed III : Hot Pursuit
Here we are, at the Need for Speed game that, in a lot of peoples minds, really put the franchise on the map. This is also the game that introduced me to not only the franchise, but racing games as a whole. Well, simulation style racing games. I'd played Mario Kart long before this.
On the surface, Hot Pursuit looks a lot like it's predecessors. The same modes return of Single Race, Tournament, and Knockout, with no changes being made to any of them, except for Tournament mode. In the previous games, each time you selected Tournament, you would be able to choose a single race, with any of the vehicles in the game, and travel from track to track individually, racing against seven other opponents. The games would only track whether or not you were the champion on each track, and if you did this for every track, you'd obtain the unlockables. This time, Tournament mode is actually a tournament. You can only choose from three of the games eight available cars, and race through every track in the game in succession, earning points based on your finish position. So now the goal isn't necessarily to win on every track, but to just win the big trophy at the end of the day.
What is the biggest addition, however, is the titular racing mode : Hot Pursuit. It's a single race, on any of the tracks, between you and one other driver, with two goals. First, beat your opponent, and second, don't get pulled over by the cops. This mode is expanded upon heavily from it's iteration in the first game. In the original, there was only one cop on the track, and if you made any contact at all with their vehicle, you were forced into slowing down and being pulled over before receiving a ticket. Now, you actually have to be stopped, and there's a hell of a lot more than just one cop. There are full squads of them, and they will work together trying to force you into stopping or crashing, and they'll actually determine who's being more of a reckless driver : you or your opponent.
Car selection returns to a selection of vehicles from around the world, where the last game stuck mostly to just European luxury sports cars. This time around, you're able to tweak numerous vehicle options outside of the car's paint job. The tuning wasn't incredibly detailed, allowing you to alter between one of two options (hard or soft suspension, slow or fast braking speed, high or low aerodynamics), but over it's predecessors it's a big jump, and all these changes can actually be noticed while you race as well, they're not just there to make you feel like you have a choice, you actually do.
Driving physics also appear to have gotten a facelift as well, as turning, braking, and powersliding/drifting all feel a lot different than in the last two games. Cars respond a lot better to what you tell them to do, and the drifting especially feels a lot more controllable. In the last two games I spent a lot of time learning the "coasting points" for turns so I wouldn't have to tap the brakes at all since drifting felt more like a hope-for-the-best situation.
The showcase videos are still present, and a new split-screen two-player race mode is introduced as well, covering just about everything that Need for Speed III : Hot Pursuit has to offer.
Changes
Vehicle Tuning - Since the Need for Speed games, at least in the early days of the franchise, were already focused on bringing you fast and exotic sports cars from all over the world, tuning was never an option in the games. You were already getting something that was built to be fast. But, as the games are titled, when there's a need for speed, people are always going to want to go faster. It may not be highly detailed, giving you options that feel like you're at an eye doctor appointment, being asked "Which looks better? This....or this?" These changes still have a high impact on your cars handling though, and you will definitely notice a change in how well you turn, how quickly you accelerate, or if you're reaching new top speeds. This is definitely a helpful change to the games.
Hot Pursuit Mode / Cop AI - It's what these games are known for, avoiding and, when needed, losing the cops. The previous game had no cops at all, but this one has a lot. As I mentioned above, in the first game there was only a single cop on the track, chasing you down. This time they come out in droves, and they'll work together. You may find yourself surrounded by two or three, trying to box you in and force you to the side of the road. You'll also be able to hear their radio chatter, which comes in handy because they'll also set up road blocks and spike strips, both of which can be easily avoided and broken through if you're paying attention to the scanner. It's easy to say this change is beyond helpful to the series.
Tournament Season - A small detail, but for me (and potentially others who feel the same), racing games are rather boring if they just follow the formula of pick a race, race it, choose again. It's nice to have a sort of "season" where you can just drop in, do some races, save your progress and have something to come back to another day. It may not be a long season with only a handful of tracks, but it's still something. In the previous two games it felt more like a Single Race + feature where it was the exact same thing, only with potential to unlock something else. Again, others might not feel the same but to me this change is also a help.
Up Next : Need for Speed - High Stakes
