NFSHP is another NFS racer, this time giving the player the chance to play as illegal street racers evading the persistent police force or playing as the police force themselves. I'm very much in two minds about this game. The first time I played it I had quite a bit of fun with it, but the second time I didn't. That's not to say the game hasn't aged well. It still looks nice and is pretty fun to play. The cops in this game are relentless and a thorn in your side during street races. It creates a lot of fun moments, weaving between road blocks and sending the cops crashing into traffic. It also adds to the tension of races, especially with the countdown timer informing you how close the end of the race is. When you play as a cop it's a bit less exciting. You have to catch up to and wreck the street-racers before the race ends. You have some gadgets such as spike strips to use, most of which are useful. I did get a little bored of just ramming into the side of vehicles again and again though. The flaws of the game became more apparent on a second playthrough. I think with the influence of games like Forza Horizon, the series has very much lost its way in trying to capture what is popular, and I think this game is the start of this series' downfall. While games like Most Wanted 05 and Pro Street were not really my cup of tea, they at least felt unique. Hot Pursuit's cops and racers theme gives it the appearance of uniqueness, but under this thin veneer there are clear signs of the classic vapid and souless modern racer. The online connectivity is thrown at you as soon as you boot up the disk, encouraging you to shell out for an online pass and upload clips to whatever dumb service it is. The tracks also feel boring. While they haven't gone open world, the tracks are all road tracks and part of a bigger map. As such, there is a real lack of variety. Big long straights, a few corners, some useless shortcuts, it isn't conductive to fun races and feels like it's been done a million times. While the controls are decent in most situations, at high speeds (especially when using boost) it is near impossible to avoid collisions. This feels like a deliberate choice and is accentuated by the overly long crash sequences. This leaves the game feeling like an attempt to merge parts of the Forza and Burnout series, resulting in a insipid, but still enjoyable, racing game.