I want to preface this by saying I'm not much of a racing guy. With the exception of NFS: Underground through Undercover I've never really had much interest in racing games. But this was one of those deep-childhood games that I first played before NFSU, so I was interested to revisit it. Just keep in mind that I have little frame of reference when it comes to this genre.
The presentation in this game is easily the best thing about it. Music is amazing, graphics are gorgeous, every track has its own personality and creative quirks, even the visual effects like smoke from burning tires or splashes from the water are reminiscent of the best movie chases.
When it comes to the gameplay, I feel like the same things that make this game great are the things that make it bad. Contrary to how the later games would function, Hot Pursuit 2 feels much realer. There's no rubber-banding, tracks are very intricate with many shortcuts that can either be helpful or harmful, just like it would be in the real life. This means that paying close attention to the road ahead and the mini-map is very important. So is making quick decisions on the fly and memorizing the track on your first lap to avoid making mistakes on the second. This is a game where your skill is genuinely rewarded... Well, for the most part. In my experience, I felt that choosing the right car can make a radical difference (as in coming first vs. coming last kind of difference). It seems like every event has its best car option, and you have to figure out which one through trial and error. Again this does kinda add to that sense of realism, as every car handles differently and has a different speed. Also, the cops are not as much a mechanic (as it would be in MW), as real genuine opponents. And the only way to win against them is to outsmart and outdrive them. Trying to ram them would usually only harm you.
Which brings us to probably the worst aspect of the game: the collision model. This thing can send your car flying and spinning for missing the turn by one millimeter. And this is why I said earlier that the same things that make this game great are the things that make it bad. It means that all those things I mentioned earlier like no rubber-banding, varied shortcuts, etc. can make the game insanely difficult.
The game has two modes: Hot Pursuit and World Championship. The former has cops and traffic, and is thus more fun. The latter is just normal racing. I beat the first one with relative ease and most of the second one, but then the penultimate event on the right branch there was a tournament, and it was FUCKING BRUTAL. I must've spent an hour just trying to beat that tournament. I somehow managed to finish 3rd on the first race, which means a Bronze medal. Which I took, having replayed it like 5 times to just get that. But the second race I just could not beat. I must've replayed it like 10 times or so with different cars (Murcielago is clearly the best option there), and I couldn't finish in the top 3 even once. It's like the game expects you to not make a single major mistake here. What I mean by major mistake is when you hit something in such a way that your car spins or goes flying. Do that once, you might still have a chance of getting Bronze, but do it again and you're done. And the track is very difficult to maneuver. The only time I managed to get a near-flawless run was with weaker cars, like Aston Martin or Lamborghini Diablo, but all those Carreras and Murcielagos would crush me every time simply on the account of they're faster. Eventually I just gave up. I'm not a kid anymore, I really cannot devote much time to just sitting there and "getting gud" at a game by replaying the same section a hundred times.
In conclusion, great game, but pretty unbalanced. It kinda feels like the line between winning and losing is very thin, and you're gonna be crossing it constantly unless you're an expert driver. Which I am not. I'm marking this as "abandoned", but that mostly regards the campaign. Otherwise this is a solid racer, which I might still come back to every now and then for single races.
P.S. There's also the mode where you can play as a cop, but I did not play that because I have no interest in being a cop. I was planning to give it a try just to see how it plays, but then that frustrating tournament I couldn't beat made me rage-quit, and I don't feel like going back.
The presentation in this game is easily the best thing about it. Music is amazing, graphics are gorgeous, every track has its own personality and creative quirks, even the visual effects like smoke from burning tires or splashes from the water are reminiscent of the best movie chases.
When it comes to the gameplay, I feel like the same things that make this game great are the things that make it bad. Contrary to how the later games would function, Hot Pursuit 2 feels much realer. There's no rubber-banding, tracks are very intricate with many shortcuts that can either be helpful or harmful, just like it would be in the real life. This means that paying close attention to the road ahead and the mini-map is very important. So is making quick decisions on the fly and memorizing the track on your first lap to avoid making mistakes on the second. This is a game where your skill is genuinely rewarded... Well, for the most part. In my experience, I felt that choosing the right car can make a radical difference (as in coming first vs. coming last kind of difference). It seems like every event has its best car option, and you have to figure out which one through trial and error. Again this does kinda add to that sense of realism, as every car handles differently and has a different speed. Also, the cops are not as much a mechanic (as it would be in MW), as real genuine opponents. And the only way to win against them is to outsmart and outdrive them. Trying to ram them would usually only harm you.
Which brings us to probably the worst aspect of the game: the collision model. This thing can send your car flying and spinning for missing the turn by one millimeter. And this is why I said earlier that the same things that make this game great are the things that make it bad. It means that all those things I mentioned earlier like no rubber-banding, varied shortcuts, etc. can make the game insanely difficult.
The game has two modes: Hot Pursuit and World Championship. The former has cops and traffic, and is thus more fun. The latter is just normal racing. I beat the first one with relative ease and most of the second one, but then the penultimate event on the right branch there was a tournament, and it was FUCKING BRUTAL. I must've spent an hour just trying to beat that tournament. I somehow managed to finish 3rd on the first race, which means a Bronze medal. Which I took, having replayed it like 5 times to just get that. But the second race I just could not beat. I must've replayed it like 10 times or so with different cars (Murcielago is clearly the best option there), and I couldn't finish in the top 3 even once. It's like the game expects you to not make a single major mistake here. What I mean by major mistake is when you hit something in such a way that your car spins or goes flying. Do that once, you might still have a chance of getting Bronze, but do it again and you're done. And the track is very difficult to maneuver. The only time I managed to get a near-flawless run was with weaker cars, like Aston Martin or Lamborghini Diablo, but all those Carreras and Murcielagos would crush me every time simply on the account of they're faster. Eventually I just gave up. I'm not a kid anymore, I really cannot devote much time to just sitting there and "getting gud" at a game by replaying the same section a hundred times.
In conclusion, great game, but pretty unbalanced. It kinda feels like the line between winning and losing is very thin, and you're gonna be crossing it constantly unless you're an expert driver. Which I am not. I'm marking this as "abandoned", but that mostly regards the campaign. Otherwise this is a solid racer, which I might still come back to every now and then for single races.
P.S. There's also the mode where you can play as a cop, but I did not play that because I have no interest in being a cop. I was planning to give it a try just to see how it plays, but then that frustrating tournament I couldn't beat made me rage-quit, and I don't feel like going back.