Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is an excellent call-back to the golden age of Need for Speed and put the series on the road to recovery as seen in the later Most Wanted and Rivals. It captures the exotic feeling of the races of the original Hot Pursuit and High Stakes and does so with a beautiful setting. There are definitely flaws that keep it from being the perfect racer, however. Still, this is definitely a game worthy of the Need for Speed title.
Driving is the forefront of any racing game, and Need for Speed... is close but not quite. The handling model is closer to Burnout Paradise than that of previous Need for Speeds, which makes sense given the background of Criterion Games but can be jarring to series fans. Thus, rather than realistic braking and turning one drifts through sharp corners and takes sweepers at very high speeds. Unfortunately, this particular model feels more sluggish and heavy than the Burnout model, even in light sports cars like the Porsche Boxster. It is very good at communicating speed, but not as good at making corner carving fun. The drifting is more nuanced than Burnout Paradise though. The courses themselves are usually routed well, with good mixes of corners and shortcuts. The AI puts up a decent fight and usually tries to avoid crashing into you in races (excepting the police of course). The rubber-banding from recent Need for Speeds returns though, which can be frustrating. The car selection is very diverse and well-chosen, even with the absence of Ferrari. There's plenty of brands and all of the cars in the game have good reason for being included. The difference between lighter and heavier cars is noticeable, but not between cars of similar weight and power. The cars feel more like tools than experiences. The game does reward cars at a very good pace, and starting with sports cars like the Porsche Boxster or Mitsubishi Lancer Evo means the game feels fun from the get-go.
The events themselves are a mixed bag, some very good and others frustrating. Most of the races and pursuit missions are fun and exciting. There was this magic feeling of playing the original Hot Pursuit and High Stakes that I think Criterion has managed to recapture. Seacrest County is so diverse that even running similar pursuits or races in different locations can still be very fun, like running on different tracks. The tools like EMP are strange, but tolerable. Some pursuit missions have very difficult conditions, and can take luck to win. The worst part of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is the Time Trials. Known as "Previews" for racers or "Rapid Responses" for cops, the time trials require near-perfect driving to achieve a maximum-scoring time and have almost zero tolerance for crashing. Even with traffic, this would be less of a problem if not for the imprecision of the handling system mentioned above. The handling works fine for races and pursuits but becomes very painful to use precisely in time trials. Time trials are certainly a part of Need for Speed history, but in the past had reasonable set times which allowed for error. These time trials came very close to dragging down the rest of the game.
The presentation is one of the best aspects of Hot Pursuit. Seacrest County is absolutely gorgeous and has a huge array of scenery and objects. From the lowest beaches to the highest mountains, Hot Pursuit manages to cram in all of the best elements of the countryside Need for Speed tracks of old into one location. My only beef is that there weren't any city areas in the game; this would have to wait till its successor Most Wanted. Also, the PC version lacks anti-aliasing, which seems like a lazy port. I have played it on both the PS3 and PC and the game looks great either way. The sound is decent, though on the generic side and sometimes too similar between cars. The soundtrack is nothing to write home about, sadly. Some tracks are good for racing but others are a drag whenever you hear them. I would advise providing your own soundtrack or just shutting off the music and turning up the engine sounds.
Overall, I consider Need for Speed Hot Pursuit to be a fine addition to any racing fan's collection. Its strong racing/pursuits and great cars and tracks are enough to lift it over the flaws in the driving and time trials. I had genuine fun playing it, and that's what matters to me for an arcade racer. Considering the long string of poor Need for Speeds that befell us after Underground 2, I'm glad that EA hired Criterion Games to turn this series around with a spectacular reboot.