Need for Speed? It felt more like driving a wheel chair?
First of all, it would be fair to say that the visuals and music are perfect, they really send you back to the golden era of NFS series. Unfortunately that's about it. There are some elements that are plain annoying, like endless intro animations, log-in forms, score boards and loading screens that just keep appearing and re-appearing, before and after each race. It would seem like it's no-biggy but this infinite intros and screens really just distant you from the gameplay . And then, maybe this is with the reason, since the gameplay and controls are probably the worst thing about this game. The main problem about NFSHP is that it can't decide whether it it wants to be a race simulation or mindless crashing-chasing arcade. Personally I vote for second one. First of all that is the original spirit of NFS. Also, when I'm all about driving I go to garage and start my car. Sims are simply not my cup of tee since they are more demanding and serious and less fun. I spend entire working day being serious but when I turn on the game I just want to loosen up a bit. On the other hand I totally understand people who are more for sims... Unfortunately this game fills neither criteria. By trying to make it "more realistic" the devs totally ruined the controls, making the driving feel lazy and dull. Also, I expect the sims fans are not very pleased when they crash in full-speed with a cops that drive tuned Lamborghini (yeah, right!) without any real consequences. You can crash several times during the race and you will easily reach 3rd or 4th position, but you can drive perfectly without a scratch and still not be able to take first place in the end. Of course, it's all about how you take corners and use brakes but it's simply not as fun as it should be. For me HP is just lazy, slow and frustrating and not even a superb graphics could improve this impression.