Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

 Xbox 360
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 248 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 151 out of 248
  2. Mixed: 59 out of 248
  3. Negative: 38 out of 248
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  1. Nobod3
    Jun 28, 2012
    1
    If you are looking for a reboot of the Hot Pursuit series, then don't look here. If you are looking for an upgrade to the Burnout series (the game the creators made before this), then don't look here. If you are looking for some sort of hybrid between the Hot Pursuit series and the Burnout series that tries to be both but turns into neither, then this is your game. Need for Speed: HotIf you are looking for a reboot of the Hot Pursuit series, then don't look here. If you are looking for an upgrade to the Burnout series (the game the creators made before this), then don't look here. If you are looking for some sort of hybrid between the Hot Pursuit series and the Burnout series that tries to be both but turns into neither, then this is your game. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is a game with all the bells and whistles to attract any racing gamer but with none of the depth to make it worth-while. So let me just start in with Single Player. There's no story, no substance like any of the previous Need for Speed games and, after about 5 hours, you'll find yourself droning on between the different races because there's just not a lot of interesting to do. It also doesn't have the flare of driving to each race track that Burnout Paradise had, which would have been fabulous considering its a driving game so I like to spend the game... driving. And then you might be thinking that at least it must have killer races, except most of the racers are time trials and you will spend literally the first 10 hours of gameplay trying to just get some stupid gold medal for no reason. It's not worth it. Basically, Single Player will not hold you over and it's beyond boring. So then I swapped over to Multiplayer. It's amazingly flawed. First of all, you can't play anything online unless you've unlocked one car for either racer or cop in the single player. Whomever designed that system, it's really bad and stupid. But I thought meh, I'll earn more for being good. Except the game not only rewards having the highest level, but gives you a HUGE boost for being the highest level in the game. So a level 7 vs a level 20 is not an even match. How did that slip by the creators? Still, I let that roll off my shoulder and decided to at least try. The multiplayer feels exactly like the single player, bland and flawed. I think my favorite flaw is that racers can drive backwards and go behind the cops and wait. Why the hell is that even allowed? But wait, it gets better. They also call this a dog chasing a rabbit type of game (No joke, that's almost a direct quote from before the game came out), except it's like being a dog with absolutely no teeth. Seriously, I could catch up to the racers but I couldn't do anything to them as a cop. On the other side, being a racer isn't about racing anymore, but more about swiveling in circles around the cop. I think the creators need to really retool and refocus this game so that it's more towards what it's supposed to be about. Racing. If a racer stops, give him a few seconds before he's disqualified for running away. That way they have a reason to always be moving forwards. Also, racers need to know that they are still in a race, where first place is the only winner, not this "group win" crap where even if you get disqualified for holding the cops up you are a winner. It should be racers against racers and cops and cops teamed up to take down the racers. Not racers vs cops. That's I think the largest flaw with the online. And on the other side, cops shouldn't be able to hurt each other as easily as it is in this game. Seriously, I launched an EMP and it decided to latch onto the cop to the let instead of the racer right in front of me. That's bad programming and it ruins the game. Last, the online felt... dated to say the least. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this game to a friend.… Expand
  2. Oxcart
    Nov 20, 2011
    2
    Back in the day, Need for Speed was a good series that, coincidentally, released a Hot Pursuit for the PC. Fool that I am, I thought that EA had remade that old winner, added some cars, built new tracks, and fixed some of the mistakes that they'd made, like the cheating AI.

    They did add cars. They built a pseudo-open world. But they managed to take a game that was fun and turn it into    Back in the day, Need for Speed was a good series that, coincidentally, released a Hot Pursuit for the PC. Fool that I am, I thought that EA had remade that old winner, added some cars, built new tracks, and fixed some of the mistakes that they'd made, like the cheating AI.

    They did add cars. They built a pseudo-open world. But they managed to take a game that was fun and turn it into something guaranteed to give you stress-induced heart trouble. It has been part of the EA ethos for ages that if the player is winning, the AI is not only allowed to cheat, but cheat horribly. Never has that been more apparent than in this game. Playing as a cop, you will quickly start cursing your fellow officers as they hit new levels of incompetence. Letting a speeder by is a mistake, but being spike-stripped by your fellow officers is maddening. AI cars can stop and turn on a dime, you slide around like a drunken air-hockey puck. Handling is so poor as to be nearly unmanageable at times (if it's raining, you better be driving like a senior citizen, because anything over 40 miles per hour and you'll be trading paint with oak trees). The cheating continues on the other side of the game. Amazingly, as soon as you take to being a racer, the police force is suddenly staffed by telepathic snipers who can drop a spike strip exactly where you intended to be microseconds before being there. Roadblocks are established with lightning speed in perfect locations, and EMPs can hit you from another planet. Jump back to being a cop, and the super troopers have gone to bed, leaving the Keystone Kops you were working with before back on duty.

    There are some pluses to the game, of course. The graphics are beautiful (if you have an HDTV...forget using standard def), the crash animations -- which you'll see often -- stunning, and some of the roads are rather well laid-out. You can freedrive as a cop, which is also cool, not to mention vital as practice.

    If you're freedriving or driving with your buddies, you'll have fun. Against the AI? It's clear the ESRB rating doesn't govern gamer responses; your language will definitely rate M as the AI appears out of nowhere to trash your ride.    … Expand
  3. theo20
    May 4, 2011
    4
    This sucks! I really want to give this a 0 but I'll be fair at least. Firstly I really looked forward to this game, but then i played it... Repetitive career, no split-screen to race at home against friends, only good thing is graphics and its something different being a cop. Luckily i bought it second-hand and i will trade it again tomorrow for something better.
  4. nisolas
    Nov 21, 2010
    3
    I'm not sure if this is mention anywhere but in europe, you need to enter a code to play online. If someone has already entered that code they you can not. So for example you can not do so if you buy second hand, or you cant share a copy with your brother or if your partner has their own account. This should be taken into account when buying the game. It holds no value.
  5. CageySquid
    Dec 10, 2010
    2
    I'm sorry, but a game that is still utilizing rubber-band A.I. should not be getting such high scores. Beyond that, this frankly feels like half of a game. There is none of the free roaming fun from Burnout: Paradise which makes the great scenery seem pointless as it's hard to appreciate barnstorming planes at 200 mph. At least half of the races are just time trials, and that reallyI'm sorry, but a game that is still utilizing rubber-band A.I. should not be getting such high scores. Beyond that, this frankly feels like half of a game. There is none of the free roaming fun from Burnout: Paradise which makes the great scenery seem pointless as it's hard to appreciate barnstorming planes at 200 mph. At least half of the races are just time trials, and that really doesn't scream 'hot pursuit' to me. Some of the time trials take 5+ minutes to run, with no cops to outrun or racers to bust, it gets incredibly boring. After a while you do get used to it's shoddy controls, but at the start you're punished for playing it like a realistic racer or an arcade racer. It ends up landing somewhere between the two. After every crash, takedown or weapon fire, the game enters a slo-mo kind of replay that you cannot turn off, the problem is the half second of lag between it ending and you getting control of your car again, that's enough to screw you out of a win if you're in traffic or about to enter a turn. As for multi-player, any Mario Kart game ever made is more fun than this for vehicular combat. Between the idiot AI traffic (It just stops in the road as you near it), the BS catch-up AI racers and the lack of depth in the game in general, I highly recommend that you avoid this game. I got this for 35 bucks on Black Friday and I mean it when I say it is the FIRST game I will ever sell to Gamestop and I don't feel guilty in the slightest.… Expand
  6. SpartanEdge
    Apr 12, 2011
    4
    I cant help feeling that this game has been really overated by the critics.. When i first heard about the game,I thought "Great! Need for Speed is going back to its roots.Its going to be like & play like Need for Speed 1 on the 3DO,Saturn & PS1 all those years ago,but with better graphics,Free Roaming & Online multiplayer"! How wrong i was.. I was really looking foreward to this game,butI cant help feeling that this game has been really overated by the critics.. When i first heard about the game,I thought "Great! Need for Speed is going back to its roots.Its going to be like & play like Need for Speed 1 on the 3DO,Saturn & PS1 all those years ago,but with better graphics,Free Roaming & Online multiplayer"! How wrong i was.. I was really looking foreward to this game,but what i got,was burnout with licensed cars.. Its is waaaay too arcadey,Rubbish/Non-Exiistent handling physics,& over emphisis on drifting/powersliding!.. These are expensive,finely engineered cars in the game.they're supposed to be driven with precision around corners,& stick to the road.Not Slide around them sideways! A slower,more considered & realistic pace would've been welcome too,encouraging smooth,tactical races & chases.not everything blurring past & people crashing every 3 seconds!.. Theres one other MAJOR problem with the game.Its a Free Roaming game,with absolutely NO POINT to the free roaming! i was expecting to be able to chase,or be chased by Racers or cops,be it CPU ones,or other players.Nope,None of that! The game made the exact same mistake as the Abismal Need for Speed-Undercover.A free roaming game,with no need or purpose to free roam.great... It would've been nice,to at least be able to drive to the different events,like in Underground 1,2,Carbon & Most Wanted.But what do i know,I'm only a gamer.A paying customer.I never even dreamed i would before release,but i traded it in towards Test Drive Unlimited 2.A much more Complete package,… Expand
  7. Smitty77
    Nov 21, 2010
    0
    OK metacritic, you just proved how critics will push a game. I should have read USER reviews before I purchased this game. I bought this game, played it (about 5-6hrs) until i realized how empty it is. I was basically doing the same thing over and over with a different car. I mean it was ok at first but seriously a Porsche cayman and a gt 500 cant possibly handle exactly the same rightOK metacritic, you just proved how critics will push a game. I should have read USER reviews before I purchased this game. I bought this game, played it (about 5-6hrs) until i realized how empty it is. I was basically doing the same thing over and over with a different car. I mean it was ok at first but seriously a Porsche cayman and a gt 500 cant possibly handle exactly the same right (drift and everything)? The fun factor was gone way too fast, so i sold it the next day and wont miss it. Too bad the next person who buys it, cause as you've heard, they wont have the online pass i used. And online cant make up for a nice looking lame game.… Expand
  8. daxterx19
    Nov 19, 2010
    0
    All these people saying its fantastic, are speaking rubbish to be polite. lets get one thing straight a police car, sirens traffic moves, not in EA's mind it doesn't your going along and all the traffic just dordles in the middle of the road. secondly steering is terrible, typical need for speed game just bang a few cars together add some police and sell as many copies as possible, don'tAll these people saying its fantastic, are speaking rubbish to be polite. lets get one thing straight a police car, sirens traffic moves, not in EA's mind it doesn't your going along and all the traffic just dordles in the middle of the road. secondly steering is terrible, typical need for speed game just bang a few cars together add some police and sell as many copies as possible, don't waste your money buy something else you will regret it… Expand
  9. SamHandwich
    Dec 18, 2010
    3
    The online social stuff is ground breaking, the scenery is nice and the racing modes are varied.

    My low score is mainly down to the handling, it's rubbery and disconnected. This is a racing game so handling is at the core of everything that you do in it but each car feels like a heavy, wobbly chunk of rubber with no wheels. There's a powerslide but it's clumsy. I don't think arcade racing    The online social stuff is ground breaking, the scenery is nice and the racing modes are varied.

    My low score is mainly down to the handling, it's rubbery and disconnected. This is a racing game so handling is at the core of everything that you do in it but each car feels like a heavy, wobbly chunk of rubber with no wheels. There's a powerslide but it's clumsy. I don't think arcade racing models have to be this bad - compare it to the deeply controllable powerslides in Ridge Racer, the crazy excitement of the first two Burnout games or even the customizable involvement in Midnight Club LA.    … Expand
  10. yota234
    Nov 2, 2011
    4
    I wanted to like this game, looked at the critics reviews, I should buy it. The best thing about it is the graphics, but even some parts of it are bad. It is almost impossible to see oncoming traffic. The second good thing is the car list and you don't have to buy them. That's it. The bad things: Handling is terrible, boring, opponents with the same car drive much faster than you (I'm notI wanted to like this game, looked at the critics reviews, I should buy it. The best thing about it is the graphics, but even some parts of it are bad. It is almost impossible to see oncoming traffic. The second good thing is the car list and you don't have to buy them. That's it. The bad things: Handling is terrible, boring, opponents with the same car drive much faster than you (I'm not that bad at driving games). Some call it the best Need for Speed ever but I don't think so. It's the worst one. I have played almost all NFS games. They haven't beat Underground 2 yet. I bought it used and I have to buy an online pass for 800 MS points to play online. Go CENSORED yourself. I liked Burnout Paradise made by Criterion Games, but this one is poor. I want to sell this, REALLY!!!… Expand
  11. zonda
    Jan 31, 2011
    4
    the game isn't great the car fell to heavy to drive no costumazation option lame open world and the game get quickly old after 9 hours one thing is good about the game is the graphics
  12. brye44
    Dec 3, 2010
    0
    This game did not keep up to its standards in my eyes. I was expecting something along the lines of burnout, fable, and need for speed most wanted. where you could wreck other cars, choose a side and do things to affect what side (cop or criminal), and a story line is the biggest one. This game to me was a fail. It had very high expectations and did not meet them.
  13. Tolmar
    Nov 22, 2010
    0
    This game suffers from the most severe rubber-banding since Split Second. You can gain constant boost by driving against traffic, but you then wonder where your "AI" opponents get it from, especially when they only drive WITH the flow of traffic. You're miles ahead, have excellent speed on straights and corners and then woooosh, you've been passed by an opponent who doesn't even have theirThis game suffers from the most severe rubber-banding since Split Second. You can gain constant boost by driving against traffic, but you then wonder where your "AI" opponents get it from, especially when they only drive WITH the flow of traffic. You're miles ahead, have excellent speed on straights and corners and then woooosh, you've been passed by an opponent who doesn't even have their boost activated! WTH!!? I loved the Burnout and NFS series and, although there are a couple of moments of enjoyment to be had, they are short lived. Autolog is a an adaptation of a similar feature implemented in other racers and nothing special. Races (as mentioned earlier) suffer from rubber banding. Pursuits are fun, but epic moments are rare. Time trials are frustrating: your controller will probably wear out due to overuse from constantly selecting the restart race option. It looks as though Criterion has let its fan base down on this one, so don't believe the hype from all the magazine reviews. If you are keen on buying this, then wait for it to come down in price: £40 is a lot of cash wasted for a basic arcade racer. If you've already bought it, trade it in quickly and get back as much as you can. Epic fail developers… Expand
  14. chromalusion
    Jan 19, 2011
    1
    I can't see how anyone thinks this game is good. Nitrous boost is supposed to make you accelerate, not in this game. If your driving 170 mph a Crown Vic police car shouldn't be able to pass you in the game.
  15. sublm128
    Jul 24, 2011
    0
    OK. This game is RIDICULOUSLY HORRIBLE. The graphics are the only good thing about it. HOW DO U MAKE A RACING GAME WITHOUT MANUAL TRANSMISSION? SERIOUSLY?

    I was so unbelievably disappointed when i bought this game. If there was a way to give a negative rating, i would give this game a -500. Not only is there no manual transmission (as if that wasnt enough) it doesnt even have an adequate    OK. This game is RIDICULOUSLY HORRIBLE. The graphics are the only good thing about it. HOW DO U MAKE A RACING GAME WITHOUT MANUAL TRANSMISSION? SERIOUSLY?

    I was so unbelievably disappointed when i bought this game. If there was a way to give a negative rating, i would give this game a -500. Not only is there no manual transmission (as if that wasnt enough) it doesnt even have an adequate rating system for each car. The physics engine sucks. If you want a racing game, you need a good physics engine with MANUAL TRANSMISSION. I dont understand how difficult it would be for them to provide a patch for manual transmission. F**K EA and CRITERION. They shouldve used Most Wanted as a template.    … Expand
  16. KalanYamato
    Mar 21, 2013
    2
    An absolute insult to the Need for Speed franchise, as this entry holds NOTHING that made the original Hot Pursuits so great. First off, the handling system is beyond broken: it's delayed as hell and you're forced to drift even in the slightest corners it tries so hard, but oh so hard to be NFS4:HS and fails miserably. The tracks are insanely shallow, they're all sprints (no circuitsAn absolute insult to the Need for Speed franchise, as this entry holds NOTHING that made the original Hot Pursuits so great. First off, the handling system is beyond broken: it's delayed as hell and you're forced to drift even in the slightest corners it tries so hard, but oh so hard to be NFS4:HS and fails miserably. The tracks are insanely shallow, they're all sprints (no circuits afaik) there's practically no challenge aside from a few corners that even a five year old could drive around and you're going so fast, with a graphics engine so awful that you just cannot see what the hell's ahead and you're just bound to slam into a wall because of the garbage steering which every car seems to have (to tell you the truth, the only difference between certain cars are the abuse they can take and their speed, nothing more). The inclusion of weapons is also another thing I don't understand okay sure, HP2 also had weapons, but they weren't nearly as ridiculous. First of all, racers shouldn't have weaponry, and they sure as hell shouldn't have EMP cannons and Spike Strips. That's just dumb and a VERY pitiful excuse for "game balance". The roadblocks are pointless since they all have an opening which is stupid. The Spike Strips in this game are ungodly annoying aswell, they activate immediately which makes split-streaming other racers/cops practically impossible. Not only that, whenever you're hit by one of these weapons or god forbid, hit a wall or get TAKEN DOWN (LOL BURNOUT CTRL+C CTRL+V) you have to watch an annoying as heck screen of the likes of "SPIKED!" or "CRASHED!" and then just speed away as if nothing happened apart from losing a bit of health. Yeah, ok. That's exactly how I expected a Hot Pursuit game to work: to bust racers, you have to take them down a ton of times until they're finally arrested. No, sorry, this is not how a NFS game should work. If I wanted to play Road Rage online, I'd go play Burnout 3 or something. This game is the ultimate proof that by this time EA was just cashing in on "new" games by just rehashing and fusing old concepts into a mish-mash that cries out for the apocalypse; an absolute disaster, you can see the exact same thing happening on Most Wanted 2012, that game is a copypaste of Burnout Paradise. The superb fun that was the Hot Pursuit game mode in NFS4 and Hot Pursuit 2 in... NFS Hot Pursuit 2 was completely ruined by this game, and it only set a bar for the worse which were the future EA titles. Also, did I mention that this doesn't have split-screen either? Wait, the insanity doesn't stop there: it takes as long as it takes to load a new race as it does to RESTARTING A RACE. So, you screwed up? Oh, no problem, we'll just make you WAIT HALF A MINUTE FOR THE WHOLE THING TO LOAD. And another thing, you don't even get to "start" the race, the game just drops you with the race already a bit in progress, followed by a nearly-unskippable cutscene (it has an option to skip it but you'll in fact just skip like 2 or 3 seconds of it). I agree, it's nitpicking but it's these little details that make the game so much more frustrating than it should be. There's also an incredibly shallow free roam mode which blatantly looks unfinished. You can't do anything in it aside from driving and accessing the pause menu. What a joke.… Expand
  17. barroi
    Nov 7, 2011
    4
    A fairly average arcade racer, like an Outrun for 2011. I played it a couple of weeks as my friends posted score but the handling isn't very good and game play too simple. Bit of a waste of money at release day prices.
  18. somethingguy912
    Nov 2, 2013
    2
    It seems that the Need for Speed franchise is a dying franchise, weined from the interest's of EA's profit margins, so why should they need to give a damn about making the one game that everybody should had been anticipated for. For all the commentary about 4-player local coop and 8-player system link, customization tools and the returned joy of being the pursuee, HOT Pursuit is a very badIt seems that the Need for Speed franchise is a dying franchise, weined from the interest's of EA's profit margins, so why should they need to give a damn about making the one game that everybody should had been anticipated for. For all the commentary about 4-player local coop and 8-player system link, customization tools and the returned joy of being the pursuee, HOT Pursuit is a very bad excuse in the shadow of the original. There is no customization whatsoever, you can't even choose which car you want to drive for particular events, choosen randomly with a very limited set of colors. I know the original Hot Pursuit had this, but this game came out in 2010! We know of the varied customization abilities tried and true in the Original Most Wanted and Underground series, so why exclude it from here? It seems the overall affect of this game's success was the neat little graphics, but how do graphics keep a person's interest if they can't bother to play the game for 2 hours to try some sliver of fun, besides the wreck of online play that they jam into your ear for the very first 20 minutes of starting the game. There is also no need to freeroam either, as you can't really enjoy driving the car you want to, especially since all the cars handle like a tank trying to hit a 180 at 400 miles per hour: meaning, horribly. Also, the stats of each cars are contextually inept, mentioning torque and weight for some unknown reason, rather than giving the simplified stats that most gamers could understand: Speed, Acceleration and Handling. So I hope that EA thinks that any kind of game that would limit their profit margins even by a half of a percent is too much of a risk to them, because this was the game that made me hate EA and stop buying their crap from here on out. They told me what they thought of the customers, so I fought back.… Expand
  19. Broyax
    Apr 16, 2017
    3
    C'est beau, plutôt fluide et spectaculaire, c'est également très (trop ?) rapide : c'est tout simplement un mod Burnout Revenge pour Need For Speed à moins que ce ne soit l'inverse... Il y a donc tromperie sur la marchandise : EA et Criterion nous prennent pour des cons !

    Et pourtant les voitures sont très loin de réagir comme dans un vrai Burnout : elles se comportent comme des    C'est beau, plutôt fluide et spectaculaire, c'est également très (trop ?) rapide : c'est tout simplement un mod Burnout Revenge pour Need For Speed à moins que ce ne soit l'inverse... Il y a donc tromperie sur la marchandise : EA et Criterion nous prennent pour des cons !

    Et pourtant les voitures sont très loin de réagir comme dans un vrai Burnout : elles se comportent comme des péniches au bord du coma éthylique. Pour un jeu arcade, être aussi peu maniable, c'est rédhibitoire. Et que dire de l'environnement des "poursuites infernales" ? des lignes droites en grande majorité et des courbes plus ou moins appuyées avec de temps en temps un ou deux raccourcis minables. Même Burnout Revenge proposait plus d'opportunités en la matière.

    Enfin, l'IA n"hésite pas à tricher dans les dernières courses, prenant les virages à une vitesse qui défie toute physique, tout cela pour rallonger (encore) une durée de vie déjà trop longue et lassante, seules les 'hot pursuits" ayant réellement un semblant d'intérêt. Globalement trop répétitif et trop débile ce mod Burnout pour Need For Speed.    … Expand
  20. Demon2017
    Jun 15, 2022
    3
    Типичная плохая часть Need for speed. Никакого тюнинга, никакого открытого мира, никакого нормально сюжета. Просто запускаешь гонку и всё. Хотя идея игры за мента и гонщика очень интересная, но реализовать они её так и не смогли.Типичная плохая часть Need for speed. Никакого тюнинга, никакого открытого мира, никакого нормально сюжета. Просто запускаешь гонку и всё. Хотя идея игры за мента и гонщика очень интересная, но реализовать они её так и не смогли.

Awards & Rankings

19
#19 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2010
24
#24 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2010
17
#17 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 73 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 70 out of 73
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 73
  3. Negative: 1 out of 73
  1. PALGN
    Jan 24, 2011
    80
    While Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is a terrific racer, it's also a poignant reminder that Criterion will probably never be able to match the standard they set with Burnout 3.
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  2. Gamekult
    Jan 18, 2011
    70
    A fast, fun, pretty and globally mastered game, even if we could regret a rather short content, and a solo career a bit too classic and repetitive.
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  3. Cynamite
    Jan 16, 2011
    85
    Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit reminds me of the first part of the assassin's creed-series. In general, the game is great, but it's missing variety and long-time motivation. Especially the number of time trials shouldn't have been this high. Races and pursuits are much more fun. The small amount of about 100 cars doesn't really matter, because all of them were done well, although some them have only 300 PS. Altogether, it's a great action-racing-game, but there is maybe more potential for Hot Pursuit 2.
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