[/caption]This is the nineteenth post in our Game of the Day series.
Racing is better when someone is chasing you. This is why I loved playing tag as a kid, especially freeze tag, and probably an influence on the enjoyment of [half] marathons today (those behind aren't chasing per-say, but they are pushing you forward). So Need For Speed's Hot Pursuit II positively gripped me to the wheel and pulled down my foot, pedal to the metal!
I never beat it, though, and I tried. The problem I encountered is with my own playing style and enjoyment of the game: it conflicts with the strategy you must develop to win. A prime example is staying out in front. Blowing past cop cars in the lead means they're all after you, even when a computer competitor passes the whole mess that you're struggling to stay afloat of. Your thick-headed foils refuse to let up their crusade to check your car off a cliff while you fall behind everyone else.
And so I lost, a lot, and eventually I gave up trying to complete the missions laid out for you. I didn't care to unlock new cars or tracks or whatever, I just enjoyed the rush of outrunning the coppers and besting my roadmates in the process. The game didn't seem to mind, it gives you these nifty quick-race modes which throw you into random scenarios requiring little thought or setup to get going. Then later you can actually replay the whole thing and watch the cool parts in slow motion and from different angles. Seeing my deft shimmies around explosive helicopter-dropped barrels, a ninja out-maneuvering the law, absolutely enthralled my ego.
Additionally, I did relish the missions where the only goal was to avoid getting pulled over, something I excelled at. The computers? Not so much. There were great moments of tapping their screeching vehicles into trees to give easy prey for the police. As these missions depended more on cleverness and dexterity, rather than just being first, I overcame my desire to lead and watched the fuzz pick 'em off as I drifted deftly around the dreck and wrecks.
Speed in this game, and the series of course, is well represented with motion blurs and matched with a slightly heavier feeling to the controls. I don't think I ever got the hang of really turning using all available methods of slowing down; I prefer to handbrake the crap out of every turn. It feels more kinetic even if less effective. Sliding sideways through a twisted patch is intensely gratifying.
The soundtrack was so effective at tying my pulse to the grill of a virtual automobile that I ended up picking up all the disparate MP3's in order to recreate it on CD. Then I played that in my lemons and pretended to drive fast. I had an unquenchable thirst, a need for speed.
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