Hot Pursuit's gameplay is set in the fictional Seacrest County, which is based on the American states of California, Oregon and Washington, in which players can compete in several types of races. Players can compete online (except in the Wii version), which includes additional game modes such as Hot Pursuit, Interceptor and Race. The game features a new social interaction system called "Autolog", which is a network that connects friends for head-to-head races and compares player stats for competition. The game also features paid downloadable content in the form of new cars, new race and pursuit events, and new trophies and achievements.
Hot Pursuit goes back to the Need for Speed series' roots and takes on the gameplay style of earlier Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 titles in the Need for Speed franchise with exotic cars and high-speed police chases. Hot Pursuit lets players be either a racer or a police driver, and features a full career mode for both roles. The relationship between the cops and racers is described as "a dog chasing down a rabbit"; the police being more powerful while the racers are faster. Each side has several power-ups including calling for roadblocks and radar jamming.[7] According to Criterion the single-player section is somewhere between 12 and 15 hours long, but with much replay value.[8]
In Career mode, there are 4 super-tournaments (each city) and a Grand Prix Tournament. Each super-tournament consists of four smaller tournaments, which consist of Hot Pursuit (circuit race with cops), Eliminator (knockout), Time Marker (solo timed circuit run) and Rush Hour (100 to 1) races. Each super tournament concludes with a Boss Race, which is a free roam race (with GPS) to capture more of the checkpoint flags than the Boss (2 out of 3, etc.). Besides Career, the game offers Quick Race mode, which allows up to four players on split screens, each with their own map, and the four race types from Career plus a fifth, "Interceptor" (be a cop & bust a speeder).
The cars, purchased with Bounty, improve in speed, acceleration, and strength (D, C, B, A, and S Class cars, plus police vehicles in the Quick Race's "Interceptor" race). Racers do not have names, just the Career/Profile names. During the race, players can accumulate and use regular nitro and super nitro (more powerful but shorter), similar to Need for Speed: Nitro. Power-ups/"Supes" are acquired while driving: Boost (extra nitro), Drain (others' nitro), Cruise Control (brief auto-steering), Deflect The Heat (send police after opponents), Jammer (invisibility to police), Tank (resistance to crash damage), Soundwave (circular explosion), and Repair (immediate car restoration). Repair is the most important, as players' car must be in a good condition to accumulate Nitro and be immune from being busted by the cops.
The game features 7.1 channel surround sound in PCM (Dolby Digital and DTS are also available). The soundtrack of Hot Pursuit features a general track list as is seen in EA Black Box Need for Speed games such as Most Wanted, Carbon and Undercover rather than a scored soundtrack as seen in ProStreet and Shift.[34] The song "Edge of the Earth" by Thirty Seconds to Mars serves as the game's theme song; other songs in the game's soundtrack include "Big Weekend" by Lemonade, "Cinema" by Benny Benassi (feat. Gary Go), "Opposite of Adults" by Chiddy Bang, "Sofi Needs a Ladder" by Deadmau5 (feat. SOFI), and "Watercolour" by Pendulum. The game's musical score, which is usually played during the police pursuit events, was composed by Marios Takoushis and Vanesa Lorena Tate.
EA announced the One Million Challenge on 25 November 2010. The idea behind the challenge was that if the Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit launch trailer received one million views on YouTube by 12 December 2010, a free downloadable content (DLC) pack would be released with three new cars.[37][38] Although the trailer fell short of the million views, EA still awarded the three cars for free. EA stated the cars would be added to the game through a future title update on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; PC users were told that EA will share more news when it becomes available.[39] On 14 December 2010 the first update was released which added the three cars to the player's garage. Criterion released another Xbox 360 title update the following day.[40][better source needed] On 17 December 2010, a third title update was released which repaired issues experienced with earlier versions of the update.[41][42][better source needed] Criterion released the official second update for the consoles on 15 February 2011, addressing some minor issues and glitches.[43]
EA announced the first official DLC for Hot Pursuit on 6 December 2010. The Super Sports Pack adds three new cars; the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, Gumpert Apollo S, and Bugatti Veryon 16.4 Super Sport in variants for both sides of the law. There are also 13 new race and pursuit events, and new achievements/trophies to earn.[55] It was released on 21 December on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America and on 22 December on PlayStation Network in Europe. Although this is the first official DLC, extra additional content could also be purchased via online storefronts.[56][57]
"Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was an immensely successful game. Games in any genre need to offer great gameplay and above all, constantly innovate. By taking those ingredients our racing games have a bright future."
So am I not doing something right or are there no pursuits when you are in freedrive mode? Both in racer mode and cop mode. If freedrive is for "exploring seacrest county" or whatever, that is a COMPLETE waste of time considering you explore the entire map when playing the game!! Someone please tell me I just can't find the option. thats what was so fun about most wanted is the ability to just drive around and have a 5 minute pursuit or 20 minute pursuit. I'm not sure how this game got such high ratings...
haha I guess you can call me a whiny little brat. i understand that all features can't go from game to game...but what I considered one of the BEST features of most wanted was the free roam with the ability to get into chases of unlimited length just for fun. theres no way to enjoy the key features of hot pursuit (pursuits) unless you are actually doing a timed, limited event. It could be so much more!
Players should be advised that hitting a pursuit breaker without a sufficient exiting momentum could result in their imprisonment within the resulting devastation. An example of this is if a player drives through a gas station pursuit breaker at a low speed resulting in them becoming embedded within the remains of the station's roof.
It is also possible to slow down and block racing opponents by hitting pursuit breakers. Hitting a pursuit breaker will trigger a short camera sequence that will show the actions of the pursuit breaker and the police units approaching it. The players vehicle will be temporarily controlled by an AI. It is possible that the AI will drive into a spike strip or other obstacles but this can be avoided if the player uses Speedbreaker as they trigger a pursuit breaker.
314.2 OFFICER RESPONSIBILITIES
It shall be the policy of this Department that a motor vehicle pursuit shall be conducted only with red lights and siren as required by Vehicle Code 21055 and 21200 (b)(1) for exemption from compliance with the rules of the road. The following policy is established to provide officers with guidelines for driving with due regard and caution for the safety of all persons using the highway as required by Vehicle Code 21056 and 21200 (b)(2).
314.2.1 WHEN TO INITIATE A PURSUIT
Officers are authorized to initiate a pursuit when it is reasonable to believe that a suspect is attempting to evade arrest or detention by fleeing in a vehicle. The following factors individually and collectively shall be considered in deciding whether to initiate a pursuit:
314.2.3 SPEED OF VEHICLES
The speed of a pursuit is a factor that should be evaluated on a continuing basis by the officer and supervisor. Evaluation of vehicle speeds shall take into consideration public safety, officer safety and the safety of the occupants of the fleeing vehicle including the factors listed in Policy Manual 314.2.1 and 314.2.2. If high vehicle speeds be reached during a pursuit, officers and supervisors shall consider these factors when determining the reasonableness of the speed of the pursuit:
(a) Pursuit speeds have become unreasonably unsafe for the surrounding conditions.
(b) Pursuit speeds have exceeded the driving ability of the officer.
(c) Pursuit speeds are beyond the capabilities of the pursuit vehicle thus making its operation unsafe.
314.3 PURSUIT UNITS
Pursuit units should be limited to two vehicles and a supervisor vehicle. However, the number of units involved will vary with the circumstances. An officer or supervisor may request additional units to join a pursuit if, after assessing the factors outlined above, it appears that the number of officers involved would be insufficient to safely arrest the suspect(s). All other officers should stay out of the pursuit, but should remain alert to its progress and location. Any officer who drops out of a pursuit may then, if necessary, proceed to the termination point at legal speeds, following the appropriate rules of the road.
314.3.1 MOTORCYCLE OFFICERS
A distinctively marked patrol vehicle equipped with emergency overhead lighting should replace a police motorcycle as primary and/or secondary pursuit unit as soon as practical.
314.3.2 VEHICLES WITHOUT EMERGENCY EQUIPMENT
Vehicles not equipped with red light and siren are generally prohibited from initiating or joining in any pursuit. Officer(s) in such vehicles, however, may become involved in emergency activities involving serious crimes or life threatening situations. Those officers should terminate his/her involvement in any pursuit immediately upon arrival of a sufficient number of emergency police vehicles or any police helicopter. The exemptions provided by Vehicle Code 21055 do not apply to officers using vehicles without emergency equipment.