#10. TEST DRIVE UNLIMITED 2

Test Drive Unlimited 2 may not have been the perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, with everything from its inconsistent world design and forgettable and threadbare attempts at telling a story to the bevy of technical issues the game launched with dragging the experience down in some pretty significant ways. But there’s a lot of fun to be found here nonetheless. Large chunks of its open world are absolutely gorgeous, and as such, a joy to simply drive around in, while there’s also no shortage of excellent racing events and activities scattered throughout all of that real estate. Sure, you have to cut through some less-than-stellar stuff to get to the good stuff, but when you do get to it, it’s really, really good.

A couple of months ago, we first started hearing about reports that the Criterion Games-developed 2010 racer Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit would be getting the remaster treatment later this year and releasing for the Nintendo Switch, PC, and “other consoles”. Just last month, a retailer listing added fuel to that fire. Now, we have more evidence to suggest that EA will indeed be bringing the game to modern consoles. 

Amazon UK recently put up a listing for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered, which the Switch and Xbox One listed as the game’s platforms (though others will probably be coming as well). The listing was promptly taken down, but was spotted and captured over on the ResetEra forums before that could happen. Take a look at the screen grab below.

It mentions a very specific release date as well, with the remaster supposedly releasing on November 13 of this year. With that release date, one has to wonder whether the game will also be coming to the PS5 and Xbox Series X. 

Of course, the game hasn’t been officially announced by EA yet, but if all of these leaks are accurate – and at this point it’s starting to seem like they probably are – then that announcement shouldn’t be too far away.

Meanwhile, if you’re waiting for the next new Need for Speed game, that’s also currently in the works at Criterion, who took control of franchise back from Ghost Games earlier this year.  

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is probably one of the best games in EA’s long-running racing franchise (which isn’t surprising, considering it’s developed by Criterion), and it might be getting a remaster very soon. A listing for the game on the Nintendo Switch has gone up on New Zealand online retailer Mighty Ape (you can see a screencap below, in case the listing gets taken down). No release date is mentioned, of course.

This isn’t the first time we’re hearing about a possible remaster of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Following EA’s promise last month to release seven games for the Switch in the coming 12 months, it was reported that one of those games would be a remaster of the 2010 racer, following in the footsteps of Burnout Paradise Remastered. This listing is not a confirmation by any means, of course, but it sure does add fuel to the fire.

Meanwhile, the future of the Need for Speed franchise is also in the hands of Criterion, with the studio currently at work on the next instalment in the series.

EA have been focusing more and more on releasing remasters of late, with the company having made a conscious decision to bring back enhanced versions of older classics. The likes of Burnout Paradise and Command and Conquer have seen remastered releases, while there’s also been plenty of speculation about a remastered collection of the Mass Effect trilogy.

And it seems another fan-favourite game from 2010 is also in line to receive a remaster very soon. As per a report by GamesBeat’s Jeff Grubb, EA will be releasing a remaster of the 2010 Criterion-developed racer Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. It’s supposed to be one of the seven games EA plans on releasing for the Switch in the coming twelve months. In addition to the Switch, it will also reportedly release for PC and “other consoles.”

Whether or not those other consoles will include the PS5 and the Xbox Series X remains to be seen, but it’s more than likely at this point that the remaster will be a cross-gen release.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit released to critical and commercial success in 2010 and was the first of two games in the series to be developed by Criterion. The studio recently retook the franchise’s reigns, and is working on a new as-of-yet unannounced Need for Speed title.

Now the DLC for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit can range from purchasing a single car to buying a pack of cars with extra career content.  Here is a little break down of what is worth purchasing and what is not when it comes to NFS: Hot Pursuit.  First off the game itself is awesome and well made remake of the original Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit released years ago.  You can check out our review of the game right here.  Now the first DLC pack that was released for the game was the ‘Super Sports Pack’ and we wrote about that pack as well because that really showed us what the developers had to offer as far as real DLC content for the game and it was good, but you can read more about that pack ‘Super Sports Pack’ here.  Moving on we have all the single car purchases which in my opinion are not worth it.  What you want to look at are the following DLC packs.

The Armed & Dangerous Pack
The Lamborghini Untamed Pack
The Porsche Unleashed Pack

These are the only DLC your going to really need besides the ‘Super Sports Pack’ with still keeping your wallet from going empty.  Simply buying every car and DLC pack will make you broke and is not necessary.  Let’s look at the Armed & Dangerous Pack first, now each of these packs are going to run you 560 Microsoft Points or around $7 which adds up if you buy them all.  If you don’t play NFS: Hot Pursuit Online then there is no point in you getting the Armed and Dangerous pack as it simply adds two extra online modes to the game.  However if you do play the game online this can be a pretty awesome pack as for the first time, at least to my knowledge you can play a racing game as a team and not competitively.  The pack adds Most Wanted and Arms Race online.  So you can play Most Wanted with buddies on your team trying to out run the copy, even helping each other out and can have it the other way around too, where you can play as a cop.  This totally adds to the online of the game and in Arms Race you can knock the other player around a bit to win the race which is what I always wished I could do during races.  Arms race pits all racers against each other with the full arsenal of weaponry on hand. The pack also adds 3 new Achievements/Trophies.  If you play NFS: Hot Pursuit online, I would say this is a must have pack for you, if not that forget about it.

Next we have the Lamborghini Untamed Pack and the Porsche Unleashed Pack which are very hard to stay away from purchasing.  Let’s start with the cars, in the Lamborghini Pack, the cars almost look alien they are so crazy looking as well as attractive.  Now these cars don’t just look pretty they probably the most powerful machines in the game.  Your getting the Lamborghini Diablo, the Lamborghini Coutach, and the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento. Along with cars comes a whole bunch of new career mode missions that you can take part in, ten events to be exact. This pack also adds 4 Achievements/Trophies.

Now the Porsche Unleashed pack is awesome but it might take a certain kind of Porsche fan to need this pack. This one adds 3 new Porsche cars including the Porsche 959 and Porsche 911 Speedster as well as the classic Porsche 911 Turbo 1982 Edition which sure runs nicely. Don’t let the age or look of the 911 Turbo ’82 fool you as it is a beast. Along with this car collection comes another 10 new events as well as 4 more Achievements/Trophies.

I had the most fun with the Lambo Pack but that’s just me, if you want everything out of the game you are going to want all three off these packs as well as the Super Sports pack. The only think is they all add up to around $28 if you get them all, which is not too bad considering what they add to the game but it could be a little cheaper. If you are looking for only spending money on one pack I would go with either the Super Sports Pack giving you the Bugatti Sport Edition or the Lamborghini Pack. They both add good cars and more events but having them all won’t make you a better driver, but it will give you an upper hand. If you a good driver with all the packs, you’re unstoppable.

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport

If you’re a racing fan and live in India, then the NFS challenge may be a chance to grab some cool goodies.  Starting from February 5^th, you can participate in the NFS Hot Pursuit challenge at select retail stores in India every weekend. The challenge will continue until February 27^th.

The game event selected for the challenge will be the Reventón Reveal time trial. The top cop, that is the gamer to record the fastest time across the country will win a 32” full HD LCD TV. In addition, there are many more exciting prizes like 3D posters, NFS t-shirts and games also up for grabs.

The challenge will be on at retail outlets like Landmark, Planet M, Game4u, Reliance Digital and others throughout the country.

Get more details on the challenge at www.electronicarts.in/nfshpchallenge

According to Filefront, where you can download it, patch v1.020 addresses the following issues:

– Flickering graphics after Alt-Tabbing out of the game and back.
– Controller configurations sometimes failing to save correctly.
– Steering response dead-zone when playing with steering wheel controllers.
– Player car engine audio volume too low.
– Some issues with CPU performance.
– Rare crash issue when entering the Career map screen

The three free cars added are the Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible, the Lamborghini Murciélago LP 650-4 Roadster and the Dodge Viper SRT10 Convertible Final Edition.

Installing the patch means you will only be able to play online against others who have installed the patch, but you will still get Autolog updates from all other players.

Thanks to CVG for the info

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport

As compared to the individual cars you can buy on the marketplace, this pack alone with its 3 cars is more worth it. This DLC also adds a whole bunch of new achievements and trophies to the game. After playing the game with the addition of this add on I wouldn’t want to play the game with out it. The 13 new events also give an opportunity to level up more and some are quite challenging. If you thinking about dropping any point/money on this game, get the Super Sports Pack as it is well worth it and adds more to to the game than any other DLC currently available for it.

As a racer, your job is basically what I wanted to do the first time I ever played a racing game.. not really race.  You gain more bounty by driving extremely fast and crashing into oncoming traffic, even better another cop car or just about anything.  Causing absolute mayhem is the name of the game as a racer.  But don’t worry because as a cop you get your chance to crash into racer stopping them from their fun.  I have to add that these crashes are not just your average crashes we have seen before.  Being the meat of the game, the crashes are basically.. well.. fucking awesome and in slow motion.  Better yet you get to do these crashes in multimillion dollar cars that you just can’t do in real life.  Speaking of real life, that is exactly what the crashes would look like in so much beautiful detail going 200 miles per hour.

In the Hot Pursuit Career mode you’ll choose a destination on Seacrest County and that will bring up a list of events to choose from. Upon choosing one, you will be taken there and the races are off as you must get to points first while being tailed by cops as well as other racers. Free Drive mode is perfect for viewing the amazing scenery, enjoying the many different types of tracks and to take some cool screen shots. There are no re-percussion’s in Free Mode, everything you do there is separate from you Career, Online and Leader-boards. In Time Trials you play as a cop and have to stop illegal street races from going on. Of course there is an online mode with up to 8 players where you can play as cops or racers and even team up with friends. You bounty also carries over to online mode.

A new and unique aspect added to the game is the “Autolog”, which is basically like an in depth leader-board system that includes your friends and people you play with online. You can obviously see where you and your friends rank in the game but also see what they are doing, what they have achieved and pictures they have taken in the game that can be posted on the Wall in Autolog. Think of the Wall on Facebook and that is almost how is can be compared to in Autolog. One of the best features of the it, is that as soon as you beat your friends time on a track, you are prompted to let him know… just to inform him of course, not to taunt him while he struggles to beat your time again.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is like a person with ADD’s dream of a racer. Just have fun with some awesome cars such as Mercedes, Bentleys, Porches and Lamborghinis. Cops get weapons such as spike strips, helicopters, EMP blasts and roadblocks while Racers get spike strips, EMPs, turbo boosts and jammers. Helicopters can job road spikes on enemies ahead of you while jammers shuts down everyone’s weapons, EMP’s and Cops can’t see their map, which can be vital in Hot Pursuit. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is a fast paced, unrealistic arcade style racer that has some beautiful graphics whether it comes to the scenery or the crash detail. If you are a hardcore racing game fan that loves the realism of racing simulators this isn’t for you, but if you like to have fun and cause mayhem go pick up Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.

EA’s announced that premium DLC is coming for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. The pack will include 12 new events, new achievements/trophies as well as new cars some of which are new versions of cop and racer cars like the Bugatti Veyron SS, Porsche 911 GT2 and the Gumpert Apollo. Cool stuff although no date has been announced, just stay tuned here or over at NeedForSpeed.com.