Year: 2010
Genre: Arcade / Racing (Cars) / 3D
Developer: Criterion Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
System requirements for maximum visual quality in Need for Speed. Hot Pursuit recommended by gameGPU site:
The minimum
Operating system: Vista®, Windows 7
Processor: Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0 GHz or AMD Phenom II X2 550 3.1 GHz above
RAM: 2 GB
Video card: DirectX®9 compatible video adapter with 512 MBRAM Radeon HD 5670 or GeForce GT 430 above
DirectX: DirectX®9
Winchester: 8 GB free space
Effective
Operating system: Vista®, Windows 7
Processor: Core 2 Quad Q6600 2,4 GHz or AMD Phenom X4 9850 2,5 GHz above
Memory: 3 GB
Video card: DirectX®9 compatible video adapter with 512 MB RAM Radeon HD 4830 or GeForce GT 8800 above
DirectX: DirectX®9
Winchester: 8 GB free space
Optimal
Operating system: Vista®, Windows 7
Processor: Core i 5 750 2,66 GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 920 2,8 GHz above
RAM: 3 GB
Video card: DirectX®9 compatible video adapter with 768 MB RAM Radeon HD 5750 or GeForce 8800 GTX above
DirectX: DirectX®9
Winchester: 8 GB free space
Review: Playability
The Need for Speed series has long since exhausted itself and the game somehow needed a new breath. We don’t take Need for Speed: Shift into account – this is a completely different direction of the game, which is more reminiscent of a racing simulator, and not an exciting arcade game, which the Need for Speed series of games was originally. Electronic Arts involved the Criterion Games studio in the development of the game, which has proven itself well in the racing field after the release of Burnout Paradise, and it was right – the game was really a success!
Hot Pursuit returns to the roots of the Need for Speed series, bringing back exotic cars and high-speed police chases. It’s primarily inspired by the original Need For Speed on 3DO. The game does not shine with a super-abstruse plot – there is practically none here, and the whole charm of the game lies precisely in the races themselves and in the intense pursuits.
Hot Pursuit allows the player to play as either a cop or a racer and will include a full career mode for both sides. The relationship between the cops and the racers has been described as a “dog chasing a rabbit” with the cops being more powerful compared to the racers. Each side has several bonuses, including calling a roadblock and radar jamming. The game takes place in a fictional place called Seacrest County. Seacrest County has more than 100 miles (160 km) of open roads and is four times the size of Burnout Paradise.
In addition to the ubiquitous advantages, the game also has some disadvantages. The free ride mode is somewhat boring, and if you wanted to ride like a breeze and cause trouble, arousing the interest of the police, then you won’t succeed – you can rush at an exorbitant speed and ram everything and everyone, but no one will care about that. After the end of the race mode, you cannot continue the pursuit, or, on the contrary, hide from law enforcement officers – you can just say you’ve warmed up, and that’s it, it’s over…
Hot Pursuit also features a new social interaction system called “Autolog”, which is described as “Facebook for gaming.” The game provides the opportunity to play in both single and multiplayer (with up to eight players) game modes. Alternatively, in multiplayer mode, the Player can record their achievements on an Autolog channel for friends to see if they can then beat that record. Autolog also contains an experience point system called “Bounty”. Other features include the ability to add custom soundtracks to the game.
We invite you to evaluate part of the game walkthrough of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, where you can see for yourself the quality of this product:
Overall, the game left a very positive impression and if you have been disappointed in the Need for Speed series for a long time, you can safely purchase a new game from this series again. In terms of playability, we give the game 90% and move on to a review of the game graphics.
Review: Game Graphics
Well, now we moved directly to the game graphics of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and they turned out to be simply magnificent in the game. It’s been a while since arcade racing impressed us with its high level of graphics. As the developers from Criterion Games stated, they managed to surpass the graphical component of Burnout Paradise several times. The only big minus is the minimum number of graphic settings and the lack of full-screen anti-aliasing, which sometimes causes some discomfort in the game.
Licensed, detailed car brands from most well-known manufacturers are pleasing to the eye. Even ordinary cars on the roads are not “simple dummies”, but quite respectable and highly detailed cars. As for the physical behavior of cars on the roads, it is quite arcade-like and does not require large-scale virtuoso manipulations of the gamepod when controlling it.
DICE specialists helped with the creation of the environment, and about 20 employees of this studio were involved in working on Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. It is clear to the naked eye that they did their best and as a result we have the opportunity to see a wide variety of environments: from deserts to mountains, from forests to the coast and so on…
In addition, the game has dynamic changes in the time of day, which really enlivened the game world itself, so having started a race, say in the evening, we can finish it at night, etc. The weather conditions are also quite spectacular, but they only apply to certain stages of the races. The developers turned out to have the most colorful effect of a wet road, which is so mesmerizing that you involuntarily get distracted from the race and inevitably “crash”…
The damage system is conditional and serves only for beauty. All this looks amazing, enchanting, but is useless and no one will let you wreck your car. Still, the game turned out great in all aspects, and we now move on to our GPU testing.
Review: Resource-intensive game
For Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit you will need a Core i 5 750 or AMD Phenom II X4 920 processor and 2 gigabytes of RAM. The game turned out to be quite demanding on the resources of the central processor, so owners of weak systems may experience some slowdowns and drops in FPS.
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Hardware configuration |
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Processors |
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550@ 4.25 GHz cache L2 12 MB Intel® Core™ [email protected] GHz cache L3 8 MB Intel® Core™ [email protected] GHz cache L3 8 MB |
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motherboards |
MSI P45 Platinum 7512 socket LGA775 MSI X58 Pro socket LGA1366 product provided by the company MSI MSI P55-GD55 socket LGA1156 product provided by the company MSI |
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Memory |
GOODRAM PLAY 1600MHz (8-8-8-24) product provided by the company GOODRAM GOODRAM Pro 2000MHz (8-8-8-29) product provided by the company GOODRAM |
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Video Cards |
GeForce 8800 GTS 640 MB |
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Hard disks |
3×2 RAID0 Western Digital Caivar WD2500GL 250 GB, 7200 rpm, SATA 3 Gbit/s |
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Power Supplies |
FSP GROUP EVEREST 800W 2xSeaSonic S12D 850 Silver 850W product provided by the company SeaSonic |
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System software and drivers |
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Operating system |
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition x64 |
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DirectX |
DirectX 11 |
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Platform Driver |
Intel INF Chipset Update Utility 9.1.0.1012 |
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Graphics driver |
Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 260.99 ATI Catalyst 10.10 |
All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality by the Fraps program in the most resource-intensive part of the game. Less productive video cards are tested based on the Core 2 Quad Q9550 processor, and more productive ones are tested based on Core™ i7 processors.
Our video cards are tested generally in all different screen sizes, and you can evaluate how your video card behaves relative to other modern solutions in almost all different gaming screen sizes. Like all console ports, the game has an internal FPS limit of 60 frames. As we will see in a further test, most video cards will be able to provide a stable threshold of 25 FPS, but as it turned out this time it is not a criterion for performance. During visual observation, it turned out that the smoothness of the picture is disrupted already at around 50 frames, and visible discomfort will already occur at around 40. So in this case, the performance criterion should be considered the threshold at least 40 FPS…
Testing at maximum quality settings 1024×768
A resolution of 1024×768 will require fans of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit to have at least a video card Radeon HD 2900 or GeForce 9600 GSO and higher. But again, if we take into account the specifics of the game and a comfortable FPS not lower than the threshold of 40 frames, then for a comfortable game you will need video cards of a higher level, namely Radeon HD 5670 or GeForce GT 430.
Testing at maximum quality settings 1280×1024
When you switch to a resolution of 1280×1024, the game’s appetite will increase slightly, and you will need to have at least video cards of the Radeon HD 4670 or GeForce 8800 GS level. Recommended video cards include accelerators such as Radeon HD 3870 or GeForce GT 240 and higher.
Testing at maximum quality settings 1680×1050
At a resolution of 1680×1050, video cards of such a level as Radeon HD 3850 or GeForce 8800 GS will be required to ensure tolerable comfort. The most optimal cards for these graphics settings are cards of the Radeon HD 4830 or GeForce 8800 GT level.
Testing at maximum quality settings 1920×1080
And so, at a resolution of 1920×1080, a minimum of video cards of the Radeon HD 3870 or GeForce 9600 GT level will be required. The most optimal maps for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit should be considered at the same level as the Radeon HD 5750 or GeForce 8800 GTX. Based on the purchase of video cards specifically for this game, then currently the Radeon HD 5750 or GeForce GTS 250 look most preferable. As in the case of Call of Duty: Black Ops, a lack of CPU resources can cause sudden slowdowns and freezes, which is caused by periodic loading locations during the game.
Final World: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit includes excellent gameplay and excellent graphics. In addition, the game has a modest appetite for the graphics component and many players will be able to appreciate all the delights of the graphics component on most modern mid-level video cards.
