Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 is a racing game with an emphasis on evading the police and over-the-top courses featuring lengthy shortcuts. It draws primarily from the gameplay and style of one of its predecessors, Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit. Two primary game modes are offered: World Racing Championship, in which the player competes against other drivers in a series of races, and Hot Pursuit Ultimate Racer, which adds police to the races. In the latter players must complete the races while also evading capture.
There are several a la carte race types in Hot Pursuit 2. Delivery is a timed point-to-point dash, with the police in pursuit. This is similar to the delivery mission in Porsche Unleashed while the police pursuit makes it more challenging. Sprint is a point to point race where competitors try to get from one end to the other before their opponent. Time Trial gives players three laps on a level with the goal being to beat the required time to get the gold, silver or bronze medal. Lap Knockout eliminates the last racer in each lap until one player remains the victor. Knockout follows a similar principle, but eliminations are made to the last racer at the end of each race. Races are usually restricted to a certain class of cars. Faster cars are used near the end of the Championship and Ultimate Racer modes.
The player also has the option to play as a police officer trying to arrest speeders. The player must disable speeders by ramming the speeding vehicle multiple times to disable it, akin to a PIT maneuver. The player must turn on their lights and sirens while in pursuit. As a police officer, the player can call for a barricade, additional units, spike strips, and request help from a helicopter to assist in chasing the target vehicle. At the end of each event, the player is awarded for the number of arrests. The PlayStation 2 version, this mode is called "You're the Cop" mode while in the Windows, GameCube, and Xbox versions, it is called "Be the Cop".
The game features cars from a variety of manufacturers. One or more cars are available from the following manufacturers: Aston Martin, BMW, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ferrari, Ford, HSV, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Lotus, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Opel, Porsche and Vauxhall Motors. Many vehicles have an unlockable police variant for their respective mode. Hot Pursuit 2 also contains Need for Speed Edition cars, which are upgraded versions of some of the stock vehicles.[1]
Races take place in four environments which differ in atmosphere, each with a few unique courses. The courses in an environment are formed by different roads being connected or separated by road blocks. A fictional tropical island, reminiscent of Hawaii, is the most varied environment; the track traverses a city as well as near a volcano, waterfall, beach, rainforest, and two villages. The coastal forest environment is reminiscent of the Washington coast because of its forest and nature. The Mediterranean coast which resembles Greece because of the stadium and a building which resembles Parthenon. Lastly the so-called Alpine environments that resemble Alaska are more homogeneous, with little variation except the occasional short cut. The PlayStation 2 version also contains a Desert environment resembling the Sonoran Desert of Arizona that sometimes has thunderstorms in the North American Monsoon.
The PlayStation 2 version did not feature a career mode. Instead, there is a point system where cars are purchased from winning races. Points are determined by laps led and finishing position. In the Championship and Hot Pursuit trees, extra points are awarded if a medal is won. If the tree is completed, extra bonus races are unlocked. These races include the hardest competitors and the hardest courses. For the multiplayer mode of the Windows version, players can host a game server for LAN or internet based playing. In addition to this, the GameSpy internet matchmaking system can be used to publish and locate such servers.
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