Need for Speed, as a series, has been around since 1994. Out of the many games the series has fielded, a few stand out. Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, Need for Speed Underground (1 & 2 — remasters please, EA. Thank you), Need for Speed: Most Wanted and then Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Both of them — the PS1-era original and the 2010 version were fantastic titles. But there can be only one and it’s the Criterion-made Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit that’s back. Well, it will be back, in just a few short weeks.
A good year for older games
The trailer for the new Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered (game titles just keep getting longer and longer) is a little… strange, however. Rather than playing up the enhanced visuals and smoother gameplay, it focuses on old rivalries — based around Hot Pursuit‘s Autolog feature — that were never settled back when the title first raced onto the gaming scene. It’s almost… melancholy, in its way.
Having launched in 2010, Hot Pursuit doesn’t quite count as a classic but it was a very solid entry all the same. Players can alternate between being police or outlaw street racers being chased down by the fuzz, using all sorts of weapons to take down either cop or criminal. There are benefits (and vehicles and weapons) specific to either faction, and players will most likely find themselves choosing both paths.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered drops on 6 November for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, while Switch owners have to wait until 13 November to get their spike-strip on. Expect better graphics, cross-platform support (and that’s something we’re massively keen on), the return of Autolog, a new Photo Mode and all the original game’s DLC when the title launches next month.
