Criterion's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit looks gorgeous and super fast. That was expected. It's the amount of trash-talking that you're going to end up doing with your friends that's going to take you by surprise.
The developer has create a unique game hub which it's calling "Autolog." This hub not only keeps track of what you're doing, but what your friends are doing, and how they're progressing. The game is designed to constantly keep you up to date on player progress -- game progression, records being set -- and then shove it in your face. The idea is to get you to keep playing, the incentive to always be number one among your friends.
The idea is rather brilliant, and it looks like it's really well-implemented in Hot Pursuit, but it's not a new one. I always think of Bizarre's Geometry Wars as the gold standard for how leaderboards and score-keeping should be done -- it's a game that (unless you look for it) doesn't shove world leaderboards in your face, instead presenting the scores of people you care about: those on your friends list. It's making these rivalries and high score goals immediate, tangible, and unavoidable that always kept me wanting to play "just one more game."
If Hot Pursuit can do for racing what Geometry Wars did for me, I'm expecting some long, long nights ahead of me when the game ships in November. Cue "Eye of the Tiger."
Contest:
12:00 PM on 09.03.2010
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Back on topic. it looks cool... not keen on limited editions with exclusive content (id much rather every one have the same game and the LM copy getting a art book)
I have faith in Criterion, though.
Admittedly this is only one course. But, I have no interest in racing a murcielago through the desert. I was really hoping for some good street action, you know, like the good ol'days. But, instead im confronted with what looks to me like a pretty generic looking racer. It looked like a cross between ridge racer and outrun to me. The lambo seemed pretty standard too.
I imagine that the game will feature an open-world and the desert area is merely a small part. But, this particular trailer didn't interest me :\
Clearly you dont know what the good old days were for Need for Speed. I'm for one glad that they are returning to the roots of the franchise, with non-urban, fake environments with long picturesque roads. And no customization either! And no ricers.
Oh shit, I've done it now. Come on Sofik, you know you want to have a little dig - you usually can't resist.