Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit

"A true classic."

When the first Need For Speed came out, I wasn't that big a fan of racing games. After a while, when my friend told me about Need for Speed II SE, and how great a game it was, I immediately purchased it a became a fan of the legendary Need For Speed series. Since then I have been buying almost every Need For Speed game for one console or the other. And I have to say, even when great games like Midnight Club 3 and Need For Speed Most Wanted have come out, NFS 3 remains timeless in it's appeal.

Gameplay:
Every third game (in number) of the NFS series has police. First it was NFS 3 HP, then HP2, then Most Wanted. These 3 games, in my opinion are the best of the NFS series. There are four main game modes in this game, Single Race, Knockout, Tournament, and Hot Pursuit. Single Race is just select car, track, no. of opponents and go!Knockout is the same from NFS 2 SE, it's a tournament spanning all of the tracks in which the car which finishes last gets eliminated. Tournament is (duh) a tournament. You get points depending on your position in the races, and the more the points, the more the cars you unlock (and by the way, there is a huge number of cars. You can also download cars from the net.) The best mode in my opinion is hot pursuit. You can be the cop (you can download or unlock different cop cars) or the bad guy. If you're the cop, then you have to catch the bad guys. You can call other cars for a roadblock, or you can release a spike strip. If you're the bad guy then you're supposed to run from the cops and their obstacles. There's also 2-player splitscreen. The controls are very, very simple.

Graphics:
The graphics are 3D, and are quite good for their time. The cars look very realistic. The tracks are amazing and scenic. They range from typical rural areas to a bustling metropolitan utopia! Sure, you need a powerful PC to enjoy the game to it's maximum power, but who doesn't have those nowadays? Damn, you're car can even catch fire! Everything makes good use of 3dfx.

Sound:
Electronic Arts stressed on sound. A blind guy can tell you what car you're driving, because each car has a unique sound. The police sounds will make you feel that a true chase is going on outside. Crashing, skidding and other misc. sounds are great, too.

Replay Value:
The Hot Pursuit and Knockout modes will keep you busy. I have been playing this game for 5 years now, I mostly download and test cars from the net, or do a free drive in Atlantica (my favorite track), without any opponents. Sure there are better current-gen games out there, but this is timeless in it's appeal. Splitscreen and online play will boost your replay value.

Final Words:
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit, puts great gameplay, realistic graphics, good sound effects into one game. This game is flawless.
9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/06