Gameplay

Modes

Need For Speed offers a few modes of gameplay; none of which were particularly exciting. Earning points to unlock tracks and cars can only offer so much joy. There are essentially three modes of play: Hot Pursuit, Championship, and customizable single races. The first two offer a ladder that you have to complete. This is where the majority of points are earned. Placing first in races and avoiding cops further ads to how many points you get when you finish a race. It can take quite a bit of time to complete all the missions, but this is mainly due to the length of most races. Even while playing with a keyboard, I managed to plow through over half the Hot Pursuit mode at a relatively quick pace.

Come back!

I'm a tad airborne

Hi there!

Oddly enough, only the single races offer a variable level of difficulty. About the only thing that seemed to change was the amount of cops chasing after you. On easy you end up having one cop, if you upset them enough they’ll start sending more and more. All this culminates in the release of a bomb dropping chopper, which is really rather ridiculous when you think about it. Most of the chases in the game end with the cop saying he is stopping for the sake of public safety. But you really can’t go wrong by including a bomb-dropping chopper, I mean if it blows up it must be good.

About the only thing you really have to worry about in the game is the spike strip. Everything else can be avoided without any damage. Once you roll over those spikes it’s all over, your tires are out for good.

Such a nice bridge

How'd he get a M5?!

Putz!

Being the cop

Being the cop is what it’s all about in this game. The method by which you pull those rogue speeders over is crude but effective. They have a little health bar that you simply ram into oblivion. Actually having to stop them and keeping them sequestered is not something you are required to do. It’s more akin to beating them into submission. There were times where I simply rammed them so hard that it only took one hit to catch them.

In the case that you cannot quite hit them enough, you can call up your trusty backup. If you’ve watched “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” you should be familiar with this. You get the option of calling on extra squad cars, a roadblock, or should you want to go extreme – the helicopter. The squad cars are helpful every now and then, but hits only count when they come from you or the chopper. Occasionally the squad cars would toss me out of the way to get to the speeder, so beware. Calling on the helicopter is entertaining, but they might as well have just given you rockets for your squad car. The ‘copter flies around and drops little smoking bombs onto the road as obstacles. Mind you, they are obstacles for the speeder as much as you. Once again, beware.