Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Review

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit [2010] 

So beyond just watching television shows and movies, and beyond first person shooter war games, I've been working on a whole new set of games that I normally don't get around to because I'd rather play the ones that make me happy and I have friends on. So one of the first games that I went back and decided to play was Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit [2010]. Let it be known that this is a reboot of the classic need for speed franchise, which for all sakes and purposes did not really need a reboot since it has had a steady release at least every couple of years. And not only that, but the games tend to be rather solid.

Anyway, here's some background information about my feelings on this game. I loved Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 back in the day when it was on Playstation 1. I really loved driving past cops and racing through the career mode. So I have high hopes for this game. But even beyond that, I love Criterion Games. I thought that they were probably the best racing developers out there since I first came across them with Burnout 3: Takedown. Seriously, I love them so much that I have two copies of Burnout: Revenge, and I played Burnout: Paradise way past when I should have stopped (and beat it twice because I played one two different consoles). So to say that I had high hopes for this game is kind of an understatement considering it is a premium racing developer working on a platinum series. Here's my review.

Graphics:

Most would think it weird that I want to start with graphics, but in truth this is where the game shines best. From fabulously done real cars to waterfalls in the background to storms happening with lighting, the game has a very impressive graphics engine. It's perfect the way it is, maybe even over done compared with what else I'm about to talk about, but by far the best part of this game is the graphics engine.

With that said, there are no Burnout style crashes and there are no large jumps or anything too extreme. Just miles of beautiful roads for the astoundingly detailed cars to drive down. This is the best part of the game, take my word for it.

Gameplay:

The gameplay is simple, cops on one side and racers on the other. Racers fight against each-other for the first-place spot while cops fight to take-down all of the racers. It's the basic formula. They also try to give cops an advantage, but that's not all.

The main difference in this game from previous ones is that the cops and racers all get power-up moves to use. For instance, if a cop wants to they can try to add a road-block to stop the racers and the racers can use EMPs. Both teams can shoot spike strips out the back of their cars. So they try to spice it up this way, but in total there are 7 different power-ups. To be honest, it wasn't reinventing the wheel but it was a step in the right racing direction. A step, not a leap.

Now before I go on, let me explain the map as well. Its open, there are tons of roads that link to one another and every now and then there's a small secret path. Overall, this was the most BORING map I've ever played in a need for speed game. Literally, most the roads are long stretches of straightways with little curves thrown in, but there's no real shortcuts or big cities to make it fun to navigate and do turns. It was like the creative center of the Criterion map brains, which in the past has been amazing, was turned off this time around as they made the map as simplistic and non-organic as possible. Overall, it added to the boredom in the end of feel like you were on the same path even in the scenery changed.

Story (Single Player):

This is let down number one in the game, there's absolutely no story. They put in two career modes but overall it should just be called advance and get stuff modes because there's really nothing more to it than a simple leveling up system. The races slowly get more exciting and over time you actually start getting some intense games, but over time.

That's my problem, the career modes (racers and cops, where you play either as a racer or as a cop) are so drawn out and boring that I actually had trouble playing even past the first 20 races on either side. And that's not to say that they aren't fun, but rather that they just aren't that interesting. Race here against no-one, race here against the clock, race here against a timer... it really did draw out so long that I wasn't sure there were cop chases in this game. And so by the time I got there, I was frustrated. Let this be known, because the intense single player is actually REALLY far in the game and takes FOREVER to get to. I recommend skipping the story.

Multiplayer:

So if Single player isn't very intense, I still could have high hopes for the multiplayer since it was cop on racer action, right? Well there's three multiplayer modes that come on the disc, a race mode where its racers vs each other vs the cops, a one on one, and a third mode that I didn't even try. So let's start with the basics.

The race mode seemed great the first time I played it, intense running from the cops and it was action packed. But the more I played it, the more I realized it was less about racing and more about trickery. For instance, racers were not compelled to move forward at any time and, for all that matters, they could turn around and just drive past the cops. So a lot of times you'll see the racers just switch gear and go backwards, making a cop or two need to turn around to go catch them. This was something that should have been fixed, get too far behind the cop and you forfeit or something. So that's already bad.

But wait, the other bad part is that there are boosts for have playing the game longer. Players who play a lot more get a TON more cars that are actually WAY better than the starter sets. It's almost like slapping new people in the face that don't want to play the terrible story mode the entire way throughout. I can't tell you how annoying it is to never even be in the league on the race because you don't have a car to really compete.

But wait, remember when I said it was Racer vs Racer vs Cops? Well I lied, because its actually Racer vs Cops with bonus for finishing. So sometimes racers will hold up cops on purpose because as long as one racer paces the finish, they all get points.

If you aren't seeing what I'm getting at, this mode is EXTREMELY flawed and kind of boring since no one really wants to play it right. I mean, it counts as a win on the racing team if another member gets across the line. That's not a race, that's just a team run-around. I think Criterion had the right idea, but then did everything wrong. And what annoys me about this is that in one of their press conferences before the game was released, they are quoted for calling it a "rabbit being hunted by dogs" game, except it felt more like a bunch of dogs without any teeth. To that extent, I leave the multiplayer annoyed and flawed.

But I would like to make one final point, which is that for a game that's supposed to feel like prey and predators, there should almost always be more prey than predators. So even if they fixed up the flaws I've mentioned above, about the only way to make the cops fun is to really give them a boost, and then down their numbers from a 50% cops - 50% racers to about 35% cops - 65% racers (IE more racers so more for the cops to take down). It sounds weird, but trust me, having to play a cop one game and a racer the next and then a cop again is kind annoying when really I bought the game to be the racer. So down the cops and make it that we play cops every two games that we play racers. Win for all.

Verdict: 2 / 5 Stars

Between the lack of a good single player (and no, I'm not saying not having a story, I'm saying in general the single player was boring) and the multiplayer being extremely flawed, all this game really had was beautiful graphics and a wonderfully done amount of cars. That's right, I'm going to give this game all of it's points for graphics and number of well-done cars. So if you haven't figured out by now, the game didn't do to well because in my mind, that's nothing compared to what is really needed to be a fully functioning game.

No, I couldn't let up that the single player is almost unplayable because of the amount of time-trials and worthless races that were not Hot Pursuits that flood the beginning. And I couldn't give points for the extremely flawed multiplayer or the lack of versatility that came with it. And I definitely couldn't give points for how boring all the roads where. Seriously, I could drive around for hours and have absolutely no idea where I was, which is a feat considering how beautiful the surroundings were. It just felt bland.

I'm giving this game a 2/5 stars.

Don't Buy Battlefield 3

BATTLEFIELD 3 - THE REVIEW

So I know I do a lot of complaining about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and I never play the competition. Well, a friend of mine bought me the game (so we could play more games together) and I've come to one conclusion with all the time I've been playing it (which is approximately 10-30 hours now over a week of screaming at my screen). DO NOT BUY BATTLEFIELD 3!!!!!


Seriously, as far as video games go this is the worst one I've played in a while. I've been so frustrated with this game, that I honestly thing the better name for it would be Boring 'n Frustrated 3. So, if I haven't gotten you interested with what I've said, here's my official review:

Single Player (and Co-Op)
I don't play DICE single players. Why? Because the last one I played wasn't just bad, it was like knives to the groin. Even my friend who likes playing Single Player put down the last DICE single player I owned and said he wanted to gouge his eyes out. Get the point, DICE can't write stories and they are even worse at single player level design. So I didn't play it. Also, I'm assuming Co-Op is the same, so I won't be playing that either.

Multiplayer

Okay, so here we go with something real. As always, I have a list of things that will go on for ages so get ready. They're actually ordered this time in the way that I met each problem.

1. This game is NOT friendly! I know that my number on complaint with Modern Warfare 3 is that the game is too easy to pick-up that there literally is no depth. Well this game goes the other direction and they literally make it so hard to pick up that it has no depth because you are either loving playing it and good or hating it and bad. Literally, I picked this game up and I couldn't believe how IMPOSSIBLE it was made to learn. This part has multiple problems, so let me break it down.

• There is NO training. You hop online, you gonna die. You play offline, you gonna be bored. So that leaves you with fumbling with the buttons and trying to figure out what to do. Now, I know that normally takes about 10-30 minutes in a normal game, but I gotta tell you that after playing this game for as long as I have I'm still confused. I don't understand how bullets work, I don't understand where my bullets go or if they are hitting, I can't tell you what the hell a ticket means, and I certainly can't tell you how many shots are required to blow a hole in the wall. So without any training, you probably have to play for 100 hours just to understand these, and these are BASIC things you NEED TO KNOW. Stupid, right?
• All Bullets Curve/Travel. They don't tell you that in the manual, but all bullets curve down in this game at some rate that the game designers really don't tell you. It must have taken me a whole 5 minutes to figure out why my sniper rifle bullets weren't hitting the guys, and another 15 to even begin to understand how to aim. I still don't get it. But beyond that, all bullets curve, which means you aim above people's heads to get the shots you want. BUT WAIT, that's not all. All bullets also have to travel in the game, which means you sometimes have to point, shoot, and prey that it makes it to their face on time. This not only makes long-range shots difficult, but hurts all aspects of the game because its impossible to tell where to shoot. Also, I'd like to add that a lot of people have noted that the bullets don't fly slow, they fly REALLY slow. That means its even harder to tell.

The next few points are also NOT friendly! points, but I think they deserve a number of their own.

2. The Starting Guns are TERRIBLE! Okay, I know you are probably saying well thank god you get more soon. Except, if you are new to this game and the first guns you get are damn awful, then getting the next guns takes FOREVER. I just recently got the level 2 guns, they are AMAZING better. The starting guns do no damage, have small clips, are not friendly, bounce everywhere, and are just plain awful. It's so bad, but to make matters worse you don't get scopes forever with them, so its like noob hell for a good chunk of time.

3. There are NO Menus. I know there's this start-button menu, but that's in-game and that's bullshit. No. I'm talking about a menu that lets me change stuff and manage my guns while I'm not in the middle of a bloody encounter. Well, it pisses me off, especially since you sit in a stats menu for about a minute. Why not make better use of that minute and let me actually do something. Stats should be for when I want to see them, not always.

Beyond that, the menu they give you for weapons is TERRIBLE. It took me forever to figure out how to switch out stuff, how to get new equipment, etc. And beyond that, its like the worst menu system I've dealt with in a while. If I was EA, I would fire the guy that still hasn't designed menus for this game.

4. Too much teamwork. I know that they say this game focuses on teamwork, but it's just WAY WAY WAY too much. Seriously, without a decent squad of 3 others I always feel like I might as well be alone. A good squad means everything in this game, from getting health, ammo, rockets, and savings. Then you get into a game where you have a bad squad and you realize just how much you have to rely on other people. Now, like I said I understand that this is a squad based game and you should have to do teamwork, but if Modern Warfare 3 is 10% teammates 90% self for personal (IE not team) success, then Battlefield 3 is 90% teammates 10% self for personal success. No joke, no team means you are screwed. And now, take it for a new person who doesn't know anyone or how to play... that really makes it frustrating to the point where you won't want to.

5. Overpowered Vehicles. I know this game is about the vehicles, I know its about getting your squad into one and really just enjoying flying that copter or driving that tank. But this game takes it to the next level and it actually ruins the realism. Seriously, there are maps were you don't even run around on your feet, you just get in a tank or a heli or a plane and never get out.

Yet that's not the part I have a problem with the vehicles (though for every 5 soldiers there should be 1 tank and for every 15 soldiers there should be 1 helicopter, not for ever half soldier there should be three tanks.). My problem with the vehicles is they JUST WON'T DIE. You put a rocket into them, they keep going. You put another one in, it still isn't done. No, it takes 3 rockets to blow the damn things up. And with flying ones, they all have flares, so they never go down. Its the dumbest thing I've seen where they again go back to the whole "you need a team in this game" idea but they don't correct for overpowered vehicles. BUT WAIT, it gets worse. If the enemy team steals your vehicles, you get fucked. And not just that, but they can take them right out of your base. That leads me to number 6.

6. The Enemy can Steal Stuff out of your Base. THIS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED. The guns that are in your base that are supposed to be Anti-Air (the only things allowed to fly in your base) are WEAK, the choppers are WAY more powerful. It's depressing. DICE, go back and make the AA guns super powerful so I can stop them from stealing stuff out of my base and get the battle back on the ground. Seriously, don't know what you were thinking.

Also, if you can have stuff stolen out of your base, then just remember that you can be killed in your base. It happens all the time. Fail DICE, fail.

7. Terrible Spawns. I know I talk about spawns a lot, especially in Modern Warfare 3 where the spawn system is a revenge based on. Well, I will give Infinity Ward this, they made a spawn system. There is literally no spawn system in this game. It just plops you down and there is a 40% chance you are already dead. Yea, bad. But wait, what about the whole you get to pick your spawn thing. Well, sorta... You can pick the region but that doesn't guarantee that you won't instantly die from some guy sneaking around or you'll spawn facing the enemy who has his gun down. So in other words, there are no safe spawns. I hate it. I really really hate this.

8. Not Enough Players (or Maps are Too Big). Some of these maps are just right for 24 players (when you have 24 players), but some are just so extra-large that even with all 24 players it feels empty. And so then you spend too much time running into battle, running over here, running there, and then you get there and there's nothing there to be gotten. So then you continue running some more. Worst part, then you get shot by a camper, start over, and repeat. I wish developers would make maps that fit what's happening and not try to squeeze too many players into a small space or explode players into too large a fat map. 

9. 4 Player Squads. Seriously? This game design has been this way for over half-a-decade now and its getting old. In today's age, I want at least 6 people per squad or even better, up to 9 people per squad. This part feels so dated that I honestly hate it SOOO much. Seriously, get your friends together and now you can't even be on the same squad. Fail. So it would be nice to see larger squads especially since our internet and our games can handle them now.

10. All the problems from Previous Battlefields are still here! If you've played ANY of the battlefield games in all the variety it comes in, then you know they've all had the same problems that never get fixed. The medic has infinite revives and med-packs, there's infinite ammo packs, the repair kit can infinite-repair, etc etc. Well COME ONE DICE and FIX IT. Seriously, for a game that's supposed to be the most realistic one of them all, it has all these little cliche things in it that are just bull and I don't know why DICE doesn't get in there and fix it. 

How had is it to say the tanks can only be repaired on the side the were damaged on (same with airplanes/helicopters) and ammo packs, med-packs, and repair kits can only be replenished at the main (moving) bases. Seriously, if they would fix this, I would be happier with the game by a thousand thanks', but they never do because they think a guy can pull a medical pack out his arse and keep healing, that those defibrillators will work indefinitely even though there's no electricity, that the repair gun adds material to a broken tank, etc. And I know I'm not even scratching the surface of the problems with the previous problems, those ones just bug me the most. I thought I'd make sure to really point it out.

Verdict: Don't Buy
I know, I'm not helping the economy, but people talk about re-skin sequels all the time and they love mentioning the Call of Duty series. Well, to be honest, this one feels EXACTLY like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 with some nice new shiny graphics (which were hard to differ from Modern Warfare 3 to be honest, minus the annoying effects like light glare [which is unrealistically overdone in the game] and rain [which is also overdone in the game]). Don't get it, it's a waste of money and it's a waste of precious braincells from when you bash your head into the wall from the frustration.


Every time I play I consider just making a video of me breaking it, and I really mean that. I think I might go back to SSX again...

Seriously? Still No Fixes?

I keep playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and its still NOT balanced more than 4 months after the release date. This is with countless amounts of user input, but what I'm learning is that the companies Infinity Ward, Beachhead Studios (couldn't find a website), and Raven Software are just incompetent enough to not fix it. So here's what I am putting out there, he's my message to the world, the one that says FIX THIS YOU DUMB MOTHER F***ERS!

1. Striker - Seriously? You call that a nerf? I believe the exact quote from fourzerotwo was "The Striker is losing power and all shotguns are increasing in damage." Now I might be wrong about something, but isn't [50 +5power to all shotguns -5power to all shotguns = 50]? SO I don't think you did anything. NERF THAT THING. Here's how you balance it (pick one):

• Down the damage so much that it literally take either 3 close range shots to kill, 5 medium range shots to kill, and impossible from long range
• Add Kick. Add a lot of Kick. That thing should kick so hard that each shot makes you do a half-backflip.
• Make the person slower when they run with it and down the reload rate by a lot.

2. Type 95 - I don't understand how you guys can "nerf" the gun more than once. If its NERFED then it shouldn't need a second nerfing. SO god damn it, learn to NERF a gun! Again, pick one.

• REDUCE THE DAMAGE! It should take at least 3 shots to kill or 2 perfect shots.
• Add kick! Add kick so that you fire that thing and it bounces.
• Reduce the range.

3. MK-14 - This gun doesn't get talked about a lot, but its 2 shots to kill, has no kick, is long range, lets you run fast, can be silenced and used easily, doesnt sway, etc. Are you getting my drift? Its just too god damn good unless you miss the shot, but even if you do you can fire it like a machine gun.

• Put a minimum fire time on it that's higher than 0.5 seconds. Make it take at least 1.5 seconds before you can fire a second shot. With rapid fire, it should decrease its fire time to 0.5 seconds but increase kick (because of more shots).
• Add kick. Why is it that this seems to be a good solution. Oh wait, cause its easy to do and works.
• Make that weapon sway! Its a sniper (or close to the snipers in almost every way) so why not add some sway to the end of it.

4. ALL MACHINE PISTOLS, though mainly the FMG9's - You've tried nerfing this weapon like 50 times in 50 different ways. Why hasn't it worked? Because your idea of nerfing them is slowing down the rate of fire. Their fire rate was ridiculous to begin with, now you've just made them like all the other weapons. So take away the power on them.

• Decrease the damage by A LOT (its a side arm, not a main weapon).

5/6. PP90M1 and MP7 - Both of these weapons have to much power, almost no kick, huge clips, and let the users run fast. Oh, and add on the range proficiency and they only get better. SERIOUSLY? When I saw the videos for MW3 and the douche bag came on and said the PP90M1 where his favorite new weapons, no joke I thought right then and there that the reason he liked them was because they are Overpowered and Not Balanced. Why is it I'm always right.

• Decrease the damage. Lets just state the obvious that these are too powerful for what they do and should have a damage reduction.
• Increase the kick. Make it that the things are off center after about 2 shots fired, make sure its by a lot and make sure that it kicks sort of out of the way of a headshot.
• Decrease the range and accuracy. These guns are way way way to powerful at any range. Decreasing the range and accuracy would really help with how they can magically get headshots from across the map.

7. Grenade Launchers - Honestly, this is the 3rd time you guys have failed at balancing out this weapon, and so far this has been the 2nd worst attempt. Here's an idea:

• Make grenade launcher under barrels cost 2 slots (requiring the attachment modification to use) and leave them as they are. Now for the launchers ones, take away the persons grenade. I guarantee people with twice before using them. While you are at it, make all launchers take away the grenade slot. That'll help balance out the "Helicopters are weak"

8. Recon Drone - Seriously? This thing gets a jammer, can put people on the map indefinitely, flies super fast, can see the enemies as red arrows, gets a flare, gives the player 100 points for each tag (which add to the score board) and also only costs 10 kills not in the same life? SERIOUSLY? (For this one you need to choose 2 or more... this thing is so overpowered)

• No flare. Its hard enough to lock-on as is so the flare is just stupid.
• No jammer. Why.
• No red arrows until they are within range. That way at least it has to be able to see them and isn't just flying around perfectly tagging people it shouldn't be able to.
• NOT FOREVER - Make the recon go away after 10 seconds or so.
• Make it cost more. 10 kills is easy as all get out to get something this over powered.

• AND THIS ONE IS REQUIRED: STOP LETTING IT ADD THE 100 POINTS TO THE SCORE BOARD! It doesn't make sense why this thing can boost someones score on the board from last place to first when they technically haven't done anything that helps increase the score. The assists they get for the kills will show up on their already, so theirs no need to show the 100 points also.

Well Infinity Ward, Beachhead Studios, and Raven Software, I've done literally the hardest part for you guys in cleaning up your mess, all you have to do is change some numbers and click update. I know, its hard having power, but for the $1 Billion you get paid you better start working harder for it.