Heralded by many as the best release in the popular racing series to date, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit was a critical and commercial success for EA when it dropped back in 2010. To celebrate this success, it became apparent that EA was looking to bring the seminal racing classic back for modern consoles, with several hints and teases alluding to its grand return.
Today, EA officially announced that Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered is indeed real, and coming to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on November 6 as well as the Nintendo Switch on November 13. The reveal came alongside a live-action trailer which begins to highlight the new features present in Hot Pursuit's comeback.
The commercial follows the feud between two avid Need for Speed veterans, with the protagonist haunted by his friend Joseph's speedy 5:10 time trial run on the original release of Hot Pursuit. Of course, it's eventually revealed that the game is finally back, meaning the trailer's down on his luck hero can boot up the game once again and finally conquer his friend's score. Some fun subliminal messaging appears throughout the two-minute promo, including acknowledging that the game will have enhanced visuals, come with all the main DLC from the original, and feature cross-platform multiplayer.
EA is marketing it as the "ultimate version of Need For Speed Hot Pursuit," so those who loved the game can finally jump back in on their newer consoles or in handheld mode on the Nintendo Switch. A lot of the gameplay featured at the tail-end of the trailer definitely looks like its resurrecting the action-packed style of Hot Pursuit for modern audiences, with clips of intense crashes, high-speed police chases, and intense races against the clock.
The general consensus in the comments seems to be somewhat mixed on the remaster. While many are happy that Hot Pursuit will be coming back to modern consoles and with cross-platform multiplayer included in the bundle, quite a few fans are slightly underwhelmed by the game's visual upgrades. "Plot twist: it's the same NFS hot pursuit," one writes, while a second commenter reveals they "stayed up to 2 am to see the only thing to change was they added cross-platform."
It seems likely the remaster has been released to give Criterion a little longer to work on the new Need for Speed game the studio announced back in June. Little is known about the next entry in the series outside of the fact its currently being worked on, so this remaster could be a bid to offer the series' fanbase something to enjoy while the team delivers the next mainline entry in the franchise.
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered will be available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on November 6, with a Nintendo Switch version available on November 13.
Source: EA