zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Culture
/
Here's Why You Should Be Busting Out The Old Need For Speed Right Now
Here's Why You Should Be Busting Out The Old Need For Speed Right Now-July 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:12:44

Image for article titled Here's Why You Should Be Busting Out The Old Need For Speed Right Now

Modern gaming, especially in the racing world, has made enormous strides forward in recent years, with tire wear, realistic slipstreaming, and laser-scanned real world courses dominating feature lists. But sometimes, it’s fun to just throw a disc in, and harmlessly slam a multimillion dollar exotic off of walls, and for that, I think the best place to look is the classics.

Let’s start off this series with my personal favorite from childhood, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2, released in 2002. I was right at that sweet spot in my life where I could be in absolute awe of it. The NFS series has produced three Hot Pursuit titles, in chronological order of release: , , and . And we thought Valve can’t count.

While the first game was still finding the sweet spot of what made racing games truly fun and had graphics that have aged to the point of being difficult to see on a modern TV, and the last game was a bit of a Burnout clone with actual supercars instead of imaginary ones, NFS: Hot Pursuit 2 was released at the arguable peak of the series’ strength, with the right blend of semi-realistic graphics, arcade-style handling, and a ridiculously over-the-top Be The Cop mode, where you could call in a helicopter to literally drop bombs on speeders.

With one of the of all time (you can fight me on that one) and a that shaped my tastes immeasurably in the decades to come, not to mention an (how many racing games put Rush in their playlist?), I think it’s worth blowing the dust off the PS2 to give it another go. Plus, if you have some pent up aggression from being trapped inside you’d like to blow off, you can ram speeding supercars off the road as a cop in a Corvette Z06.

Check out some nicely modernized footage of every Millennial’s favorite supercar ripping through the streets of-definitely-not-Italy below.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Culture
I Entered My Lifted Miata In A Real Off-Road Race, Here's What Happened
I Entered My Lifted Miata In A Real Off-Road Race, Here's What Happened
I have two automotive loves: The first is the Miata, the second is off-road racing. For a while I raced air-cooled Volkswagens in the deserts of California and Nevada and I was lucky enough to co-drive in a class 11 stock bug in the Baja 1000 a few years...
Jul 18, 2025
Toyota Is Moving A Prewar 700-Ton Press Machine Halfway Around The World
Toyota Is Moving A Prewar 700-Ton Press Machine Halfway Around The World
closed its São Bernardo Plant in November 2023, marking the end of its first overseas production facility. The closure caps off a period of continuous car production in São Paolo, , lasting over 60 years. The plant was home to a Komatsu 700-ton press that predates itself. And now...
Jul 18, 2025
Subaru Had It Right All Along
Subaru Had It Right All Along
When first came to the United States, it sold small funky cars that were decidedly un-American. As the company grew its own identity and became more established in the U.S., it became the first automaker to offer an all-wheel-drive passenger car in 1975. Subaru was also an early-adopter of...
Jul 18, 2025
I Can't Get Enough Of This YouTuber Who Builds Tiny, Fully Functional Scale-Model Cars
I Can't Get Enough Of This YouTuber Who Builds Tiny, Fully Functional Scale-Model Cars
I love tiny, of . I have a that is roughly half the size of a normal cat, and she’s perfect. I own a 2013 , which is like the miniature version of a normal-sized vehicle (at least here in Texas) — but beyond that, I also own a Hot...
Jul 18, 2025
Watch ABS Fail When MotorWeek Tests A 1997 Chevy S-10
Watch ABS Fail When MotorWeek Tests A 1997 Chevy S-10
MotorWeek’s is some of the on the internet. The long-running automotive news magazine has a treasure trove of tests after being on the air for over 40 years. Where else can you find detailed instrumented testing of long-forgotten cars like the or a ? MotorWeek’s recent Retro Review upload is...
Jul 18, 2025
2024 Kia EV9: What Do You Want To Know?
2024 Kia EV9: What Do You Want To Know?
At long last, we are about to get behind the wheel of for the first time. Sure, , and sure, , and sure , but hey — what can you do? Anyway, before we get behind the wheel of this three-row electric beast, we want to know what you...
Jul 18, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved