Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit review round-up

Last year's Need for Speed: Shift was quite a departure for the franchise, and while it was an impressive racer it did take itself quite seriously compared to the rest of the series entries. This year NFS is back to it's explosively over-the-top best though, with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. It's hard to believe that It has been twelve years since we last saw the Hot Pursuit name emblazoned across the cover of a Need for Speed release, yet here it is again, in all it's glory, pulling in some of the best scores we've seen for a NFS title in ages. Let's take a look...

CVG: "At its root Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is about an exotic sense of speed, glamour and action, which it accomplishes on a level we've come to expect from Criterion racers. It's fast, luxurious and recreates that big budget Hollywood chase sequence perfectly." - 9/10
Destructoid: "It delivers a near-perfect competitive experience, in a way that few games -- racing or otherwise -- can. Hot Pursuit is not only a defining moment for the series, but for arcade-style racing, period." - 9.5/10
GameInformer: "Fans of white-knuckle racing games, both online and off, will find immense satisfaction on the roads of Seacrest County." - 8.75/10
IGN: "Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is pure over-the-top driving entertainment. The cars and environments are gorgeous, the crashes are spectacular, and the new Autolog feature breathes new life into the time-honored tradition of video game competition among friends." - 9/10
Joystiq: "Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit may have been a late entrant into the race, but it both grabs the checkered flag for this year and may set a land speed record for this entire class of racer." - 5/5
Metacritic rating: 90/100

It looks like it's unanimous: the latest in the long line of Need for Speed titles is a cracking arcade racer, and surely not to be missed by fans of the genre.

Gallery: Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Screenshots & Artwork