NFS: Hot Pursuit DLC Preview

[Jason]

Electronic Arts and developer Criterion Games took the racing genre to a ridiculous new place with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. It's a world of wallet-busting hypercars, shattered speed limits, priceless cop cars and brutal crashes. And now there's even more of it.

Buyers of the new Super Sports downloadable add-on receive three new cars to wrap around phone poles: the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, Bugatti Veyron 16:4 Super Sport and Gumpert Apollo S. As you'd expect, all are insanely fast and cost exorbitant amounts of real-world cash. But they're yours for a price as a Hot Pursuit download. Knowing they're expensive in the real world makes them deliciously fun to crash.

The cars are showcased on both the cop and racer sides in 11 new events. The Super Sports pack is a good mix of weather conditions, track types and race styles. Expect a healthy assortment of pursuit, time trial, interceptor, and straight-up race events. If you were hoping for an add-on that's only Hot Pursuit or Gauntlet events (the ones that are all about knocking people off the road) you might be disappointed with the Super Sports pack. But if you're a fan of the wide variety of event types in the game, this is definitely your speed.

The new races are a nice addition, but it's really all about the cars. Someone over at Criterion is a whore for Bugatti Veyrons, because there are now three in the game: the 16:4, the 16:4 Grand Sport and the new 16:4 Super Sport. The Super Sport (the obvious inspiration for the add-on pack's name) produces a ridonkulous 1200 horsepower at 6400 RPM, which doesn't even make sense. Racing it around Seacrest County in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is like driving a fighter jet around a go-kart track. It's a heavy beast, and impossibly fast.

Its only rival in the are-you-serious department is the Gumpert Apollo S, which I've decided should be Commander Shepard's car in Mass Effect. The manufacturer's full name is Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH, which hints to me that it may be German. But there's nothing practical whatsoever about this car. Apparently, it goes so fast that you can drive it upside-down in a tunnel, which is probably more useful to Batman than it is Cmdr. Shepard.

I never thought I'd claim a Porsche as my favorite car in any group (I don't want to be that guy), but the 911 GT2 RS is just plain great. It's fast, sure. But it's also a wicked witch in the handling department. And it sounds…. committed. Some cars have exhaust notes that scream like evil clowns. Others purr like kittens or cough out a rough rasp. The 911 GT2 RS sounds like it's getting s**t done. If this is what Porsche wants its premium cars to sound like, then I'd love to see what they do with a belt sander.

I've played around with the Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Super Sports downloadable content for a couple hours now, and I'm having just as much fun as I did with the main game. If you've already blasted through every event in Hot Pursuit and have an itch for new cars and events, this should scratch you.

The Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Super Sports DLC hits Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network on Dec. 21. Vroom.

Source: IGN