The main concept of the game is the same as its predecessors; take some of the coolest supercars from around the world out on a bunch of fantasy tracks, drive really fast and smash them up a bit in the meantime: - Not a particularly original idea then. To solve this, Black Box have included a sort of championship mode, which provides you with 30 increasingly difficult scenarios and challenges to contend with. These can range from 7 race series' to 3 minute lap times you have to beat, and by completing these you unlock more cars and tracks to use in the Challenge mode.

   

'Hot Pursuit' takes the same form as the championship mode, with 30 different tasks for you to make your way through - these range from getaways to pursuits and increase in difficulty as you progress. The option of being the cop is probably the best part of this feature - running criminals off the road has never been so much fun, and the inclusion of road blocks and air support works well to add to the experience. As you acquire faster police vehicles the chases become more fun, but working through the early challenges can become pretty tedious and the learning curve gets frustratingly steep later in the game.

The series has always promised, and delivered a host of supercars for you to play with, and Hot Pursuit 2 is no different. The Porsche Carrera GT, Ferrari F50 and Lamborghini Murcielago all make an appearance and they don't look half bad. Every one of the cars is well modelled, but if you're expecting a level of detail to rival GT3 you'll be greatly disappointed - HP2's cars look good, but they're nothing special.

Interesting tracks are another quality that Need For Speed games always seem to possess, and when compared with Sega GT's flat, boring car park-style circuits the tracks in this game feel like a breath of fresh mountain/woodland/city air. Many of them have over 3 minute laps, but the twists, turns, hills and valleys they go through just dare you to take your eyes off the screen. Add to that a multitude of short-cuts (and in some cases long-cuts) and you'll realise that there are literally hundreds of ways around the circuits, making sure you find the right one is vital to your success in the later stages.

   

Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 is a good, solid blast of racing action, there are plenty of gorgeous cars to drive and even more gorgeous tracks to drive 'em round. There are very few bad things I can say other than the fact that there's an occasional bit of dodgy collision detection and a few faults in the handling. If you want depth and tactics in your games then you should probably look elsewhere, because Need For Speed does exactly what it says on the box, it offers you fast cars and fast racing, no more, no less.