Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit review (PC)

In classic Need for Speed fashion, there are more than a dozen supercars to race, including several bonus cars that open up with sustained excellent race results or cheat codes. The range of cars is a fascinating gallery of every car enthusiast's dream vehicles: Corvettes, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Jaguars, Mercedes, and an Italdesign prototype car. There are also roughly ten tracks, including the bonus track, encompassing several different environments and difficulty levels. You'll race through a canyon, snowy mountain caps, urban utopia, and forests. You can race during nighttime and in rain to add further to the track variety. Visibility takes a huge hit in either condition, making races on the harder courses incredibly treacherous. Unfortunately, I didn't experience any noticeable difference in driving under rain; the road didn't appear any slicker and handling was pretty much consistent with perfect weapon. If there was a difference, it was too subtle for me to notice.

The single-player game modes include a single race, knockoff (where you eliminate the last place of each race), tournament (where you race through the entire circuit for points), and hot pursuit. Hot pursuit is EA's answer to all the critics who lamented the loss of the cops in Need for Speed II. You aren't only trying to outrace an opponent, but also escape the pursuing cops. Three tickets, and you're out. Or alternatively, you can play the cop in pursuit. The radio chatter alerting you to the cops' presence and their strategies (pursuit or roadblock) are nice touches.

The graphics in the game are pretty amazing. The reflection on the cars is outstanding, as is the rain, and the leaves and dust that follow in your wake. The lighting is especially impressive during the night and rain races. Best of all, everything, including the up to seven competitors, animating background objects, and your rearview mirror, can be packed on screen with barely a hint of a performance hit (OK, sometimes, it will slow down slightly, but not by much). The production values on the track briefings and the car gallery are also first-rate.

There are a few problems. For one, the dashboard doesn't light up at night, and there are no windshield wipers at your disposal during rain. It's disappointing that there's no damage to your cars. I understand that none of the car companies want to see their poor little vehicles hurt in this game, but what's the excuse for not being able to dent the nonsupercars you crash into? And unlike in the latest Sega arcade racers, the cars in Need for Speed III, while maintaining an effective illusion of high-speed driving, sometimes appear too much like they are gliding on the road rather than actually driving and hugging the road. And why not just open all the regular cars (not the bonus cars) in hot pursuit, knockoff, and tournament mode? Still, it's a testament to the game's addictive fun factor that when I was racing, none of these shortcomings ever bothered me. While the arcades still have the edge in racing games, Need for Speed III goes a long way toward giving PC gamers a real taste of exhilarating arcade speed and action.