Pros: Exotic cars, cop chases, custom soundtracks, good arcade racing
Cons: could use some Japanese vehicles
The bottom line: If you have got 20 dollars and some time and money to burn, then this title is for you. an excellent arcade racer.

Graphics
Graphically this game is sub par to Xbox graphics during its time of release. I have seen racing titles like Moto GP and the original Project Gotham Racing all are 60 frames per a second and still look amazing while this title feels like it ranges from 30-50 frames per a second, so some animations feel a bit too jagged. Sometimes it just feels like the game isn’t running right.
I do understand that the environments are more interactive and massive so that is the cost of such slow framerate. So when it comes to the games graphics it barely makes the grade for average game graphics amongst the three consoles. Although I also noticed that the Playstation 2 version has sharper graphics. The Xbox is twice as powerful as a PS2 not just in the graphical department, but with all of the electronic components used to make a machine. So why do the details look far better in the PS2?

Car Selection
Imagine all of those exotic cars you wished were on Gran Turismo 3, well a good amount of them appear on the game. The notable selections are:

BMW M5
Ferrari 360 Spider
Lamborghini Murcielago
MacLaren F1 LM

Also, a lot of the cars in the game can be used as cop cars in Hot Pursuit mode.
Even though there are a good amount of exotic cars, the selection still feels incomplete because at the same time I would mind running some Toyota Supra’s and Mazda RX-7’s against the exotic cars. I remember the first Need for Speed game that ever came out on the Playstation and it was able to do so. I guess it is just a fantasy because realistically, car license use in videogames must be expensive and $50.00 for a game wouldn’t be sufficient enough to handle such high costs. Its always something to work on though.

Sound
I really like the game’s sound track, the music is too Pop and it is not my cup of tea. I do praise Electronic Arts for giving the gamer the ability to use custom soundtracks. In a racing game, custom soundtracks are important if one wants to improve their lap times because it’s a good song that can make a racer push their vehicle to the limit.

Gameplay
The way the cars handle are pretty good and easy to get the hang of within a 30 minute learning curve. Compared to the previous Need for Speed releases this game’s handling has improved a great deal. Even the default controls are intuitive and will be the type of game where instant action can happen once the disc is inserted.
Hot Pursuit is a great addition to the normal gameplay modes of a racing game. In Hot Pursuit, you either play an officer with a slight arsenal of tricks up your sleeve used to apprehend speeders. Then you can either play the one being chased by local authorities. Like the previous police chases in the Need for Speed games, the artificial intelligence has improved overall. Just think of this game being two games on one disc because both game modes rack a good amount of hours together.
All this game really needs is an online mode where the 2 modes are incorporated amongst other players. One last improvement the hot pursuit mode could use in the split screen mode is the ability for one person to be the cop and the other player to be the one getting chased. I really can’t complain too much since I purchased this title for $20.00 and I have gotten a good $50.00 value of gameplay overall.