Game Description

Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit allows you to run from the law or play as the law. Thirteen sports cars are included to choose from. If those are not enough you will be able to download new cars from the Electronic Arts website as they become available.

Race through eight different tracks, as well as a bonus track, while avoiding the police. To help you avoid the police you have a radio that allows you to eavesdrop. When playing the part of the police your car options are limited to a 98 Corvette or Lamborghini Diablo. As the police officer you can drop spike belts and smash into other cars while attempting to pull over speeders.

Modes of play include: sinlge race, hot pursuit, tournament, knockout, and multiplayer. Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit takes advantage of the internet in order to create an eight player experience. Players can divide into two groups of four with one group playing as the police and the other as the law breakers. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

As the title implies, hot pursuit mode is definitely the best part of the game. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Production Credits

Lead Programmer: Sam Deasy

Programmers: Dan Berke, Jeffrey S. Blazier, Greg D'Esposito, Doug Deardorff

Software Engineers: Matthew A. Campbell, Jim Hall, Geoffrey Heller, Gordon Ludlow, Chuck Walters

Software Trooper: Wes Potter

Physics: Ted Zuvich

Lead Car Artist: Steve Suhy

Track Lead: Stefan Schwartz

Graphical Interface Lead: David K. McCormack

Track Artists: James Becker, Kevin Gee, Ken Thurston, Young Yoon

Car Builder: Ryan Blinsky

3D and 2D Artist: Rob Johnson

Artists: Deane Marston, Layne Gifford

Track Modeling and Art: Scott Jackson, Pete King, Robert Sculnick, Simon Craghead, Andy Lang, Casey O'Brien

Car Modeling: Giovanni Sasso, David Carman

Graphic Interface: Eduardo Agostini, Angie Pytlewski, Kim S. Gill

Additional Art: Cindy Green

Lead Audio: Robert Ridihalgh

Audio: Alistair Hirst

Music: Matt Ragan

Sound Effects: Andy Teal, Crispin Hands

Speech Editing: Jennifer Lewis, Jason Ross, Phil Giborski

Tools and Library Support: Dave Mercier, Shaun Don, Tony Lam

Voice Scripts: Tony Whitney, Kim McRea

Voice Actors: Al Murdoch, David Kaye, Serena Whitters, Darren Schueller

Photography: Diego Cassetta, Benedict Redgrove, Joel Lueders

Video Editing: William Morrison

Development Director: Joel Lueders

Senior Development Director: Mike Mathisen

Executive Producer: Sam Nelson

Senior Producer: Hanno Lemke

Producer: Mark Madland

Senior Associate Producer: Jim Edmunds

Associate Producer: Mark Coates

Assistant Producer: Brian Taney

Production Assistant: Gaar Lindstrom

Licensing Coordinator: Serena Whitters

EA Seattle Tech: Alan Van Slyke, Ron Bolinger, Joe Vogt

QA Manager: Sean O'Connor

QA Coordinator: Caesar Filori

QA Assistant Leads: John Largis, Blair Peters

QA Technical Lead: Justin Phipps

QA Testers: Anthony Case, Bernie Kitching, BJ Rashidi, Brian Lenz, Caleb Fischer, Lars Grevstad, Chris Mason, Ed Miller, Erik Hustad, Hira Bluestone, Jason Tran, Jason Wright, Jesse Larsen, Josh Reynolds, Mike Cody, Michael Condrey, Randy Cully, Randy Parcel, Wyeth Johnston

MASTERING

EA Seattle: Wyeth Johnston, Joe Vogt, Justin Phipps

EA Canada: Peter Petkov, Cary Chao, Jeff Hutchinson

EA San Mateo: Steve Ou, John Guevara

PRODUCT MANAGERS

North America: Peter Royea

Europe: Audrey Meehan

Australia: Louise Hodgkinson

Internet Marketing Manager: Scott Zimbler

Public Relations: Jeane Wong

Documentation: Bill Scheppler

Documentation Layout: Golden VizComm

Package Design: Mez Design

Quality Assurance: Bobby Joe, Benjamin Crick, Jamil Dawsari, Jay Miller, Todd Manning, Gabriel Gilscarbo

Localization Producers: Serena Whitters, Ragnar Lindstrom

Language Testing Supervisor: Simon Davison

European Quality Assurance Supervisors: Giuseppe D'Amaro, Richard Gallagher

LOCALIZATION FRANCE

French Localization Manager: Christine Jean

Localization in French: Olivier Desanti

French Dubbing Studio: Lotus Rose

French Voice Actors: Philippe Bourgogne, Veronique Desmadryl, Bernard Bollet, Thierry Mercier, Laurence Breheret

French Test Supervisor: Lionel Berrodier

French Language Testers: Ai-Lich Nguyen, Sylvain Caburrosso

French QA Tester: Franck Koli

LOCALIZATION GERMANY

Language Test: Manuel Bertrams, Markus Westerholz

German Localization: Bianca Normann

Translation: Dagmar Geller

Quality Assurance: Lars Berenbrinker, Frank Buchheim

Product Management: Benedikt Schuler, Hans-Jorg Brand

LOCALIZATION ITALY

Italian Version: C.T.O S.p.A. (Bologna)

LOCALIZATION SPAIN

Tester: Alvaro Corral

Translations: Julio Valladares

Voice-Overs: Jake Mate

LOCALIZATION SWEDEN

Translation Coordinator: Inger Marshall

Quality Control: Ulf Thor

Special Thanks: Deputy Sheriff Eric Collier, Neill Bruce, Iain Hancock, Ray Gram, North Bend Chevrolet, Troy Church, Adam Hunter, Pacific Color Inc., Bud Hoelscher, Barrier Motors Inc., Shannon Manley, Tracy McBride, Don Briggs, Dolores DeMarco, Jennifer Francisco, Jackie Tietze, Lee Mohr, Dwayne Wudrich, Bruce MacKinnon, Wayne Paugh, Kellen Wiggum ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit is a typical racing game with the addition of a police chase mode and internet play. Although to take full advantage of every aspect of the game you will need a rather powerful computer. Installation options include four different choices. Three of them contain different levels of graphics and options. The other is the installation of only the internet play.

Controls can be set up in many ways. You can even race with the arrow keys, though I don't recommend it. Outside of standard controls you can also beep your horn, turn on/off your headlights/high beams, use sirens, and drop spike strips. Different camera angles, weather conditions, and instant replay after each race can be selected as well.

Overall gameplay is smooth and really good. Cars handle well but can have adjustments made to them if you want. Crashing into things won't damage your car but it is possible to roll the car over. A problem I have with the cars is that you do not get to select from all of them at the beginning of the game. Some of them have to be released by winning races on certain difficulty settings. All of the races are very basic, be the first to complete the set number of laps.

Hot pursuit mode is the same only you have to deal with the police during the race. It is challenging as the cop and as the person running from the law. One bad move while racing and the cops will be all over you. If you run into another vehicle your speed will decrease rapidly and give the police an easy target. The main advantage while playing os the officer is that civilians get out of your way.

Tracks consist of regular roads filled with civilian vehicles and buildings. The tracks look great and have plenty of twists and turns but they are not varied enough. There are eight tracks but each one is very similar to another so it actually feels like there are only four. If your computer has 3D capabilities the lighting will look exceptional and the atmosphere will appear much more realistic. One complaint I have about the tracks is that they are enclosed. Almost every road is surrounded by rocks, trees, or buildings. No open areas for you to run far off the road exist.

Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit is a great game because of the ability to play as the police and take part in multiplayer games. Take away those two modes and you have a basic racing game with great graphics. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

Everything looks great, especially the covered bridges. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

Listening to the police radio is a lot of fun. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

With the ability to play over the internet and download new cars this game will not lose its appeal quickly. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

Contains good descriptions. ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide