Hello world, I am concerned.
Perhaps even troubled.
I am troubled by the implications of the video game experience that is Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, or rather by the world in which it takes place. It is the story of the fictional world of Seacrest County, a familiar world to be sure and an unremarkable place one might assume by first glance. Very photogenic, good racing lines and a super keen police force. However not all is as it seems here dear reader, don't be fooled by the glossy exterior and the high incidence of high speed traffic violations, something is very wrong here in Seacrest County and I intend to get to the heart of it. For you see I believe the makers of this game may have pulled a masterstroke on us the gaming public. Oh yes I believe against all probability and likelihood that Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is, not merely the racing game it purports to be. Oh no no, let's go down this rabbit hole...
To get to the heart of this mystery we must first consider the game itself. I have not previously placed a Need For Speed game, a long-standing series which has been around only since 1994 and yes that is the feeling of me feeling old again. Not sure why that is exactly, whilst I may not be the foremost racing gamer I do generally enjoy and play them on an infrequent basis. For me I feel like it is one of those game series that struggles to maintain a unique or compelling sense of identity to it. Outside of the name and the fact that its a racing game, what is Need For Speed really? This is not to say that the games aren't good or well received, rather that I find the branding and the games are missing that certain something extra that ties it all together. In my mind, it's similar to Far Cry, which for a while early on felt like a stock open-world game based in an exotic locale and not much else until they discovered the power of charismatic antagonists.
Anyway why did I start here? Why start with Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered, a remaster of a game that was in itself a remake of an earlier game from 1998? Partly because I always intended to play this game the first time around when it came out over a decade ago but alas never did. Mainly because it was made by Criterion Games, makers of the Burnout series which I sincerely love and much miss. It adopts many of the hallmarks of that series what with the high speed racing and catastrophic vehicular impacts rendered in gorgeous detail. It is also at its heart as much a vehicular combat game as it is a racing game and that is more than alright by me. The core experience is great, a flying by the seat of your pants feeling that works well and leaves you on edge until you finally cross the finish line. It's a good racing game, not great though as those irregular difficulty spikes are a little jarring and fall just on the wrong side of the divide between fun and frustration.
But is it a racing game?
Now indulge me for a moment as I lay the case out. Now I grant you it looks the part and plays the part but I put to you that something else is going on here. Something darker but also more hopeful in a way. Against all expectation, I put to you that its makers made a game about something else entirely and put cars and racing on the cover just so we wouldn't have to consider the profound moral struggle within. For you see I think this game is trying to tell us the story of the dystopian tourist trap of Seacrest, of the rebels within who defy its jack-booted oppressors, of the stalwart medical staff who repeatedly bring them all back from the brink of death and the mechanics who can restore a wrecked car to the road in a heartbeat. Thing is though, like all great works of art you have to peer within to unravel this hidden meaning. Let's boogie woogie through the looking glass in search of profound truth my friends,
First of all it's Seacrest itself, something ain't quite right here let me tell you. What looks like an appealing, serene county between the desert and the water is in fact nothing but. It's a ghost town, full of the ephemera of a living population just without the actual living populace. No wait that's not quite right there are other cars on the road that are neither cop nor racer but all they do is endlessly wander the roads and get in the way of the totally radtacular action unfolding on-screen. Don't think you ever see anyone at the wheel of those cars either. I'm thinking these mindless automatons are calling out for help and can only await their merciful end by way of a seismic road collision. At least Silent Hill comes with the fog, sirens and monsters to clearly warn you off but here there are no such warning signs. What happened to these people and how is it connected to the eternal struggle between the racers and those who hunt them down? What mass evacuation left everything looking so orderly? Was there even an evacuation at all? Was this the doing of the town's authoritarian superstate and its weirdly well-funded and resourced police force?
Let me tell you the cops in this game are something else, equipped with a fleet of top of the line high speed vehicles from actual real-world car manufacturers they take to the road in search of nothing less than war. From this we can surmise that the police force has been privatised perhaps? What the game calls the Seacrest County Police is in fact nothing but a over-reaching private army wandering the roads in search of blood? At whose beck and call however? Here the game gives us precious little to go on. The windows on all the police vehicles are blacked out, we don't actually see human beings at the wheel. This is interesting, very interesting. We hear standard police chatter on the radio when they deploy their arsenal of car killing weaponry. I'm picturing some sinister presence extinguishing the local population save for the brave few racers and their suspiciously luxurious high speed supercars.
Naturally this brings us on to the racers themselves, the heroes of the piece or are they? At the wheel of some seriously cool cars are a crew of riders who all appear to be male and dressed in black. Much akin to your standard protagonists in a Fast and Furious film. Unlike the cops we never hear these guys and as well as being in competition with the cops they also appear to be in competition with each other? All very curious, perhaps there are schisms or factions within the high speed resistance to the oppressive forces at work in this town? Like all good post-apocalyptic dramas, you got to have your tension between the protagonists but who they are and why remains unanswered. Given the presence of real world high speed luxury vehicles here I am assuming it's some kind of Bruce Wayne billionaire situation where the super rich are all who remain and that they have been hiding their supercars in this town for tax reasons.
I feel like the picture is already forming here. Aston Martin, BMW, McLaren amongst others feature prominently in this game. Perhaps they have some commercial agreement in place with the existing overlords of the area? Of course real world history tells us that private enterprise hasn't always done the right thing when doing business with tyranny or maybe they too are subject to the whims of whatever sinister force is running this place? Nonetheless its good to know that product placement is still alive and strong after the presumed downfall of the human race. I assume someone is out there still making and buying these cars so a note of hope there amidst the darkness.
Consider the weaponry used in this game. It's an assortment of the usual measures one might take to stop a high speed vehicle like road spikes and road blocks. You can also easily imagine a police chopper being called in for the most intransigent of racers. EMP blasts though? Were the tactical armaments not available? Coupled with the sheer aggression of the drivers on both sides we can clearly see that human life has no value in Seacrest. You never but never see any medical staff on the scene, no calls out for first aid or medical evacuation. Then again these vehicles, once totalled, don't remain off the road for long. Through some nefarious means they are back on the road within seconds. Doomed to forever race and chase for all time. This is perhaps the most chilling sub-text of Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, the thought that gives me pause in the night...
What if Seacrest County is not real? I mean of course its not real its a fictional place designed for a videogame. But what if its not real not real in 'The Matrix' sense of the term? Would this not explain the mysterious and unseen antagonists that rule over this desolate land? Would that not explain the ruthless efficiency and profligacy of its unseen police force? Would this not explain the identikit rebels and their well-resourced collection of top of the line race cars? Mindlessly they race, they don't know why or how they came to be there, they just race. It's all elaborate theatre to occupy the mind, opiate for their asses. They've been doing it so long they don't remember how it all started with the presumed subjugation of the human race and the hands of who knows what? A nightmare on a loop at the wheel of a car, running from something you don't know and going nowhere at high speed. A timeless metaphor for our time.
On that haunting note, join me next time for more high quality analysis as I consider the geo-political and economic ramifications of Super Mario and his endless supply of gold coins. Is the Mushroom Kingdom a rogue state?
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