Following a leak, EA officially revealed Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered on Monday. The remaster is coming to PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch this November, bringing some visual upgrades over the original, and the addition of cross-play. If you were underwhelmed by the announcement trailer, there’s a good chance you’ve seen or played the PC version of the 2010 original recently, because this is where the upgrade feels most insignificant. YouTuber Crowned put together a side-by-side comparison in like-for-like situations using the same vehicles, same missions and on the same roads. Although the comparison initially starts with the PC remaster vs the PC original and the Xbox 360 original, it quickly boils down to PC vs PC.
As EA said in the announcement, the remaster does indeed bring higher-quality models to the game, which is most clearly seen on vehicles. Car bodies are now also able to more accurately, and sharply, reflect the environment around them. The updated lighting also helps make all of those details more visible in the remaster, but that’s really about it. The draw distances appear very similar, and everything outside the cars from road textures to bushes and trees looks almost identical to the PC original. There was even a case where the trees looked noticeably worse in the remaster, though we could chalk that up to being an in-development build. Other notable areas of improvement include more complex smoke and rain effects, as well as better anti-aliasing. It looks to be an overall upgrade, but seemingly right around the level of uplift we got with Burnout Paradise Remastered, so that’s where your expectations should be. While we all wait for Digital Foundry to dig into the nitty gritty, you can watch Crowned’s video above.
