Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
Hot tracks in hot pursuits
You can complain a lot about the sports games in the EA series, be it NBA, Madden or even the genre leader FIFA. However, what they usually manage to do, like GTA with its radio stations, is to publish a playlist with current and suitable tracks that, put simply, make you wanna play. For example, in Fifa 2013 I encountered Kraftklub, Fifa Football 2004 featured Kasabian and the one-hit wonder Jerk It Out by Caesars. That fits, that works.
Apart from that, this practice was also established in other sports games, namely the racing game brand Need for Speed. And while in FIFA and the like, the music only serves as background music for the menus, from Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 onwards, you no longer blasted around the track with (beautiful) original compositions and 300 km/h, but with real songs from metal, rock and electro. In later iterations, the whole thing was adapted to the setting and zeitgeist, which is why more and more dubstep and wawashwuuuppdibums found their way into the game. As a rock fan, you can see this critically or as an opportunity; after all, with enough adrenaline you can even endure childbirth - especially as a man.
Fortunately, we haven't reached that stage yet in 2002, which is why Hot Pursuit 2 features bands such as Bush, Hot Action Cop, The Humble Brothers and the composer of its predecessor, Rom Di Prisco. As personal taste is even more important with 'real' tracks, there is probably little point in going into detail here. However, in my nostalgic transfiguration, these tracks will always remind me of exciting chases through national parks, cliff-top routes and alpine heights. If you're still looking for inspiration for your next ride across the German cross-country asphalt hell with no speed limits, you might find some musical stimuli here.
