The Need for Speed series is one of the longest-running racing video game franchises in history, with nearly 30 years’ worth of entries under its belt. In that time, Need for Speed has pioneered awesome features such as the pulse-pounding police chases that made the original Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit one of the greatest games of all time.
The tense thrill of zipping through streets and avoiding capture by the law was so potent, that it instantly became a fan-favourite feature that would return in many Need for Speed games going forward, though in different forms. Some of the more iconic versions of the police chase feature were present in Need for Speed: Most Wanted from 2005, and its sequel, Need For Speed: Carbon, which was released a year later in 2006.
Both games focused on large maps that players could freely roam through. In those free-roaming escapades, it was possible to cause enough trouble that you would gain the attention of the police, building your Heat Level and causing them to chase you through the streets until you either lost them or they cornered you.
Later iterations of Need for Speed would feature police chases to varying degrees of success. One of the more recent Need for Speed games, Payback from 2017, is an incredible game that unfortunately lacks that same thrill from Most Wanted and Carbon.
Due to a shortened development time, limited scope during production, or perhaps some combination of the two, the development team on Payback was unable to finish work on the free-roam police chases that have become a hallmark of the Need for Speed series. The feature was unfortunately never even patched in, but there is a way to reintegrate that old Need for Speed magic into the game.
And it’s all thanks to the work of Devin Millar. The YouTube music artist/animator took it upon himself to fix Payback as a side project and managed to finish the beloved game mode and provide a way to access it in the game.
He was able to bring the Pursuit System into the game through the use of a well-known modding utility called Frosty Editor. This tool, which was created by Australian student Galaxy Man, created this tool exclusively for games published by EA. This gave Millar all of the resources he needed to “fix” Need for Speed: Payback.
The project took about a month for Millar to complete, but you can’t argue with the results. Once downloaded (link) and installed, you will be able to initiate police chases by locating the flame icons on the world map. Now you can enjoy Need for Speed: Payback in its final form, as the developers originally intended!
If you aren’t yet fully sold on the Pursuit System mod, you can check out a trailer and some gameplay footage to see how easy and fun it is to outrun the police in one of the best Need for Speed games available.
Written by Mike Alexander
