The game features several popular recording artists from its time such as Uncle Kracker, The Humble Brothers and Hot Action Cop.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 is a racing game with an emphasis on evading the police and over-the-top courses featuring lengthy shortcuts.

As a police officer, the player can call for a barricade, additional units, spike strips, and request help from a helicopter to assist in chasing the target vehicle.

One or more cars are available from the following manufacturers: Aston Martin, BMW, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ferrari, Ford, HSV, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Lotus, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Opel, Porsche, and Vauxhall Motors.

For the multiplayer mode of the Windows version, players can host a game server for LAN or internet-based playing.

Because of this cars were modeled by mapping photographs to a front, top, and side plane of the art program used.

The game features several popular recording artists from its time such as Uncle Kracker, The Humble Brothers, and Hot Action Cop.

In the Be the Cop and Hot Pursuit game modes, the instrumental versions replace the vocal ones, which avoids obscuring the police radio messages by the song lyrics.

[48][49] In 2003, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded Hot Pursuit 2 with "Console Racing Game of the Year".

He stated that Black Box "went right back to the best game in the Need for Speed series (c'mon, it was) and decided to create a sequel to it.

"[11] Maxim gave the PlayStation 2 version a perfect five out of five stars and stated that it "not only gives you the keys to more than 20 exotic cars, it also gives you the unsurpassed joy of leaving traffic cops in the dust.

"[47] Entertainment Weekly gave the game a B+ and stated, "Killer aerial shots, intense chases, and a rock-infused soundtrack make for a heart-pounding ride.

"[54] BBC Sport gave the GameCube version a score of 80% and stated that "With plenty of racing challenges it should have a decent amount of longevity but their repetitive nature might grate for some.

"[46] AllGame also gave the PlayStation 2 version a score of four stars out of five and said that it "offers an impressive amount of arcade-style fun bolstered by the number and variety of courses, challenging Hot Pursuit mode, and excellent lineup of vehicles.