Criterion, best known for their Burnout series, is out to reinvent the Need For Speed franchise with their latest offering for the PC, PS3 and 360 (and also the Wii, but that is being developed by a different team), Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. Here, players can take on the role of either the cop or the renegade racer and work to bust the fleeing criminal racer or elude the fuzz. Criterion seeks to create the perfect game for a “connected generation” and they aim to do that using the Need For Speed Autolog system with lots of connected features. Here gamers can play, compete with friends, gather news and info from NeedForSpeed.com and communicate with one another for the ultimate racing experience. Players will get recommendations from NFS Autolog and gamers can personalize their own gameplay experience. Say you scored an excellent time on a particular race. NFS Autolog will let you know when one of your friends has beaten your time so you can jump online and reclaim your glory.

You can experience the full Career Mode as either a cop or a racer. You can play as one for 5 minutes and then change to the other, maintaining two Careers and storylines separately. You’ll be able to play both offline and online and as you do, you’ll be building XP called Bounty which will, in turn, open up new cars and upgrades.

Goodies will be available to both racers and cops to help them defeat the opposing driver. Racers will have a cloaking device, an electronic jammer, a decoy (a phantom signal on police mini-map/radar) and overdrive to really kick it into gear. The cops will have speed spikes, roadblocks, aerial assistance from a helicopter and finally, an EMP.

Look for Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit to come screeching into stores this November.