Highway Pursuit

About the game

Highway Pursuit is a free top-down police chase game that you can play instantly in your browser. You are behind the wheel of a patrol car on a four-lane highway, and somewhere ahead of you a black getaway car with a bag of stolen cash is trying to disappear into traffic.

Catching the suspect is not about raw speed alone. The highway is full of ordinary drivers: fast cars in the left lanes, slow trucks on the right. Crash into one and your patrol car loses a life and most of its speed, giving the suspect precious seconds to pull away. The getaway driver is also clever — they change lanes to slip past traffic, panic and accelerate when you get close, and throw traffic cones and oil slicks out of the window to shake you off.

Each arrest makes the next pursuit harder: the new suspect drives faster, traffic gets denser and the obstacles come more often. How many arrests can you make before your patrol car is out of action?

How to play

1. Steer with the left and right arrow keys or A/D. On a phone or tablet, touch the road and drag: the car follows your finger.
2. Your car accelerates automatically. Hold ↓ or S to brake if you need to drop back behind a slow truck.
3. Follow the arrow. When the suspect is too far ahead to see, a yellow arrow at the top of the screen shows which lane they are in, and the distance is displayed next to the arrest meter.
4. Fill the arrest meter. Staying within about 17 metres of the suspect slowly fills the meter. Bumping into the back of their car fills a quarter of it at once.
5. Don't let them escape. If the distance grows beyond 130 metres, the suspect gets away and you lose a life. The distance turns red when you are in danger.
6. Collect pickups: gold coins for points, blue N canisters for a three-second nitro boost, and green repair kits to restore a lost life.

Hazards

• Traffic: crashing costs one life and slows you right down. You are briefly invulnerable afterwards (your car blinks).
• Traffic cones: thrown by the suspect. Hitting one cuts your speed.
• Oil slicks: appear from the second pursuit onward. Driving over one sends your car into a short spin during which you cannot steer.

Scoring

• Distance: points for every metre you drive — the faster you go, the faster they add up.
• Coins: 25 points each.
• Bump: 50 points each time you ram the getaway car.
• Arrest: 500 points plus 250 for every arrest you have made, so later arrests are worth much more.

Tips and strategy

• Use the fast lanes. Traffic on the left moves faster, so it approaches you more slowly and is easier to avoid. The right lane is full of slow trucks.
• Save nitro for the chase. Nitro is most valuable when the suspect is pulling away and the distance is turning red.
• Don't sit directly behind the suspect. Cones and oil land right behind the getaway car. Following one lane over lets you stay close while dodging what they throw.
• Read the gaps. The suspect changes lanes to get around traffic. When every lane ahead of them is blocked, they have to slow down — that is your moment to close in and bump.
• A crash is worse than a slow second. Braking briefly behind a truck costs much less time than hitting it.

For a deeper look at each mechanic, read our Highway Pursuit driving guide.

Frequently asked questions