![]() ![]() For a start, the courses are not sections of road, but in fact tracks wearing road trousers…Still, Hot Pursuit remains an entertaining game.”Ĭall it coincidence or the result of corporate committee thinking (or, you know, responding constructively to criticism and feedback) but for whatever reason, EA decided to follow up the entirely police-free NFS II with a third game based almost entirely around being chased by the cops. What we said: “The admittedly enjoyable police chases are somewhat contrived. Reviews were mixed, with some considering it a disappointing follow-up.Ī special edition featuring additional cars and tracks, as well as adding 3dfx support, was released later the same year. On the surface, this first sequel seemingly changed very little, yet the removal of the police chase element – one of the original’s defining features – was significant, while the courses also veered away from reality towards a theme of novelty regional tracks. You can definitely see traces of NFS III: Hot Pursuit here, while the leaden handling and chunky car-flip crashes remain from the first game.” What we said: “Having treated this game with casual disregard for so many years led me to think of it – erroneously – as some kind of outlier, with the fairly obvious conclusion that it might represent a middle point of transition between the first and the third NFS titles somehow coming as a surprise. And indeed, only 3 of the 6 available courses actually are on roads with civilian traffic – the others are closed circuits.Ī special edition, featuring additional tracks and Windows 95 support, followed in 1996. On the other hand, the stodgy handling and solid invisible walls surrounding the tarmac ultimately undermined the feeling of open road freedom that it was striving for. And if a pursuit was initiated, it would come to an end as soon as the cop car got past you, which added some extra tension. The game was great to look at, with some stunning scenery, while the chases contained an element of cat-and-mouse that was never really a feature of later instalments: alerted to a police presence by the bleeps of your radar detector, you could try and slow down to avoid any trouble. (It also provided what developers thought CD-ROM owners of the time wanted: lots of unnecessary video clips of cars driving in slow motion while some widdly guitar music plays over the top.) TNFS was what fans of the Test Drive series wanted next: fast cars on real roads with some properly good 3D graphics. The Need for Speed was originally a 3DO exclusive, but like many of the better games on that system, once it died a death, ports to the PC or PlayStation soon followed. The thrill of the road race remains: there is a great sense of speed, facilitated by some very straight sections of road that really let you put your foot down.” However, despite this, NFS still entertains. What we said: “On more tricky courses the cars’ handling seems too woolly and unresponsive, and twisty sections of track are difficult to navigate without that invisible wall coming into play. Links to write-ups will be provided along the way, so you can rejoice both in some dusty old opinions and our habit of covering games from a series in a rather haphazard order. (Oh, and while we’re at it, 2010’s now-defunct online-only Need for Speed: World has also been skipped). ![]() In other words, we will briefly look at any missing entries thus far, but won’t go beyond The Run for now. The timespan is of NFS titles already covered on FFG, and only games that could be one day eligible for review, i.e. Given that the NFS brand has lent itself to a few different types of racing game over the years, with useful identifiers like numbers abandoned fairly early on in favour of more opaque naming practices like reusing the exact same titles, it seems like a worthwhile exercise. After publishing yet another Need for Speed review (2011’s The Run, the 12th NFS game we’ve covered), my friend and colleague had a suggestion: some kind of series overview might be useful. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |