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The
Need for Speed |
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Översyn: Let's face it, a racing game is nothing new. I've been spinning around the hairpin turns of video race courses since my friend Joe got his first Atari set in 1979; racing is a natural for the video game format. So what would prompt Pioneer Productions and Electronic Arts to give us yet another racing game in "Road and Track Presents The Need for Speed"? Simple: the need to meet the challenge of producing the best video racing game yet. So, how'd they do? Kontroller: 
The Need for Speed offers plenty of options for controlling
the car, the camera views and the other elements of the game. Steer with
a joystick, with the keyboard or simply by moving the mouse left or right,
it's up to you. Use the keyboard to shift gears (or let the computer shift,
if you like), to brake, to blow your horn. There's plenty you can do while
you're racing. There's so much you can do, in fact, that I found it all
a little overwhelming to keep track of and finally concentrated on just
driving. In its control options, The Need for Speed goes beyond a mere
racing game and becomes almost a driving simulation. Some people like that
kind of thing. Me, I just wanted to race. I give Electronic Arts (EA) credit
for creating a product that can appeal to both the simulation fan and the
hey-I-just-want-to-drive-dammit player.
The look of the racing is detailed and impressively
complete. You can choose from several different cars before each race—Lambourgini
Diablo, Dodge Viper, Mazda RX-7 and more—each of them accurately rendered
both inside and out. Beyond the cars, the race courses are nicely varied
and many attempts have been made to create a realistic environment through
which to drive. On the alpine course, for example you can drive from a
bare roadway to one with snow and ice lying at the shoulder, all the while
passing through dense groves of evergreen forest. At one point I even passed
an alpine meadow where I caught a glimpse of an elk or a moose. I was going
too fast to be sure which it was. As with many of the courses, the alpine
course offers drivers the option of facing on-coming traffic. While the
cars coming at you are more of the family station wagon/pick-up variety,
they too are painstakingly detailed. The result is a truly engaging driving
environment; an environment that draws your eye outside the car and above
the road. A lot like real life, really.
In addition to the splashy videos, as you race you can switch between three different camera views. You can easily recreate the experience of watching ESPN Nascar races here by choosing Heli-Cam, which shows your car from above, or Tail-Cam view—your car from behind. The most interesting, though, is the In-car view. Here you are given a steering wheel that responds to even your slightest flinch on the joystick or keyboard. Also, there's a fully detailed dash—different for each car—complete with air vents and other little details EA could easily have left out but, to their credit, didn't. There's a read-out across the top of the screen, as well, telling you your speed, your position in the race and other vital statistics. And there's plenty of rich audio: roaring engines, blasting horns, crunching metal during crashes, even voices if you want them.
Completing the realism sweep is the fact that
each car you choose not only differs in appearance, but in handling, as
well. As EA puts it: "The sophisticated physics model recreates the
feel of the cars themselves; you'll notice the difference in handling,
braking and just plain power." Yeah, I guess that's true, more or
less. I don't know what a physics model is (and don't anybody tell me;
I want to maintain a little mystery in my life) but I did notice as I drove
that different cars performed better on different tracks. I did poorly
on the alpine course in the Ferrari, for example, then switched to the
Toyota Supra Turbo and stuck to the road much more effectively. Pretty
good. So the cars stay on the road or don't, they are blazingly fast or
they aren't, according to which one you choose. To create a game that allows
for subtle differences like that is commendable. But I disagree that the
game recreates the "feel of the cars." I still felt a distance
between me and the car on the screen. I remember swiping my mom's Ford
Escort when I was sixteen, rushing off to rendezvous with friends at Hardees.
That thing lumbered down the road, it was heavy, it drove like a pickle
barrell. As opposed to my brother-in-law's Porsche that corners like a
whip. Those two cars feel different. The Need for Speed offers cars that
look different and perform differently on the courses, but there's not
much to feel here. Systemkrav: Rekommenderat: Pentium 90 Mhz CPU or faster, 256 color VESA-compatible VLB/PCI SVGA (640x480) video card with 512K video RAM, Microsoft mouse with 7.04 and above or 100% compatible Analog joystick or Thrustmaster Steering Wheel, 30 MB hard drive space free (plus additional space for saved games). |
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To their credit, Pioneer Productions and Electronic
Arts Canada do seem to have made an attempt to add to the racing formula
even if they haven't changed it. The Need for Speed includes short action
videos, still photos, performance reports, mechanical information and histories
for each of the cars included. That does do a lot to build the illusion
that you are truly operating a distinct automobile and not simple clones
in different colors.