Need for Speed
Need for Speed (NFS) is a series of racing video games by Electronic Arts, released on platforms including the personal computer, PlayStation, PS2, PS3, GameCube, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable, and various other gaming platforms. The games consist mainly of racing with various cars on various tracks, and to some extent, include police pursuits in races. Since Need for Speed: Underground, the series would also intergrate car customization into gameplay.
Origin
The Need for Speed series was originally developed by Distinctive Software, a game studio based in Vancouver, Canada. Prior to Electronic Arts purchase of the company in 1991, it had already created popular racing games such as Stunts and Test Drive II: The Duel. After the purchase was made, the company was renamed Electronic Arts Canada. The company capitalized on its experience in the domain when it began developing the Need For Speed series in late 1992.
Electronic Arts Canada continued to develop and expand the Need For Speed franchise for many years. In 2002, another Vancouver-based gaming company, named Black Box Games, was contracted to continue the series with the title Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2. Black Box Games was acquired by Electronic Arts shortly before the game's publication and the company was renamed Electronic Arts Black Box and became a part of EA Canada. Since then EA Black Box has been NFS's primary developer.
Since the release of Need for Speed: Underground, the series' plot and gameplay have been heavily influenced by The Fast and the Furious and its sequels.[citation needed]
Need for Speed installments
The Need for Speed (1994)
The original Need for Speed was released for 3DO in 1994 with versions released for the PC (DOS) (1995), PlayStation (1996) and Sega Saturn (1996) following shortly afterwards. Most cars and tracks are available at the beginning of the game, and the objective is to unlock the remaining locked content by winning tournaments. The first version featured chases by police cars which remained a popular theme throughout the series - the so-called Hot Pursuit editions (Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 and Need for Speed: Most Wanted) have sold better in the marketplace than intervening versions. The initial version also featured an obnoxious opponent who taunted the player if the computer won the race or the player got arrested (which happened with the third ticket.)
The first installment of the NFS series was beyond doubt the series' only serious attempt to provide a realistic simulation of car handling and physics without arcade elements. Electronic Arts teamed up with automotive magazine Road & Track to match vehicle behaviour, including the mimicking of the sounds made by the vehicles' gear control levers. The game also contained precise vehicle data with spoken commentary, several "magazine style" images of each car interior and exterior and even short video-clips highlighting the vehicles set to music.
Another version of the game, called The Need for Speed: Special Edition, is based on the 1995 PC release of the game, and was released only for PC CD-ROM in 1996 It featured support for DirectX 2 and TCP/IP networking, two new tracks, and various enhancements in the game engine.
The Need for Speed and its Special Edition are the only games in the series to support DOS, as subsequent releases for the PC only run on Microsoft Windows 95 or above.
Need for Speed II (1997)
Need for Speed II featured some of the rarest and most exotic vehicles ever available, including the Ford Indigo concept vehicle, and features country-themed tracks from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. A new racing mode was also introduced in NFS II dubbed Knockout, where the last racers to finish laps will be eliminated until the only leading racer remains, and wins.
Many fans of the first edition of Need for Speed were disappointed to find NFS II was arcade-like instead of preserving the realism of NFS.[verification needed] Though the gameplay was arcade-like, the levels were intricately well designed.[verification needed] In addition, track design was more open-ended; players could now "drive" off the asphalt, and even cut across fields to take advantage of shortcuts.
The PlayStation port of NFS II is the first PlayStation game to take advantage of not only the NeGcon controller, but both the Dual Analog and the DualShock controllers as well.
The special edition of NFS II, Need for Speed II: Special Edition includes one extra track, extra cars, and support for Glide, the then-burgeoning 3D graphics standard used in 3Dfx's Voodoo and Voodoo 2 graphics cards.
Need for Speed: V-Rally (1997)
When the rights to release Eden Studios' V-Rally (a European game) to North America were acquired by Electronic Arts in late 1997, the game was renamed as Need for Speed: V-Rally in an attempt to boost sales.[citation needed] It received mixed reviews.[citation needed]
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit (1998)
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit added Hot Pursuit mode, in which the player either attempted to outrun the police or be the cop, arresting speeders.
NFS III took advantage of the multimedia capabilities of the CD-ROM by featuring audio commentary, picture slideshows and music videos. This game also is the first in the series to allow the downloading of additional cars from the official website. As a result, modding communities have sprung up to create more vehicles which would otherwise be unavailable to the game.
Need for Speed: High Stakes / Road Challenge (1999)
High Stakes (North America title) and Road Challenge (European and Brazilian title) was released in the summer of 1999. It was widely criticised for being too similar to NFS III, especially due to the fact that all of the tracks from NFS III were contained in NFS HS/RC (amongst others).[citation needed]
Nevertheless, High Stakes introduced several new types of gameplay: High Stakes, Getaway and Career. High Stakes is a racing mode in which the reward was the losing player's car. Getaway requires the player to outrun a pursuing police vehicle for a given time period. Career mode incorporates a monetary reward system that allowed a player to purchase vehicles and performance upgrades while earning cash by racing in a chronological set of tournaments
Another innovation is the introduction of damage models. Vehicles which have been involved in accidents featured visibly crushed car bodies and suffered from performance penalties. After a race in Career mode, the player is given the option to purchase repairs. The mode also allows players, for the first time, to upgrade cars, although the feature simply consists of switching between three upgrade levels for each car.
The PlayStation version of the game, released some months before the PC version, features improved gameplay. Only all-new tracks were implemented without the additional rehashes from NFS III in the PC version. Additionally, the AI in the game was more advanced; the five AIs such as Nemesis, Bully and others featured different driving characteristics (ie. Nemesis would hound the player until a slipup occurs, whilst Bully exhibits a more aggressive style, occasionally ramming into the player's vehicle).
Need for Speed: V-Rally 2 (1999)
A completely redesigned sequel to the 1997 original, which upon its U.S. release in October 1999 was renamed as Need for Speed: V-Rally 2, this time to much better reviews.[citation needed]
Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed / Porsche 2000 / Porsche (2000)
Porsche Unleashed (North America title), Porsche 2000 (European title) or simply Porsche (in Germany and Latin America) is different from the previous versions because it featured only Porsches and featured a wealth of information regarding them. The cars handled more realistically than in any other NFS game, and there is an in-depth catalogue of different Porsche parts that span throughout the years. The player had to win races in the Evolution career mode to unlock cars in chronological order from 1950 to 2000. Porsche Unleashed also featured a Factory Driver mode, where the player had to test Porsches with various stunts and move on with his career. The game is also the first NFS game that didn't have a split screen mode. However, the game did contain a well constructed LAN multiplayer feature.[citation needed] In later years, it was released for the Game Boy Advance.
In terms of game construction, it is most often hailed as Need For Speed's best collaborated effort to bring forth one singular car brand and amplify and deepen the depth of knowledge both on history and motor functions. It features historical videos and many pictures of old photos of Porsche vehicles. The Evolution concept was a hit for many people, creating many new Porsche fans due to the game's high level of academia and depth of Porsche cars. The Factory Driver was also a different kind of unlocking, except to do with performing and excelling in certain slaloms, speed races, deliveries, etc. Many of the missions were considered to be really difficult. In addition, the graphics of the game were relatively impressive for the time the game was released.[citation needed]
Motor City Online (2001)
Although officially bearing no Need for Speed prefix,[1] Motor City Online, was an MMOG variation of Need for Speed released by EA Games on October 2001, featuring mostly American coupés and muscle cars from the 1930s to the 1970s. The game allowed players to pit each other in several modes of racing through the Internet, and were allowed customization of the player's driver, garage and vehicles. Motor City Online went offline in 2003.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (2002)
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 is the debut Need for Speed title of Blackbox Software and the first Need For Speed for the "sixth-generation" of consoles. Hot Pursuit 2 draws primarily from the gameplay and style of NFS III; its emphasis was on evading the police and over-the-top tracks featuring lengthy shortcuts. Although the game allowed players to play as the police, the pursuit mode was drastically less realistic than preceding versions of NFS; players merely needed to "tap" a speeder a certain number of times to arrest them, as opposed to using actual police tactics such as the PIT maneuver or utilizing spike strips to immobilize a speeding vehicle.
For the multiplayer mode of the PC version, GameSpy's internet matchmaking system was used in place of Local Area Network (LAN) play. Hot Pursuit 2 is also the first Need for Speed to forego an original instrumental rock/techno soundtrack in favour of songs sung by licensed song artists under the EA Trax label. The game is also the first in the series to lack an in-car cockpit view that was available in preceding Need for Speed titles.
While well-received by the press, it lacked the realism and sheer depth of Porsche Unleashed. Strangely, different versions of the game were produced for each system; the best version, according to the gaming press, was the PlayStation 2 version, with the Xbox, GameCube and PC versions generally considered inferior. (EA Seattle developed the inferior versions, they were not ports of the PS2 version which was developed by Black Box Games.)
Need for Speed: Underground (2003)
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A complete reimagining of the series' formula, Need for Speed: Underground offered a career mode featuring a storyline, and a garage mode that allowed players to fully customize their cars with a large variety of brand-name performance and visual upgrades. Races take place fully at night, and police pursuits were also forgone—characteristics that were reused in the sequel Need for Speed: Underground 2. Instead of hundred-thousand dollar exotics, Underground featured vehicles associated with import tuner culture. This, plus the increasingly arcade-like controls, became points of controversy for NFS fans. Despite this, Underground was commercially very successful. This may have been due to the popularisation of the tuner culture along with hip hop culture, hence, increased sales of the game.
It is rumoured that the car manufacturers were very strict in how their vehicles were to be portrayed in this game, especially considering the "illegal street racing" reputation of the tuner culture. EA took some effort in making the races appear as sanctioned racing events, and included a public service announcement in the game's introduction. In addition, vehicles do not have damage models at all.
While the PC version of the game featured Internet multiplayer, it strangely lacked LAN multiplayer capabilities. This limitation could be overcome with the use of third party utilities.
Need for Speed: Underground 2 (2004)
Need for Speed: Underground 2, the sequel to the commercial hit Need for Speed: Underground, was released on November 15, 2004. A demo of the game was placed as a "late" easter egg in finished copies of the EA Games and Criterion Games collaboration Burnout 3: Takedown, and completed versions of NFSU2 also have a demo of Burnout 3 in the game.
In Underground 2, the story continues, but there are new racing modes such as the Underground Racing League and Street X, new and more tuning options, as well as a new method of selecting races—just driving around the city (similar to Grand Theft Auto and Midnight Club II) and selecting race "beacons". Also included is an "outrun" mode where a player can challenge random opponents on the road and the race leader will attempt to distance themselves away from the opponent to defeat the opponent (similar to Tokyo Xtreme Racer). Underground 2 also introduces several SUVs, which could be customized as extensively as other Underground 2 vehicles and used to race against other SUV racers.
The customization features in the game was significantly expanded to modifications that have no actual affect to vehicle performance. The sound systems, for example, could be put in the trunk of cars, but served no purpose other than sheer flash (not unlike the numerous carbon-fiber parts throughout the game that do not alter the performance characteristics of the vehicles). The game also features more extensive product placement for companies with no connection to auto racing, such as integrating the logo for Cingular, an American wireless communications company, into the game's messaging system and displaying it on-screen for much of the gameplay.
Need for Speed: Underground Rivals (2005, PlayStation Portable)
Based off the Underground series, Need for Speed: Underground Rivals is a PlayStation Portable (PSP) game released on February, March and September 2005 for Japan, the United States and Europe, respectively. In terms of design, the game is largely similar to the Underground series, allowing users to select and drive purchased cars from a garage, as well as customizing the vehicles (with body kits, vinyls, etc.). The game's soundtrack features both new songs and existing songs from past Need for Speed games.
In addition to Japanese cars, Rivals features several American muscle cars, including those not featured in previous Need for Speed: Underground games, such as the 1969 Dodge Charger, the 1967 Ford Mustang, and the 1997 Chevrolet Corvette C5.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005)
Need for Speed: Most Wanted was released on November 15, 2005, and is one of the first games released for the Xbox 360. Police chases make a comeback and represent a significant body of the gameplay, and includes the Grand Theft Auto-like free-roaming of Underground 2, but with less extensive vehicle customization features than in the Underground series. The story mode is presented in a significantly different style from Underground, with CGI effects mixed with live action. The mode also features a blacklist, consisting of 15 racers that the player must beat one-by-one to unlock parts, cars and tracks.
A special "Black Edition" of Most Wanted was also released, which features additional races and challenges, and two bonus cars, a specially-tuned BMW E46 (M3) GTR and a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, and also includes a Black Edition-only behind-the-scenes DVD. Both versions of Most Wanted are available for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox (and Xbox 360), and Windows-based PCs.
The PlayStation Portable port of Need for Speed: Most Wanted is Need for Speed: Most Wanted: 5-1-0.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted: 5-1-0 (2005, PlayStation Portable)
Need for Speed: Most Wanted: 5-1-0 is a PlayStation Portable port of Most Wanted, released on the same day as its console and personal computer counterparts. Similar to Most Wanted, Most Wanted: 5-1-0 features a similar Blacklist 15 listing and Career Mode, with the addition of "Tuner Takedown", a "Be The Cop" mode not featured on Most Wanted. Most Wanted: 5-1-0 lacks many elements of its other console and PC counterparts, like cut scenes, a storyline and a free roam mode, and contains minor differences (including listing the real name of a Blacklist racer rather than his/her nickname). The title of the game is based off the numerals "5-1-0", which is the police code for street racing.
Need for Speed: Carbon (2006)
Need for Speed: Carbon is the latest title for the Need for Speed series. Nighttime racing and drift races have returned, possibly in response to the film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Initial D: The Movie. Carbon sees the return of nighttime-only racing, and a selection of cars similar to that of Most Wanted, including compact cars and Japanese sports cars associated with import culture, American muscle cars and supercars. Carbon also introduces a new feature wherein the player is allowed to form a "crew", to which members may be assigned with specific tasks that aid the player in races.
The game was released on November 1, 2006 for Windows-based personal computers, followed by video game consoles and handheld game consoles. Carbon's handheld ports are known as Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City.
Need for Speed: Carbon: Own the City (2006, handheld consoles)
Need for Speed: Carbon: Own the City is a handheld console port of Carbon, released for the Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation Portable. Like Most Wanted: 5-1-0, the game is a compacted port of Carbon, released at the same day as its console and personal computer counterparts. The game contains similar gameplay structures as Carbon, but is set in a location similar to that of the console and PC ports of Most Wanted. A new feature of the handheld version is that the game has a free-world.
Need for Speed XI (TBA)
Need for Speed XI (unofficial title) is the latest upcoming title in the Need for Speed series. It is currently in an early stage of development, and is expected to be officially announced sometime in spring 2007. According to the Russian publisher of the game, Soft Club, the game will have the title Need for Speed: Pro Street and is planned for release in November 2007.[2] However, the information was removed from Soft Club's site soon after publishing. According to Czech fansite NFSGame.net, an EA employee has said: "This title for new NFS is very improbable - in my opinion - that's bullshit."[3] Any official announcement is expected to be at E3 2007, or later at the GC 2007.
The game will be a general improvement over previous titles and feature many of the items missing from NFS: Carbon. It is also said that it will feature advanced graphics suitable for next-gen consoles, especially the PlayStation 3. The game will most likely take a more realistic approach, going from the arcade-like racing style of previous titles and towards more realistic racing like the Gran Turismo series, landing somewhere in between. Autosculpt from NFS: Carbon will be back and improved.[4][5]
Controversy and criticism
If the NFS series goes towards more realistic racing like GT then I can sense a change and let me tell you, its not going to be good for EA. I think people enjoy this arcade style racing not GT style
Encouragement of reckless road behavior
Concerns about the game's possible encouragement of speeding and evading legal authority surfaced when a copy of Need for Speed was found in one of two street racing Mercedes cars in Toronto in January 26, 2006; the street racer was involved in an accident which resulted in a taxi-driver's death.[6]
Celebrity-endorsed advisories have been included in opening cut scenes of Need for Speed titles since Need for Speed: Underground, stressing that players should only race within the games, as well as advising gamers to drive responsibly in real-life. This indicates recent efforts in part of the games' developer to ensure that the players were informed on the dangers of imitating reckless driving.
Deficiencies in game engine
The Need for Speed series is developed with the intention of giving the gamer the thrill of high speed driving, emphazising the fun of an arcade game over the realism of a racing simulator. These games often compromise the realism of the car handling physics to give the user an easier game play experience which is an asset to the game's enjoyment by general users.[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Need for Speed series has been a popularly selling title for many years, its popularity in the gaming market has often overshadowed and discouraged development of other more realistic games due to the lack of interest in driving simulation games. The only relatively realistic Need For Speed series games were the first Need for Speed[verification needed] and Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed[15] as they delivered a challenging experience in regards to the car's handling behavior which were breakthroughs for the NFS series but not many users took well to this difference due to their expectations of an arcade experience.[verification needed]
The greatest disparity of the series, also emphazising its arcade style, is that in all games of the series the player´s vehicle is completely indestructible, where it's possible to crash head-on at 200 MPH with a truck and continue the race as if nothing had happened. The indestructible car from those games makes possible to devise strategies that would be impossible in real life, such as using a wall to stop lateral acceleration through a turn — rather than picking an appropriate line, which takes more skill, and slows the vehicle down, sometimes substantially. By using the wall, the user is able to halt lateral acceleration, while retaining axial acceleration, thus exiting the corner at a much higher speed than braking, turning, and accelerating.
In recent years, many games have emerged that cater to these interest groups. They include:
See also
Notes and references
- ^ The working title of Motor City Online was known as Need for Speed: Motor City. However, the product wasn't deemed up to the standards of the series; as such, the "Need for Speed" prefix was dropped during development. [citation needed]
- ^ "NFS 11: Leaked title" (in Russian). AG. 2007-02-07. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
- ^ "EA employee comments about "Pro Street"" (in Czech). NFSGame.net. Retrieved 2007-02-17.
- ^ "NFS 11: New Infos!". NFS-Planet. 2006-12-30. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
- ^ "NFS 11: New rumours". NFS-Planet. 2007-02-11. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
- ^ "Cabbie killed by racing Mercedes". Toronto Star. Retrieved September 25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "The Need for Speed II review". The Computer Show. Retrieved September 25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (PlayStation 2 version) review". GameSpot (hosted by CNET). Retrieved September 25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (PlayStation 2 version) review". GamersHell.com. Retrieved September 25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Need for Speed: Underground review". Daily Game. Retrieved September 25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Need for Speed: Underground review". UGO.com. Retrieved September 25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Need for Speed: Underground Rivals review". UGO.com. Retrieved September 25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Need for Speed: Most Wanted (PC version) review". Softpedia. Retrieved September 25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Need for Speed: Most Wanted (PC version) review". Maximum PC. Retrieved September 25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed (PC version) review". GameSpot. Retrieved September 25.
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External links
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