PTE37 - Speed Addict

[Neon Ignition]

Next year will be the 20th Anniversary of the Need for Speed series and this Novembers as yet unrevealed entry will, arguably, be the twentieth entry in the series. It has spanned three generations already and covered so many sub series styles and developers that its easy for people to have a favourite entry with the hard part being theres rarely a direct sequel if you do like one.

Which is your favourite entry in the series, what do you think of its recent direction and where would you like to see the series head next?

[nakamura]

Quite a varied and mixed history for the franchise. Certainly never been a bad game and they are always at least fun but the quality is undoubtedly a mix bad.

The first game is a classic and still does play well today but it does feel rather sedate now. That said it was meant as a driving game rather than an out and out racer.

NFS 2 is toilet but still have fun playing it, the worst game in the franchise easily.

NFS 3 was good fun on PS1 with some lovely visuals and a great two player mode.

NFS High Stakes on PS1 at least was ok. It played well and had loads of cool content but a terrible frame rate hampered it badly.

NFS Porsche I must admit I never played.

NFS HP2 is another one I really like and still play today. Track design is a little generic though but it's just fun the play. PS2 version the best version too which was a shock.

NFS Underground is my absolute fav and a fantastic racer. Chunky visuals but brilliant track design and exciting racing. Amazing audio too. The styling options are terrible though.

NHS U2 is also fun to play but feel less focussed than the first and just not as well made. SUV also suck.

NFS MW was pretty fun. Never really got that far into it but it was at least fun to play.

NFS Carbon. Only played the 360 demo and still want the full game. It's average looking but I found the demo huge fun to play.

NFS Pro Street. Only had a little go and found it mildly amusing.

NFS Undercover. One of the weaker games. Poor city design and standard gameplay.

NFS Shift. Fantastic game overall but apparently handling is borked pre patch. Not sure how long it will remain great for. In car views and audio again amazing.

NFS Nitro. Some Wii game.

NFS World. No idea.

NFS HP Criterion. Ok racer. Mildly amusing but lacks any depth at all. Quite fun online.

NFS Shift 2. More of the first game.

NFS Run. Demo was good fun. Will pick the game up soon as it's cheap.

NFS MW. Demo was pretty fun but it's just Burnout/NFS again. This pony needs a new trick.

[Neon Ignition]

Breaking them down like you have seems the way to go, its an odd series in a way and hard to pull out a favourite

[Neon Ignition]

Here we go:

Need for Speed - My experience of the game came from its 3DO games, at the time it was a stunner and cruising the long routes through the US was amazing. Loved it.

Need for Speed II - Really disappointed at the time in this, just felt it missed the point of the originals appeal completely
Need for Speed III - Was okay but never really clicked, partly the same as with the recent ones, an over emphasis on police chases which for me is the series most tedious aspect

Need for Speed: High Stakes - Only dabbled with it as my interest in the series had tailed off at this point

Porsche Unleashed - Single maker racers never appeal to me (bar Beetle Adventure) so I skipped this one, played it in a store once and it looked nice

Hot Pursuit 2 - Was a while after release that I played this, quite enjoyed it though, was fun enough without frustrating

Underground - Never understood the appeal. Hated the handling, awful front end and visually thought it was low frames and messy looking

Underground 2 - More of the same really

Most Wanted - Years went by and heard alright things about this, tried it out but it never clicked

Carbon - Wasn't too keen to be honest, nothing shocking but nothing appealed about it either. Kind of where it felt the devs interest had died in the series from here

ProStreet - Only played briefly after some screens prerelease looked alright but it fell by the wayside again

Undercover - Probably the worst of the series, felt like a budget release

Shift - I really liked this, played nice and had a meaty length to the single player, waited for a sequel patiently...

Nitro - Not really a proper NFS but not too bad by Wii racer standards

World - Never played this one

Hot Pursuit Criterion - Hyped for a new racer from Criterion but it disappointed me a lot. No sense of fun for me once the mid-section was reached and whilst by series standards it's a good entry by the devs standards it's easily the weakest game they've made for my tastes.

Shift 2 Unleashed - This became my white hope after Hot Pursuit, was all ready for it but I absolutely detested it. It handled like a dog after the first game and felt like it had veered off course. Made me wonder if its limited NFS branding was EA repositioning it more because they suspected nothing good was going to come of it. Such a let down.

The Run - I pretty much agree with all criticism of the game, it's not really a racer and everything is too prescripted, it's short, the driving lacks depth, the courses are too often without features, the QTE's useless etc but somehow I kind of find it a curio (especially now it's so cheap). Some courses are lovely to drive through, I think it's because (though it's ultimately nothing like it) it reminds me distantly of the originals long drives through scenic locals. Odd entry.

Most Wanted Criterion - A difficult one, playing it currently and I have small issues with it but sometimes it's good fun. Never quite clicks though, I can see the logic of EA handing NFS to Criterion but I think the devs are losing more than NFS is gaining based on the two releases to date. Out stripped for me by its 5-6 year old spiritual predecessor.

Nineteen games though, it's hard to fathom how long the series has been going in so many guises without ever really hitting an amazing entry or finding a proper identity. At least it makes each years announcement slightly interesting to see what EA throws at the wall hoping it sticks. I suppose the quality bar is overall picking up again though so we'll see what happens.

I'd like to see the series focus more on straight up racing through gorgeous locals, police chases maybe but heavily scaled back in focus and interference.

So, looking back, I guess for me it's likely peaked with Hot Pursuit 2

[Mr Ono]

Shift is the only one I remember liking.

[J0e Musashi]

I've never really been a fan of the series as a whole, but the original Most Wanted was nothing short of awesome. It's also the only game I've ever got every achievement for on Xbox 360. I had very high hopes for Most Wanted 2012, but there's something about it that I just can't get on with. I don't even really know what it is. I wish it had the Bullet Time thing from the first game though.

I also enjoyed The Run, mainly because you could play as the pigs.

[Kit]

I went for Need for Speed Underground. Probably the chaviest game in the series but as Naka mentioned, the track design was excellent. I have a lot of fond memories of playing Underground on the cube.

Best music? NFS II.

That's what I want to hear when playing a NFS game!

Proper dodgy sounding dance music.

I agree with joe about Most Wanted (2012). Very bland with uninspired track design and the whole 'mario kart' power ups felt completely out of place in single player.

[nakamura]

I also prefered Shift 1 over Shift 2 CTN. However I do seem to like the series a little more than you! It is very much a 6-7/10 series though. A lot of fun but not brilliant games mixed with a couple of excellent entries.

I still play Underground do this day. Frame rate is too low and it's scruffy but just love it. I play it on manual with all assists off and it's just a blast shooting through the tracks. Sounds immense in 5.1 too.

[kryss]

Was the DSiWare Nitro X the same as Nitro?

Underground was the first in the franchise I played and LOVED it. Awesome soundtrack, sweet drifting challenges and fun to play. Gamecube verision of course.

Underground 2 was a little too much for the DS to handle if you ask me. Good try though.

Carbon on the Wii is the most played NFS game I have. I loved the open world nature and just driving around. Also tilting the Wii remote to accelerate was cool and much better than analogue buttons.

Prostreet was very by the numbers and just not as fun.
Wii - Steering with the Wii remote is very meh for me.
PSP - not much better
DS - cell shading made a difference to the look and it wasn't a bad play.

Nitro X was a good buy at 800 points and looked decent on the DSi XL. Shallow but enjoyable.

And I'm looking forward to buy Most Wanted on WiiU when it's a little cheaper.