E.A’s latest offering is another in a long line of need for speed titles. The orignal was a classic on the 3D0 but was then updated (to true 3D) to allow for replays but graphically suffered as a result. It was also the first game to offer Road racing and high octane police chases. Over the years many cars have been featured including many famous sports models. Crash damage and ‘better then average physics’ also came into the affray.
On the PS1 it lay somewhere between GT and Ridge Racer although was graphically poorer then both.
What’s gone this time is daylight, and like NFS 6, Full replays. This time, they’ve gone for the high octane thrills of ‘underground racing’ but tried to keep the topic somewhat ‘conservative’ as EA have a tendency to do, in order to please the families of kiddies wanting to feel part of the ‘underground scene’.
New features are basically the ‘neon’ graphic effects and city based road tracks.
You are now able to graphically customise any of the 20 or so cars on offer adding decals and graphics to the sides, bonnet and roof and generally make the cars look a ‘hardcore monsta’ or a complete mess, so its boy racer city; For all the family!
Drag racing and drift events are also new.
The core game mode is the career where you start as some outsider to the ‘scene’ and have to take part in around 117 events. They consist of point to point runs (back again from NFS), circuit races, and aforementioned drag and drift events.
You also get a style multiplier which is increased when you add new parts to the car. These include the decals, wheels, engine components and performance related items. It must be said that whilst theres quite a lot to buy, your restricted by the game. Even if you earn enough money for the ‘extreme’ kit, you can’t install it until the game says so. It’s a very poor implementation and defeats the object of having money. By the time you can unlock the parts, you’ll have more then enough to buy them.
You might as well win all the parts (instead of just some). You also get ‘speical’ custom parts in certain races.
A kinda neat reward is the 20 or so magazines which allow you to see your car on the front of a ‘kickass’ car tuning mag. Minus the cover fanny.
Actually the general ‘hardcore’ thing is quite a good idea. EA have already done Porche challenge, F1, and Nascar so why not push the series towards some new scene. No one else really has, and the NFS series has kinda lost its way from its ‘Car and Driver’ roots on the Amiga.
Actually the customisation is idea is quite good. If GT4 had it, it would help give the game more appeal (although Wheels and body colour alone do give a more mature look to the cars, whilst keeping them individual).
So, to the game. The handling is adequate and physics are quite good. The cars feel weighty enough (better then NFS 6) although the tracks are designed for high speed racing rather then the technical racing so curves are quite rare. Traffic is back again and makes for rather entertaining races and theres also San-Fran style hills, bridges and railway crossings (with trains!).
The Cityscape is a mix of, well, buildings, but also Aquaducts, Freeways, industrial areas, and construction sites. Shortcuts exist and often lead to mid-air hijinks. Basically, L.A., San-Fran and Tokyo all mixed up.
The racing A.I is average and ‘catch-up’ is also optional should you want more exciting ‘close pack’ racing.
It should be said that one crash will normally finish you off and this is very applicable during the later stages of the game as the cars really fly. Some deft braking is required to stop crashing in the later stages and staying ahead is made all the harder as a result. It all adds up to some rather exhilarating racing, although Burnout 2 trumps the title in graphics, speed, racing AI, slowdown and replays.
As good as the racing in the game is, its almost worthless due to the fact theres no replays. Theres 101 things that occur that a good replay would highlight and its to EA’s discredit that its not included. A Real shame. Having Jump Cams is just not enough as the crash physics are very good, although theres no damage model and the crash cams just interrupt the fast racing. They can be turned off, but that’s rather defeating the object.
Slowdown and ‘jerkiness ‘is evident at certain times and EA should know better. Its not a big problem, but you’d think EA of all people would have a thorough knowledge of the PS2 and their game engine restrictions. Of course, EA have not changed their core engine, of that I’m sure.
Slowdown was also evident in NFS 4-6 too. They’ve tried to update the graphics, but as for the core engine, little else.
That’s my problem with EA. They do things quickly to make as much money as they can and the game suffers as a result. I don’t actually care what people think of EA, but as a gamer its obvious that hardly no mods have been made to the NFS 6 engine. They’ve been the same since the Road Rash series and FIFA 3D. They don’t have the same dedication to gameplay, unlike Polyphony or Konami (even if their core game engines don’t change, much).
It’s a prime example of what happens when gaming is done to make money. Of course, other companies use renderware, but this is adapted to their needs and is Reprogramed accordingly. It’s the difference between Burnout 2, GTA VC and EVO3. They also use renderware yet all the games feel completely different.
Anyway, on to the cars. The usual suspects are here, mainly Japanese, including the Civics, Skylines, Evos and Imprezas. Ford and VW are also in, but I suppose this reflects the ‘underground’ scene as it really is. The cars look average but are complete minced by GT3. Skyline? I’d rather have the GT Prius, thanks.
The tracks are set within a city. Theres 8 main circuit tracks, with the point to points done using combinations of these tracks.
Drag racing is done on separate high speed sections of the city and is very well done. One crash totals the car so only increases the fun, especially as trafiic is also featured in the drag racing. The trick to this is optimal gear changes, and that’s it, but its still a good crack. Pressing left or right simple switches lanes although later races have you flying over bridges and so forth. All very exhilarating but dulled without a reply, to highlight your skills.
Drift mode is also better then expected although is done on very short ‘stadium’ style circuits with right angles. The trick here is not to drive to fast or slow, but to drift steep and sharp whilst maintaining speed. The fun is increased by the use of multipliers although these are reset by crashing, or reduced by driving to slow. High score bands also exist on the sides of the road so drifting on these amounts to huge scores. It’s a really good idea, and well implemented.
Music, for what its worth, its the usual EA fare of Hip-Hop and Heavy rock tracks, which give the game an american feel.
To end…..the game features some great ideas but like many of their games, EA put these great ideas atop shoody game engines and so is seemingly not much of an update from past versions.
They did the same thing with Fifa 2004. A great idea (Off the ball) ruined by a somewhat ‘artificially’ slow gam engine.
The fact theres no daytime racing matters not as much effort has gone into the neon graphics, which are admittedly well done.
The customisation is another good idea.
Basically, if you like high speed street racing, then buy the game but many gamers will prefer the antics of Burnout 2. Of course if you’ve completed that and still drive for more (sic) then theres not much else at present.
Score : 6 (loses a point for making no effort to iron out the roughness of the game engine, resulting in slowdown and jerkiness)
Steve.
On the PS1 it lay somewhere between GT and Ridge Racer although was graphically poorer then both.
What’s gone this time is daylight, and like NFS 6, Full replays. This time, they’ve gone for the high octane thrills of ‘underground racing’ but tried to keep the topic somewhat ‘conservative’ as EA have a tendency to do, in order to please the families of kiddies wanting to feel part of the ‘underground scene’.
New features are basically the ‘neon’ graphic effects and city based road tracks.
You are now able to graphically customise any of the 20 or so cars on offer adding decals and graphics to the sides, bonnet and roof and generally make the cars look a ‘hardcore monsta’ or a complete mess, so its boy racer city; For all the family!
Drag racing and drift events are also new.
The core game mode is the career where you start as some outsider to the ‘scene’ and have to take part in around 117 events. They consist of point to point runs (back again from NFS), circuit races, and aforementioned drag and drift events.
You also get a style multiplier which is increased when you add new parts to the car. These include the decals, wheels, engine components and performance related items. It must be said that whilst theres quite a lot to buy, your restricted by the game. Even if you earn enough money for the ‘extreme’ kit, you can’t install it until the game says so. It’s a very poor implementation and defeats the object of having money. By the time you can unlock the parts, you’ll have more then enough to buy them.
You might as well win all the parts (instead of just some). You also get ‘speical’ custom parts in certain races.
A kinda neat reward is the 20 or so magazines which allow you to see your car on the front of a ‘kickass’ car tuning mag. Minus the cover fanny.
Actually the general ‘hardcore’ thing is quite a good idea. EA have already done Porche challenge, F1, and Nascar so why not push the series towards some new scene. No one else really has, and the NFS series has kinda lost its way from its ‘Car and Driver’ roots on the Amiga.
Actually the customisation is idea is quite good. If GT4 had it, it would help give the game more appeal (although Wheels and body colour alone do give a more mature look to the cars, whilst keeping them individual).
So, to the game. The handling is adequate and physics are quite good. The cars feel weighty enough (better then NFS 6) although the tracks are designed for high speed racing rather then the technical racing so curves are quite rare. Traffic is back again and makes for rather entertaining races and theres also San-Fran style hills, bridges and railway crossings (with trains!).
The Cityscape is a mix of, well, buildings, but also Aquaducts, Freeways, industrial areas, and construction sites. Shortcuts exist and often lead to mid-air hijinks. Basically, L.A., San-Fran and Tokyo all mixed up.
The racing A.I is average and ‘catch-up’ is also optional should you want more exciting ‘close pack’ racing.
It should be said that one crash will normally finish you off and this is very applicable during the later stages of the game as the cars really fly. Some deft braking is required to stop crashing in the later stages and staying ahead is made all the harder as a result. It all adds up to some rather exhilarating racing, although Burnout 2 trumps the title in graphics, speed, racing AI, slowdown and replays.
As good as the racing in the game is, its almost worthless due to the fact theres no replays. Theres 101 things that occur that a good replay would highlight and its to EA’s discredit that its not included. A Real shame. Having Jump Cams is just not enough as the crash physics are very good, although theres no damage model and the crash cams just interrupt the fast racing. They can be turned off, but that’s rather defeating the object.
Slowdown and ‘jerkiness ‘is evident at certain times and EA should know better. Its not a big problem, but you’d think EA of all people would have a thorough knowledge of the PS2 and their game engine restrictions. Of course, EA have not changed their core engine, of that I’m sure.
Slowdown was also evident in NFS 4-6 too. They’ve tried to update the graphics, but as for the core engine, little else.
That’s my problem with EA. They do things quickly to make as much money as they can and the game suffers as a result. I don’t actually care what people think of EA, but as a gamer its obvious that hardly no mods have been made to the NFS 6 engine. They’ve been the same since the Road Rash series and FIFA 3D. They don’t have the same dedication to gameplay, unlike Polyphony or Konami (even if their core game engines don’t change, much).
It’s a prime example of what happens when gaming is done to make money. Of course, other companies use renderware, but this is adapted to their needs and is Reprogramed accordingly. It’s the difference between Burnout 2, GTA VC and EVO3. They also use renderware yet all the games feel completely different.
Anyway, on to the cars. The usual suspects are here, mainly Japanese, including the Civics, Skylines, Evos and Imprezas. Ford and VW are also in, but I suppose this reflects the ‘underground’ scene as it really is. The cars look average but are complete minced by GT3. Skyline? I’d rather have the GT Prius, thanks.
The tracks are set within a city. Theres 8 main circuit tracks, with the point to points done using combinations of these tracks.
Drag racing is done on separate high speed sections of the city and is very well done. One crash totals the car so only increases the fun, especially as trafiic is also featured in the drag racing. The trick to this is optimal gear changes, and that’s it, but its still a good crack. Pressing left or right simple switches lanes although later races have you flying over bridges and so forth. All very exhilarating but dulled without a reply, to highlight your skills.
Drift mode is also better then expected although is done on very short ‘stadium’ style circuits with right angles. The trick here is not to drive to fast or slow, but to drift steep and sharp whilst maintaining speed. The fun is increased by the use of multipliers although these are reset by crashing, or reduced by driving to slow. High score bands also exist on the sides of the road so drifting on these amounts to huge scores. It’s a really good idea, and well implemented.
Music, for what its worth, its the usual EA fare of Hip-Hop and Heavy rock tracks, which give the game an american feel.
To end…..the game features some great ideas but like many of their games, EA put these great ideas atop shoody game engines and so is seemingly not much of an update from past versions.
They did the same thing with Fifa 2004. A great idea (Off the ball) ruined by a somewhat ‘artificially’ slow gam engine.
The fact theres no daytime racing matters not as much effort has gone into the neon graphics, which are admittedly well done.
The customisation is another good idea.
Basically, if you like high speed street racing, then buy the game but many gamers will prefer the antics of Burnout 2. Of course if you’ve completed that and still drive for more (sic) then theres not much else at present.
Score : 6 (loses a point for making no effort to iron out the roughness of the game engine, resulting in slowdown and jerkiness)
Steve.