Coming directly off of Ridge Racer, the pace, visual style, and overall vibe of The Need for Speed couldn't be more drastically different. The Need for Speed is a game for sports car and street racing enthusiasts back in the mid-1990s. Each car has it's own little slide show that explains it's origin, purpose, and other sweaty car-nerd details. All being narrated by someone who sounds like their doing an OK Keanu Reeves impression. The tracks are pretty neat looking but can also be kind of awkward with later tracks being split into multiple sections that require a loading screen between them. The racing itself is honestly kind of boring compared to Ridge Racer. I admit this could be a mixture of me just being terrible at this racing style and preferring arcade racers over realistic racing, but I never felt like I was thrilled when going 150 MPH or more. This one was not for me but I am interested in seeing how the series progresses given later entries are some of the more cherished parts of my childhood.
Começo decente, definitivamente não recomendo jogar ao menos que você queira se por essa missão de jogar todos os NFS.
I'm really not a racing game fan and this definitely reminded that i'm am not good at these games whatsoever. This game was just the definition of meh, with a lot of cars feeling pretty similar and driving just being mediocre. The best part easily being the charm all the maps in the game was able to pull off
It was interesting to see where my beloved racing series started. However, it hasn't aged well. It's a very basic and often frustrating racing game. I'm almost willing to bet that it started out as an interactive car demo for Road & Track magazine and then somehow became a game.
Still, I'm glad that it exists, and some of the series' DNA can be felt here, even in small amounts.
Still, I'm glad that it exists, and some of the series' DNA can be felt here, even in small amounts.
eh
interesting little racing game. Things feel a bit slower and more grounded in reality than I honestly expected for the first NFS game. i thought that whatever they used to make the 3D landscape in the background 2D and render it in real time was a pretty neat graphical trick, and the textures are also pretty high quality for 3DO. Definitely makes this one of the better looking and running games for the system. The X-man or whatever the hell hes called adds to the cheesy 3DO game charm.
Played the PS1 version cause I couldn't set DOSBox up on my Ubuntu Studio.
Much as I love some of the later games in the series, I did not like this first entry at all.
You only get a handful of tracks and a handful of cars. And despite the tracks being scenic, the colors are kinda drab. You can choose the time of day, but morning and evening basically look the same, and they just switch the skybox to a sunrise/sunset. You'd think there'd be some lights in the buildings at evening or some street lights alongside the road, but no. There's very little music, and it's some generic rock music, which I did not care for. The overall presentation is just boring.
But the worst thing is the actual gameplay and controls. Even if you select an automatic transmission, you still have to shift to the first gear to start moving for some reason. Every race starts you with the cockpit view, and there's no way to change that. There are few control schemes and there's no way to put the handbrake on the shoulder buttons. Not that you'd wanna use it anyway because it's way too sensitive. I spun my car around every single time I tried to use it. Even without the handbrake, it's way too easy to swerve. And once you lose control of your car, it's basically over. There's no restore button or even a way to back up. You have to manually turn your car around to get back to the race. And by the time you do that, you'll be so behind, you'll never catch up.
The only positive thing I can say about the game is that on the technical level it looks great, and there's no visible pop-in. Also the sense of speed is well-conveyed.
That being said, really see no reason to play it today, other than out of curiosity. Even if you just like the presentation, the game has so little content, feels almost like a demo.
Much as I love some of the later games in the series, I did not like this first entry at all.
You only get a handful of tracks and a handful of cars. And despite the tracks being scenic, the colors are kinda drab. You can choose the time of day, but morning and evening basically look the same, and they just switch the skybox to a sunrise/sunset. You'd think there'd be some lights in the buildings at evening or some street lights alongside the road, but no. There's very little music, and it's some generic rock music, which I did not care for. The overall presentation is just boring.
But the worst thing is the actual gameplay and controls. Even if you select an automatic transmission, you still have to shift to the first gear to start moving for some reason. Every race starts you with the cockpit view, and there's no way to change that. There are few control schemes and there's no way to put the handbrake on the shoulder buttons. Not that you'd wanna use it anyway because it's way too sensitive. I spun my car around every single time I tried to use it. Even without the handbrake, it's way too easy to swerve. And once you lose control of your car, it's basically over. There's no restore button or even a way to back up. You have to manually turn your car around to get back to the race. And by the time you do that, you'll be so behind, you'll never catch up.
The only positive thing I can say about the game is that on the technical level it looks great, and there's no visible pop-in. Also the sense of speed is well-conveyed.
That being said, really see no reason to play it today, other than out of curiosity. Even if you just like the presentation, the game has so little content, feels almost like a demo.
There's some charm here, but I just can't get past the driving. It feels incredibly stiff and I was mostly left feeling frustrated instead of having fun.
If you had told me that out of all the major racing series this was the one that first had cockpit view I would not have believed you
EDIT: Marked twice for the SE edition, which I really should have just played from the start
EDIT: Marked twice for the SE edition, which I really should have just played from the start
Ta wapo
What's with the guy? Who is he?
Need for Speed Retrospective #1
What an amazingly strange start to the series.
You can immediately see what they were going for. A game for driving enthusiasts faithfully showcasing different exotic cars.
You can also immediately see where they didn't succeed. The driving itself fells like an afterthought, mostly tedious and fickle. The showcasing part lands far behind the developers' high ambition. While boasting a fully narrated 20-piece powerpoint presentation for each car may have impressed some critics at the time of launch, it is very unlikely to do so today.
What an amazingly strange start to the series.
You can immediately see what they were going for. A game for driving enthusiasts faithfully showcasing different exotic cars.
You can also immediately see where they didn't succeed. The driving itself fells like an afterthought, mostly tedious and fickle. The showcasing part lands far behind the developers' high ambition. While boasting a fully narrated 20-piece powerpoint presentation for each car may have impressed some critics at the time of launch, it is very unlikely to do so today.
Lendário! O primeiro, com parceria com a Road & Track, marcou demais como sendo um dos primeiros jogos de corrida que já joguei.
Played both the 3DO and PlayStation 1 versions of the game an equal amount (roughly an hour and a half's worth each, making 3 hours total!).
I’ve considered Need For Speed to be one of the racing greats, so I figured I would check in on some of the earlier entries I had never played, beginning with the first entry.
It is definitely a first-game syndrome title. The presentation is cheesy enough (I love my corny dated FMVs!) but ultimately has little content to bring it out of being nothing more than a demo.
The most the game provides you with is a couple of cars of which have practically no customization at all (though there is a section that contains precise vehicle data for each car with spoken commentary and short video clips highlighting the vehicles set to music which is likely where the Road & Track collaboration came in – the only time they were ever involved in the NFS series) and six courses in the game (though the 3DO version, having been released two years prior to the PS1 version, only has three).
The moment you get into the game, the visuals are the first thing to note. There have been much better looking racers on the PS1, but it winds up being a relatively pretty game – for the 3DO. Despite this, the scenic tracks wind up looking rather devoid of life save for the occasional traffic on the road. Other titles accommodated this by introducing vertex coloring for the tracks to infuse that bit more oomph, and I’m surprised that this was not considered for the PS1 version at the minimum.
You can choose the time of day but I’ve found this to not really be anything noticeable, they for the most part switch out the skybox here. The music (composed by Jeff Dyck, Saki Kaskas and Alistair Hirst according to the credits) is nothing worth honing on about either, as it winds up fitting the standard generic rock tracks that often plagued racers around this period.
The worst thing about this game, unfortunately, is the controls and the track design. Even if you select the automatic transmission for your car in the main menu prior to racing, you still have to shift to the first gear by hitting the R1 button to even start moving. Every race starts you with the cockpit view, which can be changed with the press of the triangle button, but I’d recommend sticking to the cockpit view anyways since these controls clearly cater to this view.
The steering is shockingly stiff for a game like this, especially since the PS1 version includes brand new closed-circuit tracks which require a fair bit of turning. The point-to-point tracks are a less painful way to play, though turns are still expected so it remains uncomfortable to get used to the controls.
The point-to-point tracks also feature traffic! It sucks! The moment your car collides with traffic (and it will happen given the unwieldy controls), you will lose control of your car and watch it fling itself against walls and other cars. In a race against several CPU players, this is a death sentence towards ever achieving a top position in the race which winds up making the game feel more frustrating to play rather than a fun experience.
Point-to-point tracks also feature cop pursuits, which is either a situation that ends prematurely because you’re driving so fast that the cop quite literally despawns, or it ends prematurely because you’ve crashed into so much stuff that the cop has instantly caught up with you. When a cop catches up to you, they will pull you over and issue a speeding ticket. Three strikes and your game’s over (though I’ve heard the Saturn version is even more strict with two strikes!), which is not uncommon knowing this game.
In conclusion, this is a game that I would only ever peek into as a curiosity over how the NFS series started. As an individual title, it ages in comparison to its contemporaries and it ages in comparison to future titles, both within its series and outside, that did the things this game set out to do in a much better format.
I’ve considered Need For Speed to be one of the racing greats, so I figured I would check in on some of the earlier entries I had never played, beginning with the first entry.
It is definitely a first-game syndrome title. The presentation is cheesy enough (I love my corny dated FMVs!) but ultimately has little content to bring it out of being nothing more than a demo.
The most the game provides you with is a couple of cars of which have practically no customization at all (though there is a section that contains precise vehicle data for each car with spoken commentary and short video clips highlighting the vehicles set to music which is likely where the Road & Track collaboration came in – the only time they were ever involved in the NFS series) and six courses in the game (though the 3DO version, having been released two years prior to the PS1 version, only has three).
The moment you get into the game, the visuals are the first thing to note. There have been much better looking racers on the PS1, but it winds up being a relatively pretty game – for the 3DO. Despite this, the scenic tracks wind up looking rather devoid of life save for the occasional traffic on the road. Other titles accommodated this by introducing vertex coloring for the tracks to infuse that bit more oomph, and I’m surprised that this was not considered for the PS1 version at the minimum.
You can choose the time of day but I’ve found this to not really be anything noticeable, they for the most part switch out the skybox here. The music (composed by Jeff Dyck, Saki Kaskas and Alistair Hirst according to the credits) is nothing worth honing on about either, as it winds up fitting the standard generic rock tracks that often plagued racers around this period.
The worst thing about this game, unfortunately, is the controls and the track design. Even if you select the automatic transmission for your car in the main menu prior to racing, you still have to shift to the first gear by hitting the R1 button to even start moving. Every race starts you with the cockpit view, which can be changed with the press of the triangle button, but I’d recommend sticking to the cockpit view anyways since these controls clearly cater to this view.
The steering is shockingly stiff for a game like this, especially since the PS1 version includes brand new closed-circuit tracks which require a fair bit of turning. The point-to-point tracks are a less painful way to play, though turns are still expected so it remains uncomfortable to get used to the controls.
The point-to-point tracks also feature traffic! It sucks! The moment your car collides with traffic (and it will happen given the unwieldy controls), you will lose control of your car and watch it fling itself against walls and other cars. In a race against several CPU players, this is a death sentence towards ever achieving a top position in the race which winds up making the game feel more frustrating to play rather than a fun experience.
Point-to-point tracks also feature cop pursuits, which is either a situation that ends prematurely because you’re driving so fast that the cop quite literally despawns, or it ends prematurely because you’ve crashed into so much stuff that the cop has instantly caught up with you. When a cop catches up to you, they will pull you over and issue a speeding ticket. Three strikes and your game’s over (though I’ve heard the Saturn version is even more strict with two strikes!), which is not uncommon knowing this game.
In conclusion, this is a game that I would only ever peek into as a curiosity over how the NFS series started. As an individual title, it ages in comparison to its contemporaries and it ages in comparison to future titles, both within its series and outside, that did the things this game set out to do in a much better format.
for a game called need for speed you're really fucking slow.
Cool bug facts: I stared at a wall for 30 minutes trying to decide if I should call it 'Need for Mid' or 'Mid for Speed', for this particular review.
O jogo que deu início a tudo!
Câmera cockpit com painel do carro mostrando velocímetro em 1994 no PS1? SIM MEUS AMIGOS!
É um Arcade dos bons e do tipo, escolha seu carro, escolha a pista e vai ser feliz! As pistas, no total de 6, e até mesmo as que possuem traçado sinuoso, onde a gameplay da época não fluía tão bem, são ótimas e possuem belíssimos visuais.
Os carros, total de 8, são sensacionais e cada um tem o seu estilo de gameplay, inclusive com física de direção para os cada. Dirigir o Toyota Supra é totalmente diferente do Honda NSX, por exemplo.
Para a época, esse é um jogo SENSACIONAL que, apesar de ser simples e relativamente com pouco conteúdo, tem um valor enorme para a indústria e, principalmente, para si próprio, pois foi nele que começou a franquia.
Câmera cockpit com painel do carro mostrando velocímetro em 1994 no PS1? SIM MEUS AMIGOS!
É um Arcade dos bons e do tipo, escolha seu carro, escolha a pista e vai ser feliz! As pistas, no total de 6, e até mesmo as que possuem traçado sinuoso, onde a gameplay da época não fluía tão bem, são ótimas e possuem belíssimos visuais.
Os carros, total de 8, são sensacionais e cada um tem o seu estilo de gameplay, inclusive com física de direção para os cada. Dirigir o Toyota Supra é totalmente diferente do Honda NSX, por exemplo.
Para a época, esse é um jogo SENSACIONAL que, apesar de ser simples e relativamente com pouco conteúdo, tem um valor enorme para a indústria e, principalmente, para si próprio, pois foi nele que começou a franquia.