Need for Speed Retrospective #5

I'm quite the inverse of a car buff and have zero nostalgia for the brand of Porsche. Still, the way this game's story mode is presented blew me away. Unlocking new cars and challenges while progressing through the ages makes so much sense and feels incredibly satisfying. The visual style perfectly complements the experience.

A niche entry in the series to be sure, but definitely worth trying.

Recently I got myself a PS5 and was somewhat surprised by how meagre its Classics selection of PS1 and PS2 titles was in the store. Well aware that these are emulated games that require high precision and stability to be sold on the official storefront, I was still shocked to see Sony offer titles like Tekken 2 and literally all the Syphon Filter games over anything else that would come to your mind were you to think about PS Classics (and what Sony themselves put on that PSOne mini machine). The point is, despite owning the current gen Sony console I have no legit option of experiencing the beginning of some of the famous Sony franchises, which just feels... wrong. And this got me thinking about games preservation in general.

Usually the discussion of the topic is focused on old and rare physical-only titles or relatively recent games stuck in legal limbo and therefore unavailable to buy or run comfortably on modern systems. But here's an example of another side of the issue. Go ahead and visit the official Need for Speed franchise page on the EA website. You will see that the earliest title EA seems to acknowledge (and sell) is the Most Wanted remake from 2012. Sure, the sheer memetic power of the original Most Wanted and the Underground series is so strong that the general audience still knows that there were other big street racing titles prior to 2012, but what about something earlier than that? One would have to dig into the wiki pages to even learn that there were NFS titles prior to Underground, and in fact the series' whole aesthetic and identity were quite different from what is maintained to this day. The number of ratings on the games in the series on this very website is telling in how well known each entry is.

So Porsche Unleashed is a relatively obscure title. Looking up the game on YouTube I was hoping to see many "hidden gem" videos talking about it or retrospectives, but there's not that much and what little there is comes from hardcore racing games enthusiasts. Needless to say, obtaining the game these days and running it on Windows 11 is another issue. I had to download a .rar with the already installed and pre-patched game from a Russian forum, and I still could only play in windowed mode. One would have better luck obtaining a PS1 disc and playing that, but that's the thing--it's the PC version that is truly special.

This game was a regular EA yearly franchise installment release. Came out exactly one year after the previous game EA Canada worked on, in fact, that being Need for Speed: High Stakes. And that alone makes it all the more fascinating that Porsche Unleashed is not an iterative sequel one would expect but a major side step in the series. This here is a full fledged car simulation game, one of the first racing titles that got a proper model calculating the impact of car damage on performance. And it's an historic game, not only letting you race on Porsche cars from the 50s all the way to year 2000 but also providing detailed stats and preserving each car's character with how it handles in-game. Of course this is all looking somewhat quaint from today's perspective, but back then there wasn't much, if anything, like it. And it was a yearly release.

The handling takes some getting used to. It's very easy to spin out just from nervously adjusting your trajectory on the straight. More powerful cars from the 70s and 80s can barely turn a corner, and it's worse on wet tarmac and ice. But finally getting a fast and nimble 911 '00 at the end feels most rewarding as you zoom through the familiar tracks with surprising ease. The introduction of a car damage model means that careless driving will quickly lead to worse handling and acceleration and, crucially, higher repair costs before the next race. It also means that you can cause funny little fatal accidents for your opponents that can genuinely change the race's outcome as there's not much rubberbanding going on. The tracks are also notable, since most of them are not usual circuits but point to point races set in diverse locals around Western Europe. The courses are long and intricate with several distinct stages to them and a variety of route options (which are not always shortcuts). Some of the later tracks may actually seem like a puzzle at first due to how many options you're presented with. And the simulation aspect of the game informs your tuning decisions for the races: the Alps course has a terrifying icy mid-section that could benefit from the better grip provided by rain tires, but there are also a set of hairpins at the start and a fast slalom-like dirt section at the end. Different cars with different setups will provide a different driving experience just on this one track. Granted, the same simulation shtick can occasionally make racing quite frustrating, especially as you adapt to new cars, get into crashes and spend precious money on repairs. The progression system overall isn't great. You need to buy specific cars to enter new tournaments, you also need money for upgrading the car and paying the entry fee. And you can't exactly hit restart in case you made a mistake. Thankfully you can avoid grinding previous races just by buying, repairing and selling used cars for nice profit.

The presentation is also very 2000, for better or worse. If Underground and the following titles could easily be traced back to the Fast and Furious movies, I suppose here the companion film would be Gone In 60 Seconds? Except Nicolas Cage got spiky hair and a goatee. There's that weird vibe or prestige classy racing with all the expensive cars and lush locals, but it's all set to the dorkiest trance music.

This is probably way too much text dedicated to an outdated racing title from two decades back, but it's way too fascinating of a project for me to just ignore. A major deviation in an iterative yearly series, one that is now long forgotten even by the original publisher. A part of a still ongoing massive franchise that simply ignores most of its legacy. Triple A abandonware, if you will.

This is a Need for Speed game in name only. It lacks everything that made the series so special. Although I have to say that this is by far the best looking racing game on the PlayStation.

The PlayStation version was developed by the same studio that was responsible for the V Rally series, and it shows. The handling model would be better suited for a rally game. The same goes for the track design: while they are nice to look at, most of them have a lot of tight corners and narrow roads, making it difficult to reach high speeds. Expect to use the handbrake a lot, something I've never done in a Need for Speed game before. It doesn't help that the control schemes offered don't provide the precision needed to navigate these tight tracks. On later levels I felt like I was playing an RC racing game.

After finishing the Evolution mode, I kind of wished I'd played the PC version instead. Unless you're a die-hard Porsche fan, I'd suggest sticking to other entries in the NFS series.

I think carheads would really dig this game, but I'm not one of them.

I feel like a lot of its DNA was later carried over into Hot Pursuit 2. At least mechanically and in terms of track design, it felt very similar to me. And I like HP2.

But I really hated this game's presentation. I can't stand sunsets most of the time, and in this game like 70% of all races take place at sunset. And I rarely care if the music isn't good, but here I found it so annoying. I actually ended up turning it off and driving in silence, which is something I rarely do.

Also not a huge fan of the whole "drive all Porsches through the ages" thing. The old ones are very slow and hard to control. I get that for carheads this is a great opportunity to try out cars you rarely see in video games, but for me it just felt boring and sometimes frustrating. And you have to play the old cars to unlock the new ones.

The career mode is essentially progressing through the history of Porsche, unlocking new cars as you go along. You can't play newer cars in single races either, until you unlock and buy them in the career mode. There is also a sort of secondary career mode, where you're just doing stunts, and I'm not interested in that at all.

This game just wasn't made for me. It's like every creative decision they made (other than the core gameplay mechanics) was designed specifically to annoy me.

Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed that surprises with its visually appealing graphics, pushing the console's boundaries. Featuring both single player and multiplayer modes, it offers a range of options for players. While the game's replay value may be somewhat limited, its gameplay mechanics focus on intuitive controls and reflexes rather than intricate strategy. Nevertheless, racing enthusiasts can immerse themselves in the game's 'evolution' mode, which enables car upgrades and customization, adding a layer of depth to the experience