Most guys love cars. We love cars so much that we dream about them; we even have a name for the more seriously car-crazy among us -- "Petrolheads." This is a true-bred car-lover, someone who would kill to own a Ford Mustang, or take torture to sit behind a Koenigsegg CCX.
Now when talking about cars, no one can ignore Need for Speed -- the long-running series that has captured almost every form of racing. Although this isn't a game for the purist, it has a cult following the world over. NFS is a legend. Here's a brief about every game in the series and how the series itself has changed over the years -- nothing like catching up with old times about a game that has done EA proud for more than a decade now!
The Need For Speed
The original Need for Speed was released for PC-DOS in 1995, and later for PlayStation and SEGA Saturn. It featured many cars and tracks, and the player could unlock many more by winning races. NFS veterans will remember that NFS boasted of police car chases, a feature that makes some NFS games popular even today.
The original NFS wasn't as arcadish as today's version; it was pretty challenging and accurate for its time. The player could examine his car via audio commentary as well as by looking at photographs and videos of the real-life versions of the car. You had high-profile cars like the Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Porsches. There were many tracks, ranging ranged from open-city tracks to closed ones. The player was often chased by the police and given a ticket if caught; he was arrested if he got three tickets. The first NFS was hugely successful and was followed by an equally amazing sequel.
Need for Speed II
If NFS was a big hit, NFS II took the series to a new level. The game's menu screen featured a Ferrari, and everything about the game was top-notch. The game looked amazing for its time. The player would race on various tracks around the world; Australia and Nepal were among the places featured.
The game featured many cars and tracks -- just like the original -- and also a great collection of videos that highlighted the cars. My favorite was the McLaren video. There was a special edition released later, called NFS II SE; it featured a few new vehicles as well as a bonus track. A new game mode called knockout was introduced in this one, in which the last racer would be eliminated -- this device is used in many games today.
There were many cheats available for NFS II that added to the fun. Cheats would unlock the ability to drive a bus or a dinosaur. You could add a new race track called the Monolith Hollywood Studio; there were two new cars that could be unlocked; and there was the ability called "Slot Car." The Slot Car cheat would automatically activate car turning, making it super-easy to play. My favorite cheat was Road Rage, which would throw all the opponents' cars when I pressed the horn button.
NFS II was criticized for not being like the original NFS; the driving mechanism was changed and made easy. NFS II was also very heavy on PC systems.
Well, if you ask me my fav version of the NFS was the Most Wanted. It could run on just a 512 MB ram without even a graphics card and the songs added an extra zing to the racing feeling. In my opinion it is far too better than the Carbon or even the Pro Street. Most Wanted was the only game where NFS went all guns blazing. 3 cheers for NFS MW !!!
by Triveni
from Bhubaneswar
on 23/04/08 08:48 AM
I've NFSMW, NFS Carbon and NFS Prostreet but among the three MW is the coolest, fastest and more adrenaline pumping. Carbon and Prostreet are more hardware demanding and also run slow
by Vikram Dube
from Nasik
on 16/04/08 09:52 PM
Most Wanted rock even though there are many series from NFS will coooooool cop chasing...Still most wanted rockzzzzzzz
by Arun
from Madurai
on 04/04/08 08:26 PM
I am one of those few who loved the Porche Unleashed version of NFS. More so than any other installment... (I remember the inter college GOD Gaming tournament and they suddenly announced that the finals will be decided on the basis of the combined scores of NFS Porche Unleashed and Unreal Tournament. I won the tourney just because i was better than most of them in the NFS round. Cause i knew before hand that eventually it was not how fast u drive in NFS PU but it was how steady u drive and reach the destination) After that the other NFS game i loved was Most Wanted. Purely cause of the chase sequences one could indulge in while completing one task after the other simultaneously. One can say it has been a great journey filled with excitement and adrenaline rush!!!
by Nikhil Naik
from Bangalore
on 02/04/08 03:26 PM
WoW that was one hell of a article...
I also started with Need for Speed 2 to all the way up to Prostreet.
NFS Carbon was k but Prostreet was unacceptable. Could not really digest that after such a long wait.
stiil stuck at NFSMW and will love if they release new tracks and city in it...
by bpr
from Bangalore
on 28/03/08 02:59 PM
Good read!
Some small corrections though. NFS-PU was a good game, the best in the series, but you've called it one of the best driving simulations of all time, now.. it may be the closest to simulation in the series, but it wasnt a simulation racer by any means. Live for Speed / GTR / rFactor are simulation games on PC. And am guessing besides GTR most havent even heard of the rest coz, they're that hardcore sim racers.
And ProStreet's , tuning and saving of set-ups for others to download is not innovative. Forza 2 has it, but before it, all sim racers have had it.. Forza2 though would be the first in the "big guns" to have it on the console, though..
But nonetheless, a good write-up. The series needs to be revived. Get NFS-PU (2) out guys. This street racing thing isnt working anymore. GRID is the future in that genre, even though it's only a portion of the full game.
by Anonymous
from Mumbai
on 28/03/08 10:52 AM
Well in reply to ur aritcle on the Evolution of Need for speed, i just want to point out that the latest iteration called Prostreet wasn't all that bad... i mean give the developers a break will ya coz after making a purely arcadish sandbox type of gameplay with both Most Wanted and Carbon they were OBVIOUSLY expected to come up with something different... like Prostreet; and if they hadn't i bet u would've been criticizing them for bringing out the same kind of game. Now don't call me a fan-boy yet cos i'm not saying Prostreet is perfect but it definitely is trying out to bring something different to the table what with all its real time damage system and other stuff. I mean the drag, drift and speed races featured in this game do bring out a fresh appeal to NFS fans'. Sure the game lacks the X factor found in Porsche unleashed and Most Wanted but i would still rate it a 7/10 any given time.
by Jagadish
from Bangalore
on 27/03/08 10:34 PM
Most wanted is always wanted by a gamer. It rocks. simply mind blowing game. HP2 was good too, carbon sucks, pro steet can go to hell it is f__king
by Abhinav
from Lucknow
on 26/03/08 10:40 PM
The Booster Pack (Energizer Lithium Pack) for Pro street adds some fun.. Bugatti veyron , SLR McLaren to race with is just awesome..
by Siddharth Anand
from New Delhi
on 26/03/08 09:59 PM
nfs mw truly rocked......carbon was borin wid the crew and canyon races...i never tried pro street , hearing that it isnt good!...
by rajesh
from bangalore
on 25/03/08 09:09 PM
Quick Question:
Why is the NFS-PU screenshot wrong?!? That is not a NFS-PU screenie. Please do justice to the game, and put the actual screenshot!
by Andy!
from Irvine
on 23/03/08 01:58 PM
I think it might be of the PlayStation port. AFAIK the game was released on multiple platforms including consoles.
BTW, any one heard of Motor City Online? It was supposed to be Online only version of PU but for some reason didn't make it.
most wanted, most wanted, most wanted, most wanted, most wanted, most wanted, most wanted, most wanted, most wanted.......
by Nikhil
from Mumbai
on 24/03/08 03:22 PM
i have fond memories of NFS porche unleashed which i used to play in my P3-intel IGP and its looks very satisfying to me..nice article..my first car racing game was Testdrive which was also a very good racing game...Castrol Honda Superbike and Road Rash is my first bike racing game...those are the gamess....I am missing some real Road Race-bad ash kind of Bike racing title
by satyanjoy
from Ahmedabad
on 22/03/08 02:25 PM
NFS Porche is my fav.. just perfect for a ride!! awesome graphix.. way 2 cool driving.. real-time experience...
by Dheeraj Mehta
from Mumbai
on 22/03/08 02:51 PM
NFS Carbon is the only game that i've ever liked. have finished all others but they all sucked. Playing Carbon with a HIgh end steering wheel gave real life like experince (unlike any other) coz drifting was Just perfect and real. i dont understand why people like the acradish versions more - probably coz you all play on keyboards and low end steerings and joysticks or probably u might be in work or a quickie enviornment or not passionate about Car RAcing Experience but rather fast cars controlling (unrealistic that too) experience
by Anonymous
from jo
on 23/03/08 09:55 PM
A good review. I still play many of the old titles. heck! I have a Windows 98 partition just for playing NFS II SE and earlier versions (For some reason they do not play on XP SP 2.) I have loved playing all of the NFS titles but my most favorite has to be Most Wanted. No game (Not even PGR and similar franchisees) can hold a candle to the gameplay, story, graphics and thrill that MW was able to give me. Most Wanted is the game to beat! All hands down! :)
by killer1314
from Hyderabad
on 23/03/08 06:52 PM
i agree with your review of the series.
NFs gave every kid with a pc, the 'sound' and the 'feel' of what really automation was all about..
having played every iteration of the series, it made us slick racers and god like tuners, so much so that, most of us learnt about maintainence of our own cars from the game. we understood what each part actually did.
it also gave us our own escapist world where we could evade cops and wreack havoc in a small city. without doing any 'real damage'.
of course, there are some people who argue, that we all became more unruly on the road and stuff like that.
but NFS stood out like a sore thumb through all this, in rebellion, by being politically incorrect and being pure entertainment..
(my mother still doesnt understand, what a 25 year old doc gets from evading cops on his computer, a gallardo 180 into oncoming cops is my favourite)
In summary i'd like to add Nfs prostreet was an even bigger disappointment than we can rant and rave about in words.
till the next cop inclusive game
by Dr.Aditya
from bangalore
on 23/03/08 04:39 PM
ive played all the need for speeds, the best was most wanted and the worst is pro street. carbon did a half hearted job of continuing with most wanted's story. hopefully the next one will be truly amazing.
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