13 November 2006
N.F.S - R.I.P (1994 - 2001) ... or is it?
Its inevitable for a petrol-head, with a substantial influence of computers in his life, to be associated with these 3 letters: N, F and S ... Need For Speed, the most famous name in car racing games.
Its story began in 1994, with the first of the series. Sporting only just 8 exotic cars and even less tracks. It was very basic and simple, but it was a revolution in the internal-combustion entertainment world. Electronic Arts made the smart decision to team up with Road & Track car magazine to ensure that this game had everything it needed to be a true petrol-head's addiction. And it was! Everything from car rendering, engine the interior and even gear lever's sounds was done with the precision of the latest PC technology. Included with the game was an encyclopaedia about each of the exotics in the game.
I still remember the day a family friend demonstrated the game to me. Being quite familiar to a number of previous racing games, I was expecting no more than a raised eyebrow. How wrong I was! Its features were way beyond what I was expecting. The visuals, the sounds, the interiors, the tyre marks you leave across every speed limit sign you run over. Immediately, I was a NFS fan.
Each new version brought out more heart racing exotic cars, more eyebrow-raising features, more adrenaline pumping intensity to races and, most importantly: more realistic car physics. While at the same time remaining faithful to the original recipe of speed and rare exotics.
Need For Speed II expanded the exotic range and track numbers in the series. Although some complained for the lack of the police pursuits from the original and the arcadish handling, the game still had the perfect mix of speed and petrol. It also had, arguably, the best intro video: A video footage of a race between the Jaguar XJ220 and the ItalDesign Lamborghini Cala along a rural road.
Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit brought back the long desired police pursuits and ability to fine tune cars into the mix. This instantly made it one of the most successful game in the series.
Need For Speed: High Stakes (Need For Speed: Road Challenge in Europe) brought on physical damage to the cars, drastically improved the handling simulation and added more car tuning and upgrading options. Some moans were heard when gamers learned that half the tracks were brought over unchanged from the previous version. But it wasn't enough to stop this title from being a classic.
Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed (Need For Speed: Porsche 2000 in Europe, Need For Speed: Porsche in Germany and Latin America) was considered to many NFS purists as the last of the true Need For Speed games. Although focusing on a single brand of exotic cars, it brought the most number of features to the game table. Upgradable car components, extensive tuning options, excellent handling simulations, a complete in-depth information, history and video library of Porsches.
However, like all good things, the golden era all came to a screeching halt with the turn of the century. Scared of profits after the last instalment wasn't well accepted, EA, blinded by greed and an obsession with shiny graphics, forced the NFS name to change its focus, from cars and realism, to flash and poser-ism.
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 was the beginning of its long and painful downfall in its reputation as the ultimate exotic racing simulator. The game had a retarded simulation engine and all the features and technologies from 5 whole generations of NFS were tossed away. Look past all the shiny new graphics and the enhanced police chases, and you see what this game actually is: a bare, simple and pointless racing game.
Need For Speed: Underground was literally a stab in the heart to NFS fans. Wanting to cash in on the Fast & The Furious fad, EA decided to mess with their long proven and perfect recipe. Already using the enhance graphics engine and pathetic simulation engine from Hot Pursuit 2, they removed all exotic cars and replaced them with cheap, common, pathetic Jap-junk tuners with boy-racer upgrades. The best "feature" they came up for this game was the drifting capabilities which was only there to wow-in those clueless Initial D fan-bois.
But EA wasn't done yet. Wanting to drive the cruel stab deeper into fans hearts, they came up with Need For Speed: Underground 2. More jap-junks, more useless upgrades. Although it had a very refined and comprehensive car tuning capabilities, it wasn't enough. By this time, many NFS fans had lost faith and started turning elsewhere for car racing games.
However, as proven countless times: nothing seems to remain dead in the entertainment world (count the number of Green Goblins and you'll get what I mean). When Need For Speed: Most Wanted came out, it proved that the NFS name still got what it takes to pump up the heart rate and keep the player in an adrenaline overdose.
Sure its considered over-the-top racing and crashes that defy the most insane of logics, but it had what we petrol-heads needed in a really good racing game: adrenaline pumping speeds, decent simulation and intense pursuit moments. Added to that, it brought back exotic cars into the line up and had a storyline that gave you the most motivating of goals: a personal vendetta against other racers and law enforcement.
But this revival in the NFS empire was short lived and was all for nothing with the release of its latest instalment, Need For Speed: Carbon.
Frankly, I was surprised when I got a message from a friend telling me of its release and he has an "un-official" copy of it. I was expecting it to take at least half another year to complete and smoothen things out. This was, to me, already a very bad omen of things to come.
First impressions were good: The graphics and the rendering of the cars were top notch, something we've come to expect of EA. The shine on cars in showrooms were at its best. Even the control settings were ready to support the latest Logitech G25 Racing Wheel's clutch and 6-gate shifter
And then, we come to the rotten core. Starting with the worst part of the game: Its slow ... really, really, REALLY SLOW!
The game engine is so fully laden with useless features that its is unable to keep up if the player goes any faster than 80km/h (50mph). In a pathetic and desperate attempt to hide this fact, EA heavily relied on motion blurs and added ridiculous "anime-motion" lines behind the car. Trust me. The car is going a hell lot slower than it appears in the screenshot below.
And then ... it gets worse ...
It is said that its the small details that makes a good game, a great one. On that basis, NFS: Carbon, can be considered a horrendous one. I could take 2 whole days to list down the countless problems and flaws in this game. So I'll list the most obvious. Starting with the controls.
It seems in the attempt to support a 6-gate shifter and clutch, they completely forgot to include the ability to change the control to change cameras, look behind, display world map, display messages ..... etc. The controls are all still there ... just that you cannot change them. So let's say that you mapped 4th Gear to "L", like what I did, every time you shift to that gear, your take a look behind your car and vice versa.
Another useless and illogical feature is so called "video calls" that you get in the middle of "Boss Races" (Yes, I'm still serious. They really named a category of races that) All it serves to do is to try to annoy or gratify you by displaying (a pathetic attempt to render) a smirk, grin, frustration or grumble from the boss whenever either one crashes, overtakes, wins, loses or whatever.
But the biggest sin of all is staring back at the gamer's face: All previous NFS games place the rev counter so its viewed clearly. From that you know where is the engine red line and when to shift. But this version has it reduced in size and stuffed in the far corner of the screen. Its impossible to focus on during a race and looks more like a "Viagra foreplay" mini-game (product placement maybe?) where you control the blue "shaft", make it "erect" till it gets red hot, and flashing arrows appear at its tip. And when you up-shift, a puff of "steam" comes out from the rear of the car.
In simple terms: Little Timmy has to give Mr. Tacho a nice big red boner before his little toy car can go faster!!
After several frustrating and slooow hours with this game, I will tell you this:
Avoid this as your stocking stuffer this Christmas. Carbon is what it is ... carbon aka. charcoal!
Its story began in 1994, with the first of the series. Sporting only just 8 exotic cars and even less tracks. It was very basic and simple, but it was a revolution in the internal-combustion entertainment world. Electronic Arts made the smart decision to team up with Road & Track car magazine to ensure that this game had everything it needed to be a true petrol-head's addiction. And it was! Everything from car rendering, engine the interior and even gear lever's sounds was done with the precision of the latest PC technology. Included with the game was an encyclopaedia about each of the exotics in the game.I still remember the day a family friend demonstrated the game to me. Being quite familiar to a number of previous racing games, I was expecting no more than a raised eyebrow. How wrong I was! Its features were way beyond what I was expecting. The visuals, the sounds, the interiors, the tyre marks you leave across every speed limit sign you run over. Immediately, I was a NFS fan.
Each new version brought out more heart racing exotic cars, more eyebrow-raising features, more adrenaline pumping intensity to races and, most importantly: more realistic car physics. While at the same time remaining faithful to the original recipe of speed and rare exotics.
Need For Speed II expanded the exotic range and track numbers in the series. Although some complained for the lack of the police pursuits from the original and the arcadish handling, the game still had the perfect mix of speed and petrol. It also had, arguably, the best intro video: A video footage of a race between the Jaguar XJ220 and the ItalDesign Lamborghini Cala along a rural road.
Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit brought back the long desired police pursuits and ability to fine tune cars into the mix. This instantly made it one of the most successful game in the series.
Need For Speed: High Stakes (Need For Speed: Road Challenge in Europe) brought on physical damage to the cars, drastically improved the handling simulation and added more car tuning and upgrading options. Some moans were heard when gamers learned that half the tracks were brought over unchanged from the previous version. But it wasn't enough to stop this title from being a classic.
Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed (Need For Speed: Porsche 2000 in Europe, Need For Speed: Porsche in Germany and Latin America) was considered to many NFS purists as the last of the true Need For Speed games. Although focusing on a single brand of exotic cars, it brought the most number of features to the game table. Upgradable car components, extensive tuning options, excellent handling simulations, a complete in-depth information, history and video library of Porsches.However, like all good things, the golden era all came to a screeching halt with the turn of the century. Scared of profits after the last instalment wasn't well accepted, EA, blinded by greed and an obsession with shiny graphics, forced the NFS name to change its focus, from cars and realism, to flash and poser-ism.
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 was the beginning of its long and painful downfall in its reputation as the ultimate exotic racing simulator. The game had a retarded simulation engine and all the features and technologies from 5 whole generations of NFS were tossed away. Look past all the shiny new graphics and the enhanced police chases, and you see what this game actually is: a bare, simple and pointless racing game.
Need For Speed: Underground was literally a stab in the heart to NFS fans. Wanting to cash in on the Fast & The Furious fad, EA decided to mess with their long proven and perfect recipe. Already using the enhance graphics engine and pathetic simulation engine from Hot Pursuit 2, they removed all exotic cars and replaced them with cheap, common, pathetic Jap-junk tuners with boy-racer upgrades. The best "feature" they came up for this game was the drifting capabilities which was only there to wow-in those clueless Initial D fan-bois.
But EA wasn't done yet. Wanting to drive the cruel stab deeper into fans hearts, they came up with Need For Speed: Underground 2. More jap-junks, more useless upgrades. Although it had a very refined and comprehensive car tuning capabilities, it wasn't enough. By this time, many NFS fans had lost faith and started turning elsewhere for car racing games.
However, as proven countless times: nothing seems to remain dead in the entertainment world (count the number of Green Goblins and you'll get what I mean). When Need For Speed: Most Wanted came out, it proved that the NFS name still got what it takes to pump up the heart rate and keep the player in an adrenaline overdose.Sure its considered over-the-top racing and crashes that defy the most insane of logics, but it had what we petrol-heads needed in a really good racing game: adrenaline pumping speeds, decent simulation and intense pursuit moments. Added to that, it brought back exotic cars into the line up and had a storyline that gave you the most motivating of goals: a personal vendetta against other racers and law enforcement.
But this revival in the NFS empire was short lived and was all for nothing with the release of its latest instalment, Need For Speed: Carbon.
Frankly, I was surprised when I got a message from a friend telling me of its release and he has an "un-official" copy of it. I was expecting it to take at least half another year to complete and smoothen things out. This was, to me, already a very bad omen of things to come.
First impressions were good: The graphics and the rendering of the cars were top notch, something we've come to expect of EA. The shine on cars in showrooms were at its best. Even the control settings were ready to support the latest Logitech G25 Racing Wheel's clutch and 6-gate shifter
And then, we come to the rotten core. Starting with the worst part of the game: Its slow ... really, really, REALLY SLOW!
The game engine is so fully laden with useless features that its is unable to keep up if the player goes any faster than 80km/h (50mph). In a pathetic and desperate attempt to hide this fact, EA heavily relied on motion blurs and added ridiculous "anime-motion" lines behind the car. Trust me. The car is going a hell lot slower than it appears in the screenshot below.
And then ... it gets worse ...
It is said that its the small details that makes a good game, a great one. On that basis, NFS: Carbon, can be considered a horrendous one. I could take 2 whole days to list down the countless problems and flaws in this game. So I'll list the most obvious. Starting with the controls.
It seems in the attempt to support a 6-gate shifter and clutch, they completely forgot to include the ability to change the control to change cameras, look behind, display world map, display messages ..... etc. The controls are all still there ... just that you cannot change them. So let's say that you mapped 4th Gear to "L", like what I did, every time you shift to that gear, your take a look behind your car and vice versa.
Another useless and illogical feature is so called "video calls" that you get in the middle of "Boss Races" (Yes, I'm still serious. They really named a category of races that) All it serves to do is to try to annoy or gratify you by displaying (a pathetic attempt to render) a smirk, grin, frustration or grumble from the boss whenever either one crashes, overtakes, wins, loses or whatever.
But the biggest sin of all is staring back at the gamer's face: All previous NFS games place the rev counter so its viewed clearly. From that you know where is the engine red line and when to shift. But this version has it reduced in size and stuffed in the far corner of the screen. Its impossible to focus on during a race and looks more like a "Viagra foreplay" mini-game (product placement maybe?) where you control the blue "shaft", make it "erect" till it gets red hot, and flashing arrows appear at its tip. And when you up-shift, a puff of "steam" comes out from the rear of the car.
In simple terms: Little Timmy has to give Mr. Tacho a nice big red boner before his little toy car can go faster!!
After several frustrating and slooow hours with this game, I will tell you this:
Avoid this as your stocking stuffer this Christmas. Carbon is what it is ... carbon aka. charcoal!
16 May 2006
Living with petrol in your blood
There is no denying the obvious.
I'm a "petrol-blood".
I've been brought into the world with a passion for cars.
There is something about these machines of skillful engineering that captured my imagination since a child.
Its sounds.
Its vibes.
The way it moves.
The way it exictes the senses.
The way it gets a thousand kilos of mass moving fast and around corners
Put simply ... its like beautiful artworks on wheels .... or a perfect symphony of engineering.
And like art, its almost impossible for me to explain my passion to non-petrol-heads. Its like explaining art to shallow minded folk.
I am completely oblivious to gorgeous supermodels in skimpy swimsuits brushing past me but flex my neck at the slightest hint of Ferrari Red coming down the motorway.
I can easily remember the cylinder firing sequence of a 1989 BMW E30 320i but never remember when my country reached independence (not that it would matter anyway).
I have strict taste when it comes to car designs and modifications but I dress like a person who hasnt' peeked outside his bomb shelter since 1947.
Its not easy living with petrol in your blood.
Friends either think you're crazy or have "different" sexual prefferences.
A steady conversation is an impossibility when you're near a roadway.
Find a female who understands your passion is impossible.
Find a female who could live with your passion is even more impossible. (Jeremy Clarkson, you're one lucky son-of-a-b*, you know that?)
Now before you start making assumptions, let me emphasize:
I'm a petrol-blood.
Not an andrenaline-junkie.
Not a status-desperado.
I love cars. Their engineering and their beauty as a sculpture in motion and as a machine.
I'm not a pathetic ah-beng-blond-hair-dyed-Jap-boy-Takumi-wannabe-pathetic-AE-86-worshiper-street-racing-lemming.
I'm not a stupid ride-in-chauffeur-driven-expensive-limo-down-Sunset-Boulevard-wanting-camera-flashes-and-screaming-girls-loser.
The andrenaline-junkie would watch japanese drift videos and dreams of how much attention he could get.
The status-desperado would find the car with the best status symbol and dreams of how much attention he could get.
A petrol-blood would treat the machine as if it were a living being. He learns how it works and how it responds. He treats it like he would treat his wife: Learn where her limits are and how she wants to reach it. He never thinks of how much attention he could get, but how much attention he could give.
The junkie would love long straight stretches of road for him to reach top speeds and get the rush from seeing how high he can push his speedometer.
The desperado would love busy high class restaurants for him to pull up in and hoping for women to notice.
A petrol-blood would love an empty twisting road, just him and the car. Man and machine working in perfect symbiosis, learning each other's limits and to push it further.
Should "petrol-blood" be listed as a disability, insanity, addiction or passion. I'll let you decide. For now, I heed the call of the internal combustion.
I'm a "petrol-blood".
I've been brought into the world with a passion for cars.
There is something about these machines of skillful engineering that captured my imagination since a child.
Its sounds.
Its vibes.
The way it moves.
The way it exictes the senses.
The way it gets a thousand kilos of mass moving fast and around corners
Put simply ... its like beautiful artworks on wheels .... or a perfect symphony of engineering.
And like art, its almost impossible for me to explain my passion to non-petrol-heads. Its like explaining art to shallow minded folk.
I am completely oblivious to gorgeous supermodels in skimpy swimsuits brushing past me but flex my neck at the slightest hint of Ferrari Red coming down the motorway.
I can easily remember the cylinder firing sequence of a 1989 BMW E30 320i but never remember when my country reached independence (not that it would matter anyway).
I have strict taste when it comes to car designs and modifications but I dress like a person who hasnt' peeked outside his bomb shelter since 1947.
Its not easy living with petrol in your blood.
Friends either think you're crazy or have "different" sexual prefferences.
A steady conversation is an impossibility when you're near a roadway.
Find a female who understands your passion is impossible.
Find a female who could live with your passion is even more impossible. (Jeremy Clarkson, you're one lucky son-of-a-b*, you know that?)
Now before you start making assumptions, let me emphasize:
I'm a petrol-blood.
Not an andrenaline-junkie.
Not a status-desperado.
I love cars. Their engineering and their beauty as a sculpture in motion and as a machine.
I'm not a pathetic ah-beng-blond-hair-dyed-Jap-boy-Takumi-wannabe-pathetic-AE-86-worshiper-street-racing-lemming.
I'm not a stupid ride-in-chauffeur-driven-expensive-limo-down-Sunset-Boulevard-wanting-camera-flashes-and-screaming-girls-loser.
The andrenaline-junkie would watch japanese drift videos and dreams of how much attention he could get.
The status-desperado would find the car with the best status symbol and dreams of how much attention he could get.
A petrol-blood would treat the machine as if it were a living being. He learns how it works and how it responds. He treats it like he would treat his wife: Learn where her limits are and how she wants to reach it. He never thinks of how much attention he could get, but how much attention he could give.
The junkie would love long straight stretches of road for him to reach top speeds and get the rush from seeing how high he can push his speedometer.
The desperado would love busy high class restaurants for him to pull up in and hoping for women to notice.
A petrol-blood would love an empty twisting road, just him and the car. Man and machine working in perfect symbiosis, learning each other's limits and to push it further.
Should "petrol-blood" be listed as a disability, insanity, addiction or passion. I'll let you decide. For now, I heed the call of the internal combustion.
