Review by Dragon

"I had more fun with NFS:HS..."

Well I have to give credit where credit is due. This game is still lots of fun. It is the other options that make the game have such a low score, and it is the controls that make it even worse.

Story: N/A

It is a racing game, so there really is no story, unless you count the modes of gameplay, but I will cover that in the gameplay mode.

Graphics: 6

The graphics do have their good points. The trees on the sides of the roads and the buildings are more polygonal, and seems to have more depth into them instead of the flat 2D look of their last game, Need for Speed: High Stakes. There are a lot of civilians in the game, but too bad you can not hit them, or else the game would not be rated E. But while these things can give the game a good look, there are other things that will make you shake your head. There a lot of pop ups, and the road will pop out in front of you, forcing you to make quick decisions on where to turn. Also the collision and clipping detection is pretty sad. Also the cars. The cars are pathetic. They made the Porsche's detailed, but the other cars look exactly like boxes. Plus when you get near a car, they made their rear view mirrors look like wings. The only real good thing about these is that they are better then the last game.

Sound / Audio: 7

For those who hated the music in the last game, you will like the refreshing change. Its tough to describe the music ... sort of like easy listening music. The sounds are pretty good too, from the authentic horn noises, to the roaring engines, its all here. Plus you can not change the music, which I don't mind but other people will hate.

Gameplay: 5

If you look around, there are TONS of things you can do. Such as chase mode, where you have to keep the cops from hitting you in 120 seconds. It gets repetitive, but the people who hasn't played this before will have a lot of fun. There is also Capture the Flag mode, where you have to capture four flags (NFS symbols) to win. Evolution mode allows you to race through three different eras, you have to complete all the races and finish third in each tournament to go through. There is also a little clip that shows you the history of the Porsche, which is pretty cool to watch. There are around 20 tracks in the game, but they are all short, which seems to make up for the NFS:HS' lack of choices, but long courses. The controls have gotten worse than NFS:HS. They are fine on the open road, but I still find myself crashing at 30 MPH. Because of the pop ups, you are pretty much forced to memorize the tracks, and the CPU players seem to move through the track perfectly, which can make people mad. Plus there are three views to choose from. Driver, Trunk, and Helicopter. The Driver view and Trunk view seem to make the track do more pop ups. The Evolution mode is pretty fun though, since you are not forced to pay for the damages right away, but just with increments, if you want. You can also but new, used or sell you car any time you want. The Factory mode was my favorite. Factory mode is where you are a Porsche test driver, and you have to do 12 assignments to ultimately become the Ace driver. There are a lot of options of gameplay here, but you pretty much need to be good to have any fun with it.

Challenge: 6

Evolution mode can be a challenge, but the computer seems to keep the same challenge level throughout the whole mode. Near the end of Factory mode is challenging too, but it is very short, but the challenge at the end makes up for it. I really can not say much about the challenge, because it is not really there.

Replayability: 6

The Evolution and Factory and Chase mode really keep the game fun for a lot of people. But the game is way to repetitive to really enjoy the game. There is not much reason to get addicted to this game though. But this game is still fun to play every once in a while.

Buy or Rent?:

You should rent this game first to see if you like it. If you have not played any of the other NFS', then rent this one, then rent NFS:HS, and buy the one you like better. I would recommend NFS:HS to you rather than this game though.

Overall: 6 even.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10 | Originally Posted: 07/15/03, Updated 07/15/03

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