Road and Track’s The Need for Speed

THE NEED FOR SPEED INDEED

A Review of Road and Track’s The Need for Speed

by Michael J. Bertrand

There are many kinds of hobbyists out there, and many video games to
suit them. There’s
the war history buffs, who spend hours satisfying Nobunaga’s Ambition or
building and defending
their Civilizations. Then there’s the martial arts fans, who love to engage
in Mortal Combat, and
have been a Street Fighter for years. And you’ve got the fantasy fans, whose
shelves are lined with
the gold boxes of the SSI AD&D games and bought Myst the day it came out.

This game (Road and Track’s The Need For Speed) is one for the car fans.

Notice I did not say for "car game fans". As a car game, it is only
fair at best. But as a game
for fans of hot, fast vehicular transportation, it’s an excellent buy.

The pros : I was extremely impressed with the information provided with
each car. You
can look under the hood, check out the performance stats, even delve into
the history of the car.
Each area is presented as text on the screen, as well as read by a guy who
sounds just nerdy
enough to make you believe he really does work for a car magazine. The only
improvement I can
think of for this aspect of the title is to have it read by Tim Allen
instead, so he can make those
amusing grunt noises afterwards that got him a sitcom. "UH uh uh oooooh…. "

Also included with each car is a piece of promotional film. You know,
the kind of quick-
cut, artfully-directed, MTV-style slices of auto erotica which make you feel
like if you’d only buy
this car, you’d not only be sexier, more interesting, and stop balding, but
you’d possibly be in line
for the throne of Valhalla someday. This does not really teach you anything
about the car
(essentially you’re watching an ad for the car, and it’s an ad you paid for)
but it does contribute a
fair bit to the feel and excitement of the title.

And this mood is translated into the game itself. Each car comes with
its own genuine
simulated dashboard, just like the real car’s, and handles and performs like
the real thing. They’ve
even faithfully reproduced the sounds of the engine and the gears shifting
for each vehicle. The
overall feel of the game gives one an excellent impression of being behind
the wheel of a high-
class, high-powered vehicle. And they include a number of very interesting
tracks so that you can
try these machines out in every way imaginable, whether it’s over a mountain
road full of turns, or
through a wooded area, or even through a stretch of busy city traffic.

This leads me to my main critique of the title, and it’s not a
particularly severe one. It’s the
one I mentioned before : this is a great game for car fans, but only so-so
for car GAME fans.
Everything is geared towards car enthusiasts, and the actual gameplay I feel
was often considered
to be secondary to the principle aim of letting you drive a million dollars
worth of car for the price
of this CD. Seeing as this game was produced with Road and Track, and that
there are certainly
no shortage of car enthusiasts out there, this is not a major flaw. But if
you’re thinking of buying
this title but you’ve no particular interest in driving these cars, and
you’re just looking for a high-
quality car driving game, you’ve been warned.

My second problem with this title is that, when I played it on my
486-66, the graphics
looked a little sparse, and sometimes a little choppy. A 486-66 is the
minimum requirement for the
game, and it "recommends" that you have a Pentium 90. The Need for Speed
Indeed.

Otherwise, on the technical side, the game works well. Its interface is
smooth and fairly
intuitive. The sounds are good, and the music is quite good, lots of
high-energy heavy metal. The
graphics (even on my machine) are quite realistic… perhaps a little TOO
realistic. I realize that
when you go through a tunnel when really driving, sometimes you get the
sensation that you’re
going through the tunnel backwards. But was this little bit of realism
really necessary?

Finally, the game is hindered by the fact that the high scores are
based solely on time and
are NOT broken down by car. This means that on most of the tracks, if you
wish to make the Top
Ten you’d be crazy not to take the car with the highest top speed, the
Diablo. It would have been
more effective to break down high scores by both car and track, as opposed
to just track.

It all boils down to this : this is a great title for the readers of
the magazine, and for car
lovers in general. If your fantasy is to drive a Diablo, then this is the
title for you. But if you truly
want a game for speed, you’d probably be better off with NASCAR.

Gamer’s Zone Scorecard

Product:	Road and Track’s The Need for Speed
Company:	n/a
Cost:	$69.95

System Requirements:

486-66 or better, 8 megs of RAM

Breakdown:

Ease Of Use 3
Entertainment Value 3
Graphics 4
Sound 4

Overall Score: