Need For Speed- A look into the Franchise.
By Saurabh Rajeeva |Wednesday, November 18, 2009
As the credits roll on my X360 for NFS Shift, I cannot help but wonder at how different & short this latest iteration was from the older ones. Hell, even past 3 – 4 iterations have been pretty different and not yielding the best of results. Having stuck faithfully to the series for past 11 years now (picked up my first NFS game: NFS 2 in 1998!), it’s nostalgic to experience the series’ evolution in a ‘hit or miss’ form year on year. I respect the series so much that I still get pretty excited when I hear the announcement of a new NFS title. It’s just that the end product has ceased to be worth its wait in recent times.
NFS 2 was the first game of the series that I picked up, and it’s still installed on my office laptop for those quick ‘break from work’ ease-downs. Back then, I was awed about everything in the game. The slick opening movie pitting Italdesign and Jaguar head-to-head, the car gallery and videos, super – amazing soundtrack, rich track design, fun traffic slaughter and of-course fast driving! Names like ‘McLaren’, ‘Ferrari’ and ‘Jaguar’ were homed into my brain through it. Crashes were so over the top that I’d spend dozens and dozens of hours just crashing traffic, especially in speedy tracks like Outback and watching my stunts in slow-motion replays. If I managed to crash the ‘invincible’ semi or the school bus, my shouts of joy could be heard across 10 houses! The races were thrilling and I spent hours playing and re-playing the tracks to ensure first place. I had to, especially for knockouts, to avoid being thrown out in the last lap against the formidable McLaren’s or Ferrari’s after spending excruciating number of laps in the lead position. Split screen was a cracking addition and I played a lot with my sister (facilitating her wins so that she would not get frustrated from losses and leave!)
The game was a milestone for me and I started following up closely on further developments. When NFS 3: Hot Pursuit released, I actually bought an original copy out of respect (of course my dad had to be coaxed a lot for it). That was the time when Lamborghini ruled the roster and dove straight into my heart as a super-car of choice. While the game was definitely leaps ahead of NFS 2 in terms of graphics and game-play, car bashing was a sore point. Hit a convertible, and you’ll just drag it back; hit a truck and it’ll drag you back! What am I supposed to watch in replays if there are no crashes? Precision driving? Hell, no! Anyways, the pulsating music, jaw-dropping racing locales, rich super-car detailing and weather affected driving ensured that I spent quite a lot of time driving (rather than just playing football with traffic). Add to it the ‘Hot Pursuit’ mode and one could play cop or robber to experience some thrilling chase sequences. God, how much I hated the spike-strip back then! NFS 3 had brought precision driving to front seat and I actually ended up identifying corners and track sections where I could overtake difficult opponents to win. It was a hugely rewarding experience to win a race after umpteen re-trials and let me confess, luck favoured me quite a lot those times!
My prayers were further fine-tuned when an evolved NFS 3 debuted in form of NFS: High Stakes. Besides an improved vehicle list, it featured full damage modelling which elevated the whole police chase and racing experiences from skyscraper to Mt. Everest levels. My favourite part was to crash a bunch of police cars or force rival racers into the train running across Kindiak Park and watch the mayhem unfold in slow mo replay. That doesn’t mean I didn’t dig the racing! I did! And with damage modelling underway and repairs allowed only by spending money between races, I had to evolve my definition of ‘precision driving’ to ensure I did not end up with a garage full of junks in the tournaments.
Next Page – The best NFS games ever made
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