Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed showcase
0The game that started one of the most popular video game serieses, that spawned even a movie and an MMO spin-off. The Need for Speed. How do the game's origins fare up today?
Well, I can't give a complete review. Some of the features just did not want to work for me. I have two copies of the game, the Special Edition, and a version that came with PC Gamer in July 2000. The former's videos don't work, and the latter was missing several files (the showcases). Plus, the latter really didn't install well, and doesn't run that smoothly. But, the Special Edition worked fine.
They're not bad for their time. The "gimmick" of licensing several real vehicles was quite a boon, and is something many games do to this game. There were games before that had some as well, but often only two or three in the case of the Test Drive games. Whereas this one shipped with eight! Adding a bit more variety. There was also a very rudimentary police mechanic, where you could get pulled over if they caught you.
All in all, this is not my favorite game. Even at the time, I wasn't much of a fan of the feel of this game. The cars were too slippery, you had to shift into gear even in automatic just to start, and there was no "automatic reverse" as seen in games today. It's still novel to see the origins, but this isn't a game I would play too much anymore. -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/the_nametag