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: