Yeah, they moved this game to the bargin bin ALREADY! I mean sheesh I dont think it's even a year old!I picked it up at Gamestop for $10. I was really excited being that I had rented the PS2 version and was looking forward to high resolution prettyness and some fun racing action, this hope was fulfilled. I'm going to break this down into a few categories. Gameplay, Graphics, and Sound. All right, he we go.
Gameplay
This is pretty much your standard NFS fare. Not much has really changed since either High Stakes or the much better Hot Pursuit 1. The tracks are a lot longer when compared to those of any other NFS game. Some are point to point as introduced in Porsche Unleashed and some are your standard circuits. The cops this time around are a little different. For the most part, as I've been playing, I've found them easier with slower cars but as you progress they get more difficult and finally become enjoyable to get away from. Chopper support for cops is back except now they do more than "Suspect is at the ruins" they drop barrels of exploding crap on the road, not too hard to get away from though as they always seem to drop it on the wrong side of the road! The unlock system is different than the PS2 (and all console versions I'm guessing) To unlock cars on the PC version, you're given a choice. You can accumulate points and then buy whatever car you want in your price range. It's a welcome change from the "You unlocked a car you didnt really want!! Congratulations!" The races are divided into 4 sections. Hot Pursuit, which is a hot pursuit ladder where you get away from cops in various situations. Championship, where you race other cars in various situations. Single Race which is the most fun to play since you can just hop into a car you've unlocked and go race with cops on or off or be the cop. And Quick Race, where the game picks a random car for you to drive and sets you up in a random situation. I found that all of the challenges are also different when compared to their PS2 counterparts (Except for the Elise delivery mission) Overall, the classic NFS gameplay is built up a little bit more and is quite fun.
Graphics
The graphics are quite awesome on this NFS. Cars have a lot of poly's this time around and it's the first NFS game I've ever played where framerate troubles were an issue. Enviroments are done quite well and are filled out with plenty of diversity. Special effects are good and camera angles are your standard fare for racing games with one cool twist on it. Whenever you break a roadblock and hit a big jump, the camera goes into slow-motion and does some Matrix-like spin around and then speeds back up, quite neat and is one of the coolest devices I've seen used in a racing game. The graphics are quite awesome this time around.
Sound
Ugh, someone turn some of that damn "EA GAMES TRAX" OFF!! I am so sick of hearing Uncle Kracker say "ILL KEEP YUO CUMMIN WIT DA OOOOH" Shut up damnit! Some of the other music is good and I wish they would've included the Rush song from Vapor Trails like they did on the console version. Also, with the console version, you had the option of selecting which tracks you want to hear, that is absent in the PC version for some reason and it's quite annoying since the music is annoying. Engine sounds are really good but perhaps a bit on the generic side. There really arent many ambient sounds I can find other than one part of a track with a pond. Sounds could've been better but I guess they suffice.
thus concludes this bargin bin review. I'm having a good time with HP2 and I may actually have to buy Underground just because I own every other NFS PC title ever and here's a pic to prove it.
Until then.
Gameplay
This is pretty much your standard NFS fare. Not much has really changed since either High Stakes or the much better Hot Pursuit 1. The tracks are a lot longer when compared to those of any other NFS game. Some are point to point as introduced in Porsche Unleashed and some are your standard circuits. The cops this time around are a little different. For the most part, as I've been playing, I've found them easier with slower cars but as you progress they get more difficult and finally become enjoyable to get away from. Chopper support for cops is back except now they do more than "Suspect is at the ruins" they drop barrels of exploding crap on the road, not too hard to get away from though as they always seem to drop it on the wrong side of the road! The unlock system is different than the PS2 (and all console versions I'm guessing) To unlock cars on the PC version, you're given a choice. You can accumulate points and then buy whatever car you want in your price range. It's a welcome change from the "You unlocked a car you didnt really want!! Congratulations!" The races are divided into 4 sections. Hot Pursuit, which is a hot pursuit ladder where you get away from cops in various situations. Championship, where you race other cars in various situations. Single Race which is the most fun to play since you can just hop into a car you've unlocked and go race with cops on or off or be the cop. And Quick Race, where the game picks a random car for you to drive and sets you up in a random situation. I found that all of the challenges are also different when compared to their PS2 counterparts (Except for the Elise delivery mission) Overall, the classic NFS gameplay is built up a little bit more and is quite fun.
Graphics
The graphics are quite awesome on this NFS. Cars have a lot of poly's this time around and it's the first NFS game I've ever played where framerate troubles were an issue. Enviroments are done quite well and are filled out with plenty of diversity. Special effects are good and camera angles are your standard fare for racing games with one cool twist on it. Whenever you break a roadblock and hit a big jump, the camera goes into slow-motion and does some Matrix-like spin around and then speeds back up, quite neat and is one of the coolest devices I've seen used in a racing game. The graphics are quite awesome this time around.
Sound
Ugh, someone turn some of that damn "EA GAMES TRAX" OFF!! I am so sick of hearing Uncle Kracker say "ILL KEEP YUO CUMMIN WIT DA OOOOH" Shut up damnit! Some of the other music is good and I wish they would've included the Rush song from Vapor Trails like they did on the console version. Also, with the console version, you had the option of selecting which tracks you want to hear, that is absent in the PC version for some reason and it's quite annoying since the music is annoying. Engine sounds are really good but perhaps a bit on the generic side. There really arent many ambient sounds I can find other than one part of a track with a pond. Sounds could've been better but I guess they suffice.
thus concludes this bargin bin review. I'm having a good time with HP2 and I may actually have to buy Underground just because I own every other NFS PC title ever and here's a pic to prove it.
Until then.
