Need For Speed: Underground (PS2 Review)

Things always seemed to be grouped by threes. Yes, I know that there are always the top five and ten lists, with a slight sprinkling of a twenty here and there. Nevertheless, the majority of life seems to be grouped into trios. Celebrity deaths happen in threes. There were a total of five Stooges, but only three were on stage at one time. Detroit shall be ever known for their Big Three in the automobile industry. Even Kevin Harvick won his third NASCAR race in his first season when he became the replacement driver for the Intimidator, who just so happened to be known for his black number three Chevy.

 

Although the PlayStation has literally had hundreds of racing games, it too has it’s Big Three that stand head and shoulders above the competition; Gran Turismo, Ridge Racer, and The Need For Speed franchise. Each of these series have been landmarks for video game racing on the PlayStation family. Gran Turismo, even though it almost was not released here in the United States, has become the exclusive “be all and end all” to simulation racing throughout the gaming world. Ridge Racer is the Granddaddy to all PlayStation racers, as it was there at the very beginning blowing away PSOne owners on its launch day back in 1995 and has continued this trend of grand arcade racing excellence through the six different PlayStation versions spread across three generations (R:Racing Evolution is not part of the RR universe) of gaming systems. The most prolific of the three would be none other than the Need For Speed franchise with well over fifteen unique entries (seven alone for the PSOne) that gave gamers an opportunity to experience the best of both worlds with their authentically licensed vehicles while still incorporating an arcade handling style to these exotic racers.

Need For Speed: Underground is the ninth iteration to be seen upon the PlayStation gaming family and our friends above the border have decided to take the series in a completely new direction. Gone are the exotic vehicles of yesterday. They now have been replaced with more common rides that racers can see on the streets everyday and are even more likely to have actually sitting in their driveway. Does this change affect the status of the series and reduce it to being just another racer or does it take the franchise into virgin territory to be explored and exploited? The only way to find out is to read on and take this baby out on the road for an extensive test drive. So, let’s kick the tires and light the fires and see what EA Canada has created.

One of the most popular new cult fascinations in Japan, and also here in the states, is the world of underground street racing. Tuners, as they have become to be known as, have taken normal everyday rides that you see on the streets and have converted them to unstoppable four and six-cylinder street monsters built to rival the heavy horsepower beasts of the 60s and 70s. With the fitting of aftermarket parts and a heavy dose of bling-bling, these four-wheeled rockets can reach speeds in excess of a hundred miles an hour while barely breaking a sweat. Since the advent of Rockstar’s Midnight Club, this select group has begun to receive more and more exposure in the gaming industry and has erupted onto the scene as the preferred method of racing for developers across the spectrum.

Customization is the main attractor for games of this style, and Underground seems to have taken this aspect to a completely new level. Each and every part that can be bolted on is officially licensed from the manufacturer. Whether it’s brake parts or engine upgrades, everybody who is anybody seemingly has gotten their name into the game. It is here where Underground excels. The hundreds of parts, not to mention the custom decals and paint schemes, insures that ever player will be able to add their personal touch to their rides and stand out from the crowd. Each of these add-on parts increases your rep meter with the adoring fans and makes it easier to acquire newer and wilder paint jobs and even unique decal schemes.

The amount of customization that a player is capable of is simply staggering. Between the multiple paint schemes, various decals and interchangeable parts, you can expect to have hours of fun putting your ride together then ripping it all back apart again. Even though I’m not usually one to dwell on the outward appearances of my vehicle, I found myself completely remaking my ride each and every time I unlocked a new decal or accessory. With all of the options available, one would be hard pressed to find an identical ride when taking the game onto the Internet. Everything from the color of neon underneath your car to the degree of tint for your windows has been covered with multiple choices. Although the best pieces have to be unlocked by progressing through the career mode, once you have moved through about a quarter of the game, the personality of your ride will easily be recognized.

Underground offers a decent selection of vehicles; however gamers expecting to have a huge selection at their fingertips will sorely be disappointed. Players will have the opportunity to try out any of the 20+ vehicles in the game from the ever impressive Skyline to the more popular Eclipse and even the ever reliable Civic. Most of these will have to be unlocked also, but you do have a decent group to start with from the very beginning. All of your rides must be purchased and, unfortunately, players can only have one vehicle at a time when working through the career mode. However all of your rides can be used in the quick race mode, but it just isn’t the same as having a garage full of sweet rides to show off to your friends when they stop over for some quality racing. Also, any of your upgrades and established paint schemes will automatically be switched when you change vehicles, which also was a distractor for me personally. I would have preferred to give each car a separate personality and this is only possible by reworking any new vehicle acquired, which eats into your actual racing time extensively.

Speaking of racing time, players will have to set aside a bunch of time if you are looking to complete the entire career section. With over 110 different races, and three available difficulty levels, you will be pushing aside quite a few games to just work your way to the end of the career. One bad thing was that each race allowed you to change up the difficulty so there was no set challenge to force you to improve. In fact, the major difference between the different settings seemed to be the amount of traffic one would encounter during a street race. Higher settings gives players more cash to use for buying new parts, but you will never seem strapped for accessible funds even if you stick to the easiest settings. Another bad thing was that once a race was completed, there was no way to go back and try your skills at a higher difficulty setting. So basically, you are driving down a one way street with no way to turn around. 

There is a decent selection of racing styles for players to enjoy. Along with the standard circuit (set number of laps), lap knockout (just like the circuit, but the last place car gets removed at the completion of each lap until only one car remains), and sprint (a point-to-point race), racers will also get to enjoy different versions of drag and drift (in the simplest terms, you get points for how well you slide your car around the track) racing. These last two definitely add some flavor to the standard racing scheme and do help to break up the staleness. A downside to the races is that you will only go up against three additional vehicles, which means you will spend quite a bit of time finishing your races in fourth place until you learn the ins and outs of the track. Now I consider myself to be a pretty decent racer, but with only having a 33% win factor (I have a 78% win factor for GT3) I really was forced to redo many of the races over and over again, usually because of bumping a wall at the wrong time and having the entire pack scream past me with little to no chance to catch up before the finish line. Each race will have ways for players to up their style meter, whether it’s drafting off of one of the cars in front of you, powersliding around corners, hang time on jumps or even leading laps, but the best way to get styling points is to take multiple runs through the drift races and top out your meter time and time again before moving on to the next series of races.

Nevertheless, all of the different tracks are variations based in a single city and just doesn’t keep one’s attention for very long. After progressing through about a quarter of the game, I noticed my attention beginning to wander away and was searching for some fresh alternatives. There are also hidden shortcuts on each track, which also give you points for your rep meter, but these didn’t seem to help much in gaining time on the leader. In fact, taking then usually resulted in losing time because of the tight maneuvering required or the jumps sending my vehicle off in an unexpected direction. Even by using them with no error didn’t seem to give me a quality increase in my distance over the pack or allowed me to close the gap on the leader. 

One of the most important aspects of any racer is in how the cars handle out on the road. The Need For Speed franchise has always been one to offer players a solid feel behind the controller, even though it is more based in the arcade category rather than being a sim-styled racer. I will say if you were expecting there to be a great variation in how the different models handle, you are in for a big disappointment. Whether you are driving a FWD, AWD or RWD vehicle, they all seem to suffer from the same handicap of tightness that one would expect from a FWD vehicle. Moreover, the cars do not handle in the same excellent tradition that the series has been known for throughout its existence. Cars do launch off the starting line and radiate that special sensation of speed, especially when you trip off the NOS system, but they all refuse to slow down upon command. In fact, you might as well get used to using the walls of the track to bounce you back into the thick of the gasoline-powered battles, as your vehicle just seems to refuse to traverse anything but the laziest of corners. Most of the time I found it better to barrel my way through a course than try to finesse my car through the tight turns. I’m really not sure upon which factor I should blame the lack of control, but the combination of a tight racetrack and non-responsive vehicles spells out a frustrating mixture of racing.

Another thing that seems to have been lost in the transition from Hot Pursuit 2 is the signature real-time damage modeling. Even through the most vicious of collisions, your ride will remain squeaky clean and in the same condition it was when it rolled off of the showroom floor. Collisions are visually impressive, as your point of view shifts to a completely different camera angle to give the player the best perspective on what your vehicle is going through, however this can be incredibly distracting when in the thick of a battle and you end up pointing in the wrong direction when all the tumbling is completed. Players do have control over the throttle and steering during these camera shifts and it is very easy to forget that you do have the ability to steer through the crashes to keep your car in the thick of the hunt. Also, it seems that computer-controlled cars do not react as severely as your ride when confronting oncoming traffic, which does stack the difficulty chips in their favor during the many races you will have to progress through.

EA Canada has done a great job with the visual presentation. All of the car models accurately represent their real-life counterparts. There are no slowdown, clipping or draw-in issues that I have noticed. There is a tiny collision detection problem, but this can be overcome by compensating and the issue is so minor that you easily bring the reins under control with minimal thought. The wet roads look exceptionally realistic and the environments are partially interactive. By that I mean there are some small objects that will scatter when they encounter your vehicle but larger items, like street lights, won’t budge in the least when they are hit, even at excessive speeds. Any of the camera angles will work for a player and it is solely at your discretion upon which one you prefer to use. Moreover, even though each of the races happen at night, you will always have a clear view of the track and are not hampered by the darkness in the least, which has been an issue for me personally in the past, even with great titles like Gran Turismo and its SS 5 and 11 courses. EA has also added some great visual assistance with moving arrows for all of the corners, so setting yourself up to take the turns is easy and simplistic. With all these great options, it’s really a shame that the control factor couldn’t have been better so you could actually enjoy the excellent scenery.

Unfortunately, they didn’t do the same with the audio tracks. Sure, the THX certification, along with the Dolby Surround Pro Logic II makes for an impressive foundation, but there really isn’t that much of a difference between the engine sounds of the different vehicles. Also the music tracks all revolved around the modern era, with little to nothing for us older gamers to sink our teeth into. The tracks are all selectable, which does allow a player to only have certain pieces running in different areas of the game, but I found that I enjoyed the game more with all of them turned completely off. This is all just reflective in personal taste, as I’m sure that the music was specifically targeted towards the younger tuner audience. None of the tracks were terrible. Mostly they were simply not my personal cup of tea.

EA does offer PlayStation 2 gamers online play, even though it does only support the broadband users in the bunch. Each of the racing modes are available, along with the ability to take your personal ride onto the Net to show off your customization skills. Match-ups will put you into the thick of the battle with three other racers, but there are no additional tracks or vehicles for gamers to acquire through downloadable content. I didn’t experience any new hardships with this mode and it seemed as if I was playing with a bunch of other gamers who were sitting right beside me instead of scattered across the United States.

Electronic Arts has also included the DNAS (Dynamic Network Authentication System) which seems to keep cheaters to a minimum. Also, in an interview, EA did acknowledge that their anti-hacker system was good, but not perfect, as hackers seem to find new ways all the time to beat the system. However, their protection was versatile enough to compensate against new, unique invasions and they would keep a close eye on new innovations for getting around the established system. So far, I would have to declare their system a success.

Need For Speed: Underground was nothing but a continuous exposure to disappointment for my personal tastes. Once you take away the novelty of customization for your vehicles and get past the eyecandy, you are left with a title wanting for more. For most series, I would not have been so excessively disappointed, but when you attach the history of such a momentous franchise to a new game, one expects the version to be head and shoulders above the rest of the competition. Perhaps if EA Canada had spent as much time working on the control of the vehicles as they did for the customization aspect we might have a completely different story to tell. Furthermore, you would expect the largest third-party software producer to be leading the pack in gaming innovation instead of falling in line with the current trends of less established companies. That is what made the Need For Speed series one of the must-have games previously, even though new titles were coming out twice as often as the competition. For those that might be interested in the tuner aspect, this will be a must-have for your gaming library, but for racing purists I would have to suggest looking at either picking up a copy of Hot Pursuit 2 or looking in a totally different direction until EA can return to what the series was originally all about.

Difficulty: 8

Control: 4

Audio: 6

Visuals: 8

Replayability: 8

Overall: 7.5

Road Trip (PS2 Review)

Today was supposed to be a busy day. I had many things planned to do: mow the lawn, wash the car, finish a shelving unit for my games and write one or two game reviews. While waiting for the morning dew to dry off of the grass, I decided to play a game. I picked an innocent-looking title from my shelves and popped it into my PS2. This was at 9 A.M. Twelve hours later I finally broke the spell that the game created and came back to reality. Suddenly I realized that the sun had set and none of my tasks had even been touched. I’m sure that most of you reading this would expect that the game had to be a blockbuster title like Final Fantasy, Metal Gear or Gran Turismo. However, I’m sure that 99% of the readers have never heard of this low-budget title. The game is simply called Road Trip, and what a wonderful trip it was.

The story behind the game is rather simple. The Road Trip World is one that is populated by living vehicles. The President has decided to step down from his role as leader. To choose a worthy replacement, he has decreed that whoever can conquer all of the world’s tournaments can then have the opportunity to race him for his office. You begin the game as a simple citizen that dares to take up the challenge. It is at this point that the game’s tentacles reach out and grab hold of you.

The world that you find yourself in is huge with many cities scattered across it. Populating these cities are hundreds of NPC characters for you to interact with. Some offer helpful information, quite a few ask to join your racing team, while others may request your assistance in solving their personal conflicts. These tasks can vary in difficulty from finding a missing girl, to delivering a package for a tired mailman halfway across the world or collecting 100 special Q Coins scattered across the land. For each of the 100 different assignments there is a special stamp that you collect in a book. One of the most challenging stamps to acquire is the one for visiting the 100 different photo shops throughout the world where you have your picture taken at the local tourist sites. Even though this sounds like enough to keep you busy, it hardly scratches the surface of the game.

There are over 250 different parts that you can collect for your car. Brakes, tires, engines, horns, headlights, and car shells are all available and upgradeable. Custom paint shops can be found in each city so that you can change the color of each and every car body that you collect in either a single or two-toned paint scheme. Members of your race team can also be upgraded and painted to your heart’s content. One of the nice features of the game is that if you change team members, all of the parts are automatically shifted from the former to the newer member so you do not have to spend more money to get them properly outfitted. Twenty mini-games are waiting to be discovered including the likes of a 9-hole golf course and a 3-on-3 soccer match. You also are responsible for creating an entire city by recruiting unhappy citizens throughout the land to relocate from their current residence. In-between all of these extracurricular activities we have the real meat of the sandwich, the races.

Before you start to get involved with the racing you might want to clear your calendar first. There are Maze Races, One-on-one Races, Team Races, Grand Prix Races, Barrel Dodging Races, Obstacle Course Races, Mountain Climbing Races and even a World Rally Race. There are over 100 different races that you must compete in to complete the game. Your main source of income comes from winning these races. Any money that is won by either you or any team member goes into your pocket to be spent as you see fit. Perhaps you can begin to understand how I lost an entire day to this game and only be about twenty-five percent complete.

Let me honestly say that Road Trip will never win any awards for Best Graphics. In fact, if you are solely drawn to a game because of its graphics and eye-candy, this title is simply not for you. This is not meant to imply that the game has an inferior game engine. Just like those "limited" graphics in Katamari Damacy, they work for giving this game it's proper "feel." The graphics are all clear with no drop in framerate or noticeable clipping, however they are not drop-dead gorgeous. The environments are cartoonish in nature and vary depending on what part of the world you are in. Seaside areas offer the tranquil island feel while the mountainous regions are cold and foreboding. It is also very important to equip your car for the specific region once arriving there. Special items like floats, wings or giant tires for traction are needed to reach remote sections of the cities. When these items are equipped, whether on your vehicle or a fellow team member, the car is visually altered. However, these changes can only be done in the garages in the different cities. So, if you come upon an obstacle where you need a special part to conquer, you may have to do quite a bit of backtracking to eventually move forward.

Even though there are no official licenses, the car bodies closely resemble real-life vehicles past and present. The control of you car is sluggish, especially when traveling at high speeds, but it can be overcome with familiarity of the race course and a bit of heads-up driving. The in-game music is supplied by one of two selectable radio stations. Neither channel is outstanding, nor is it one bad enough to cause permanent brain damage. Nevertheless, after spending hours and hours with the game, one might be likely to simply turn on their own music selection and mute the television.

Since this game is a basic budget title, there is not much included with the game besides the main adventure. There is a quick race option along with a two-player mode. But neither of these actually adds to the overall experience that Road Trip offers.

All in all, Road Trip gives the player exactly what we all cry for over and over again: Depth, Shelf-life and Affordability. This is no $50 three-hour tour that the average player can breeze through and then forget about. Originally released at the unheard of price of $19.99 in 2002, you can now find a new copy for fewer than ten dollars, that is if you can actually find a copy of the game. I look forward to losing many more hours to probably the best sleeper game that I’ve come across for quite a while. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go and complete just one more race. Just one more.

Difficulty: 8

Control: 9

Audio: 7

Visuals: 8

Replayability: 10

Overall: 9.0

Test Drive: Eve Of Destruction (PS2 Review)

If you wanna be happy
For the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife,
So from my personal point of view,
Get an ugly girl to marry you.
- Jimmy Soul (1963)

 

Now I realize that this may be the strangest way to start out a game review since their conception way back when. However, there seemed to be an underlying connection between this 1963 classic and Atari’s most recent endeavor for the PlayStation 2. For those unfamiliar with the way that the song continues, it goes into depth, describing how marrying a good-looking woman will bring a man nothing but pain later on down the road. While, on the other hand, choosing a less attractive lady would be better as she will be there for you when you need her and you never have to worry about her breaking your heart. Although song lyrics like this, in today’s politically correct society, will eventually ruffle somebody’s feathers, the message is clear and understood.

 

So how does this tie in with Atari’s Test Drive: Eve of Destruction (TD:EoD)? Well, this is probably the first game in recent memory to flaunt the idea of ugly being good. Forget about the bright lights, big city approach that racing titles seem to be heading towards. This title is looking to take you deep into Backwater USA, where men are men and their cars are more than street showpieces with big wings and shiny paint jobs. Forget about the high maintenance demands of the vain tuner imports, for these ladies will be there when you most need them and will never leave you in a lurch when the going gets tough. Now, reach up and pull those belts tight. We’re getting to go racing, dirt track style.

TD:EoD can be broken down into two different departments: Action and Career mode. The first is where players can get a quick fix without the restraints of pursuing the life of a professional Eve (this is the in-game code name for the racing events) driver. This main section is further divided into three subcategories: multiplayer race, single player race and the dare events. The multiplayer category will be covered later in the review in much more detail; however, you and three additional players will have the ability to race in any of the venues that your prowess has unlocked in the Career and Action Modes.

 

The single racing events allow you to customize a racing Eve, so that you can pick which of the 25 available contests you would like to participate in, along with the type of vehicle you want to drive and which track where you would like to do all of this at. Also, let me mention that most of the events that you are about to experience have never been included in a video game, ever. Although there are a few fictional races, most of these have been taken directly from short tracks scattered across the United States, and actually do happen on a frequent basis. These include: a figure-8 jump race, the chain race (tow a non-running vehicle behind your race car), the boat race (this time you tow a boat instead of a car), suicide race (half the pack goes in one direction while the remaining cars travel in the opposite), a flagpole race (ring around the rosy), the school bus race and the ever popular Gauntlet (you get to drive a hearse and the entire pack tries to destroy your ride before you can complete a set number of laps). There are more, even stranger events that one can participate in, but I wouldn’t want to let all of the cats out of the bag at the same time and ruin the complete surprise for you. Nevertheless, I will say that once you experience a round of Detention, you will never look at a school bus the same way ever again.

 

Players also must choose between one of the many camera views available in the game. For most vehicles, the default view (close 3rd-person) seems to work the best, however, I did find that with the taller vehicles (hearse, ambulance, school bus) this view left a visual blind-spot directly in front of your vehicle. Nevertheless, there are many more camera angles, including the really cool suspension cam that you can quickly flip through to find one that works best for you. 

 

Since I’ve started mentioning the controller layout, I might as well finish up that area here as well. Monster Games gives players plenty of preference options on how you want to operate your auto, by having multiple buttons work for the same action. Players can use the right analog stick for sensitive acceleration, or they can fall back on the regular mash-it-until-it-hurts X button. Emergency brakes and reverse gear selection can be accessed through either the shoulder buttons or the circle and square buttons on the controller faceplate. Having multiple choices is a mixed blessing, as you can get easily confused when things get exceptionally hectic, but I would rather have more choices than less. I just had to train myself to stick with whatever formula felt the most comfortable and keep myself under control when the going got exciting.

 

Although players do not receive cash for their victories in the Action section, they do add reputation points to the overall total for the unlocking of additional tracks and vehicles. Depending on how you drive, meaning how much damage you can cause in the course of a race, a hit meter will rack up points which will add to the multiplier for your rewards. Putting another vehicle out of the race, considered a ‘kill’ for technical terms, will also do the same thing but on a slightly less influential scale. Using these points is the only way to acquire newer vehicles and different racing environments.

 

The Dare subsection is basically 26 different exhibition events broken down into five different categories: A Crash Course, The Technical Circuit, The Destruction Circuit, The Specialty Circuit and finally Good Luck Out There. In each section, there is only one event opened and players must systematically work their way through all of the events in order to open the following ones. Vehicle selections are restricted to only one type of vehicle for each Eve and, unlike the rest of the game, the only thing that matters is finishing first in the race. Once the entire Dare section is completed, players receive a bonus that will help them in the remaining sections of the game. This area is quite challenging and it took me about 4 hours to work my way completely through, but more so it really helped me to learn how to get around the various courses using many of the 30+ unique vehicles that come packaged inside the game. Each one of these vehicles handles differently, and you can’t go headfirst into each event thinking that there won’t be any real challenge. Depending on where the Eve is held will change the track layout. So, even if you are really good at doing the Figure-8 Jump track at one location, you still will have to learn the small nuances, like different height jumps or the placement of different barriers, at other tracks.

Although these three sections might be enough for most games, we still haven’t even touched the main aspect of the game: Career Mode. This section starts at the dirt driveway in front of your singlewide trailer. You just inherited a late-model vehicle from your grandmother and have decided to become an Eve of Destruction participant. Your car may not be very impressive, but you feel that your talent should make up for that deficiency. By entering the Drive Around Mode, you can explore the local township and eventually drive on down to Ashland to participate in the race. Probably, the Drive Around section was the most disappointing section of the entire game. Not that it was horrible or seemingly foolish, but because all of the roads were devoid of any additional traffic or extra activity. It gave the atmosphere that nobody was actually around the area and people were simply holed-up, waiting for your arrival. Nevertheless, it is a minor gripe that deserves mentioning, in hopes that Monster Games will improve the formula for the possible next round of Test Drive excitement.

Once you are on the road, you have multiple options available to you. Players can head over to TJ’s Diner for some unsanctioned races, with a bunch of various drivers that change as the game progresses forward. Each one of these events will have a betting fee that you will need to have available to enter the challenge and the amount that is required also increases as the skill level of the competition goes up. There will also be other areas to have side challenges as you progress up the Eve rankings, so there seems to be always somewhere to make a few extra bucks outside of the established racing venues.

If you head down the road a bit, you will come upon Sweeny’s salvage yard and body shop. This junkyard is where you can acquire new rides, once you have the available cash and your current ride no longer meets your racing needs. Players have the opportunity to have as many as four different vehicles in their stable and can trade-in any of these cars or purchase new ones outright when their funds allow. The available selection of vehicles changes over time, so it pays for you to stop in often to check on the revolving inventory. If a player crosses the street, you can visit the body shop. This is where enhancements can be purchased for your vehicle, or you can give it a fresh look in the paint shop. This area only becomes available to the player after they reach the 80th rung on the Eve ladder, so players will have to weather through at least four events before they can modify their vehicles.

Eves are usually made up of at least three point-races, with possibly some extra non-point activities thrown in for good measure. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to race to the track against another contestant for some bonus reputation points, if you happen to beat them to the end. Once you arrive, you immediately begin the first event with no opportunity to change cars or even know what the event will be. The best suggestion is to always arrive at the Eve in your most rounded vehicle, so that you aren’t left out in the cold by entering a vehicle in that is totally unsuited for the competition.

How far you rack up the hit meter and your kill count will have an overall reflect on your take-home winnings. However, you can’t be distracted by looking to turn your fellow competitors into scrap metal. These are also point races that require a good finishing position, so that you have the chance to win the Eve and move up the food chain. For every overall Eve victory, you move up five steps on the driver ladder; and for every ten progressive increments, players are treated to an action video showing the real-life competitors as they compete in the events that were the basis for the game.

 

Visually, even though it personally pains me greatly to admit openly, this version of Test Drive is the best that I have yet to experience. Although it will never compare with the eye-candy festival that Gran Turismo has come to represent, there definitely is enough action going on in the background to keep even the most fickle of gamers satisfied. None of the vehicle recreations are officially licensed; however, there are plenty of cars that so closely resemble their real-life counterparts that you won’t really care. The game runs at a solid framerate, no matter where you are or how many vehicles are in a contest, and there is no clipping or draw-in evident at all. Vehicular damage is faithfully recreated, and pieces of the cars can and will fall off onto the track whenever they receive a significant impact. One nice aspect that can offer a real challenge is in the fact that all of the tracks have tons of interactive barriers (tires, cones, flaming barrels, bales of hay), which can be moved by any of the contestants. Usually, you will have to navigate around obstacles scattered across the track, along with the debris left by the in-racing collisions, while still trying to maintain the best racing line possible. Nobody ever promised you the easy road to success, and you will have to earn each and every victory through hard work and determination.

One of the biggest complaints I have seen concerning this particular game is that there is no sensation of speed incorporated in the racing. While I will admit that Eve of Destruction will, in no way, blow your doors off. I do have to declare that the speed that the cars attain fits in perfectly with what Monster Games was shooting for. These are not highly tuned street machines, nor are they touring car prototypes that scream down a track at 200 miles an hour. Your vehicle of choice is supposed to be a junker, plain and simple. These cars struggle to get around the dirt tracks, just like they would in real life. If you put other titles behind you and concentrate on the game that you are playing, you will be sitting on the edge of your seat trying to mentally will these beaten and bruised refugees from the junkyard around the course.

Control is another element that takes a bit of experimentation to get the handle on completely. Most of your racing environments will take place on down-home dirt tracks, but there are some examples where you will have the opportunity to enjoy racing on a mixture of paved and dirt surfaces. Nevertheless, there is much more to being able to get around the track than simply putting the accelerator to the floor and turning left. Players will either learn how to utilize the analog accelerator to assist you in making the various lefts and rights, or they will toss the controller away in frustration, complaining the whole time on how loose the cars react when entering a corner. Driving on dirt is a finesse skill that is much more difficult than completing a lap at Talladega at 200 miles-an-hour. I found the races to be much more challenging than those found in other racing titles. Keeping a vehicle heading in the right direction while never having 100% control (just like in real life on the same style of surfaces) is more exhilarating than anything else I have experienced within recent memory, especially since the control issue was intentionally built into the game rather than being the fault of shoddy programming skills.

 

The game’s collision physics are also very unpredictable, and that is a good thing. Players that like to lean on the walls or other vehicles to assist in completing corners have a big surprise coming, and should do poorly when forced to deal with the built-in reaction differences. Very rarely will you have the luxury of a completely smooth surface to help you make a tough turn, and hitting objects at different angles and speeds can result in various reactions from simply bumping lightly off of a wall, to spinning the player out completely, to being hit numerous times by the closely following pack of vehicles bent on your total obliteration. There are also noticeable differences in how computer-controlled vehicles will take to your presence. If you roughed them up in getting past them, you can expect to receive a bit of payback when they get the opportunity. The computer AI is very aware of what you do on the course and responds accordingly, to how it is dealt with, in form of retribution. There are no meters to help you keep track of whom you may have gunning for you and the AI is much more realistic in how far it will go to trade paint, compared with titles like NASCAR Thunder, where your competitors will happily sacrifice their own vehicle violently just to try to even the score.

Also, unlike other racing titles that include damage for their car models, your rides are not immortal. Although damage can be repaired at either your home base or during the racing intermissions between events, permanent damage will be accrued after every encounter. This forces a player to institute a form of driving strategy, to know where to be aggressive and when to look to avoid getting in the middle of a crash-fest. Repairs are not free. When outside a racing Eve, you can only apply your mechanical know-how when your bank account is in the positive. However, one is allowed to technically take a loan against promised financial winnings during the racing intermissions, to bring your ride back up to its original ghastly demeanor. This is an extremely thoughtful aid and really assists keeping the up-and-coming driver in the thick of things when funds are exceptionally tight. However, players should try to do all of their normal upkeep at the home base, as the price for repairs are cheaper there than at the track. One needs to get in the habit of making sure that all of the cars in their stable are topped-off and are as close to one hundred percent as possible, before heading out to the various tracks. It is also preferable to drive cautiously on your way to the event and save your outlandish antics for when you get there, to keep your repairs financially worthwhile.

 

Monster Games has included a way to give your ride a more personal touch, and still be able to maintain your manliness. By taking your ride to the local garage, every vehicle has the ability to have each of its three statistics (speed, handling and durability) upgraded once. Each class of vehicle has different price ranges for upgrading, and the price for both normal repair and increased performance directly relates to the original purchase price of the car. The more expensive it is to obtain, the more you can expect to shell out to keep it on the road. Also, there is a custom paint shop that will allow you to declare your independence loud and clear. Although the entire vehicle cannot be completely repainted, there are seven main areas on each car that can benefit from your skill with an airbrush. 

 

There is no limitation of color, as there is a custom blending option available if you don’t like any of the pre-selected variations. Moreover, you do not have the luxury of applying decals or pre-manufactured painting patterns. Everything must be done freehand, and the multiple spray-heads allow for just about anything that you can dream up to become a reality. With a little time and energy, even the most artistically deprived individual (myself, for example) can handle the paint shop and make their ride a true statement of their own unique being. However, for those who don’t wish to spend the time in the shop, just having a car with some more colorful expressions painted on the hood or roof, just like the real drivers have done to their cars in the videos, may be exactly what the doctor ordered.

 

Eve of Destruction comes complete with a trunkload of extras and options. First and foremost is the highly competitive multiplayer mode, where up to four players, using the PS2 Multitap, can meet in most of the previously experienced single-player events via a split-screen option. There are also some multiplayer-only events like Capture the Flag and Battle (where you shoot exploding chickens from your vehicle of choice), which are great for when friends gather together and you are looking for something to keep them occupied for numerous hours. You might want to keep a baseball bat handy to maintain order if more than four people are in attendance, as nobody will want to give up a controller and there is always a high probability of violence ensuing over who gets to play next. As much fun as the gaming party is sure to be, one can only speculate at the possibilities that could have been if Atari had included an online mode. This game really screams out for four to sixteen player Internet battles, and hopefully they will consider this for any future renditions. I think this was the only aspect absent from the game that easily would have put it over the top where the final rating was concerned.

 

Nevertheless, this is not the only thing that Atari felt worth adding to the basic game. There are also a ton of unlockable extras in the form of better vehicles, special enhancements for completing very specific tasks during the game, extra tracks and even real-life videos of some of the events recreated in the game. For those of you who would insist that most of the races were created in the deep recesses of Monster Games’ production studios, getting the opportunity to see the chain, boat and trailer races live and in color will be enough to convince even the most skeptic gamer of their actual existence. On the presentation side of the ball, Atari also has options for supporting wide-screen televisions and Dolby Pro Logic II for players who have surround sound setups. It definitely seems like no expense was spared in making sure that TD:EoD would be enjoyed by every class of gamer.

Unlike most of the media who has had the opportunity to experience this game, I can honestly say that I have found Test Drive: Eve of Destruction a worthwhile purchase. The game packs plenty of playability, with easily 30 hours of gameplay under the hood, along with the expected mass hysteria whenever a gaggle of players shows up at your doorstep. Only the most closed-minded or jaded players would find great fault with the presentation or the amount of options that comes included with this title. There are a few shortcomings that keep this title from going over the must-have status, namely the lack of online play and the life-absent environment of the Drive Around section, but still one should be able to add this game to their racing collection with a clear conscience. As long as you remember these two things you should have no problem with this game there is more to racing than going fast and turning left and it’s not always the prettiest girl who deserves the most attention. Now go out there and hit somebody.

Difficulty:8

Control: 9

Audio: 8

Visuals: 8

Replayability: 10

Overall: 8.8

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (PS2 Review)

The Need For Speed franchise has been one of the most prolific racing series in the history of video games. Dating back to 1996, there are very few titles that can boast of such a dramatic sales history along with having six additional games released after the original in such a short timeframe. Along with five straight-up racers, Need For Speed has also branched out into the rally racing scene with the V-Rally franchise.

The tradition of sequels for video games dates back to the earliest of beginnings. Even systems like the Atari 2600 and the Commodore 64 were graced with game titles that were followed by a number or two. However, usually games built on what had come immediately before the most recent game rather than skipping back into the deeper past to revisit and capitalize upon it. Nevertheless, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 has taken a double-jump backwards to work from the successful formula of cops and racing cars to bring the franchise into the current generation of gaming systems.

For those familiar with the history of the series, it is no surprise that EA decided to go back into the deeper past to generate some new excitement on the PS2. Need For Speed: Porsche Unleased broke the normal NFS formula and concentrated on one vehicle make only and was not widely accepted within the gaming community. This break from the norm left EA and gamers alike scratching their heads wondering what had gone wrong. Although nabbing the exclusive rights to one of the world’s premiere automobile manufacturers may have been a battle coup, sales across the gaming spectrum heavily declined. It was through this revelation that EA went back to the drawing board and revisited what had worked in the past. Now, I’m sure that you all are wondering if Hot Pursuit 2 is nothing but a cheap knockoff looking to capitalize on an unsuspecting public or it is a worthy successor to what had come before? Well, there is only one way to find out. Reach up boys, and pull those belts tight. We’re about to go racing.

The original Hot Pursuit was more like having two games for the price of one. Gamers got to run the courses in the best of the best automobiles available on the market against a full field of competitors in a standard racing affair. On the other side of the fence, you got the opportunity to take the law into your own hands and either chase down other speeders or run from those same police officers in the Hot Pursuit mode. Either half of the game would have been enough to satisfy gamers of that era, but EA decided to raise the bar to push the limits against their rival at the time, Test Drive, to firmly take the lead in the arcade-styled racing genre.

Once again, HP2 is clearly broken up into two sections. Both areas have enough of a selection to be a game in itself. The Hot Pursuit part is broken down into four separate categories: Quick Race, You’re the Cop, Challenge and Ultimate Racer. The Quick Race selection will put you into the think of things with the minimum of button presses possible by choosing the type of race, your vehicle and the course for you to run. This is perfect for those that have very little time available and just want to get in a quick racing fix. The You’re the Cop mode puts you in the position of a police officer hell bent on bringing all of the racers on your beat to justice within a certain time limit. You can even call in assistance from the police helicopter or road blocks to make your job easier. There are a limited number of assists that you can request and invoking one in no way ensures a quick capture. Challenge is a highly customizable race against either computer controller vehicles or a friend where every option is selectable. 

Finally, we have the Ultimate Racer. This is styled in a Christmas tree format where additional venues can be unlocked only by completing the previous challenges. There are a total of 30 contests to conquer, and let me tell you these are no walk in the park. 25 of the races have you running from the law all the while competing against three other racers to cross the finish line first. That may sound simplistic, but you have to include the enormous police force that is tracking down the field at the same time and boy do these guys make the shows on Cops look like a Saturday morning cartoon. From the second that they catch you in their radar, these boys are all over you like white on rice and these guys are not afraid of trading paint to put you into a guardrail or two. Just getting through the course without getting pinched is an accomplishment in itself. 

Once this becomes old hat, or you get tired of being put behind bars, you can mosey over to the World Racing section of the game. Here the competition raises the racing stakes and matches you up against seven other racers in three different categories. The Quick Race and Challenge modes are just the same as the Hot Pursuit versions except they are sans police officers breathing down your neck. You also have the Championship mode where another 30 race Christmas tree awaits you. In both modes, you can unlock new vehicles or tracks to be used in the other categories, however to get the really good stuff you have to get used to crossing the finish line first. You have quite a challenge ahead of you because the racing competition knows the track just as well, if not better, than you do and will utilize the shortcuts scattered around the tracks to their advantage.

For those of you who think this is just “another” racer, let me awaken you to reality. Every one of the 49 different vehicles handle differently and it is only through experimentation that you are able to find one that suits your personal taste. Some of the exotic powerhouses pack a mighty wallop, including the five different police chase vehicles. Although the total amount of cars might not be a huge number in today’s age of gaming, the entire who’s who of expensive makes and models have made an appearance. Furthermore, these babies are not indestructible as they reflect a limited version of real-time damage when you abuse them around the track. Windows crack, steam pours from under the hood, exhaust systems belch black smoke and vehicle bodies all illustrate your lack of driving prowess after repeatedly bumping and bruising your way around the course. Vehicle performance also declines as it is beaten up, which makes your task of winning the race even more difficult. Racing clean and keeping you car on the track is the key to many a victory rather than just keeping the hammer down and hoping for the best.

Control factors are plentiful and can be customized to however the player prefers his or her ride to handle. Handling comes in two different varieties: Classic and Extreme. The Classic setting will allow players to stick more to the roads, but the tradeoff is that it will limit some high-performance maneuvers. The Extreme choice gives drivers a looser feeling car, and we all remember from the movie Days of Thunder, loose is fast. This choice also has its drawbacks as heavy-handed drivers will find themselves facing the wrong way, often spinning out when running through the turns. You must have a lighter touch than that of the Classic setting and cannot simply lean on the thumbstick and expect to make it through without swapping ends numerous times. Nevertheless, no matter which of the two that you choose, this is classic Need For Speed control and you will never feel at a loss when negotiating any of the many, many tracks. 

There are also choices for three different transmissions: Automatic, Manual and Semi-Automatic. Of course the first two are self-explanatory, but the last one does deserve a bit of expansion. The semi-automatic tranny will act in all manners as a normal automatic transmission, however players can “force shift” the vehicle when the car is simply not in the optimum gear for the circumstances. This frees up the player to only have to shift when the car is bogging down or seems to not be able to get to the next gear and spend more time concentrating on the road ahead.

The racing Head’s-Up Display (HUD) gives players a complete overview of everything that is happening within the race. Even though the screen is jam-packed with information, players will not have to sacrifice their driving view for information. This HUD, along with the rearview mirror, can be switched off or customized to limit the amount of things being displayed, but I can’t see why gamers would want to handicap themselves by not allowing everything to be there at a moment’s glance. The active rearview mirror is exceptionally helpful when putting the block on an encroaching vehicle and really helps in keeping track of the speeders you are trying to catch in the Hot Pursuit modes. There are four different split time displays (vs. leader, vs. record time, vs. last lap and vs. best lap), vehicle speed can be displayed in either MPH or KM/H and there are five different map types that can be utilized for keeping track of the competition.

If you were expecting this to be another bland racer, I’m sure by now you have been converted to the other side of the church, however we are far from finished on what you can expect to see when you boot this bad boy up in your PS2. The racing environments are diverse and full of challenge. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 offers ten unique tracks which are quickly doubled when you include the reverse courses into the mix. Although most reverse courses are not worth mentioning in other racing games, the tracks in HP2 offer players different challenges and jumps that take on a completely different feeling when running them in the opposite direction. The roadways are full of destructible items from street signs to trash barrels and even barricades disguising shortcuts. Unlike other games, it actually pays to find and utilize all of the shortcuts on the tracks as they will cut down on your lap time and can be exceptionally helpful when looking to get around the police roadblocks. All of the racing environments are lush with background actions and greatly diverse in their locale selection. You get to drive at breakneck speeds through a raging forest fire being attended to by firefighters, an island paradise and even a dust devil in the middle of the desert along with seven more places that each have their own special touches that will push you to unlock them.

These road are not empty either as there can be found a healthy dose of civilian traffic, which can be turned off or ramped up to rush-hour levels in certain racing venues, that react to their surroundings surprisingly well. Cars will actually pull off to the side when police vehicles are in pursuit and drive off the road to avoid head-on collisions. These cars also remain on the track when they are run into and can be repeat obstacles when you have to complete numerous circuits of a track. The police also show some advanced levels of intelligence when they are in pursuit. Not only will they radio ahead for backup but also call for roadblocks, spike strips and even helicopter support.

But why drive on the roads when you can take to the air. As mentioned earlier, there are plenty of opportunities to get your vehicle up, up and away. Just about each time the car gathers some big air underneath it, you are rewarded with a special Matrix-styled 360 degree camera swing seen now today in newer games like Burnout 3. This same effect happens whenever you take some collision damage when running a police roadblock or smoke grenade dropped from a helicopter. You even have the ability to take a peek at the layout of the road ahead to help you line yourself up for the jumps and running the roadblocks via the Zone Cam.

Graphically, HP2 is another marvel of polygonal goodness. The tracks all have plenty going on in the backgrounds and there is no clipping or slowdown to speak of at all. There does seem to be a slight collision detection problem when trying to squeeze through tight spots, but this may have been an optical illusion from me just thinking there was enough room to fit my car between the two objects when really there wasn’t in the first place. Your sense of speed is really tested, along with your reaction time, as the vehicles all seem to fly around the courses with real life accuracy and it once you have one of the true powerhouses up to 180 MPH the scenery is nothing but a blur. Nevertheless, gamers have the opportunity to catch all of the sights by utilizing one of the best replay modes ever seen in a game with multiple camera angles available at simple press of a button. Rewind, fast forward and even slow-motion are all packed into the player so you can review the entire race that you have just run to your heart’s content. In fact, you even have the ability to save your replays for showing off at a later date to friends who might not quite believe how hot of a racer you actually are.

The audio portents are nothing less than the usual EA magic. All of the musical selections are customizable via the EA TRAX section. In fact, players have the choice of using either instrumental or the regular mixes with the song lyrics included. Nevertheless, the style of music is rather limited as gamers have the choice of Rock, Rock and more Rock with a mere smattering of Techno to break up the monotony. You also have the privilege of listening to your gaming experience with the standard Need For Speed Dolby surround sound setup which has been included in the series since the very beginning. Furthermore, each and every aspect of the in-game audio has an independent volume control so you can tune the game to your specific hearing tastes. The radio chatter from the pursuing police forces is always relevant and it pays to keep an ear peeled for their next attempt at stopping you or that a car has been taken out of the chase. Their conversations over the radio seem like they were actually taken from a real-life drama and the cars will have two-way conversations between the many vehicles and the police dispatcher. No expense was spared in making sure your ears were exceptionally pleased in what Hot Pursuit 2 has to offer.

Even though Hot Pursuit 2 was brought out before the time that Sony went headlong into its online support, gamers do have the opportunity to take on different players in all of the modes in the two player version of the game. However, that is not all that you have to look forward to in the game. You also receive points for each and every contest that you win to be used for unlocking additional “special” vehicles and tracks. Usually these are just different versions of the already accessible vehicles, but their speed and handling attributes are noticeably better than the stock versions and they all come with a special NFS paint scheme.

Finally, fans of the series will be pleased as punch to find a “making of” video tucked away in the credits that has most of the Black Box team telling the viewer how the game came into being. There is also video included with real-life vehicles being put through their tests so the developers could get an actual “feel” for how the cars should react in the game. Even though it lasts no longer than five minutes, I must tip my hat to EA for including a gem like this into the game where there are so many other producers that will give absolutely nothing as an extra bonus for their loyal consumers.

Everything about Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 hits the spot in just the right way. Besides the lack of online play, which was just in its infancy at the time of release, there doesn’t seem to be anything missing from a very successful formula. EA and Black Box both came to the table with a hefty history to stand up to and they came through with flying colors. NFS: HP2 is simply the best game ever to wear the moniker of the series and definitely is one of the best arcade racers to ever grace the PlayStation library. Everybody who is anybody in the automotive world, from Aston Martin to the Jaguar XKR, have been represented to the tiniest detail and this is just the place to come when your need for speed must be satisfied. There is no doubt that this is a must-have game for any racing fan, and it should be a crime if you haven’t taken out the time to track this one down at your local electronic gaming store.

Difficulty: 8

Control: 10

Visuals: 9

Audio: 9

Replayability: 10

Overall: 9.5