James Bond 007: Everything Or Nothing (PS2 Review)

Man is a visually stimulated creature. Now when I say that, I’m not referring to the entire species. Rather, I’m taking this opportunity to be wholly and completely politically incorrect. It is a proven fact that a male is moved more by what he sees than the female counterpart. Marketing gurus have been aware of this for decades and have proceeded accordingly with grabbing a consumer’s eye by using flashy wrapping and bold colors on their packaging. The video game industry is no different; however they have succeeded in going to the next step.

 

Developers have been hard pressed to bring the most attractive graphics to games rather than concentrating on the more important aspect of control or overall quality. Known by the name “eyecandy” within the industry, it seems to be more demanding that a game look good rather than play well. Usually the goal is to make as many pretty screenshots possible and try to catch a ride of the hype bandwagon and get the game to market before any reviews make it to print. This way, producers can reap the pre-sale or immediate launch revenues before the sheet is pulled back from the eyes of the less disconcerting gamer. The other neat trick is to create an exceptionally wild game case, sometimes with the artwork having absolutely nothing to do with how the game is played, in hopes of attracting the casual shopper who completely missed out on the million dollar advertising campaign. 

Slapping a product license on top of the game has also been a nail in the less educated gamer’s coffin, especially when you ride the coat tails of a franchise that has been exceptionally successful. After the success of the N64 title GoldenEye, no other James Bond title has been looked at the same, as each one was expected to be as good, if not greater, than the fan favorite first-person shooter. The power of nostalgia seemed to be more forceful than the developers could hope to cope with, and there yet seems to be any worthy successor to one of Nintendo’s most beloved games. 

Then out of the mist climbs EA’s James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (EoN). Breaking from tradition, they looked to take the British super spy in a different direction that what made his video game legacy famous. With a new gaming perspective, EA has teamed up with MGM Interactive to remake the 007 series from being a first-person shooter to a third-person action adventure. Does this transformation withstand the rigors of our tastes or does it fall flat on its behind? I guess there is only one way to find out. Prepare for an intelligence briefing like no other.

Most gamers were exceptionally hesitant about the switch from the first to the third-person perspective. A lot felt that something deep and meaningful would be lost to the ages and the whole 007 series would take a dive into mediocrity. This also doesn’t take into account the earlier Bond releases for the PS2 that seemed to be missing that something special and did not meet the same fanfare levels that GoldenEye did. Since I was never an N-64 owner, I can in no way relate to the aura that the famous FPS radiated, but I can honestly say that the decision to change the perspective was the right one at the right time. The genre is heavily overloaded with since the release and success of titles like Halo and Perfect Dark and the worthy third-person perspective titles have been little seen across the board. 

If I was to simply judge this game on its presentation alone, this title would be setting new upper limits for the entire scope of the industry. I have experienced numerous games that have been created from a movie license and nothing has ever given such a dramatic feel or grandiose effect that Everything or Nothing radiates. Even EA’s other gigantic movie property, The Lord of the Rings, doesn’t come as close to bridging the gap between the big and small screen productions. From its opening moments, it feels more like you are taking part in an interactive Bond movie than simply just playing another video game. Every aspect oozes British blue blood, including the signature opening credits that roll right after the first mission is completed.

All of the supporting cast from the recent movies have left their mark on this game by including their screen likeness and voices to their characters. Even non-regular character actors joined in to add a special touch for this movie-styled conversion. Pierce Brosnan (007), Heidi Klum, Richard Kiel (Jaws), John Cleese (Q), Willem Dafoe and even Judi Dench (M) play their parts just like it was a silver screen production and the only thing that makes it seem like you are not in a theater is the missing sticky seats or the irritating couple behind you exposing the plot points before they actually happen. 

All of this effort would be wasted if the actual dialog was written by a duffer. That’s why EA went to a true professional and recruited Bruce Feirstein (Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is not Enough) to handle the script duties. Having someone who actually worked on the big-screen films only raises the bar even more for the quality that EoN radiates and it guarantees the player some classic verbal Bond-isms. Bar none, this has to be one of the best examples of voice acting ever seen in a PlayStation title, which truly reinforces the image of participating in something much more grandiose than just another video game. 

One usual disappointment for regular action/adventure games is when they try to step outside their normal boundaries and incorporate unique or different aspects into them to break from the mold. Most of the time, it’s a last minute inclusion and seems tremendously out of place with either shoddy control or lackluster gameplay. This is where EoN separates itself from pack, as the vehicle missions are just as well developed as the main aspects. Players will be able to jump behind the controls of cars, SUVs, helicopters, tanks and motorcycles, and each one functions outstandingly as if it was its own game rather than just being part of an adventure, thanks to some help from the Need For Speed driving engine. You should not expect this to be a dumbed-down affair with just a go-button and a steering wheel. Just like the Q-Machines of the movies, every one of your rides will come equipped with the entire custom package deal. Along with the leather seats and cruise control, look for the heavy traffic option package that has machine guns, acid slicks and missile launchers, plus some other rather neat gadgets to help you on the commute back and forth from the office.

Your vehicles are not the only things to receive that extra special loving touch from Q division. Bond is armed with the normal slew of hi-tech gadgets that span the gambit from stealth suits to thermo-vision goggles and even coin grenades. Besides the secret rappelling gear, the best toy would have to be the sneaky Q-Spider. Early in the game you acquire one of these to use in sneaking around to do recon work but later Q finds a way to outfit them with an explosive device which really helps out to waste guards without exposing your 00 hide to their hail of bullets. The reaction of the opposing forces when they discover the metallic creepy-crawly is priceless and they will even chase it down a passage trying to squish the robotic life from your little pal. The inclusion of the nifty toys helps to make the Bond-ness of the title shine and really reels you into the life of a MI6 agent, hook, line and sinker.

While all of these previously mentioned things are super-duper, EoN shows players what it actually means to step into the shoes of an international agent. The most important thing that differentiates the regular Joe from a person with a license to kill is the ability to think outside the box when presented with seemingly incredible obstacles. Instead of recreating a scene from the O.K. Corral, 007 has a unique way of using the surrounding environment to level the playing field and put his foes at a disadvantage. It is in these moments of “nonlinear” thinking where Bond shoots out the glass of a shark-filled tank to clear the path of hordes of flunkies so he can pursue the escaping evil mastermind. Everything or Nothing uses this special touch superbly with the inclusion of the super special “Bond Sense Moments.” 

Scattered throughout each level of the game, there are numerous special areas where using the environment in the same way that our hero does in the films will pay off with higher overall mission scores. Finding these hidden gems is not as easy as one might expect. To aid you in this endeavor, you are allotted the use of a “Bond Sense.” By pressing on the directional pad, the entire game goes into an extremely slow-motion mode and the screen changes to a grayish environment. Players need to be aware that time does not stop. You can still be eliminated by the slow-motion bullets or surrounding henchmen. Nevertheless, this mode gives the player the time they might need to take in their surroundings and find one of these special 007 aids by looking for the highlighted sections in the room. Anything that can be manipulated will have a red bull’s-eye around it, and these can vary from shoot-able items to things that might bring the house down around your feet. However, this is not the only reason why a player might decide to utilize this mode. Since time slows down to a crawl, it gives you a good opportunity to switch weapons or to target a troublesome opponent without having to fear of becoming a human-sized piece of Swiss cheese.

The rest of the controls work just as well. In fact, the detailed aiming system may be refined too much. Players will benefit from a simplified lock-on ability which works well when taking fire from all directions. However, this is further refined by being able to manipulate the pinpoint precision of your shot by moving the tiny dot within the main lock-on bracket for one shot surprise kills. But, this option will rarely be used during a heavy firefight, as it takes too long to be useful. Your enemies aren’t going to stand around all day waiting for you to get the correct spot picked out like you were looking for the prime place to lay your beach towel. Only when taking a sentry by surprise will this be utilized, and then let me suggest using a silenced weapon so you don’t invite the rest of the crowd to your private party. Bond also has the ability to sneak quietly and peek/shoot around corners to assist in taking down guards before they actually realize that you have arrived on the scene.

As with any action game, you have the opportunity to take on the forces how ever you would prefer. However, EoN has set itself to be less on the run-and-gun and more on the hide-and seek. Some missions do require you to move as quickly as possible to beat a set timer, but most of the time you can move at your desired pace. Nevertheless, moving too slowly will reflect in your overall score for the level as a time penalty and could be the difference between receiving a bronze or gold rating. And speaking of ratings, each of the 20+ missions have three different difficulty levels for the player to try their luck in. Only by completing the missions on the highest difficulty rating, will you have the opportunity to take another run through to obtain a platinum award. These gold and platinum rankings are important for unlocking the bonus items, mission cheats and other special rewards. So, if getting everything that a game has to offer doesn’t interest you, you probably won’t be worried about missing out on the excellent production stills or the shots of the actual voice actors working in-studio. Nevertheless, for the rest of us, this definitely adds to the replay-ability of the title and makes finding all those hidden “Bond Moments” so much more of a challenge.

Nevertheless, as we stated at the beginning of this review, without decent visuals a game is destined to move to the bargain bin faster than Mr. Bond can sip a martini. There is nothing to dread, as EoN doesn’t fail in this department either. Widescreen owners will pleased to know that the game has a special support for their massive gaming shrines and they won’t be restricted to the limited 4:3 ratio. All of the full-motion videos are of exceptional quality and the in-game graphics are no slouch either. There are some minor clipping issues evident, and I do mean minor, as the only breakdown is being able to see some merging lines during the actual playtime, and these are very far and few in-between. The third-person camera works very well, with only rare instances when the environment gets in the view of the player. You also have the ability to manually adjust your sight and the developers were kind enough to add a quick correct button that snaps the view right back where you need it immediately.

The only thing that could challenge the graphics would be the audio selection. Brought to you in THX certified sound, the Dolby Pro Logic II sends your speakers into pure ecstasy. Every sound rings clear as a bell and you have a great sense of awareness when things are happening to the sides or behind your character. Whispered voices from the patrolling guards sound just like someone was sitting beside you holding a conversation and all of the weapon fire gives a realistic roar. There are separate controls for the dialogue, effects and music levels so you can adjust the audio portents of the game to your taste. However, I couldn’t see doing anything but pumping the volume all the way to the right. The background music keeps you within the Bond motif and fans are not only treated to an authentic rendition of Mr. Bond’s personal theme but also a unique opening song done by Mya. 

Somebody at EA must be a big fan of super-sizing because they have given us fans an extra big helping of extras in Everything or Nothing. Once you complete the story mode, gamers have two different VR-styled games that they can use to hone their spying skills. You can either run thru the weapon training levels where players can clear the rooms of set numbers of increasing enemies or they can go into the survival mode where the enemies respawn and it’s simply a test to see how long you can last. Points are awarded for how you dispatch the forces against you and increase significantly when you take them out by either stealth or hand-to-hand confrontation.

Once you tire of playing by yourself, go grab yourself a friend to take on the completely original co-op mode. There are three different two player versions (cooperative, race and scramble) and a four player arena free-for-all. Players also have the option for either a horizontal or vertical split screen and can reverse both the X or Y-axis to make controlling their spy much easier (this option is also available for the single player mode). Overall play for the two-player game is nothing less then outstanding and players are guaranteed many, many hours of co-op fun and excitement.

When you feel that you are ready, EA has included an on-line multiplayer mode for all of you broadband subscribers. You have plenty of options for this mode including, matchup lobbies, USB headset support for voice chat, news updates and a leaderboard for keeping tabs on your competition. For getting involved in the action, players can either select the instant matchup to jump right into a random battle or you can go into the lobby to issue challenges. Also, PS2 owners will be ecstatic to learn that their version is the only one that supports two-player online co-op, so you don’t have to get all dressed up to take on the standard two-player mode. EA is also using DNAS (Dynamic Network Authentication System), which is a proprietary authentication system to provide security and to help protect copyrighted content. Needless to say, hackers and modders need not apply as this system is designed to sort out the authorized gamers from the others.

As mentioned earlier, fans have the opportunity to unlock cheat codes, production stills and photographs of the stars as they created the game. There are some other interesting things that can be unlocked with higher numbers of gold and platinum awards, but I’ll let you find out exactly what they are on your own. Nevertheless, I will say that they are well worth the effort needed to acquire all of the awards. But excellent gameplay isn’t necessary to witness every special secret, as you will be treated to a montage of video interviews with the cast of the game once the credits stop rolling at the end of the story mode.

For those of you who were expecting another lackluster effort from James Bond, you will be pleasantly surprised with this result. From the moment that I put Everything or Nothing into my PS2, it literally rocked my socks off. The excellent storytelling and presentation brings this title to the forefront of the competition and the gameplay and options keep it clearly anchored in the must-have category for any PlayStation gamer. The only way you could not possible enjoy this game would be if you were so stuck in the nostalgic past that you refused to approach this third-person action title with a slightly open mind. The level of replay-ability should keep you occupied for months and this is the version you have to have if you are a multiplatform owner, simply because of the special online co-op play. While the holiday 2004 lineup for games has been nothing less that unbelievable so far, you really need to take a look to see what you might have missed that came out earlier this year. Stuff this into the stocking of your favorite gamer and you’ll be sure that they will have a merry Christmas.

Difficulty: 8

Control: 9

Audio: 10

Visuals: 9

Replayability: 9

Overall: 9.2

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

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