Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed
- November 24, 2000 14:47 PM PST
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EA hits the road-tracks with the fifth in their trend-setting Need For Speed series, Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed. While the new NFS may not be the best looking racer on the road, it's got all the class and handling that the Porsche name is known for.
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Porsche Sugar On Me
The Need For Speed series is older than the PlayStation itself, having debuted on the original 3DO home system back in 1994. Since then the series has been a trendsetter for other racing games, refining the police chase in NFS: Hot Pursuit and the race-for-pink-slips tension of NFS: High Stakes. Now that other racing games are copying Need For Speed's act, the NFS team has decided to go another way. Rather than throwing in cars from tons of automakers around the world, EA has snuggled up close to Porsche and arranged an exclusive relationship. NFS: Porsche Unleashed is, as the title suggests, all Porsche, all the time.
This may be good, or it may be bad, but thankfully, Porsche is one of the hottest brands in the known universe, and EA does it justice. Playing Porsche Unleashed you'll definitely see the limits of the PlayStation's ancient hardware, but the controls and the game design smack of class and refinement, as you've come to expect from both Need For Speed and Porsche. Combined with the challenging Factory Driver mode (much like Gran Turismo's license tests? but fun) and the sweet Evolution mode (play through the entire history of Porsche), Porsche Unleashed's style drives it far past its competitors.
Classic Wheels on a Classic System
The NFS series is looking just a bit old, and its graphics engine shows all the limitations of the PlayStation, such as pixelly textures, texture warping, drastic pop-up, and the occasional bit of clipping. The cars look rather nice, though, when you consider the engine's age, and being able to see the driver is a nice touch, if one which was introduced a year ago in NFS: High Stakes. At least the cars take visible damage from collisions and the convertibles have their tops up when it rains or snows. It's the little things that count when the overall engine is oh-so-old.
Porsche Unleashed's sound fares a bit better than its graphics, but the forgettable generic driving tunes manage to pull down the overall score. Engines sound great and hum differently from Porsche to Porsche, and that's really the heart of Porsche Unleashed's soundtrack.
It really feels as though the folks at EA took care to make these cars drive like Porsches. Control in this game is top-notch, and the cars have a lot to do with that. Porsches are famous for their handling, and the ones in this game, even the older-model Porsches, keep that dream alive. Only incidences of clipping and strange patches of sliding can bring down this otherwise perfect control performance.
When It Rains, It Porsche
NFS: Porsche Unleashed is an excellent example of what a great license can do for an aging game series. PSX racing fans who dig Porsches should line up for this baby as soon as it hits the showroom floor.
