Franchise Focus - Need for Speed II
The 2nd installment in this franchise drops the official branding of "Road and Track" and comes to us simply as Need for Speed. A lot of things remain the same from the first game, but there were some minor tweaks as well. There still isn't a "big" racing mode as far as a season or something along those lines, you still will be bouncing from track to track individually, competing in single race tournaments. Need for Speed II brings another eight cars and six tracks to you, as well as an unlockable for each bringing it to nine cars and seven tracks.
The cars themselves are different, while the first game seemed to have a bit of everything from everywhere, this one focuses more on European cars (with a couple of Ford's thrown into the mix). You get to choose from a Ferrari, McLaren, a couple Lotus models, Jaguar, Isdera, and an Italdesign. Once again the cars come with their own specific specifications that will bring a bit of different feeling to the races depending on which wheel you are behind. However this time, you can choose your own color for the car instead of being forced to only use one color.
Tracks see a big change as well, with none of them returning from the first game (or rather if they have returned, they've been facelifted pretty well). The biggest change of all to the tracks though, is the exclusion of any spring/point-to-point tracks. All courses in this game are closed circuit races, but options can be changed to "change" these into a mirrored version of the course, or to run it in reverse.
Need for Speed II also gives you a few different race modes to choose from. Single Race returns, letting you choose what track you race on, what condition you race on the track (mirrored, normal, reverse), as well as how many opponents, what kinds of vehicles you race against, and how many laps you race for, making Single Race mode a fun way to just experiment around with everything in the game. Tournament returns as well, under the same premise : win on each track in a four-lap race against seven other opponents.
Instead of Head-to-Head mode returning, players are introduced to Knockout mode. This mode follows the same formula as Tournament mode, win a race on every track. Instead though, you'll be racing in a two-lap shootout and whoever finishes the race in last place is knocked out of the tournament. And, to unlock the bonus car and track that I mentioned above, you'll need to win on every track in both Tournament AND Knockout modes.
Underneath the hood, the biggest difference in this game is with the car physics. These are toned down big time, and at times it seems to not affect your opponents at all. Powerslides become the easiest things in the world to activate, and the most difficult to control once you've initiated. I was setting off massive powerslides with a simple tap of the regular break, not even the emergency break. It was so bad that I spent most of time learning the best way to just ease off the gas and coast through a lot of the corners instead of trying to break. Flipping and rolling your car also seems extremely easy to do, but it's also quite inconsistent. I had moments of sliding into another car and setting off a barrel roll that would make Slippy Toad proud, while other times I'd go flying sideways into one of the track's barriers and come to a complete standstill. This was one of the biggest things that seemed wasn't a problem for the AI because every time I saw another car get stuck in a spin-out, moments later they were straightening out and on their way again.
So that just about covers all of Need for Speed II. Each car still gets a showcase mode where you can see in and outside of it, as well as specific FMV's for each one as well. Before I end this though, let's look at each change to this series and how (in my opinion) it helped or hurt the series.
Changes
Custom Colors - A very small, but at the same time a very big change from the first game. It helps to feel that the car you're racing is a bit more personalized to you. In the original game, it felt like you were just choosing a car to race. Having the option to change the color for each vehicle though, makes it feel more like you're choosing your car to race. Easily an option that helped.
Car Physics - This change I felt hurt the series. With the first game carrying "Road and Track" in the title, it promised (and delivered) true representations of the cars you were racing. Altering the physics of these cars and toning down the handling felt like this game turned more into an arcadey racing game, the very thing it seemed like they were trying to avoid by making the first game the way they did. There is an option to turn the driving from "Arcade" to "Simulation", but even so this is a change that shouldn't have happened.
No Point-to-Point Races - There's already a limited selection of courses, with only six available from the start and only one more being available to unlock. Choosing to make them all closed circuit races...I'd have to say this was more middle-ground. It didn't help, but it didn't hurt either. I personally enjoyed the point-to-point races and when I discovered they didn't return to this title, I was a bit disappointed. This, coupled with the toned down driving physics, made this game feel a bit more like a bland racing title. However, if it weren't for the inclusion of the new Knockout mode, leaving out the sprint races definitely would have been hurtful. Having Knockout races on sprint tracks would have probably been a bit more difficult to do, so this balances out.
No Cops - Did you notice that I never once mentioned police above? That's because they're not around to be mentioned...they aren't around at all. I think it's obvious that this exclusion was definitely a "hurt". Dealing with the cops was so much fun in the first game, and it added such a challenge to the races that it was equal parts entertaining and frustrating. Personally though, my mind was blown by this not being in here. At first I just assumed it was (for some reason) it was extremely hidden so I took to the good old internet only to have my hopes crushed. But, what blew my mind was knowing that after all these years, and all these games that focus so heavily on including cops, that there was actually a Need for Speed game that didn't have them at all. Granted I haven't played every single title before, so there may be others, but for now...well this is the thing I learned today.
Up Next : Need for Speed III - Hot Pursuit (I think we're getting cops back next time)
