Franchise Focus - Need for Speed

This is a new series I'm trying out for the blog, and I'm still not 100% sure how exactly I want each post to pan out, so I decided to kick things off with Need for Speed, a series of casual racing games that will give me plenty of space while writing these entries to really flesh out how I want things to look. The plan is for the first entry to just set up the foundation of the series, and cover where everything began. In each successive post, I'll discuss the changes made to the games and how it either improved or damaged things from the previous installment.So let's set things up with...

Road & Track : The Need for Speed 

 

We all know the Need for Speed name, it's been around for over two decades, so whether or not you've played them, you've definitely seen and heard of them. Nowadays, these games are quite expansive. Taking place in open world maps with hundreds of cars and variations of tracks to race on. But before we get to the new games, let's go back to where it all began. 

In 1994, we were introduced to the first game in this long-running series. Branded under the Road & Track name, EA teamed up with them to bring a sense of realism to the cars in it's racing game. So each car comes with it's own specific stats and specs, giving you insight into the beast you'll be handling on the road.

Single Player Mode offers Head-To-Head, Single Race, and Tournament options, as well as Time Trials to set your best times on each of the game tracks. With Head-To-Head and Single Race modes, you'll pick the track you want to race on, your car and your single opponent's cars. Through each race, you'll have to avoid traffic cars as you battle your way to the front of the field. The main difference between these two modes is that in Head-To-Head, you'll also be contending with cops that want to pull you over for speeding. 

Tournament mode is just a single race on each of the games tracks, but you'll be racing in a field of eight total cars including yourself. Winning on each track through tournament mode will gain you access to the games Rally mode which changes everything about the cars to give the races a much quicker pace, as well as unlocking a "fantasy" car and a new track. 

So, what's the grand total of cars and tracks? If you include the unlockables, you'll end up with access to nine cars to choose from, and six tracks. The cars represent some of the fastest, most powerful and exotic cars, including a Lamborghini Diablo, Porsche Carrera, Dodge Viper, Corvette, Acura NSX, Toyota Supra, a Ferrari, and a Mazda RX-7 with the fantasy car to boot. Tracks are limited to three closed-circuit tracks, and three sprint style races, where you'll be racing from point to point, and each of these includes three segments. 

Final Thoughts

I'm trying so hard to not begin this series comparing the first game to the more recent ones, but it's hard not to. Even without playing the newest game, Payback,  I know what's in these newer games. So I'll leave it at this. Seeing the roots for this franchise is honestly amazing. Only having a handful of tracks to race on, and an almost equal number of cars to get into, compared to what these games give you nowadays is incredible. It really puts into perspective just how much they were limited 20 years ago, which I think is something that gets lost on a lot of modern day gamers.

One thing I really loved about this is the Road & Track partnership/branding. Each car is accompanied with many professional photos ripped right out of magazines, and a showcase video that will take you inside each car in detail. I feel like this was a great way to come out of the gate proclaiming that you wanted to make a racing game that was a more truer representation of the cars in the game. It still has a bit of an arcadey feel to it, but standing this up next to the likes of San Francisco Rush, Cruis'n USA, and other racing series of the same time you can see where Need for Speed set itself apart.

Another thing that surprised me a little bit was how little the police play a factor in this game. This is the aspect that's hard not to compare to more recent entries in the series, because a lot of them involve outrunning the police or sometimes even working with them. So seeing them only present in one game mode, and in an extremely minor role, is shocking. 

When I grew up I missed out on a lot of these games. I started playing Need for Speed III : Hot Pursuit, then came back at Underground/Carbon, before jumping back in with the Most Wanted re-release, and now starting to experience even more of this series. I'm personally excited for this being my first Franchise Focus because now, after finally playing a little of the first game, I'm excited to see just how Need for Speed grew into the games that it releases today.

So, the foundation has been set. We know where the roots are for these games, let's see how it grows. 

Up Next : Need for Speed II