A Look Back at the Roots of Need for Speed: An Analysis of the 1994 Original
I've been doing this for a really long time, like a year now, and I honestly had no expectations of this even being slightly successful. So I suppose I have you, subscribers, and other people who I have gotten to know over the year, to thank for that. I'm serious, you guys are frickin' awesome. You've helped me figure out what I want to do with these reviews, helped me improve, and I appreciate it. I appreciate the donations, subscriptions, and everything else that you YouTube people do. It's really cool.
Yay! One year! Now, back to the intro. Today we have something seriously special. The one that started it all – The Need for Speed. With the new Criterion-developed Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit sequel/remake coming out, I figured this was a good time to really analyze the roots of the series. I'll be taking a look at not only the original 3DO release but also the MS-DOS version in detail. Way before the yearly cash-ins and the extremely varying degrees of luster in NFS and other racing games, there was The Need for Speed. Back in 1994, you had racing games like Mario Kart and even Test Drive, but nobody had ever seen anything like Need for Speed before.
It had truly 3D bitmapped polygonal graphics with high-quality video, audio, and realistic cars and tracks. This was a time when the CD-ROM was taking off, and The Need for Speed was really made to show that off. Specifically for the 3DO console, developed by Electronic Arts and Pioneer Productions, also known as EA Canada. So while many think of the classic NFS games as only being on PC, it really started out on the 3DO. Eight 3D cars, surround sound, and an accurate physics model – Holy CRAP, this is going to be amazing.
The game starts off with a sweet full-motion video...video of the various cars being benchmarked showcasing the 3DO and its CD-ROM capabilities complete with music made of rad. Then you're greeted with the menu and, well, it's a bit confusing. There are five cut-out images, each representing a menu function. One of which is entirely pointless to select. MAN: Okay, here's the deal. You can fly it solo, and race against the clock, or we can have us some real fun and you can take ME on.
LGR: Wow... Yes, that, my friend, is the X-Man. No relation. Your rival throughout the game. He is a steaming pile of bad acting with a horrible '90s haircut, weird accent, and overly-obnoxious personality. X-MAN: Tired of warming the bench? Looking for something real to sink your teeth into? Well, then why don't you pull your butt off the couch and prepare yourself for the outer regions of outrageous.
LGR: The other menu functions are here for selecting tracks, cars, options, and starting the race. There are three tracks to choose from: Coastal, Alpine, and City. And each of them has three segments with different looks. There are eight cars handpicked for their awesomeness, and technically accurate with information from the magazine Road & Track. They made kind of a big deal about it. It's on the box, it's in the game, it's in the manuals. It's everywhere.
Road & Track had at least something to do with this, and it's the only Need for Speed that's like that. With their help, you get in-depth car showcases to give specs on the cars, complete with narration and even freaking music videos for each car. ANNOUNCER: ...from which the front-end will push.
LGR: Balls, yeah! It's straight-up car porn, complete with porno music and everything. Of course, actual racing is the meat of the game. You can either drive a manual or automatic, but either way you have to shift out of neutral at the starting line. Whenever you feel like it, really. You get buttons for shifting, acceleration, brake, handbrake, steering, and camera views.
The camera views in particular are pretty hardcore, and it was unique at the time. I prefer the overhead view, but the inside view is totally awesome and feels a little bit quicker. And if it's being compared to Test Drive, it's an improvement over that game as well. To quote the game's later tagline:
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enAahh---oh, wait a second.I've been doing this for a really long time.Like a year now.I honestly had like no expectations ofthis even being slightly successful.So I suppose I have you, subscribers,and other people who I havegotten to know over the year,to thank for that.I'm serious, you guys are frickin' awesome.You've helped me figure out whatI want to do with these reviews,helped me improve, and I appreciate it.I appreciate the donations,subscriptions,and everything else that you YouTube people do.It's really cool.Yay! One year!OK, back to the intro.Aahh!Well today we've got something seriously special.The one that started it all! The Need for Speed.What with the new Criterion-developed Need ForSpeed: Hot Pursuit sequel/remake coming out,I figured this as good a time as any toreally analyze the roots of the series.I'll be taking a look at not only the original 3DO release,but the MS-DOS version in detail.Way before the yearly cash-insand the extremely varying degrees of lusterin NFS and other racing games,there was The Need for Speed.Back in 1994, you had racing games like Mario Kartand even Test Drive,but nobody had ever seenanything like Need for Speed before.It had truly 3D bitmapped polygonal graphicswith high-quality video, audioand realistic cars and tracks.This was a time when the CD-ROM was taking offand The Need for Speed wasreally made to show that off.Specifically for the 3DO console,developed by Electronic Arts and Pioneer Productions,also known as EA Canada.So while many think of the classicNFS games as only being on PC,it really started out on the 3DO.Eight 3D cars, surround soundand an accurate physics model.Holy CRAP, this is going to be amazing.The game starts off with asweet full-motion video...videoof the various cars being benchmarkedshowcasing the 3DO and its CD-ROM capabilities.complete with music made of rad.Then you're greeted with the menuand, well, it's a bit confusing.There are five cut-out images,each representing a menu function.One of which is entirely pointless to select.MAN:Okay, here's the deal.You can fly it solo,and race against the clock,or we can have us some real funand you can take ME on.Whaddya say?LGR:Wow...Yes, that, my friend, is the X-Man.No relation.Your rival throughout the game.He is a steaming pile of bad actingwith a horrible '90s haircut,weird accent and overly-obnoxious personality.X-MAN:Tired of warming the bench?Looking for something real to sink your teeth into?Well, then why don't youpull your butt off the couchand prepare yourself for theouter regions of outrageous.LGR:The other menu functionsare here for selecting tracks, cars,options and starting the race.There are three tracks to choose from:Coastal, Alpine and City.And each of them has threesegments with different looks.There are eight cars handpicked for their awesomeness,and technically accurate with informationfrom the magazine Road & Track.They made kind of a big deal about it.It's on the box, it's in the game, it's in the manuals.It's everywhere.Road & Track had at least something to do with this,and it's the only Need for Speed that's like that.With their help, you get in-depth carshowcases to give specs on the cars,complete with narration and evenfreaking music videos for each car.ANNOUNCER:...from which the front-end will push.LGR:Balls, yeah!It's straight-up car porn,complete with porno music and everything.Of course, actual racing is the meat of the game.You can either drive a manual or automatic,but either way you have to shiftout of neutral at the starting line.Whenever you feel like it, really.You get buttons for shifting, acceleration,brake, handbrake, steering and camera views.The camera views in particular are pretty hardcoreand it was unique at the time.I prefer the overhead view,but the inside view is totally awesomeand it feels a little bit quicker.And if it's looking a bit familiar to you,take a look at Test Drive III on the PC.Yeah, it's pretty darned similar.That's because several key crew membersalso worked on the Test Drive gamesbefore coming to the Need for Speed project.Guys like Don Mattrick and Brad Gour.Everything from the car selection to the coreideas of the game are pretty closely related.You even have that annoying lives system for your car.So when you crash a few times, you're out of the race.Still, it's an improvement over Test Drive,especially the driving model.Test Drive always felt like youwere driving a boat, somewhat,but The Need for Speed reallyoverhauled it for the better, I think.To quote the game's later tagline,\"Cars behave how they should.So you can drive them like you shouldn't.\"Each car feels uniqueand you'll really have to play quite a bitin order to master any onevehicle on a given track section.So each car really gives a completely new experience.Even the gear shift levers haveunique and accurate sounds.There are traffic cars to get in the wayand to show off some of the pretty crazy stuffthe physics model can pull off,but they're mostly brain dead.Thankfully, the AI is not.It's just half brain dead and impossibly ruthless,on higher difficulty, anyways.You only have one opponent, but being the X-Man,I guess he's pretty hardcore,so be prepared to get owned at first.X-MAN:Aww... what's wrong?Does the wittle wace car driver wanna go home?Tsk, tsk, tsk...LGR:You could also just race against the clock, if you'd like.But that's... not... really that fun.There are also cops, but they barelydo anything but get in the way.And if they pass you at all, you'll beautomatically slowed down to get a ticket,eventually getting arrested and shown this really...awful... video.OFFICER:You better start turning green real fast, Gizmo,or the National Enquirer ain't gonna buy my story.LGR:And after the race, you get detailed statsand the ability to watch a replay,or highlights, of the racefrom different angles.I'd like to think that this featurecame from Stunts, somewhat,which also came from the Test Drive team,so that wouldn't be surprising.And really, that's about it for the3DO version of The Need for Speed.You race for the sake of racingand it's totally cool and you'lllove it because it's amazing.And that's it.At least, I guess that was the idea,because if you're looking for depth, it's not here.Just some good-looking graphics, a nicephysics model, some innovative features,and... the X-Man.Rad times, but just a little bit limited.Next up was the MS-DOS version,released in 1995.It was the same game, but in name only though.First you'll notice how the menus are entirely different.It makes more sense and there's actually some labels.It's just much easier to work with. I approve.Oh, and one other thing:NO X-MAN!Yes, he has been entirely removed from the game,and he never appeared in thegames from this point onward.And it's no wonder – that guy was a joke.X-MAN:Too real for ya?LGR:Nope! Just too DOUCHE for me.There are no new cars, but there are three new tracks,each of them a circuit, instead of segmented.Rusty Springs, a wide desert circuit,Autumn Valley Speedway, a rolling high-speed circuit,and Vertigo Ridge,a somewhat Canadian-looking,residential countryside of sorts.You also have new game modes:Tournament and Single Race.in Single Race, you either race against one car typeor the whole pack of all the cars.And Tournament is the biggest additionwith cars now divided by class,and, well, it's a tournament.Race your way through andbeat everyone to get to the end,eventually unlocking a new track,Lost Vegas,and a new race mode on a couple of tracks, Rally,which covers the road in gravel.It really adds a whole new style of play.It also now supports multiplayerthrough modem and direct link,and more in-depth car showcases as well,with detailed history, specificationsand a whole bunch more crap.I like it.There's also a new car available through a cheat code,the jet-powered Warrior hyper car.It's actually a mashup of all the other cars in the game,smushed into one, at least on the dashboard,and it's way too fast. It's unnaturally quick.Another change is how the race starts.Instead of starting whenever you shift into gear,there is now a countdown timer... light... system,which makes sense,'cause otherwise, you always had the upper hand.There are also several other improvements,like music in the menus.and better graphics in-race,in 640x480 mode, anyways,and higher-quality sound andthe ability to honk your horn.There are also new graphical effects, like skid marks.For some reason, the variations on trafficcar color is gone from the 3DO version.But also gone is the car lives system,so that's a fair trade.You can crash as much as you want now.All in all, it's a pretty big improvementand more than just a simple port from the 3DO.The Need for Speed was already asolid and well-made racer for the time,but the PC version makes it pretty freakin' exceptional.Everything that made it stand out is still here,but you can tell the extra hardwareand the further year of polish really helped the title,and aided in it earning its legendary status.However, there could be some definite improvements.Like something to DO, perhaps.You'll notice there's still just music in themenus and videos. Nothing during the race.But it wasn't long before allof that was about to change.Be sure and check back next timewhen The Need for Speed gets expanded,ported to other consoles,and travels the world.\n"
