Need for Speed
Need for Speed (NFS) es una serie de videojuegos perteneciente a EA Games, disponible en PC, Nintendo, Xbox y PlayStation. Es un juego sobre carreras de coches.
Origen de la serie
Need for Speed fue desarrollado por Distinctive Software Inc., un estudio situado en Vancouver, Canada. DSI creó previamente juegos de carreras famosos, como Stunts y "Test Drive II".
Más tarde Distinctive Software fue comprado por Electronic Arts y renombrado como EA Canada. La implicación de DSI con NFS decayó al focalizar sus esfuerzos en la creación de la lína de juegos de EA Sports. En 2002, otro afiliado de EA sito en Vancouver, Blackbox Software, ha sido el principal desarrollador de Need For Speed.
La serie
The Need for Speed (1994)
El Need for Speed original fue lanzado para 3DO in 1994 con versiones para PlayStation, PC, y Sega Saturn. En la primera versión se encuentran persecuciones por parte de coches de policía, tema que luego se extendería en las series llamadas Hot Pursuit, en NFS 3 y NFS 4. Estas versiones son las que mejor funcionaron en el mercado.
En la primera versión de Need for Speed se intentó plasmar el manejo real de los coches; Electronic Arts trabajó junto a la revista automobilística Road & Track para conseguir el comportamiento de los vehículos, así como el sonido de la palanca de cambios de marcha.
Incluía estos coches: Acura NSX, Porsche Carrera, Dodge Viper, Chevrolet Corvette, Mazda RX-7, Toyota Supra, Ferrari 512 TR y Lamborghini Diablo. El juego contenía datos precisos de los coches, así como comentarios hablados.
Need for Speed SE (1995)
Una edición poco conocida de Need for Speed; esta edición especial "Special Edition" está considerada como el episodio perdido de NFS.
Disponible sólo en PC CD-ROM, preparado para Windows 95, precisaba DirectX 2 y conexión TCP/IP, incluía dos nuevas pistas y varias mejoras en el motor de juego.
Need for Speed II (1997)
NFS II tenía tres modos de carrera:
- Tournament (torneo): se corría en todos los circuitos sumando puntos. Era posible cambiar de vehículo para cada circuito. Por supuesto, gana el que más puntos consigue, activándose un nuevo coche (Ford Indigo).
- Knock-out (KO): Se corrían todos los circuitos con el mismo coche, y se eliminaba el último en llegar. Al final se activa el circuito "Hollywood" donde corren los dos últimos supervivientes.
- Single race (Carrera suelta): Correr por un circuito 2, 4 u 8 vueltas con cualquier coche, con tráfico o sin él, y contra un competidor o siete.
Need for Speed II incluía vehículos de alto lujo: McLaren F1, Ferrari F50, Ford GT90, Jaguar XJ220, Lotus GT1, Isdera Commendatore 112i, Lotus Esprit, Italdesign Calà y Ford Indigo.
En esta versión, el sonido del motor y del cláxon de cada coche se parecía mucho al de los coches reales.
Need for Speed II SE (1997)
Esta edición especial incluyó circuitos extra y nuevos coches, como el Ferrari F355, o el Italdesign Nazca C2. También tenía soporte para Glide, el estándar de entonces para gráficos 3D usado en las tarjetas de vídeo 3Dfx de Voodoo y Voodoo 2.
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit (1998)
NFS III añadió el modo Hot Pursuit, en el que el jugador tenía que ganar la carrera escapando de la policía, o jugar como policía e intentar dar caza y arrestar a los pilotos que infringieran los límites de velocidad. Muchos de los coches y circuitos no estaban disponibles al comenzar el juego. El objetivo era desbloquearlos al ganar carreras.
Disponía de coches como el Mercedes SL600, Jaguar XJR, Aston Martin DB7, Lamborghini Countach, Chevrolet Corvette, Ferrari F355 Spider, Italdesign Scighera, Lamborghini Diablo o Mercedes CLK-GTR.
NFS III aprovechó las ventajas de las capacidades multimedia del CD-ROM incluyendo comentarios de audio, presentaciones de imágenes y vídeos con música.
Esta es la edición de NFS que más ventas ha hecho.
Need for Speed: High Stakes / Road Challenge (1999)
High Stakes (título en EE.UU.) y Road Challenge (título europeo) apareció en verano de 1999. Fue ampliamente criticado por ser demasiado parecido al NFS III, especialmente dado que todos los circuitos de la 3ª edición estaban presentes en esta (entre otros).
No obstante, High Stakes/Road Challenge introdujo algunos tipos nuevos de juego:
- "High Stakes" era un modo de carrera en el que la recompensa era el coche del perdedor.
- "Getaway" trataba de escapar de la policía tanto tiempo como fuera posible.
- "Career": este modo incorporaba un sistema de retribución económica que permitía al jugador hacerse con vehículos y mejoras de rendimiento.
Otra innovación fue la introducción de daños. Los coches involucrados en accidentes se veían notoriamente afectados, por lo que perdían efectividad, además de la necesidad de repararlos tras la carrera.
Need for Speed: Porsche 2000 (2000)
Porsche 2000 (o Porsche Unleashed para EE.UU.) es diferente de las versiones previas porque incluía sólo Porsches; el juego viene con amplia información sobre estos coches. Los coches se conducen de manera más realista que los episodios anteriores y tiene unos gráficos muy avanzados. El jugador tenía que ganar carreras para desbloquear coches en orden cronológico, desde los 60 hasta los 90.
In terms of game construction, it is most often hailed as Need For Speed's best collarborated effort to bring forth one singular car brand and amplify and deepen the depth of knowledge both on history and motor functions. It features historical videos and many pictures of old photos of Porsche vehicles. The "Evolution" concept was a hit for many people, creating many new Porsche fans due to the game's high level of academia and depth of Porsche cars. The "Factory Driver" was also a different kind of unlocking, except to do with performing and excelling in certain slaloms, speed races, deliveries, etc. Many of the missions were considered to be really difficult. Anyone who manages to finish "Factory Driver" can be called a great "computer" driver.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (2002)
As EA Blackbox's debut contribution to the NFS gaming lineage, Hot Pursuit 2 was essentially NFS III with improved graphics. However, the game received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure because of its overly arcade-like gameplay. One frequent example cited by critics was the inclusion of a police helicopter which dropped barrels of explosive toxic waste in the player's path. Also, the additional downloads of cars form the web were quite hard to find. This was also actually more than just one game, it was a game sub-collection, due to each system version didn't have the same tracks and gameplay.
Critically, this game lacked several features present in its Hot Pursuit predecessor, including split screen two-person racing, a dashboard camera view, decent grid (NFS6 allowed only six cars in one race if it includes cops in the race), and saveable instant replays. LAN multiplayer capabilities were removed in favour of EA.com's Internet matchmaking system.
Hot Pursuit 2 was the first Need for Speed to forego an original instrumental rock/techno soundtrack, in favour of songs sung by licensed song artists via the EA Trax business venture.
A complete reimagining of the series' formula, NFSU offered a career mode featuring a storyline, and a garage mode that allowed players to fully customize their cars with a large variety of brand-name performance and visual upgrades. All races take place in a city at night. Instead of hundred-thousand dollar exotics, Underground featured vehicles associated with import tuner culture. This, plus the increasingly arcade-like controls, became points of controversy for NFS fans. Despite this, Underground was commercially very successful.
It is rumoured that the car manufacturers were very strict in how their vehicles were to be portrayed in this game, especially considering the "illegal street racing" reputation of the tuner culture. EA took some effort in making the races appear as sanctioned racing events, and included a public service announcement in the game's introduction. In addition, vehicles do not have damage models at all.
Need For Speed Underground 2, the sequel to the commercial hit Need for Speed Underground, was released on November 15, 2004. A demo of the game was placed as a 'late' easter egg in finished copies of the EA Games and Criterion Games collaboration Burnout 3: Takedown, and finished versions of NFSU2 also have a demo of Burnout 3 in the game. In this installment the NFS Underground story continues, but there are new racing modes such as the Underground Racing League and Street X, new and more tuning options, as well as a new method of selecting races—just driving around the city (similar to Grand Theft Auto) and selecting race "beacons." Also included is an "outrun" mode where a player can challenge random opponents on the road and attempt to leave them behind (similar to Tokyo Xtreme Racer).
Need for Speed Underground Rivals (2005) for PlayStation Portable
NFSU Rivals for PSP is a PSP launch game meaning it will be released on the launch date. NFSU Rivals features American Muscle Cars vs Japanese Tuner Cars. This game includes several cars not featured in previous Need for Speed Underground games, including the 1970 Dodge Charger, 1967 Ford Mustang, and the 1997 Chevrolet Corvette C5.
The Cars of Need for Speed Underground Rivals are:
- 1997 Chevrolet Corvette C5 - 1969 Dodge Charger - 1999 Dodge Neon - 2003 Ford Focus ZX3 - 1967 Ford Mustang GT - Ford SVT Cobra R - 1999 Mazda Miata (MX5) - 1995 Mazda RX-7 - 2004 Mazda RX-8 - 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX - 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 8 - 1992 Nissan 240sx SE - 2003 Nissan 350z - 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V - 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 - 2004 Subaru Impreza WXR STi - 2003 Toyota Celica GT-S - 1998 Toyota Supra - 2003 Volkswagen Golf GTI - 2004 Pontiac GTO
Need for Speed Most Wanted (November 2005)
NFS Most Wanted takes the series back to its roots, with police chases making up the body of the gameplay.
Eight game modes are promised:
- Multiple point races
- Toll booth races
- Speed trap photos
- Outrun
- Outrun best route
- Circuit
- Sprint
- Knockout
Four 'distinct regions' will be offered, along with real time weather and an evolving environment. There won't be racing in the night, all the action is going to take place between sunrise and sunset. Around 100 cars will be on offer. 'Asian import (tuners), exotics, American muscle and Euro imports,' as detailed by EA. 'Most Wanted' delivers a unique, fast-paced and gripping ride in the racing genre as players build up their Rap Sheet and street cred to move their way up the Black List to become the most wanted racer on the streets. Players will go head-to-head with the top drivers on the scene as well as strategically evade more than half dozen cops at any one time.
Online play will be included with what is described as a 'similar feature set to NFSU2' though this time, world-wide play will be included with no conflict between the North American and European versions. Most Wanted will be available for PC, PSP, PlayStation 2, Playstation 3, GameCube, Xbox, Xbox 360, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS.
Gamers also can participate in the Need for Speed Most Wanted Custom Car Vinyl Design Contest to have their own custom vinyl considered for possible inclusion in the upcoming game. More information on the game: [1] Screenshots: [2]
Community involvement
The Need for Speed online community has been overwhelmingly growing throughout the series. Despite lack of official support from the series developers and publishers, the community has often found ways to improve the games through the creation of extra cars, tracks, and other mods.
The modification of the series can be traced back to the first game in the series, The Need for Speed. A tool for editing the tracks known as TRACKED was developed and published by Denis Auroux. However, the second game in the series, NFS2, was the true starting point for community modifications to the game. M. Thommson developed a range of software for the modification and creation of new cars and tracks for the game which rapidly created the initial online NFS community. The third and fourth installments in the game found more editing tools for editing cars (CarCad and ZModeler) as well as tracks (T3ED). The fifth game in the series was the only game in the series that was not modifiable until recently. Rumour has it that Porsche prevented developers from publishing tools to modify the game. However, tools were available for adding extra cars to the sixth installment in the series. NFS Underground found a different interest in editing from previous games. As a tuner culture game, Underground brought about tools to import user-made vinyls and decals into the game. This shooted off EA's competition to include user-made vinyls in Underground 2 and Most Wanted.