Need for Speed Underground 2
The demo for NFS:U2 was released last night and within an hour, servers started dropping like flies under the load brought on by so many folks wanting to download this much anticipated demo. Luckily, I managed to download a copy and the verdict is a near unquestionable thumbs up.
I would go on about how cool everything is, however I'll leave that for you to discover. Alright, just a few quick points. The rain looks very cool but also affects the way you drive, so be careful when the heavens open up mid race. The music is once again brilliant. The new Outrun (?) race mode is very cool - a lot of fun.
For me the game lets itself down on three points. Firstly, it's graphics engine isn't going to give users of modest computers a very good visual experience. I have a nVidia GeForce FX5950 Ultra 256mb graphics card and had to play at 640x for a full experience with all options turned on to the max. That's fine, though 800x or 1024x would have made for a crisper image. Of course, you can tweak the options but I'd rather not have to turn settings down, or off completely. I'd like to think more trouble could have gone into optimisation because it doesn't appear as though this was given much thought ((look to Doom 3 for an example of optimisation to the extreme)).
Secondly, the world is now modelled fully in 3D, it's very detailed and looks great. That is until you find smooth corners where the road markings turn in angled segments. This looks terrible is a step backwards for me. They should have worked this out. I mean, the road plays a big part in a racing game...
Finally, after a night of racing and exploring the secion of game world that's included in the demo, my car didn't have one single scratch. I'm by no means a perfect driver either, as several times I found myself slamming into buildings or oncoming traffic. Y'know, the sort of thing that might just cause a car to get a teeny bit of damage. Juiced, which if it's not out already, will be released anytime now, has a very cool damage engine. It happens to be the same sort of game as Need for Speed but is British made and from the early preview release demo, is better in terms of realism and a more varied experience. NFS:U2 has no damage engine and I think that while many would want to turn it off, the hardcore player would love it. The game world has garages/workshops scattered around and popping in to get repairs done could have added nicely to the overall experience. Obviously the developers don't share my vision.
I would go on about how cool everything is, however I'll leave that for you to discover. Alright, just a few quick points. The rain looks very cool but also affects the way you drive, so be careful when the heavens open up mid race. The music is once again brilliant. The new Outrun (?) race mode is very cool - a lot of fun.
For me the game lets itself down on three points. Firstly, it's graphics engine isn't going to give users of modest computers a very good visual experience. I have a nVidia GeForce FX5950 Ultra 256mb graphics card and had to play at 640x for a full experience with all options turned on to the max. That's fine, though 800x or 1024x would have made for a crisper image. Of course, you can tweak the options but I'd rather not have to turn settings down, or off completely. I'd like to think more trouble could have gone into optimisation because it doesn't appear as though this was given much thought ((look to Doom 3 for an example of optimisation to the extreme)).
Secondly, the world is now modelled fully in 3D, it's very detailed and looks great. That is until you find smooth corners where the road markings turn in angled segments. This looks terrible is a step backwards for me. They should have worked this out. I mean, the road plays a big part in a racing game...
Finally, after a night of racing and exploring the secion of game world that's included in the demo, my car didn't have one single scratch. I'm by no means a perfect driver either, as several times I found myself slamming into buildings or oncoming traffic. Y'know, the sort of thing that might just cause a car to get a teeny bit of damage. Juiced, which if it's not out already, will be released anytime now, has a very cool damage engine. It happens to be the same sort of game as Need for Speed but is British made and from the early preview release demo, is better in terms of realism and a more varied experience. NFS:U2 has no damage engine and I think that while many would want to turn it off, the hardcore player would love it. The game world has garages/workshops scattered around and popping in to get repairs done could have added nicely to the overall experience. Obviously the developers don't share my vision.
posted by Matthew E Cornish at
08:50
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