Stir up trouble, then escape it: that’s the heart of Need for Speed: Most Wanted. It’s not enough merely to lose the cops as soon as possible – you have to get them to escalate the pursuit, calling in backup, then the feds, then big 4x4s that veer across the carriageway and try to smash you off the road.
If all goes well, it’ll soon feel as if the whole force is after you. The longer it goes on, the more wanted you become, and the more bounty you accumulate. Colliding with civilian cars, smashing into bus stops and generally causing damage will all add to your total. Hitting pursuit breakers, those bits of marked scenery designed to obstruct or destroy chasing cars, serve a dual purpose of earning bounty and relieving some pressure.
Eventually, though, when proscribed bounty targets have been reached, and/or it feels as if it’s the right time, you need to end the chase. Which is easier said than done. As you desperately veer across the greens of Rockport’s golf course, the rotor blades of the police helicopter kicking up dust all around you, you start to feel like Burt Reynolds at the end of Smokey and the Bandit when Sally Field observes the chasing hordes and asks, “Did you count on this? I mean… all of this?” (Burt: “No I didn’t, honey.”)
Need for Speed tends to be a quit-and-try-again type series, with even supposedly high-stakes one-off battles able to be repeated without consequence. Here, though, it’s not a viable option: moreover, there’s been an investment in the chase, where minutes have seemed like hours, the hands gripping the joypad are now aching, and beads of sweat are starting to form on your brow. The sense of panic is palpable.
Put enough distance between you and the cops, though, and you’ll eventually see the welcome sight of the Cooldown meter. Stay undetected for the next little while and the chase is over, leaving you free to slink off to your safe house for a new paint job and a cup of tea, ready to do it all again in due course.
Two minor “moments in gaming”.
You’re running Flight Unlimited II for the very first time. Until now, you merely had played with a few combat flight simulators (the DOS ones such as Aces over the Pacific and Aces over Europe) and the reference civilian flight simulator (its name is so obvious it won’t be mentionned here : who knows, some day, Bill might have us pay a bill for merely referencing the products he sold/sell/will sell). Well, you begin your flight, admiring the view. A lovely storm begins. And then, you stare at your screen : there are drops of water, and they slowly move away from center. Your vision blurs a little : you’re almost crying they (the bright developers from Looking Glass) have thought of this little, useless, magnificent touch. Drops of rain. FU II was a little masterpiece for many other reasons, but I remember the very moment I saw these drops of rain.
You have a limited Matrox video card, the name not worth divulging : it lacks real good 3D hardware support even for the primive DirectX you have on your system. Thus, you have to rely on good old software rasterizer in order to run the Need for Speed III you’ve just bought (it’s your very first real racing simulator, for until now you had just played mere arcade racers). It’s not a problem : the landscape looks pleasant anyway. You start a race, and there comes a tunnel. The sound of the motor actually reflects reality. You almost hear reverberation. You did not expect this — the nice little realistic touch. Lifelike audio when you did not expect it. Muffled sound when driving in the tunnel. NFS III is a fondly remembered racing game to me partly because of this unexpected feature. It got me hooked on the series from NFS I to NFS Undercover where I stopped.
By the way, gentleman, *two* sports games review in *one* row, it’s nasty. Please at least alternate ! 😉
June 30, 2018 @ 8:39 pm