'Need for Speed' should stick to unique roots
This week, the second game by the Need for Speed franchise, Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed, was released. The game focuses more on the professional and simulation aspects of racing. As always, its graphics are stellar and gameplay is great, but something is a little off. After 17 years of making a name for itself with intense police chases and breathtaking cars, it seems the franchise is trying to copy the likes of another well-known racing game franchise, instead of sticking to its heart-pounding and thrill-seeking roots.
With Shift and Shift 2: Unleashed, the series took a new direction in the gameplay, unlike its previous titles. The races were no longer on city streets or highways, but instead were on world-famous tracks and professional racing arenas. There was also a bigger emphasis on the fine tuning of each car between races and also on the physics of racing, which focused on the concepts of the racing line and oversteering and understerring. Of course, this does not sound like a typical Need for Speed game. Instead it seems that a game of this caliber belongs in a simulation racing game such as Gran Turismo.
The question is: why are the Need for Speed games becoming more of a simulated racing game? The simulated racing world is something of a taboo for the series in my opinion, because it focuses more on the thrill of driving fast cars. In other words, Need for Speed is the Fast and the Furious version for racing games and Gran Turismo is like watching a professional race on the Speed Channel. People play Need for Speed has to have a sense of what it feels like to drive some of the fastest and most exotic cars in the world. Not to mention there is also the added bonus of sticking it to the man by participating in police chases. These two elements are the core of the series. The game does not really dive into the specifics of the car. Sure, there might be upgrades for engines, transmissions and other important parts of the car, but the games do not have the fine tuning of each crucial part like Gran Turismo. With Shift 2: Unleashed, these two series are starting to look very similar to each other.
The Need for Speed games represent the everyday gamer’s desire to be the fastest driver around in some of the coolest cars in the world. No one really cares about the fine tuning of each car or how taking a corner at its apex gives the fastest route in a race. All that matters is winning the race or escaping the cops while gaining the most bounty. Before the release of Shift 2: Unleashed, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit came out last November and it embodied the true characteristics of the franchise. Hopefully, developers will rethink developing the next game in the series and how it reflects on the legacy of Need for Speed.
