Need for Speed II
Encyclopedia
Need for Speed II, released in Japan as Over Drivin' II, is a 1997 racing
video game, developed by Electronic Arts Canada
and published by Electronic Arts
. It is a part of the Need for Speed series
and follows Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed, significantly deviating from the emphasis of realism in The Need for Speed to arcade-like gameplay, though it introduces car tuning. As does its predecessor, Need for Speed II features several exotic cars, and includes tracks set in various parts of the world. The game also opted to remove police pursuits introduced in The Need for Speed.
, Ferrari F50
, Ford GT90
, Jaguar XJ220
, Lotus GT1 and Lotus Espirit V8, Italdesign Cala, and the Isdera Commendatore 112i
. A bonus car, the Ford Indigo
concept, can be unlocked as well. The game features extensive multi-player options including two to eight players over a LAN, by modem or serial connection and with split-screen racing.
In a single race the player selects the opposing car, while all cars compete in a tournament and at the start of a knockout race. There is also two playing styles—arcade or simulation. Arcade mode improves handling while simulation mode is intended to provide more realism. The number of laps can be chosen from two, four or six. Automatic or manual transmission as well car paint color are selectable in all game types.
A tournament race involves playing all tracks in order with the starting track able to be selected. Only after successfully completing a tournament in first place can knockout races can be played. Knockout races involve racing two laps over each of the six tracks with a number of opponents. These disqualification races always start on the easiest circuit and continue through each map, with the player who finishes last being eliminated after each race. After advancing through all the tracks another circuit is revealed. Monolithic Studios can then only be played by completing all knockout races first.
) segments for each of the cars, several of them being the professional produced videos for the concept vehicles. Additionally, each vehicle interior could be viewed through genuine photographs taken in a 360 degree panoramic view. This marks the last time such extravagant features are to be found in the Need for Speed series as future games render any material completely in 3D.
It is also possible to enter a number of codes at the start menu which if entered correctly, would make a swooshing noise. These codes replaced the chosen car with a vehicle from the games backdrop traffic. These vehicles could then be raced instead and had more realistic performance. Background vehicles included a Volkswagen Beetle
, Volkswagen Variant, Mazda MX5, Jeep Comanche
, Volkswagen Transporter
, Yellow School Bus
, Citroën 2CV
, Jeep YJ, Toyota Landcruiser, Audi 100 Quattro, two Unimog
s, BMW 520i, Mercedes-Benz SL 500, and Volvo 850 R station wagon.You could also drive various parts of the scenery including a large green T-rex, a little wooden kiosk and a western style wagon. The scenery items made no engine noise but would always make a tire screech when moving off the start line.
. The lead programmer for the game was Laurent Ancessi with Wei Shoong Teh and Brad Gour as senior programmers. To ensure the physics of fast car handling and performance were as accurate as possible the programmers collaborated with the manufactures of each vehicle.
" and "techno
" music, but with the game's main menu exclusively playing techno music, both featuring a soundtrack by Romolo Di Prisco
. The game's racing music are composed in a way that each two musical tracks are best played in specific racing tracks, using specific musical instruments and songs relative to the track's location alongside rock and techno musical instruments. The game also allows the player to enable what is known as "interactive music," which allows the game to play specific break
s when the player is driving along a specific portion of a racing track. The feature is also programmed to react to the player crashing, driving slowly, or leading from a pack of racers.
These traits are short lived in the initial portion of the series, with only its Special Edition and its successor, Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit
(1998), reusing these features. Only with the release of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
(2002) were both rock and electronic music featured in the play list again, while interactive music was only reintroduced to a limited extent with the release of Need for Speed: Most Wanted
(2005), which extensively uses the feature in police pursuits, the music reacting to the heat level the player is currently in, and the player hiding or being arrested. Need for Speed: Carbon
(2006) features interactive music additionally in canyon races, reacting to whether the player is in the lead, or if the player wins or rams through a guard rail and falls over the edge of the road.
reviewer liked the game but felt most of the roads were "outrageous" and that the cars would be unfamiliar to many. An Adrenaline Vault review described the game as a "good overall driving experience" with easy installation, realistic sound effects and both an excellent interface and music. Another review like the crisper graphics, smoother animation, rich colors and increased detail compared to the original.
Criticism of the game stemmed from its being easier to play and therefore less realistic than its predecessor. An IGN
review felt the game was not as good as the original. Some reviewers felt the steering was a little "jerky," and one went as far as to describe the graphical details as poor. Another issue was that the game required a fast computer at the time, to display the graphics at the highest setting. A reviewer for Computer and Video Games
didn't appreciate the combination of super realist cars being driven on fantasy tracks and thought that the crashes "look and feel wrong".
, four extra cars
, three bonus cars
, a new driving style called "wild
", and 3dfx
Glide
hardware-acceleration support. These new features add up to a substantially improved game.
Because the Voodoo Graphics and the Voodoo Rush were the only 3dfx cards available at the time of the game's release, and because Electronic Arts
did not future-proof the game's installer, later 3dfx graphics card models such as the Voodoo 2 are not detected during the NFS II SE installation
process (a pop-up will confirm 3dfx detection). Subsequently, the installer doesn't copy from the disk the secondary version of the program with 3D acceleration. This problem is easily solved by manually copying and running the alternate executable file. Glide wrappers
are available for non-3DFX graphics
cards so that modern computers can run the game with hardware-acceleration. Several Glide wrappers with support for the game are dgvoodoo and Zeckensack's Glide wrapper.
Besides smoothing out the in-game textures, the 3dfx version of the game also features additional visual effects not found in the software version, such as car reflections, weather, improved fog, shading, improved skybox
rendering and transparent in-game menu overlay featuring a rotating view around the player's car. These visual enhancements are standard in both the software and hardware accelerated versions of Hot Pursuit, High Stakes, Porsche Unleashed and Hot Pursuit 2.
Racing game
A racing video game is a genre of video games, either in the first-person or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings...
video game, developed by Electronic Arts Canada
EA Canada
EA Canada is a video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened in January 1983 and is EA's largest and oldest studio...
and published by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
. It is a part of the Need for Speed series
Need for Speed
Need for Speed is a series of racing video games published by Electronic Arts and developed by several studios including Canadian-based company EA Black Box and British-based Criterion Games...
and follows Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed, significantly deviating from the emphasis of realism in The Need for Speed to arcade-like gameplay, though it introduces car tuning. As does its predecessor, Need for Speed II features several exotic cars, and includes tracks set in various parts of the world. The game also opted to remove police pursuits introduced in The Need for Speed.
Gameplay
There are three main game types. The first two are single race and tournament and the last is a knockout race. Single races allow players to become familiar with the circuits and increase their skill of any one of the six tracks. The six tracks are called Mediterranean, Mystic Peaks, Proving Grounds, Outback, North Country, and Pacific Spirit. Cars that are playable from the start include the McLaren F1McLaren F1
The McLaren F1 is a supercar designed and manufactured by McLaren Automotive. Originally a concept conceived by Gordon Murray, he convinced Ron Dennis to back the project and engaged Peter Stevens to design the exterior of the car...
, Ferrari F50
Ferrari F50
The Ferrari F50 is a mid-engined range-topping sports car made by Ferrari. The F50 was introduced in 1995 to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary. The car is a two door, two seat convertible with a removable hardtop...
, Ford GT90
Ford GT90
The Ford GT90 is a concept car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was unveiled in January 1995 at the Detroit Auto Show as "the world's mightiest supercar"...
, Jaguar XJ220
Jaguar XJ220
The Jaguar XJ220 is a mid-engined supercar produced by Jaguar in collaboration with Tom Walkinshaw Racing as Jaguar Sport between 1992 and 1994. It held the record for the highest top speed of a production car , until the arrival of the McLaren F1 in 1994...
, Lotus GT1 and Lotus Espirit V8, Italdesign Cala, and the Isdera Commendatore 112i
Isdera
ISDERA or Ingenieurbüro für Styling, DEsign und RAcing is a privately-run automaker based in a small workshop in Hildesheim, Germany. The company was formerly based in Leonberg, Germany. Each high-performance sports car is hand-built by a small team of craftsmen, and the only way to purchase an...
. A bonus car, the Ford Indigo
Ford Indigo
The Ford Indigo is a concept car developed by Ford for the 1996 auto show circuit and designed by Claude Lobo. Only two examples were built, and only 1 was actually functional. It took Ford only six months from the original computer designs to the finished show car. The functional concept is still...
concept, can be unlocked as well. The game features extensive multi-player options including two to eight players over a LAN, by modem or serial connection and with split-screen racing.
In a single race the player selects the opposing car, while all cars compete in a tournament and at the start of a knockout race. There is also two playing styles—arcade or simulation. Arcade mode improves handling while simulation mode is intended to provide more realism. The number of laps can be chosen from two, four or six. Automatic or manual transmission as well car paint color are selectable in all game types.
A tournament race involves playing all tracks in order with the starting track able to be selected. Only after successfully completing a tournament in first place can knockout races can be played. Knockout races involve racing two laps over each of the six tracks with a number of opponents. These disqualification races always start on the easiest circuit and continue through each map, with the player who finishes last being eliminated after each race. After advancing through all the tracks another circuit is revealed. Monolithic Studios can then only be played by completing all knockout races first.
Special features
As in the original Need for Speed, the game features detailed specifications, history, and audio commentaries on each vehicle. The largest feature are several full motion video (FMVFMV
FMV may refer to:*Full motion video, Video sequences in computer games and video games*Fair market value, an estimate of the market value of a property*For Maximum Value , Kroger supermarket's store brand...
) segments for each of the cars, several of them being the professional produced videos for the concept vehicles. Additionally, each vehicle interior could be viewed through genuine photographs taken in a 360 degree panoramic view. This marks the last time such extravagant features are to be found in the Need for Speed series as future games render any material completely in 3D.
It is also possible to enter a number of codes at the start menu which if entered correctly, would make a swooshing noise. These codes replaced the chosen car with a vehicle from the games backdrop traffic. These vehicles could then be raced instead and had more realistic performance. Background vehicles included a Volkswagen Beetle
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...
, Volkswagen Variant, Mazda MX5, Jeep Comanche
Jeep Comanche
The Jeep Comanche is a pickup truck version of the Cherokee compact SUV that was produced from 1985 to 1992. Rear wheel and four-wheel drive models were available, as well as two cargo box lengths of six-feet or seven-feet .-Introduction:During the mid-1980s, according to AMC Chairman W...
, Volkswagen Transporter
Volkswagen Transporter
The Volkswagen Transporter, based on the Volkswagen Group's T platform, now in its fifth generation, refers to a series of vans produced over 60 years and marketed worldwide....
, Yellow School Bus
School bus
A school bus is a type of bus designed and manufactured for student transport: carrying children and teenagers to and from school and school events...
, Citroën 2CV
Citroën 2CV
The Citroën 2CV |tax horsepower]]”) was an economy car produced by the French automaker Citroën between 1948 and 1990. It was technologically advanced and innovative, but with uncompromisingly utilitarian unconventional looks, and deceptively simple Bauhaus inspired bodywork, that belied the sheer...
, Jeep YJ, Toyota Landcruiser, Audi 100 Quattro, two Unimog
Unimog
Unimog is a range of multi-purpose auto four wheel drive medium trucks produced by Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler AG. The name Unimog is pronounced in German and is an acronym for the German "UNIversal-MOtor-Gerät", Gerät being the German word for machine or device...
s, BMW 520i, Mercedes-Benz SL 500, and Volvo 850 R station wagon.You could also drive various parts of the scenery including a large green T-rex, a little wooden kiosk and a western style wagon. The scenery items made no engine noise but would always make a tire screech when moving off the start line.
Development
Need for Speed II was developed by EA CanadaEA Canada
EA Canada is a video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened in January 1983 and is EA's largest and oldest studio...
. The lead programmer for the game was Laurent Ancessi with Wei Shoong Teh and Brad Gour as senior programmers. To ensure the physics of fast car handling and performance were as accurate as possible the programmers collaborated with the manufactures of each vehicle.
Music
As does its predecessor, the section of music present in Need for Speed II consists of both instrumental "rockRock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
" and "techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
" music, but with the game's main menu exclusively playing techno music, both featuring a soundtrack by Romolo Di Prisco
Rom Di Prisco
Rom Di Prisco is a classically trained composer and producer. He has provided music for over 30 video games, including Unreal Tournament 3, SSX Tricky, Spy Hunter 2, and more notably, the Need for Speed series...
. The game's racing music are composed in a way that each two musical tracks are best played in specific racing tracks, using specific musical instruments and songs relative to the track's location alongside rock and techno musical instruments. The game also allows the player to enable what is known as "interactive music," which allows the game to play specific break
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....
s when the player is driving along a specific portion of a racing track. The feature is also programmed to react to the player crashing, driving slowly, or leading from a pack of racers.
These traits are short lived in the initial portion of the series, with only its Special Edition and its successor, Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit, released in Japan as Over Drivin' III: Hot Pursuit, is a 1998 racing video game, developed by Electronic Arts Canada and published by Electronic Arts. It is the third major title in the Need for Speed series, significantly incorporating police pursuits as a major...
(1998), reusing these features. Only with the release of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
-Development:Different versions of the game were produced for each game platform; the Xbox, GameCube and PC versions were developed in EA Seattle, a subsidiary of EA Canada, while the PS2 version was developed by EA Black Box in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. Also, it did not feature a career mode...
(2002) were both rock and electronic music featured in the play list again, while interactive music was only reintroduced to a limited extent with the release of Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Need for Speed: Most Wanted is a racing video game developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. It is the tenth installment in the Need for Speed series. The game features street racing-oriented game play, with certain customization options from the Need for Speed: Underground series...
(2005), which extensively uses the feature in police pursuits, the music reacting to the heat level the player is currently in, and the player hiding or being arrested. Need for Speed: Carbon
Need for Speed: Carbon
Need for Speed: Carbon, also known as NFS Carbon or NFSC, is an Electronic Arts video game belonging to the Need for Speed series. Released in 2006, it is the tenth installment, preceded by Need for Speed: Most Wanted, succeeded by Need for Speed: ProStreet in release order and succeeded by Need...
(2006) features interactive music additionally in canyon races, reacting to whether the player is in the lead, or if the player wins or rams through a guard rail and falls over the edge of the road.
Reception
Most reviews were favourable although some thought the game wasn't as fun as the first game in the series. A GameSpotGameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
reviewer liked the game but felt most of the roads were "outrageous" and that the cars would be unfamiliar to many. An Adrenaline Vault review described the game as a "good overall driving experience" with easy installation, realistic sound effects and both an excellent interface and music. Another review like the crisper graphics, smoother animation, rich colors and increased detail compared to the original.
Criticism of the game stemmed from its being easier to play and therefore less realistic than its predecessor. An IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
review felt the game was not as good as the original. Some reviewers felt the steering was a little "jerky," and one went as far as to describe the graphical details as poor. Another issue was that the game required a fast computer at the time, to display the graphics at the highest setting. A reviewer for Computer and Video Games
Computer and video games
A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of...
didn't appreciate the combination of super realist cars being driven on fantasy tracks and thought that the crashes "look and feel wrong".
Special Edition
Released on November 6, 1997 in the United States and February 2, 1998 in Japan and Europe, the special edition of NFS II includes one extra trackRace track
A race track is a purpose-built facility for racing of animals , automobiles, motorcycles or athletes. A race track may also feature grandstands or concourses. Some motorsport tracks are called speedways.A racetrack is a permanent facility or building...
, four extra cars
CARS
Cars, or automobiles, motor cars, are wheeled motor vehicles used for transporting passengers.Cars or CARS may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Cars , a Disney/Pixar film series...
, three bonus cars
CARS
Cars, or automobiles, motor cars, are wheeled motor vehicles used for transporting passengers.Cars or CARS may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Cars , a Disney/Pixar film series...
, a new driving style called "wild
Wild
The term wild generally refers to:* Wildlife, all non-domesticated plants, animals, and other organisms* Wilderness or Wilderness area, a natural environment on Earth* Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamedWild may also refer to:...
", and 3dfx
3dfx
3dfx Interactive was a company that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units and, later, graphics cards. It was a pioneer in the field for several years in the late 1990s until 2000 when it underwent one of the most high-profile demises in the history of the PC industry...
Glide
Glide API
Glide is a 3D graphics API developed by 3dfx Interactive for their Voodoo Graphics 3D accelerator cards. Although it originally started as a proprietary API, it was later open sourced by 3dfx. It was dedicated to gaming performance, supporting geometry and texture mapping primarily, in data...
hardware-acceleration support. These new features add up to a substantially improved game.
Because the Voodoo Graphics and the Voodoo Rush were the only 3dfx cards available at the time of the game's release, and because Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
did not future-proof the game's installer, later 3dfx graphics card models such as the Voodoo 2 are not detected during the NFS II SE installation
Installation (computer programs)
Installation of a program is the act of putting the program onto a computer system so that it can be executed....
process (a pop-up will confirm 3dfx detection). Subsequently, the installer doesn't copy from the disk the secondary version of the program with 3D acceleration. This problem is easily solved by manually copying and running the alternate executable file. Glide wrappers
Adapter pattern
In computer programming, the adapter pattern is a design pattern that translates one interface for a class into a compatible interface...
are available for non-3DFX graphics
Graphics
Graphics are visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings, Line Art, graphs, diagrams, typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawings,or...
cards so that modern computers can run the game with hardware-acceleration. Several Glide wrappers with support for the game are dgvoodoo and Zeckensack's Glide wrapper.
Besides smoothing out the in-game textures, the 3dfx version of the game also features additional visual effects not found in the software version, such as car reflections, weather, improved fog, shading, improved skybox
Skybox (video games)
A skybox is a method of creating backgrounds to make a computer and video games level look bigger than it really is. When a skybox is used, the level is enclosed in a cuboid; and the sky, distant mountains, distant buildings, and other unreachable objects are projected onto the cube's faces , thus...
rendering and transparent in-game menu overlay featuring a rotating view around the player's car. These visual enhancements are standard in both the software and hardware accelerated versions of Hot Pursuit, High Stakes, Porsche Unleashed and Hot Pursuit 2.
External links
- WineWine (software)Wine is a free software application that aims to allow computer programs written for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems. Wine also provides a software library, known as Winelib, against which developers can compile Windows applications to help port them to Unix-like...
Application Database on Need for Speed II