Need for Speed Carbon - First Screenshots

They need to take a real hard look at nfs1 again. The series has veered way too far off into the Too Quick to get Angrytm scene. It's really quite a shame that they are so far removed from their roots.

{anxiously awaiting a resurection of the original nfs}
 
fearsomepirate said:
At long last, another Need for Speed game.

:LOL: Has it been 3 months already? My, howw the time flies!

It does't look great, we'll be stuck with the PS2/XBOX ports for quite a while unfortunately.
 
Man, the first Need for Speed on 3DO (I think that was the first? Back when Road and Track were still apart of it!) was awesome. I remember playing the hell out of that game...

Ever since they dropped the Road and Track tag the games have gone south.
 
Bobbler said:
Man, the first Need for Speed on 3DO (I think that was the first? Back when Road and Track were still apart of it!) was awesome. I remember playing the hell out of that game...

Ever since they dropped the Road and Track tag the games have gone south.


Agreed! I don't know how much of an influence Road & Track had on the initial game on 3d0/ps1 but it made the overall package PERFECT. The details about the cars with the recorded voice rambling on giving you the sales pitch ... Beautiful. I actually had that recorded and burned onto a cd and dropped it into my rx-7's cd changer!

Chef=geek .. I know :)

There wasn't much better than cruising around the beautiful landscapes. No looping "tracks", no blatently scripted traffic. And I don't know how realistic the physics actually were in that game, but man I don't recall having to many wrecks result in the same animation. It's a shame this can't be said for most racers on the market 10 years later.

The invisable wall sucked but it was an acceptable limitation for everything else they got right in that game for the time.

Good times - good times :cool:
 
Alstrong said:
looks like xbox quality (sans AA of course). *shrug*

You need to maximize the screenshots...many times they display shrunken/scaled to fit the screen space available in your browser. They have AA applied...too much in my opinion. They might be brushed up PR shots.
 
ROG27 said:
You need to maximize the screenshots...many times they display shrunken/scaled to fit the screen space available in your browser. They have AA applied...too much in my opinion. They might be brushed up PR shots.


I did see them in full size. The lighting engine and materials engine don't give me any wow impression that PGR3 gave.
 
The thing I noticed in the trailer which was something far beyond I had ever seen done in realtime is the cars reflecting off of and lighting each other.
 
TheChefO said:
They need to take a real hard look at nfs1 again. The series has veered way too far off into the Too Quick to get Angrytm scene. It's really quite a shame that they are so far removed from their roots.

{anxiously awaiting a resurection of the original nfs}

:oops: *thumbs up* I really thought I was one of the only people that still appreciates the original NFS. There was nothing like driving the Diablo VT up the mountain track. I also loved the fact that they weren't circuits, but rather routes... And that mountain track sure had it - great twists right up to the 3rd part of the mountain track where snow made out most of the surroundings. Awesome game. The adrenaline I had playing it was superior to any GT game in anyway. :-/

Gran Turismo engine + 60 fps + NFS track kind of tracks + realistic damage + traffic + NFS1 cops (not overdone) == ultimate driving game ever IMO.
 
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Phil said:
:oops: *thumbs up* I really thought I was one of the only people that still appreciates the original NFS. There was nothing like driving the Diablo VT up the mountain track. I also loved the fact that they weren't circuits, but rather routes... And that mountain track sure had it - great twists right up to the 3rd part of the mountain track where snow made out most of the surroundings. Awesome game. The adrenaline I had playing it was superior to any GT game in anyway. :-/

Gran Turismo engine + 60 fps + NFS track kind of tracks + realistic damage + traffic + NFS1 cops (not overdone) == ultimate driving game ever IMO.

Agreed 100%

Honestly the only game that has since sparked some of the same excitement I had for nfs1 was burnout 3 (I never played 1 or 2) but it was obviously slanted in a very different direction. Nfs saw a small resurgance in Hot Pursuit as the game was such a leap over the previous encarnation but it still did not have the same feel as nfs1. Part of it as Phil said was the loop tracks instead of the start/stop routes of nfs.

Phil - Are you with me on the physics of nfs1? From what I remember they were really really good. I don't know what they did to get that level of physics but man it was fun. I remember there was one track that was one of the loop ones that had a hill off on the left side of the track to where if you hit it just right and handbraked it you could spin loop a diablo into the invisible wall the equivilant of 60+ feet in the air! Crazy races in that game man ... The nice thing was they were never the same. The only thing that limited it at the time was the resolution. I even built a arcade style car cabinet after hacking up my madcats race wheel into it and bought a car seat from a junk yard to drop into it. The setup was beautiful - right down to the shifter beside the seat (2 gears!) If it only had FF ...

I hoped the sequel would just add to what was already a great experience but they killed it with the "improved" loop tracks instead of routes and removed the R&T and voice overs and Car details and the thing just felt unfinished. Although the FF was nice on the pc!

Man that game needs a talented developer to take a look at it and sell the concept to a publisher to do the game justice. In my book there is nothing to this day that comes close. I was hoping for TDU but I don't think I'm going to get my hopes up for that just yet.
 
TheChefO said:
Phil - Are you with me on the physics of nfs1? From what I remember they were really really good. I don't know what they did to get that level of physics but man it was fun. I remember there was one track that was one of the loop ones that had a hill off on the left side of the track to where if you hit it just right and handbraked it you could spin loop a diablo into the invisible wall the equivilant of 60+ feet in the air! Crazy races in that game man ... The nice thing was they were never the same. The only thing that limited it at the time was the resolution. I even built a arcade style car cabinet after hacking up my madcats race wheel into it and bought a car seat from a junk yard to drop into it. The setup was beautiful - right down to the shifter beside the seat (2 gears!) If it only had FF ...

Definately - I can't really comment on how accurate the physics model was in the original NFS game, but the perceived realism to the way the cars reacted and how they felt like to drive in the game is still better than most racing games I've played lately. It definately felt more real than any other NFS game after it - or well, the only game that came close to the realism factor was "high stakes" (aka NFS4 I think) on PS1. It was a shame that they halfed the framerate though, but it felt quite solid overall. The circular tracks spoilt the fun somewhat though and none of the tracks really compared to the ones found in the original NFS. I remember my favorite track to be the mountain one - the altitude changes, the twists - it just felt right. My other favorite track was the one with the ocean. What I also liked about the original NFS was that the cops weren't overdone in any silly way - their presence was kinda enough to put the heat on and still came across as quite realistic. The newer ones (NFS3+) just don't do it for me anymore unfortunately... the whole helicopter thing, 4+ cops chasing you... it's fun, but it just doesn't feel like a proper racing game anymore. IMO my dream racer should stay focused on the cars and have the cops as a nice addition to put on some pressure, but nothing too exagerated. Oh, and I love the fact that the very first NFS game (on PC) had the full cockpits of the car... that really made a nice difference as well.

Ah good times, good times... :D

BTW; IMO this is the area where the GT series goes wrong: The realism in the GT games is awesome together with the Logitech wheel... but driving on those ultra wide and circular tracks just isn't all that exciting. The experience and adrenaline of the original NFS was better to it in every way. I like Burnout... I like it a lot, but IMO, it's turning too much into a NFS clone of the new age and I still prefer to drive original untouched super-sportscars rather than no-name bling bling tuned ones. All IMO of course.
 
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