Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed

The Good
I must say that when I started playing this game I thought I'd be over it in about an hour. But I got so hooked I went out and bought a Playstation style control.

The game has so much depth that after playing every night for a week I was only just over half way through it.

The graphics are great, they give a really good arcade feel but still look detailed enough to make you notice new things next to the track every time you race. The level of detail on each car is to the extreme. Every part of the car is noted, from the leather interior to the air intakes in front of the front and rear wheels.

For someone who isn't really into Porsche I would say that the addictive factor for this game is massive.

The Bad
180 reverse. If I am ever asked to do this again I will scream. As much as I love the game this one almost had me give up. Not to give everything away, but when you are asked to do a 180 in to reverse into 180 you will know what I mean.

I found the police car AI to be a let down. I don't really understand why they are there in career mode. The cops should try to pull you over or not be in the game at all. The spoil tactics used by the cops would have been less of a pain if the cops didn't have cars with about 100 more horses then yours.

The handling of some cars left me feeling about confused. If a Porsche is so high performance then how can you lose the back end doing 250KM round a long right hand sweeper? But as I've never driven that fast or a Porsche I can't compare the attempt at "realism".

Where's the Ferrari?

The Bottom Line
Best arcade game I've ever played.

The Good
Excellent driving model, different cars feel different, the setup changes do make a difference, multi-pathed courses, factory driving mission-based challenges, plenty of tournaments to play, decent online play.

The Bad
Car's handling is slightly exaggerated, inability to create your own missions or tournaments, not enough difference in the parts, money too easy to come by, limited number of tracks, online play could be easier to configure, limited to only Porsches, lack of hot pursuit mode.

The Bottom Line
Porsche Unleashed is the best Need for Speed Up to date. With 80 different models of Porsches (most are minor variants though) from the 356 to the 200 996-style 911 Turbo, and plenty of different tracks, the sim provides many many races. Each of the cars handle differently, and the two modes, factory driver and evolution are a lot of fun making through. However, several problems prevent it from being a true classic. Lack of editor prevents true longevity, and the Porsche-only focus turns off other exoticar fans. Still, this is one of the best driving games on the market. Don't miss it if you like driving games.

The Good
The vehicle amount is quite big, 80 cars without downloadable cars, but there are more when you got to the official website at the time of release. I enjoyed the track layout and missions add to the replay value. The music was very usual for EA, mix of funky songs in between but then it drops from good to absolutely terrible, that I got stretched like wire when I hear a bad song here. Thankfully you can manage the playlist in the option menu The tracks are based around Europe, France and Germany. There are also five circuits around Monte Carlo (though all five circuits are in night). Each track has its own time of day too, but it is static. There are details here and there which range from rain to animated people. For example in Normandie you can see a old woman sitting on a chair, and a man cleanning the junk on the floor. Engines sound well, horns sound like they should, background noises like rain, animals etc. There are extras like slides, videos and showcases for each car.

The Bad
Tracks are very limited, lack of custom tournaments, driver models are limited, and have about four models each. Some Factory Driver missions are nearly hard to beat. The AI seems to have catchup but it annoys me alot. Sometimes the vehicles spin out of control, so you lose the pack very often and you will keep an eye for the damage meter.

The Bottom Line
It is the best of the series, it is simulation like but looks arcadey. Get it in any way you can and enjoy it. Trust me.