Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed

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.

The Good
Naturally, what led me to buy the game were the screenshots on the box, but it turns out the gameplay was very enjoyable too. There are two special modes, Evolution and Factory Driver, that allow the player to grow and be rewarded. A lot more games are picking up on this now to extend gameplay past the regular arcade mode.

In fact, the driving in NFSPU is more simulation than arcade compared to the previous NFS games. Some will scoff at that, but I enjoyed it. It made the Porsche driving experience more realistic, especially feeling the immense driving difference between a 356 and a 959. Old cars wobble and powerslide, and new cars growl with power. Each car is very customizable with engine/body parts and colors/decals.

The scenery on each of the ten or so tracks is nice, ranging from twisty forest paths to city speedways to snow-capped mountains. The driving controls make a fair amount of sense, and the gauge display is very customizable depending on how much or little you want on-screen.

The Bad
When you first play the evolution mode, it's a great challenge, but after a few plays, you realize you can just buy and sell used cars for profit, and keep racing races you easily run, to earn money, and it starts becoming trivial. Some of the factory driver missions take a huge amount of practice, and it can be frustrating trying to do the same spin over and over until the game decides you did it right.

The menus cannot be controlled with the arrow keys, and so you're caught shifting between mouse and keyboard when you pause the game mid-race.

There are a whole ton of 356 and 911 models in the game, but some are entirely missing from the game, like the 928, 924, and 968. Some of the missing cars are downloadable from the EA web/ftp site, but you can't drive them in factory or evolution mode.

The Bottom Line
Porsche fans will naturally eat this game up, as it covers 50 years of Porsche history in pictures, videos, and of course in the game itself. Even though it's in the Need For Speed series, and the newer cars can get quite fast, the game is more about driving than speed, and learning to appreciate the handling of each car... even the cheap little 914. Even after four years, you can still find this game new in the $10 bargain bins, which is a testament to its long-lasting playability and enjoyment.