Need for Speed II: Special Edition (PC, 1997)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8.5 Control-6.5*/7.5** Challenge-5.5#/8* Story-N/A
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-6#/8.5* Fun-7#/7.5/8!/6.5* Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7.5
**Wild physics
*Tournament mode
!2-player
#Single races on beginner (most tracks)
+
2-player split-screen, network, online (modem) or serial link play
More varied tracks with more ramps (including some optional silly jumps to the side of the road), some loose obstacles to run into and the occasional alternate path although it's usually right next to the main one
Two settings for AI difficulty (beginner or advanced) - can also choose which class of cars are picked from (A-C - added in SE) or a single opponent car
Can get a spoken description of each track along with the course map in the menu (can't study it in detail by looking at the 3D model though). These are also included for the car showcase menu
Control config
Various contemporary licensed supercars (Jaguar XJ220, McLaren F1, Ferrari F50, Ford GT90, etc; 15 in total (SE version) including the three unlockable bonus cars)
Three racing styles - wild (more over the top physics+easier handbrake turns and power-sliding/drifting), arcade or simulation. See below for more info, however the physics are still pretty over the top in Simulation mode
Three game modes: Single race, tournament and the new knockout mode (the racer placing last is eliminated after each race)
Good sense of speed
Pretty good draw distance and solid framerate
Decent weather effects (rain, snow?) and some other stuff like the lava in the Last Resort track, Airplane and train in the background and bug splattering on the windshield (weird how it happens in TP view though)
Some car customization: 16 different colors for each car, 4 tuning settings (front and rear downforce (how much you want to pin the car down to the ground which makes it easier to turn but sacrifices speed (useful for some tracks like Mystic Peaks) - more downforce at the rear prevents oversteering), front or rear brake bias - setting it to the Rear makes the car tend to oversteer while braking and setting it to the Front makes it tend to understeer, gear ratios (Tall will slightly increase acceleration with some sacrifice in top speed while setting it to Short will increase acceleration more but with a bigger penalty to top speed; can also be useful for twisty tracks), )
Can powerslide using the handbrake (easer in Wild mode)
8 courses including the SE track (vaguely imitating real world locations from all over the globe here)
Auto or manual transmission toggle
Good FMV intro (very 90s)
Can drive a huge T-Rex model, a log, a school bus or a limousine
Course mini-map in-game (a full map toggle would've been good before learning the tracks)
Replay mode with cinematic camera
Two hidden shortcuts (pacific spirit track and north country, could've had one or two more)
Rearview mirror
Can drive in any direction (the first had a fixed camera)
Traffic toggle (but you can't use it in tournament mode nor when racing against a full grid of opponents)
Some fun cheats (typed at the main menu: pioneer – makes all cars faster better handling, roadrage – an opponent car in front of you will crash when you use the horn, hold N during race loading for night mode - can't use it in 3DFX mode though)
Special Edition:
"Last Resort" track added (one of the better ones)
Three extra cars (and all regular cars are sorted into three classes) and three unlockable bonus cars
The driving style called "Wild"
3DFX Glide hardware acceleration support
Backwards and mirrored tracks
Personal statistics
Black color for the cars
A couple of new cheat codes (rainbow car and sky, cows replace dust clouds)
+/-
Save feature (multiple nameable slots, between races in tournament mode) however it's hidden in the options menu in the main menu only so saving and loading is a bit slow
Forgiving about knocking into other cars so it can be beneficial for you
Bonus cars are not allowed for use in Tournament or Knockout modes, and aren't used by AI opponents
9 courses including the unlockable Monolithic Studios one (Diddy Kong Racing has 20 (!), Mario Kart 64 has 16, Gran Turismo has 11, Moto Racer 1 (PS1) has 10, Carmageddon 1 has 9), but including backwards and mirrored ones it's 27
"Interactive" music mode - plays a different track segment at a certain part of a racing track - while they switch on beat the transitions can still be jarring
Advanced is quite a bit harder than beginner - no intermediate mode
Can't drive off road at all on some tracks
-
Colliding with or just touching other cars (or certain walls or obstacles) rarely goes well with Arcade physics, making races partially luck-based. A bit less crazy with Simulation physics but then crashes very rarely put you downside up or make you keep rolling/spinning which is the only time that the game automatically puts you back on track, so crashes can get really drawn out and tedious instead. Oddly enough, your car feels much more stable/grounded with Wild physics even on advanced difficulty
Various annoying Tournament mode limitations (can't play on Beginner, no Wild physics, can't reduce the number of laps to 2 or 3, can only select between a few cars each race and you can't just stick with the same car throughout the tournament, can't access car settings, can't restart a race after starting it - only quit meaning you skip it and don't get the points, fewer colors to choose from for the cars - sometimes none!)
Overly random crash consequences in Arcade style - makes the time it takes for the game to automatically put you back into the race overly random
No analog controller support? (might be possible but it didn't sense the one I have, makes steering stiffer)
Some invisible walls where there really shouldn't be
Trial & error (learning the tracks, some obstacles look loose but aren't, sometimes glitchy feeling physics where it seems like you shouldn't have crashed but did, mystic peaks especially)
Not great physics when scraping against walls - movement gets kind of choppy and you lose quite a bit of speed
Somewhat bland color shading in 3DFX mode
No car damage
No police chases (there is a SE cheat that makes opponents follow you if in front of them but it's not the same)
Can only access the car tuning settings in Simulation style
Minor pop-in
Easy and kind of boring proving grounds track (just use the McLaren)
The deep zig zag part of north country (and too many tight turns in general). Too many tight turns and ill placed ramps in Mystic Peaks
Dated looking 2D clouds when driving on dirt or braking as well as 2D/paper cutout trees
Can't look at the car models in the menu - just a real-life photo of the car
Special Edition:
Can only race against either 1 or 7 other cars in single race mode here rather than 1 or 11
No in-car view in 3DFX mode supposedly, but it worked for me (downloaded a cracked version for Win10)
Notes:
-Simulation mode (GFAQs guide description): Turning and braking will cause the car to understeer rather than drift or power-slide. Handbrake turns will cause the car to skid sideways quite fast and this is quite hard to keep control of. If you use the handbrake properly, you can pull off power-slides.
Arcade (GFAQs guide description): The cars will accelerate a lot faster, reaching their top speeds in about half the time. They also turn a lot better, probably twice as good as they would in simulation. Handbrake turns don’t skid you sideways - instead they seem to make you power-slide sideways on all 4 wheels while you’re still moving forward and when this happens, you probably won't be able to stop before hitting something. It is also easier to go airborne when you hit something, especially oncoming cars.
Wild (GFAQs guide description): The acceleration, handling and braking are similar to arcade mode. Handbrake turns are easiest to control here, and you are able to power-slide through corners without too much effort. Hitting other cars seems to cause more mayhem.
-hollywood - obtain the Monolithic Studios bonus track
Bugs:
-Can sometimes lose all momentum in an instant in some tracks like North Country, or crash in a glitchy way for seemingly no reason (one or two parts of Mystic Peaks and a couple more tracks - rarely happens though)
-Occasionally crashes and can freeze when exiting it (Windows 10 - used alt+f4 to fix the latter)
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-6#/8.5* Fun-7#/7.5/8!/6.5* Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7.5
**Wild physics
*Tournament mode
!2-player
#Single races on beginner (most tracks)
+
2-player split-screen, network, online (modem) or serial link play
More varied tracks with more ramps (including some optional silly jumps to the side of the road), some loose obstacles to run into and the occasional alternate path although it's usually right next to the main one
Two settings for AI difficulty (beginner or advanced) - can also choose which class of cars are picked from (A-C - added in SE) or a single opponent car
Can get a spoken description of each track along with the course map in the menu (can't study it in detail by looking at the 3D model though). These are also included for the car showcase menu
Control config
Various contemporary licensed supercars (Jaguar XJ220, McLaren F1, Ferrari F50, Ford GT90, etc; 15 in total (SE version) including the three unlockable bonus cars)
Three racing styles - wild (more over the top physics+easier handbrake turns and power-sliding/drifting), arcade or simulation. See below for more info, however the physics are still pretty over the top in Simulation mode
Three game modes: Single race, tournament and the new knockout mode (the racer placing last is eliminated after each race)
Good sense of speed
Pretty good draw distance and solid framerate
Decent weather effects (rain, snow?) and some other stuff like the lava in the Last Resort track, Airplane and train in the background and bug splattering on the windshield (weird how it happens in TP view though)
Some car customization: 16 different colors for each car, 4 tuning settings (front and rear downforce (how much you want to pin the car down to the ground which makes it easier to turn but sacrifices speed (useful for some tracks like Mystic Peaks) - more downforce at the rear prevents oversteering), front or rear brake bias - setting it to the Rear makes the car tend to oversteer while braking and setting it to the Front makes it tend to understeer, gear ratios (Tall will slightly increase acceleration with some sacrifice in top speed while setting it to Short will increase acceleration more but with a bigger penalty to top speed; can also be useful for twisty tracks), )
Can powerslide using the handbrake (easer in Wild mode)
8 courses including the SE track (vaguely imitating real world locations from all over the globe here)
Auto or manual transmission toggle
Good FMV intro (very 90s)
Can drive a huge T-Rex model, a log, a school bus or a limousine
Course mini-map in-game (a full map toggle would've been good before learning the tracks)
Replay mode with cinematic camera
Two hidden shortcuts (pacific spirit track and north country, could've had one or two more)
Rearview mirror
Can drive in any direction (the first had a fixed camera)
Traffic toggle (but you can't use it in tournament mode nor when racing against a full grid of opponents)
Some fun cheats (typed at the main menu: pioneer – makes all cars faster better handling, roadrage – an opponent car in front of you will crash when you use the horn, hold N during race loading for night mode - can't use it in 3DFX mode though)
Special Edition:
"Last Resort" track added (one of the better ones)
Three extra cars (and all regular cars are sorted into three classes) and three unlockable bonus cars
The driving style called "Wild"
3DFX Glide hardware acceleration support
Backwards and mirrored tracks
Personal statistics
Black color for the cars
A couple of new cheat codes (rainbow car and sky, cows replace dust clouds)
+/-
Save feature (multiple nameable slots, between races in tournament mode) however it's hidden in the options menu in the main menu only so saving and loading is a bit slow
Forgiving about knocking into other cars so it can be beneficial for you
Bonus cars are not allowed for use in Tournament or Knockout modes, and aren't used by AI opponents
9 courses including the unlockable Monolithic Studios one (Diddy Kong Racing has 20 (!), Mario Kart 64 has 16, Gran Turismo has 11, Moto Racer 1 (PS1) has 10, Carmageddon 1 has 9), but including backwards and mirrored ones it's 27
"Interactive" music mode - plays a different track segment at a certain part of a racing track - while they switch on beat the transitions can still be jarring
Advanced is quite a bit harder than beginner - no intermediate mode
Can't drive off road at all on some tracks
-
Colliding with or just touching other cars (or certain walls or obstacles) rarely goes well with Arcade physics, making races partially luck-based. A bit less crazy with Simulation physics but then crashes very rarely put you downside up or make you keep rolling/spinning which is the only time that the game automatically puts you back on track, so crashes can get really drawn out and tedious instead. Oddly enough, your car feels much more stable/grounded with Wild physics even on advanced difficulty
Various annoying Tournament mode limitations (can't play on Beginner, no Wild physics, can't reduce the number of laps to 2 or 3, can only select between a few cars each race and you can't just stick with the same car throughout the tournament, can't access car settings, can't restart a race after starting it - only quit meaning you skip it and don't get the points, fewer colors to choose from for the cars - sometimes none!)
Overly random crash consequences in Arcade style - makes the time it takes for the game to automatically put you back into the race overly random
No analog controller support? (might be possible but it didn't sense the one I have, makes steering stiffer)
Some invisible walls where there really shouldn't be
Trial & error (learning the tracks, some obstacles look loose but aren't, sometimes glitchy feeling physics where it seems like you shouldn't have crashed but did, mystic peaks especially)
Not great physics when scraping against walls - movement gets kind of choppy and you lose quite a bit of speed
Somewhat bland color shading in 3DFX mode
No car damage
No police chases (there is a SE cheat that makes opponents follow you if in front of them but it's not the same)
Can only access the car tuning settings in Simulation style
Minor pop-in
Easy and kind of boring proving grounds track (just use the McLaren)
The deep zig zag part of north country (and too many tight turns in general). Too many tight turns and ill placed ramps in Mystic Peaks
Dated looking 2D clouds when driving on dirt or braking as well as 2D/paper cutout trees
Can't look at the car models in the menu - just a real-life photo of the car
Special Edition:
Can only race against either 1 or 7 other cars in single race mode here rather than 1 or 11
No in-car view in 3DFX mode supposedly, but it worked for me (downloaded a cracked version for Win10)
Notes:
-Simulation mode (GFAQs guide description): Turning and braking will cause the car to understeer rather than drift or power-slide. Handbrake turns will cause the car to skid sideways quite fast and this is quite hard to keep control of. If you use the handbrake properly, you can pull off power-slides.
Arcade (GFAQs guide description): The cars will accelerate a lot faster, reaching their top speeds in about half the time. They also turn a lot better, probably twice as good as they would in simulation. Handbrake turns don’t skid you sideways - instead they seem to make you power-slide sideways on all 4 wheels while you’re still moving forward and when this happens, you probably won't be able to stop before hitting something. It is also easier to go airborne when you hit something, especially oncoming cars.
Wild (GFAQs guide description): The acceleration, handling and braking are similar to arcade mode. Handbrake turns are easiest to control here, and you are able to power-slide through corners without too much effort. Hitting other cars seems to cause more mayhem.
-hollywood - obtain the Monolithic Studios bonus track
Bugs:
-Can sometimes lose all momentum in an instant in some tracks like North Country, or crash in a glitchy way for seemingly no reason (one or two parts of Mystic Peaks and a couple more tracks - rarely happens though)
-Occasionally crashes and can freeze when exiting it (Windows 10 - used alt+f4 to fix the latter)