Mike Bantick
Saturday, 31 January 2009 09:10
Entertainment
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One-on-one racers are a different story, no closed in streets here, just a simple goal of getting ahead of your competitor, either for a set time interval (say, 75 seconds) or gaining a significant lead (say, 300 metres).
The best thing about NFSU is its driving model forgiveness. Unlike Midnight Club:LA, a Need For Speeder can plough head on into a prime mover, bounce off and still have the grunt to win the mission. In fact, the majority of NFSU could be considered a little easy overall.
The one-on-one racing has a major flaw (apart from the automatic view selection that occurs in these missions) that increases the ease of the game: Pull ahead of a competitor early in the piece, and rather than duke it out down the highway hoping to stay in the lead. Simply pull a hand break turn and head back were you come from. By the time the AI works it all out, it is mission over.
Still these missions are the meat and potatoes enabling the hording of cash, for the missions to come.
Earned cash can be splurged on the usual array of super vehicles. 55 cars divided into American, Japanese and European sections and tiered from 1 to 4. No matter how much cash you earn, you won’t be able to pick up a tier 1 Bugatti Veyron to live out your Jeremy Clarkson dreams(!), until your wheelman rep is significant.
Wheelman Rep also provides added skill increases, randomly bumping up stats for engine, breaks, nitrous, tires and so on. There are also bonuses to the amount of money and rep that can be earned.
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