Topic: REVIEWS: Need for Speed: Most Wanted

[Pryopizm]

Linky linky.  Let me know what you think.

[Nephilim]

Pretty harsh review, I believe is worth more then 6.5
Then again I own the pc version and not the gamecube one (Im not taking in account online play cause it sucks)

[Pryopizm]

Everyone has that one thing that really irks them in a game, mine is the rubber band effect, but if you can get past it, then it should be fine.  But, as you can see, I really hate it.  And I really was torn writing this review, but I couldn't justify to myself giving it a higher score.  And that's really what it comes down to in the end.

By the way, what do you use as your controller when playing it on your PC?

[Nephilim]

I use my keyboard
Alt -accurate, X-nitro, Z-skip song and Arrows for turning

[Pryopizm]

Since I can't respond to my PGC email without giving away my personal email, I'll use this as a forum, and hopefully the original writer will see this:

Quote
Hi Stan,
Noticed this in your review "Let’s clear up a few things. Rubber band AI is
not good. It’s been done to death. The time has passed for such laziness in
programming. When you’re going top speed and hitting nitro for a speed boost
in a max-tuned car, and a computer opponent still passes you on a
straightaway without even using nitro, then there’s something horribly
wrong. "


 I've only played the PC version of that game but there is no "rubber
banding" on the PC (there definitely has been a problem with this on older
NFS games)  What you do have (once again, PC only, I dont know the GC one)
though is quasi-realistic simulation of acceleration... and even a very very
powerful car takes a long time to accelerate to 200 mph or whatever EA is
saying the car can do.  So the above situation makes a lot of sense if
you're on a straightaway but you hit some crap like a light post on the
curve coming into it (happens all the time), the game knocks off a bunch of
your speed.  It's easy to see that it isnt rubber banding on the PC though
because it's fully possible to finish 20 + seconds ahead of the AI.   That
TOTALLY wasn't possible in the days of rubber banding (stopped with
Underground 2 on the PC) as you would be way the *radio edit* ahead and you'd
actually see the AI's arrows teleport on the map.

Sorry if this sounds rabid-fanboyish, just though I'd weigh in my 2 cents.

-Thanks,
Matt Galbraith

   Not to say that game isn't horribly unfair... the way it USUALLY gets
you though is that the AI doesnt crash if it isn't viisble.  So catching up
BLOWS because you have the added stress of catch up and you can't hit a
single thing.</small>

This was an excellent letter, and definitely doesn't seem fanboyish at all.  While both you and DeadlyD both play the PC version, you bring up an excellent point:  You don't see any teleporting.

I've never played NSF on PC so I couldn't vouch for the control scheme.  Also, take into account that you're a fan of the series.  I honestly believe that EA did not make this game for newcomers as it's not a very friendly game if you're new to the series.  One mistake can kill you in this game.  

Given that, I do recommend this game for fans, but my own personal ethic is that this game can't be scored only for fans of the series, particularly when it employs AI that doesn't play like humans.  At the end of the letter, it's pointed out that the AI does not crash when it isn't visible.  In my opinion, true AI should crash as often as the assumed peak skill level of the player (given his ranking on the Blacklist 15) would.  What the game does, instead is simply make the tracks more difficult, while the AI remains the same (only faster).