LGR - Need For Speed 2
Added 2021-02-17 01:30:01 +0000 UTChttps://youtu.be/pycArRS0w6k
Aw yeah, its time for a classic LGR computer game retrospective. This one's all about Need For Speed II from 1997, along with the Special Edition presented in all its 3dfx Glide mode glory. I had a whole lot of fun putting this one together since I've got so many years of experience with it and countless fond memories. It is somehow even more absurd than I remember, haha.
Pretty self-explanatory this time around so yep, hope you enjoy!
Comments
Hey Clint, I just found this and wondered if you'd seen it before. It's Tom Scott's video where he visited some places from the track Pacific Spirit. Got me really curious about the other places in the game and how true to life they are. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juRkaqkDfCM /Edit Haha, all that effort to type that then I scroll the comments and see that ya did. Great minds ya know.
Cyclone
2021-03-16 05:04:05 +0000 UTCHappy to bring on those berries, Brandon. Glad that you enjoyed :)
LGR
2021-02-19 16:26:06 +0000 UTCCan't say I have! Hopefully someday though, I'd like to get a place with a garage first :)
LGR
2021-02-19 16:25:45 +0000 UTCMan this brings back memories of 16 year old me and my friend, going halfsies, and spending entire weekends on his computer playing together. I too lusted after the GT90, super exciting stuff back then. When we found the cheat codes... those are my fondest memories of laughing until we were in tears (and being told to quiet down lol) all too often. Still to this day have fond memories of driving log and outhouse... ahh such sweet memberberries. Thank you, I loved this video.
Brandon Mingo
2021-02-18 22:51:36 +0000 UTCHave you ever had, have, or plan to purchase a fast/fun/exciting-to-you car? If so, what would it be? I've always loved racing games as a kid and spend my late teens/early 20's hanging out with the car crowd, tossing on turbos and such.
Dale Riley
2021-02-18 16:41:50 +0000 UTCFun timing on this, I'd actually been rewatching a lot of your old NFS stuff recently! I found an old copy of Need For Speed High Stakes recently that I've been meaning to get installed and play a bit, which had me on the rabbit hole of all your different videos again. Great video as always! Love your perspective on games like this.
Bukkarooo
2021-02-18 15:08:29 +0000 UTCLove these retrospective reviews.
Gary Leigh
2021-02-18 13:24:25 +0000 UTCNFS3 was the first one in the series I ever played (or owned at least, I seem to remember playing a demo of the first one, or maybe it was the full game at a friend's house) and I absolutely loved it. It had everything I loved about racing games (well, save for the crazy acrobatic potential of Stunts) and it looked incredible, even in my mid-range PC back then. But a few friends insisted that NSF2 was the better game and I should try it. And I did, to immense disappointment. Now, I was never a graphic buff, and I was perfectly able to accept more primitive graphics if the gameplay was fun, but I found it so lacking in comparison to 3. Make no mistake, I had some fun with the crazy physics and driving scenery objects down the road, but it was all fleeting. I came back to 3 over and over, but 2 ended up forgotten. Man, I still wish for a re-release of 3 in GOG or Steam, and I'm certain I'm not the only one.
Pablo Rodriguez
2021-02-17 23:36:07 +0000 UTCGreat video! Fond memories of playing the SE version. That menu music hit me right in the nostalgia feels. My favourite showcase video was for the Lotus Esprit V8, followed by the McLaren F1 (especially with the gullwing door opening shot).
Mick Carroll
2021-02-17 23:18:23 +0000 UTCIndeed, there's a lot of overlap between them! NFS3 really dialed everything up a notch and finished what NFS2SE started. It walked so NFS3 could run, especially in regards to the music.
LGR
2021-02-17 18:16:09 +0000 UTCIt'll definitely happen, and it's gonna be quite the video when it does. I don't think I've spent more time obsessed with a single entry in the series quite like I was with NFS3.
LGR
2021-02-17 18:12:09 +0000 UTCAbout half of the things you say about NFS2 I experienced with NFS3. Not that I'm a car geek who was desperately waiting for this game, but it did feel groundbreakingly smooth. I think it was also the first game where I experienced light effects like halos in that way (probably right before I started playing Unreal , which blew that experience out of the water of course) and the tracks were fun, imaginative and not too serious. I think I played NFS2(se) much later somewhere around 2000 but it couldn't hold my interest by then. I like it better now though. NFS3 still remains somewhere in the top 10 of my favorite game soundtracks ever, but I have to say the NFS2 music is also really good! Like the game itself underappreciated by at least me and probably many others, I'd say.
Marnix
2021-02-17 17:58:12 +0000 UTCNFS3 was my first foray into the series (and quite possibly one of the earliest PC games I can recall playing!) so I am SO EXCITED for if (hopefully when!) you cover that. But it's really cool to see how the game has evolved between the first two iterations.
Ian Spence
2021-02-17 17:55:57 +0000 UTCIt is perfectly 1997!
LGR
2021-02-17 17:48:32 +0000 UTCNFS3 was a revelation! I think it's a great example of art direction being just as important as graphical fidelity. The art for NFS2 was really created with software mode in mind and 3dfx was bolted on later, so many tracks look kinda half-baked. NFS3 seems to have been crafted with 3D acceleration in mind from the start and the aesthetic feels much more cohesive to me as a result.
LGR
2021-02-17 17:47:44 +0000 UTCThose big jumps really were the best to me and my buddies between ten and twelve years old. This and San Francisco Rush, ahh.
LGR
2021-02-17 17:42:00 +0000 UTCThat it is, the Special Edition in particular! Really laid the groundwork for all the impressive effects and engine updates that made NFS3 so impressive. I didn't go into it too much in the video, but even the file types and overall structure of the engine changed a fair amount between NFS2 and SE, bringing it much more in-line with NFS3. You can even use earlier versions of the NFS3 car and track editors with many of NFS2SE's geometry and art assets.
LGR
2021-02-17 17:40:43 +0000 UTCThank you! That balance is always a tricky one, I probably re-wrote the intro half a dozen times to try and keep the pacing right.
LGR
2021-02-17 17:31:54 +0000 UTCSame, haha. I remember a lot more detail and more vibrant graphics, especially in 3dfx Glide mode. And really, on a CRT it's pretty awesome. But the direct 640x480 capture upscaled to 4K doesn't do it any favors!
LGR
2021-02-17 17:31:20 +0000 UTCI'm glad that the videos help in any way at all! Wishing you calmer, less anxiety-laden times here soon :)
LGR
2021-02-17 17:30:16 +0000 UTCThat he did, still bums me out that he passed away like he did. Left a great legacy though.
LGR
2021-02-17 17:29:04 +0000 UTCNFS 3 was really my first, so I don't have much nostalgia for 2 or 2SE. But it's fascinating looking at how much from NFS 3 came into play in NFS 2.
Alyxx the Rat
2021-02-17 17:26:41 +0000 UTCOne of them! This one introduced the interactive OST, and it was improved in NFS3 before being dropped in NFS4.
LGR
2021-02-17 17:26:24 +0000 UTCThat'd make sense, the frame buffer was tiny on those early cards. Shame that it doesn't make the effort to detect better-equipped hardware if that's the case though.
LGR
2021-02-17 17:25:55 +0000 UTCI think that I have a bit of insight into why NFS II doesn't let you see the car interior when rendering with Glide. I remember that NFS III couldn't show car interiors in Direct3D or Glide unless you had an AGP Direct3D card or a 12 MB Voodoo II; having only 8 MB of VRAM just wasn't enough to show the car interior, apparently. So, it looks like it's a frame buffer memory-related issue of some kind! I think that the developers solved this for NFS4 by rendering the interior in 3D, if I remember correctly.
Bryan McIntosh
2021-02-17 15:33:25 +0000 UTCWhen you do NFS3, I had a lot of luck getting it to work natively with a PS4 controller on Windows 98. Literally plug it in and remap some controls. Just throwing that out there :)
Cyclone
2021-02-17 15:00:35 +0000 UTCI loved this game. And I still find myself listening to the soundtrack on Youtube a lot. Saki Kaskas made some awesome music for this series.
Cyclone
2021-02-17 14:40:03 +0000 UTCSo many great memories of playing this with my brother back in the day. Happy to say I still have a lovely bigbox pc version of the original NFS2 and agree that menu music just instantly transports me back to those happy days :)
Mat Cooper
2021-02-17 14:13:07 +0000 UTCHoly moley, those FMV's where so incredibly 90's... I used to think that the 90's didn't have anything that made it instantly recognisable, like the 60's, 70's or 80's, but when ya mix that music, camera shots, style of cars... It could not be from any other decade.
TBthegr81
2021-02-17 14:02:47 +0000 UTCAh, the driver training simulator for a generation. I still see its effects on the roads today.
Robert Sanges
2021-02-17 13:40:27 +0000 UTCNothing better in this whole world for late night anxiety than LGR. Thank you for doing what you do, it is an oasis of calm that I just cannot replicate anywhere else in my life.
Annabelle
2021-02-17 13:30:33 +0000 UTCI still own the original NFSII SE -CDRom. Was a great game in my youth, though I remember the Graphics beeing MUCH better than in this video. Well I guess my memory is wrong
Thomas Vanek
2021-02-17 12:41:11 +0000 UTCNFS II is one of my favourites! I was only able to play the demo back in the day, but it was the game that also made me a fan of the Ford GT-90 Concept Car. It's a shame it never became a real thing.
Mark Zita
2021-02-17 10:22:28 +0000 UTCI fregging LOVE NFSII!! I actually just put together a retro computer last month (Pentium 3 + voodoo banshee) just to replay this game. And for the first time in glide mode. Thx for the review.
Grunk
2021-02-17 09:22:25 +0000 UTCGood job! I could see the enthusiasm and nostalgia ooze off my screen. Loved all the build-ups and your coverage of the game's wide array of options and mechanics, without making it feel lengthy. At one point I was afraid too much of your personal stories would meld in, but they actually really helped setting the game in its rightful context. I could really imagine the way in which you and your friends enjoyed it, the way I enjoyed games at that age. All in all an outstanding video.
Jan-Marten de Boer
2021-02-17 08:04:49 +0000 UTCi didn't like the soundtrack and game and still don't like it :-/ first love was NFS Porsche, which was really nice (i loved the superbrake-feature when just manually shifting 3 gears down xD)
Tom Schaack
2021-02-17 07:44:27 +0000 UTCThat is a PERFECT soundtrack... :o
Kris Asick
2021-02-17 04:36:13 +0000 UTCIs this the one that had the adaptive soundtrack?
Jim Leonard
2021-02-17 04:09:30 +0000 UTCI didn't know there was a non-special edition!!
JimmiezRustler88
2021-02-17 03:45:40 +0000 UTCThis is a series I've loved since it's very beginnings. I still own my copy of the first game in the 3DO with the infamous X-Man. But the moment it really blew me away was when I've played NFS3 for the first time with my Voodoo3 2000 PCI. The graphics were fantastic for the time
Frederic St-Georges
2021-02-17 03:11:04 +0000 UTCThis one was just before I got into racing games. I started with NFS3 so I am really looking forward to your review of that one.
Zem Hysong
2021-02-17 02:26:53 +0000 UTCGood ol' classic LGR
Hernando Heilbron
2021-02-17 02:22:40 +0000 UTCThis hits me right in the childhood. I grew up with the PlayStation version and it was my introduction into the world of NFS. I agree with the "blandness" and lack of excitement but my best memories are of finding all the big jumps. Thank you for the motivation to dig out my copy again!
Josh Hooper
2021-02-17 02:08:02 +0000 UTC
