PC CD-ROM minimum system requirements: Pentium 90mhz; 16MB RAM; 30MB hard disk space; Windows 95; Quad-speed CD-ROM drive; SVGA. £39.99
IMAGINE having not just one, but eight of the world's top supercars parked in your drive-way. Maybe not.
Need For Speed II (NFSII), from Electronic Arts, gives you a taste of what it must be like to take one of these purring racers out for a spin and it's exhilarating stuff. In the first episode of the game we had some rather ordinary cars included such as the Toyota Celica Supra Turbo and the Mazda RX7 but this time around all eight can truly be classed as supercars. For the record they are: Jaguar XJ220; McLaren F1; Ferrari F50; Isdera Commendatore 112i; Ford GT90; Lotus GT and the Lotus Esprit.
Two notable absentees, however, are the Lamborghini Diablo and the Dodge Viper but let's not be greedy, they were, after all, in the original game.
The first change of note in this sequel, apart from the new line-up of cars, is the fact that EA has decided to make things a little more arcade-like. While the cars remain true to their real-life forms - thanks to the motor manufacturers the tracks (seven in all) are much more like the rallying variety rather than the straight-forward highways and byways that were included in The Need For Speed Therefore, in a lot of cases, these cars are taken out of their natural environment and, for example, rallying them across snow-covered mountains seems a bit odd.
NFSII comes with all the usual multi-player options and even includes a split-screen option to allow two players to play on the one PC. The graphics have also been given an upgrade and make the whole game more fluent. But, despite the fact that NFSII is a more than competent sim for the supercars of this world, the game itself appears to be lacking some vital ingredient that would make it truly special.
Graphics: 84%, Sound: 90%, Gameplay: 80%