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Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed, aka The Need for Speed, and released in Japan as Road & Track Presents: Over Drivin', aka Over Drivin' for the 3DO version, Road & Track Presents: Over Drivin' DX, aka Over Drivin' DX for the PlayStation version, and Nissan Presents: Over Drivin' GT-R aka Over Drivin' GT-R for the Sega Saturn version, is a semi-realistic racing video game. It was developed by Pioneer Productions for the Windows, 3DO, and Sega Saturn versions, by EA Canada for the PlayStation version, and by EA Seattle for the Special Edition. It was published by Electronic Arts for most versions of the game outside the U.S. and by Electronic Arts Victor for all versions of the game outside Japan and for the 3DO version of the game. It is the first game in the Need for Speed series and is the first Need for Speed game from the Classic Era. The premise of the game involves racing in sport cars, including several exotic models and Japanese imports. The game noted for its attempts in realism, and audio and video commentaries. Electronic Arts teamed up with automotive magazine Road & Track to match vehicle behaviour, including the mimicking of the sounds made by the vehicles' gear control levers. The game also contained precise vehicle data with spoken commentary, several "magazine style" images of each cars interior and exterior, and even short video clips highlighting the vehicles set to music. There is also a Special Edition of the game and a Skyline Memorial version of Over Drivin'.
Gameplay
The Need for Speed follows a realistic premise. Each car has a different style of handling, performance, sounds, and braking. The realistic gameplay was found to be simple for new players to pick up and play without much frustration at the start of play. Plus each car could be driven in cockpit view. There are four different types of races in the game. Police and traffic only appear in Head to Head mode.
- Head to Head - A duel between two racers on a Point A to Point B track.
- Single Race - The player competes with up to seven opponents in either circuit or sprint tracks. In this mode players can select the number of opponents, laps etc.
- Time Trial - The player must beat a set time record on a track to win.
- Tournament - The player has to collect as many points as possible to succeed in a series of tracks. The player earns more points the higher he/she's position.
No car in the game can go off-road as the game uses blocking volume to keep players on the track. This also prevents players from cheating by taking shortcuts in events. Racers can be arrested by police on open road tracks. If a racer gets caught he gets a ticket. When a racer receives three tickets (two tickets in the Sega Saturn version) they are arrested.
Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed: Special Edition
In 1996, Road and Track Presents: The Need for Speed: Special Edition, aka The Need for Speed: Special Edition and The Need for Speed SE, was only released on PC CD-ROM, containing DOS and Windows 95 versions. The Windows 95 version supports DirectX 2 and IPX networking, and includes two new tracks: "Transtropolis" and "Burnt Sienna" and various enhancements in the game engine. The Need for Speed: Special Edition is the last game in the Need for Speed series to support DOS, as subsequent releases for the PC only run on Microsoft Windows 95 or above. However, it can still be run under Windows XP using DOSbox (x86 DOS emulator).
Over Drivin': Skyline Memorial
Over Drivin': Skyline Memorial featured only Nissan Skylines from the original Over Drivin' and was released exclusively in Japan in 1997 for the PlayStation.