Expect to hear yourself mutter more than a few "Oooohs" and "Aaaahs" while playing Porsche Unleashed. Visuals here are the most striking I've ever seen in a driving title, and are certainly comparable with anything in computer gaming, regardless of genre. All the Porsches depicted are shown in a loving, accurate manner that will excite everyone who's ever walked into a car showroom and marveled at all that shiny new paint. The early 356 model evokes a strong sense of nostalgia, while the modern 911s and Boxster bring out a mixture of awe and fear. Looking and driving these cars actually rouses a sense of passion in me equivalent to how I feel whenever a real Porsche blows past me on the highway. The developers really did quite a remarkable job in bringing the legendary automaker to virtual life.
Of course, the 14 tracks are equally gorgeous. Need for Speed games always boast some of the most beautiful scenery in gaming, and Porsche Unleashed is no exception. Expect to rip around pastoral farmland, grimy downtown warehouses and docks, ancient Roman aqueducts, shops in downtown Monaco, snowy village streets, and just about every other form of terrain in Western Europe. All of this plays out in high resolutions at 32-bit color. And as a nice counterpoint to EA Sports racing pigs like F1 2000, this one runs very well at 1024x768 on my run-of-the-mill PII 450, TNT 2 system with all the bells and whistles on and maxed out. Sure, the game engine here doesn't have to handle complete fields of F1 vehicles. But I'll take the waterfalls of Avignon and a good frame rate over Michael Schumacher any day of the week.
In-game audio effects are also excellent. Every Porsche carries with it a distinctive sound. Engine nuances are addressed in a way that only an experienced mechanic could appreciate. This is particularly evident when playing Evolution, where one of the first things you'll notice is the huge difference between motors as you move forward in time. The '50s era cars are much rougher than even the '60s models, for example. My lone beef about the sound is a major one, however. EA has removed the option of playing your own CDs (one of the best things about last year's Need for Speed: High Stakes was the in-game CD player-blasting through the woods at night to the accompaniment of Sniff and the Tears' "Driver's Seat" is an experience I won't soon forget) while racing and stuck us with a bunch of Eurotrash disco. (I don't know why this option was deleted, though I'd assume that it was needed to accommodate the rigorous new copy protection scheme.) These tunes fit the game's high pace, but get old very fast. I switched off the music after four or five races and just cranked up my stereo.
While Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed isn't a perfect game, it's the closest I've seen to perfection in a long time. The enhanced driving model and physics, passionate devotion to one of the greatest car manufacturers in the world, and pure adrenaline rush that hits every time you buckle in make this title a must have for just about anyone, jaded or not.
Brett Todd
Contibuting Editor