Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Racing game featuring Porsche cars
• Includes over 80 models over 50 years of racing
• Multiple gameplay modes
• Exquisite physics engine
• For one or more players with LAN or Internet connection

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000067NP1
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: May 22, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,740 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC | Edition: Jewel Case

Amazon.com Review

Satisfying the fantasies of envious driving fans everywhere, the latest Need for Speed focuses exclusively on the popular exotic car, the Porsche. In Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, players are immersed in over 50 years of Porsche history and cars.

Focusing on just one company limits vehicle-selection type, but the game offers variety by reaching into Porsche's past. With Porsches ranging from the 356 Coupe Ferdinand (1950) to the state-of-the-art 991 Porsche Turbo (2000), car aficionados will have plenty of luxury joy-ride choices. Diverse game modes and a crisp physics model complete yet another winning driving experience from Electronic Arts.

One of the most exciting new modes is called Evolution, where drivers purchase an early-model Porsche and compete in races to earn money so they can acquire upgrades, repair damage, and tweak performance. The contrast in both look and feel, from the antique models to present-day roadsters, is captured magnificently by the graphics engine and physics model. Each vehicle handles differently and offers a unique driving challenge.

Graphics are simply breathtaking, though not a significant enhancement over last year's impressive version. Realistic weather effects, rolling hills, and animated scenery all add to Porsche Unleashed's near visual perfection. Over a dozen tracks take you through grassland villages, autumn forests, and mountain roads. A wealth of Porsche historical information makes Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed a well-rounded package that should excite those looking to sample the open road in dozens of exotic sports cars. --Doug Radcliffe

Pros:

• Striking landscape graphics make each track a feast for the eyes
• Focus on Porsche delivers a large and quite interesting historical section
• Addictive Evolution mode spans the early years of Porsche to the present day
• Still the best arcade racing game on the market

Cons:

• Not a significant enhancement over its predecessor
• Omits some gameplay modes included in earlier versions of Need for Speed

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Realistic Driving Dynamics, October 29, 2002

By 

Jon Lind "Jon" (Morrison, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed (Jewel Case) (CD-ROM)

The driving dynamics on this game are excellent. In fact, I can find no other racing game that lets you race real cars with as realistic driving physics. The scenery and attention to detail are great, as is the ability to pregress through the various classic cars through the years.

I only wish I could race other cars besides Porsches, and it's a shame that all the newest racing games have gotten so "arcadey", with miserable driving behavior. The newer games have fantastic visuals and effects, but none can match the realistic driving dynamics of NFS PU. Until they do, I will continue to race PU.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great scenery and quite playable, August 2, 2003

By 

FreeAtLast (Newington, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed (Jewel Case) (CD-ROM)

I'm taking one star away only because this game occasionally locks up under Windows XP -- especially during the intro movie and the replay movies of a race. The races themselves, however, are VERY seldom marred by a lock-up.

The positives are that the graphics and game play are terrific. Using a force feedback rasing wheel provides a special treat during the count-down to a race by providing a very startling and real sense of a car throbbing with power that wants to unleash itself.

The attention to detail is a treat -- shimmering fog over the water that you're racing by, sun glaring against the windshield, a lighthouse with a revolving light, and (what a concept!) a driver in the car.

You can race on the open road with user-defined light, medium, or heavy traffic -- or simply limit the race just to the participating cars. Go for the traffic. There is even some intelligence to the traffic. If you don't move out of the way of the oncoming drivers early enough, you may well confuse the oncoming driver into changing lanes as you do in his effort to avoid a collision. Also, you're not the only driver on the road capable of crashing into the traffic. On occasion, you'll see an accident unfold in front of you. Be too aggressive and you'll join the pile-up.

This is a top-notch game well worth a heckuva lot more than its current price. (I guess everyone wants to shoot it out with monster after monster in those dreadful DOOM rip-offs. Each to his own.)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Drive Buy Race and Collect Porsches, June 16, 2003

By 

Maxxjazz (arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed (Jewel Case) (CD-ROM)

Need For Speed. Yes I have a need for speed, and this game helped fulfill some of that need. NFS Porsche Unleashed is fun and playable in many different aspects. There is the racing. Great cars, great speeds, and fantastic physics for these cars.
You get to race through an entire history of the Porsche cars. While doing so you are given the chance to collect the different cars in your garage for racing, or selling later. Also, with all that in mind you can also try your luck as a Porsche Factory Driver. All in all this game is fun and has lasting replayability.

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