12 replies to this topic

[Brian R.]

Yeah, OK, so I'm a few years - or four - late to the party. But this game just rocks! Gotta be one of the best racers I've ever played.

I love not just the variety of the tracks, but also the variety in the tracks. And I actually get the feeling I'm going somewhere when I'm racing, not just driving in a loop (even if it still is a loop.)

So much neat stuff in the tracks, and they're never the same twice. The dinosaur at Hollywood, the RV loosing its luggage in Mexico, great stuff! Gotta love having the nitro boost... although on one track I've already done a barrel roll! And so far I've only been playing in arcade mode.

Only negs I see so far - would like better engine sounds, and maybe some better tunes, but neither affects the gameplay in the slightest.

I managed to get a brand new copy off of an eBay seller for $15 total. Absolutely worth every penny. Now I don't feel so bad I didn't go for those used copies I saw - scratched disks, busted cases, no cases, no manual, etc.

Hope I can get myself to go back and play my other races, like Vanishing Point. Good game, but the AI drives me nuts. On the second tournament, the only reason I'm not winning is because of guys crashing into me. The accidents are driving me nuts!

Total Dreamcast inventory - 44 games. Now lets see how long this will be "my last new Dreamcast game."

[Brian R.]

Don't know if anyone will join me in the conversation here. I hope so, hate to think I'm talking to myself...

Anyway, I did try to play VP again. Just as I feared. My problem with it is, I play games to have fun, not to get pissed off. VP pisses me off. If I want to get pissed off, I'll go drive my real car.

Even on the very first track... which I thought I had mastered... the accidents, oh the accidents. Opposing cars slamming on their brakes in front of me. Accidents beside me and behind me causing me to flip over, roll over, spin around uncontrollably.

And it's all about beating the clock. So one accident makes the rest of the race a complete waste of time.

Figuring out the control was hard enough.

However, Speed Devils is my idea of the perfect racing game. I can have fun. I don't know if I'll get myself to play VP again now that I got SD in the house.

[eldunko]

I highly agree, the process of the game is fun. Moving up the ranks and actually buying parts that have a purpose, tire swapping, just to beat the radars. Radars aren't easy to beat too.

Anyone else remeber ODCM's poor review of this game? Then they openly admitted to a "review blunder" later on. I never had the issue with the review though. Was it really all that negitive?

[Gunstar]

I love both SD and VP, for different reasons. Both are pretty different games in their approach. I love the CHALLENGE of VP, I love the A.I. that actually seems to have a brain an does what I would do in the same situation. I love the wicked accidents, although SD gives you that too, plus real looking damage (I wish that was in VP). Plus, VP has some very cool cars and tracks itself, but of course it take time&practice to get to them. SD is more of a game to throw in for a few minutes and just have fun like you said, VP is for some serious play-time and some authentic competition from capable A.I.(got to outsmart them). The rewards of VP are worth the effort to me, but it's definately a little more for the serious racing fan, like F355 or TD: Lemans WITHOUT the computer assistance, though it doesn't go quite as far as those in the simulation of realism, VP is a cross between arcade racing like Speed Devils and F355 without the computer assists. I am very glad you like SD though, I really thought you would when I recommended it to you Brian. it's a lot better than SF Rush 2049 in my book.

[Brian R.]

I agree Speed Devils seems better than Rush. (I know the UA would disagree.) My problems with Rush are, with the cars, there's not a lot of difference in their performance. To me, it seems the key to winning races in Rush is cutting your corners just right. Once you fall behind, there's no way to catch up.

Seems like I'm already able to win all the races in Speed Devils in the arcade mode. I went into the championship mode, and got through the D Class without much trouble. Now I'm on C, and it's noticeably more difficult. I may have to start over and put more emphasis on getting a better car - my Atlantis just isn't cutting it.

What does it take to start unlocking stuff in the arcade mode of Speed Devils? I'd like to get my hands on some new cars, and really would like to open more of those tracks.

There are things I like about VP. The cars and the graphics in that regard are really good. Graphically it is better than SD in some respects. But having the racers and civilians on the roads at the same time makes them crowded, and increases accidents. You can be having the best race of your life, then one horrendous accident, and it's all for nothing.

I was able to unlock a new vehicle, and was looking forward to that, hoping I'd get a much better car. I unlocked a friggin' pickup truck! I even went and won the first race using the SUV and the pickup, hoping to unlock some stuff... got nothing.

I was enjoying the stunt mode, until I got to the balloons. I just can't seem to get 'em.

I'm not totally done with VP. Not yet, at least.

[Gunstar]

yeah, VP's choice of cars they give you to unlock is a bit pathetic. The first few do seem to suck more than what you start with...notice the first cars seem to pretty much be Fords? I think somethings up with that. But perservier and good cars will come to you. I like the traffic and all that confusion in car games, I guess that's why The Need for Speed on the 3DO is one of my all-time favorites and why I like VP so much, I only wish VP had cops chasing you too. There are plenty of games that let you just race opponents and I like the change of having traffic on the roads, although it would be cool (to me) if VP had some on-coming lanes of traffic, but even Tokyo Extreme doesn't have that. I guess it comes down to taste of styles, I like most racers though, no matter how arcade or simulation like they are, or if they are somewhere in the middle, it just depends on my mood. My currrent fav is still Test Drive V-Rally right now though, but VP and SD will be back in the DC sooner than later...I LOVE accidents and car damage though, one or the other or both, just love the thrill of being able to total a car and still drive I guess. Yeah, sometimes it gets annoying if your doing great and one crash can ruin it all, but that just builds the suspense up for me, I've made some fantastic finishes with near miss collisions and that gives me real satisfaction. I don't care much for the stunt mode in VP myself, some of it is fun, but I hear ya on those balloon levels. The other thing I don't like about VP (albeit from limited experience) is that two player mode only seems to work on one lousy track, the test track for testing out cars, it doesn't seem to let two people race on the normal tracks, with or without other opponents and traffic. So it's really only good for one player.

[video game addict]

I believe Speed Devils was another of those $10 TRU games. I haven't bought it yet but now I'm thinking I might. I like driving games, and this is one of the few I don't own.

[Brian R.]

Be careful which SD it is you see at TRU. I saw Speed Devils at TRU for $10, too, but it was the online version. Which I'm told and have read is not as good as the original.

As for my championship efforts, I got a couple engine upgrades, got my nitros ( ), won a $10K bet and now I'm getting somewhere!!

[Brian R.]

I won the championship! Yeah me!

Kinda strange tho. First, in the last race, I took second in Hollywood, then beat Driver X in Aspen Winter - even with the wrong tires. I had his car, the gold Speed Devils trophy and the accolades of the Bet Taker.

I wasn't happy with second in Hollywood, so I did a "do over."

Took first in Hollywood. Then the last race was in Nevada, at night, backwards. It took a few tries, but I beat Driver X again. Got his car, the accolades... but no trophy. What gives?

Anyway, went into the S Class. Won my first race. Got three cars in the garage - my maxed out FireBug, a Cortex I won on a bet, and the Mystere. Actually, all are maxed out now.

And of course, everything is unlocked in arcade mode.

This is without a doubt the BEST racing game I've ever played. And I'm going to keep playing it.

[Cafeman]

Brian,

it's been 3 years since I last played Speed Devils so I'm not completely familiar with the game anymore, but I got turned on to it while it was new and played it and enjoyed it for months!

The draw distance is great (remember, back then we were still used to constant fade-in and pop-up), everything is very solid and there is real-time weather and car damage, add that in with the opponents & tracks & set pieces on each track and you have a very entertaining game.

I remember loving it when I'd see UFO's in the desert, the T-Rex at the Hollywood studio, the twisters on the road, falling boulders, etc. IIRC, each track has a number of short cuts that you must learn to really beat everybody. Stuff like jumping through a barn loft (I loved that!), going through an icy mountain (hidden) tunnel, etc. Oh yeah, I love that Mexican flying beast (la cupachabra maybe? I butchered that word!)

Brian, does the frame rate bother you? At first it seemed very smooth to me, but I remember that eventually I started noticing it wasn't even at 30fps or so. I think I started to get spoiled by more fluid refresh rates in DC Sega Rally 2 and Test Drive: Le Mans (both are 30fps at minimum), so I (gasp!) traded in Speed Devils.

As I said, I played Speed Devils for months. I loved the money/fixing/ betting aspects too. Ack, it hurts to lose your car to an opponent!

[Cafeman]

One more thing I just remembered!

The VMU screen is an overhead map! I used it to prevent rivals from passing me. Cool feature.

[Gunstar]

Hmm...I never noticed the frame rate myself, but then, I perfectly satisfied if the frame rate is as good as 8mm film (15fps), and think it's very good if it makes the 24-25fps of 35mm (motion picture quality). Anything above that is just icing on the cake! The real trick is to keep the frame rate in a game steady, it's only when it changes from one speed to another that it's noticable. A 15fps game with a rock-solid frame rate will look better than a 30fps game that fluxuates even just a few frames (like down to 24fps). The human eye is completely fooled at 24fps if it's steady, again, it's the fluxuation that people notice, not the frame rate itself.

[Brian R.]

Cafeman said:

Brian,  

it's been 3 years since I last played Speed Devils so I'm not completely familiar with the game anymore, but I got turned on to it while it was new and played it and enjoyed it for months!  

The draw distance is great (remember, back then we were still used to constant fade-in and pop-up),  everything is very solid and there is real-time weather and car damage, add that in with the opponents & tracks & set pieces on each track and you have a very entertaining game.  

I remember loving it when I'd see UFO's in the desert, the T-Rex at the Hollywood studio, the twisters on the road, falling boulders, etc.  IIRC, each track has a number of short cuts that you must learn to really beat everybody.  Stuff like jumping through a barn loft (I loved that!), going through an icy mountain (hidden) tunnel, etc.  Oh yeah,  I love that Mexican flying beast (la cupachabra maybe? I butchered that word!)

Brian, does the frame rate bother you? At first it seemed very smooth to me, but I remember that eventually I started noticing it wasn't even at 30fps or so.  I think I started to get spoiled by more fluid refresh rates in DC Sega Rally 2 and Test Drive: Le Mans (both are 30fps at minimum), so I (gasp!) traded in Speed Devils.  

As I said, I played Speed Devils for months. I loved the money/fixing/ betting aspects too. Ack, it hurts to lose your car to an opponent!

I remember reading something about the frame rate, but it was something I didn't have any problems with. Everything seemed fast, smooth, highly detailed and colorful. Reviews I saw also complained about the tracks being too long - IMO, tracks in other racers are too short. What I really liked in Speed Devils was the sensation of actually going somewhere while driving - the track length and changes of scenery I'm sure added to this sensation.

I love all the little details in the tracks - like you mentioned - the T-Rex, the tornado, the fires, explosions and water spouts in Hollywood Disaster, the rain and snow weather effects, racing at dusk and at night. Also love how the game has drivers - unlike a game like Rush, where there are no drivers, and the cars really have no character.

I did use a few of the shortcuts in some of the tracks. But what I found helped a lot more was winning the bet with the bet taker for the nitro feature, then upgrading your top speed and acceleration - and getting a better car. I think I was late in the C class where I bought a FireBug - sold my original car and sold the Montana I took off of Vanessa (which I was very happy to do.)

With the speed and power I had in the FireBug, nobody in the C or B classes could really keep up with me. Not only did it get to where I didn't need to use shortcuts, often I didn't even need to use nitros. My FireBug was so maxed out, I was just as fast as Driver X and his Mystere.