First, the tiny confession: I have never ever played a Need For Speed. I’m no racing fanatic, but I’m shocked I’ve managed to avoid them this long. I tend to play one racer obsessively every couple of years, a cycle that began with Rage Racer way back in, yes, 1998. (It actually came out in mid-’97, but I didn’t play it until a full year later, curious after reading previews for R4: Ridge Racer Type 4. That year really was awesome, wasn’t it?) The arcade-style delights of Ridge Racer are really what appeal to me in a racing game, something Need For Speed has in spades, so it’s surprising I’ve never played one of its fifteen different entries until this week. If Need For Speed: Undercover is anything to go by, I haven’t been missing much. The game’s something of a poor man’s Burnout: Paradise, giving you an open world to drive your licensed rides about but not letting you do much interesting inside of it. You can’t just stumble into races, you’ve got to select them from a menu or press down when driving near them, prompting load times and cutscenes. The driving is no great shakes, either, fast and presentable but with none of the edge of your seat spectacle that makes the aforementioned Burnout such a treat. I’m going to keep playing Need For Speed, though, for no other reason than to keep watching it’s hilarious live action cutscenes. Check out the goods a couple of minutes in:
Now that’s the kind of campy deliciousness that we haven’t seen since the halcyon days of Wing Commander. The weird color saturation in NFS’ scenes doesn’t quite compete with lumbering cat people, but it’s a close second. I have to wonder, though, why EA put the money into hiring these, ahem, actors. Yes, Maggie Q is a sexy spokesperson and all, but cutscenes with flesh and blood folks died with FMV games back in 1996. Have there always been live action scenes in NFS? Is EA trying to get post-modern with their franchise?
Second, and much bigger, confession: I have never ever played a real-time strategy game. It’s not that I’ve avoided them on purpose, it just happened somehow. Well, that’s all changing, because I am going to play the hell out of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. Why? Two words: Tim. Curry. I know that cheesy live action cutscenes have been a Command & Conquer staple, but I feel like I need to indulge in this new treasure trove. Look at this:
Curry’s accent here is almost as funny as the one he had in Congo.
EA, I am disappointed in you for disbanding Blueprint. But if you keep putting archaic nonsense like live action cutscenes in your games, I will forgive you.
So, reader? Thumbs up or thumbs down for live action cutscenes?
Related links:
A Decade of Gaming Excellence
Love-Hate: In Defense of the Cutscene
FMV Hell: Star Studded Casts - Do you Give a Crap?
Alternate Soundtrack: Need For Speed: Underground vs Justice's †