Monster's
NFS:HS Mini-Page
I
HAVE OFFICIALLY GIVEN UP ON NFS:HS. EA DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH EXPERIENCE (APPARENTLY)
IN THE ONLINE GAMING GENRE TO MAKE IT ENJOYABLE. ALTHOUGH I MAY RACE ON EA
RACING OCCASIONALLY, I DOUBT I WILL EVER FIND MUCH ENJOYMENT IN IT. BESIDES,
NASCAR 3 IS MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE TO ME.
However,
I will leave this page up as an homage to what I once was...feel free to look
at it if you desire.
Hi
all. This is going to be a page dedicated to Need For Speed: High Stakes.
I felt that because I spend a small amount of my time online playing it, that
I could add a page to my site. It will be under construction for a little
while, so please consider this a work in-progress.
I
am going to tell you a little about myself as an online racer. In EA Racing,
my handle is Monster (the server would not accept Monster-Zero, too many letters
apparently.) I am currently (as of 12-22-99) ranked 12th, and in my estimate
there are about 3500 accounts active right now. This ranking is not indicative
of ability, as it is a points based system which really only serves the purpose
of telling you who races a lot. I used to race a couple hours every night,
but have cut that down to around an hour, usually less.
In
regards t othe actual racing, I do not usually have the highest top speed
in a race, but I will have really quick laptimes. I am pretty good, and although
I am not one to brag, I would like to say that not many people can keep up
with me on a good day. This is merely (in my opinion) a result of the fact
that I have learned every track inside and out and seldom if ever touch the
walls. I get accused of cheating almost every time I log on and race for any
length of time, but that is the nature of the game I suppose. I do not slow
down when in front, I race the whole time and do not EVER let up. I would
also like to add that I AM beatable, but you must race a heck of a race to
do it. I pride myself on that. You will receive no "gimmes" when
you see that I am in a pit. Expect no quarter, and please understand that
I find the game rather easy to play. This is the first incarnation of NFS
that I have ever owned, and it seems that I am a natural, although I can improve
at almost any type of video game if given a fair amount of time.
I
like to race in-cockpit. It gives me a better feel of what the virtual car
is doing (or wants to do.) Some people say that they cannot see enough of
the road with this view active, but I think it actually gives you a better
sense of where the car is in relation to obstacles (walls, burms, curbs, etc.)
I race with a manual transmission, and I push the higher gears (4th, and 5th)
well beyond redline in order to keep up corner speeds. The top speed I usually
obtain is usually way off the highest top speed in a race, but I use the quickness
of keeping high redline rpms as opposed to trying to go the fastest. What
good is that speed if you must slow down that much further before a turn?
I have gotten pretty good at judging where and when to shift and brake in
order to get out of turns as quick as possible. I feel that the entry into
a turn is just as important as the exit. Some people may think that I have
done something to the handling characteristics of the car, but that is not
true. I simply keep the RPMs high so that as I exit a turn, I can shoot down
to the next one quicker than the guy who is trying to catch me (or the guy
I am trying to gain on.) There are also a number of turns which there is no
need at all to slow down for under ideal conditions. I have tried to find
the quickest (and not necessarily the fastest) route around every track. I
still adjust lines avery so often during races, just to see if there is a
better one than the one I currently use.
It
is getting to a point where people do not really want to race me. Whether
or not this is because they think I cheat, or they just think I am a high-caliber
player I do not know. I would hope it is the latter, but I fear that many
people are skeptical of my ability. It is just a game, and I really do not
see the need in cheating to accomplish my goal of winning. If I was not very
good at the game, I would have given up on it a long time ago. It has actually
become quite a challenge for me to find any legitmate competition, although
there are a few racers that can give me a solid run for my money.
The
controller that I use is a Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro joystick. It
seems that this could be my greatest advantage, in that I am comfortable with
it, and it responds extremely well in the game environment. EA actually recommends
a joystick as opposed to a wheel because it responds quicker than the long
throws required for a wheel. And gamepads just do not cut it for a game of
this nature. They are not variable in the sense that it is either turn all
at once (or brake/acclerate all at once) or not at all. One must 'tap' the
controller to turn a gradual turn, and that does affect the cars performance
into, during, and out of turns.
I
have tried to give people pointers when racing, and have taught a couple of
people who used to race automatic trannies how to race manual. It is important
to understand that I enjoy close races as much as anybody, and I feel the
better racers owe it to the online community to make better racers out of
the inexperienced ones. This is not to say that I tell people exactly how
to race, that is too much information to give out, and noone did that for
me. But I will drop hints to people every so often. The funny thing is that
most of the hints are located right on the Need For Speed
website, in regards to track lines and such.
It seems most people choose not to grab them there.
Anyhow,
let me throw in a couple links for the game. One would be the Official NFS Web-site.
There you can find official add-on cars, and tips for some of the tracks.
I would recommend this if you are having trouble finding a decent line through
certain sections of tracks.
Another
official site which pertains more to the online aspect of the game would be
EA Racing Online.
They do not update very often, but if you have the game and want to try your
skills against real opponenets, this is the place to start. Be warned: the
competition online is a lot better than any computer AI you have faced in
the game (although I guess that is the case with most games.) This site is
actually called Ea Racing Online BETA, and it does behave as a BETA would
be expected to: buggy.
The
next site that I would like to mention is fellow NFS:HS racer Anarcadian's
Need For Better Speed site. Anarc's site is not official, but at NFBS you will find
a wealth of online racing information for the game, as well as downloads,
and profiles of some racers. There is also a Bulletin Board there un der the
forum section.
I
may or may not eventually upload some .zip files of my replays and ghosts
for download at a later date. I am not sure if I wnat to do this, as it will
give away my lines. I don't mind hinting at what the best line for a track
is, but I don't know how I feel about just showing it. I learned the hard
way, and so should you. But I may put up partial replays or something...we'll
see.
I
also plan to put up some screen shots of NFS:HS soon. I just got Hypersnap,
a utility that allows you to take screen shots inside DirectX and Glide applications.
Haven't tried it yet, but I have seen results around and it looks like it
will work fine.
Anyhow,
that is all for now, until I feel that I have more time to waste on this you'll
just have to wait.
MONSTER