Need For Speed
I remember what seems a life time ago, putting in that CD into the ROM and installing the original Need for Speed via DOS and no matter how frustrating it was the joy of playing such a detailed game was well worth it. I still can vividly remember the hot real car videos. And then came the sequels which seem to improve every time… until Underground which took the arcade racer and changed the rules. Gone where the exotic supercars and instead we got everyday tuner cars which could be tricked out in every way imaginable, from engine mods to stylized body kits and crazy body paint. This game was crazy nuts like nothing before and spawned a sequel that amped up the antics in all the right ways. Then came Most Wanted which kept a few key elements but changed up the core factor and that too was fantastic… after that it all went wrong, every instalment since then has felt like a cash grab and put together all the wrong elements. So when it was announced that a reboot was in the works with focus on Underground’s game DNA I was excited. And here we are a week or two after the games release…
Let’s start with the pros, the game has a lot going for it. Beautiful next gen graphics where you get to see the city come alive. The cars a spectacular, nowhere near GT levels but that’s not what they were aiming for anyway.
They gameplay focuses over 5 different styles or modes all of which can be obtained via just cruising around or any race. They are Speed, Style, Build, Crew and Outlaw. The first 3 are pretty self-explanatory while Outlaw is all about out running the five-0 (so some most wanted thrown into the mix Nice ) and crew is well you and your mates.
The game is an online game, which mean you have to be online to play, and a cool feature is you have real players dropping into your city which you can race.
The customizing is back with real body kits, rims and parts and with the vinyl editor the results are endless… ( or is it? more on that later)
The cut scenes are cheesier than ever with first person fist bumps, like I mean it’s so bad daytime soapies be like huh?
And the bad?
Well I have been at the game for 2 weeks and not in the hardcore, come home from work and burn till 1am but more a relaxed play a few races, mod a little and explore the city but I have picked up a lot of issues.
The snap shot doesn’t work, and I mean like never ever. Which is a shame as I had some cool photos I would have loved to upload.
But the biggest problem I had was the mods, yes those cool mods are cool but not when you save up enough to buy that second car and it’s a classic mark 1 Golf (what can I say the Indian in me… ) and you go to mod it and you can’t slap some big ass bumpers on it. Then there’s the vinyl editor which is super cool but doesn’t have a mirror feature which means what you do on one side you have to do manually on the other side which means it doesn’t come out just quite right. I am sorry but the perfectionist in me just can’t handle that especially as a mirror option would have made it so simple.
The car selection isn’t that great either, now unless they planning to have DLC’s for car packs then this is very weak selection as any tuner head knows the fun is in the classics and yes it’s great to have the exotics but if you can’t trick them out with mad kits and insane rims then what’s the point? And how about an option for deep dish rims?
Verdict?
Well as it stands the game is not a good as I expected, it has a lot of shortcomings but as I pen this very article news has crossed my way of fixes to the current faults and flaws. All errors will be addressed with the next update and there will be DLC’s for more cars and kits and vinyls, all of which will be cost free. Yep, EA vows no micro transactions… ever. In this light I give the game a 3.5 (for now ) for the listening to the fans and trying to put out a game we want. Yes it still needs work but it’s on the right road and if they can pull of the next few updates and DLC’s as perfect shifts then we are going to be playing this well into 2016.
