Need for Speed has been through more changes and ideas than just about any other game I can think of. Despite some of them being great there never seems to be one that gets everything right in the way that Underground 2 and Carbon did. With such radical changes happening so often good ideas tend to get swept away too. Getting one or two things right is one thing but getting it all right together seems to be somewhat elusive for the street racing franchise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qflK2RF_UC8
For the first time since Carbon I was pleasantly surprised by the starting vehicles on offer in NFS. There wasn’t a Porsche or Mustang in sight. I went for the Honda Civic which instantly took me back to the Saxo I started with in Underground 2. It’s so satisfying to once again start with a versatile vehicle and task yourself with adding far too much power and then futilely attempting to make it controllable. The choice of vehicles outside of the starting roster is impressive too. There are three vague categories to my mind, 60,000 or less, 60,000 to 80,000 and then super cars up to 300,000. Pretty much everybody’s favourite car will be here in some form but there are still some strange gaps in the roster.
It’s a shame how quickly you can, and should, move up to the next selection particularly with the early cars. There are a lot of vehicles I would have liked to drive and tune up but which just weren’t worth it. I went from my old Civic to the 2016 Focus RS which was basically enough for most of the game. Eventually I bought myself a Corvette but was disappointed when it performed almost exactly the same as my RS on paper. More money doesn’t necessarily mean more performance in NFS. There’s also a lack of visual modification which is unlocked very late in the game. It’s nice when you get to it but for the vast majority you are stuck with paint and decals only. Bring back autosculpt!
It’s a bit of a double edges sword really because while it’s great that you can drive the car you want and have it compete it makes a lot of the vehicles pretty much a complete waste, especially as you won’t drive that many of them. And of course as usual the Lamborghini deal runs strong with just about every model you can imagine standing next to two Ferraris, one McLaren, no Aston Martins and no Paganis. There are a load of Porsches too but a sad lack of any decent Audis like the S or RS lines which would have been nice to see. There is also a lack of AMGs and only the one BMW M series too. We get it you like Lamborghinis. Need for Speed is definitely trying to get itself back into more normal cars and focus on street tuning which it would have done except for the fact you move past them so early in the game.
Handling is typically Need-for-Speed-ey with drifting usually the quickest way around a corner. Try setting up a grip car and controlling breaking and acceleration on the apex and you will soon see yourself behind plenty of cars flying sideways around corners. There really isn’t a choice on this one it just isn’t worth racing something that doesn’t slide. Personally I would have liked the two options with each providing their own advantages and disadvantages but NFS is all about the drifting.
Fortunately the drifting is excellent. It’s simple enough that you feel like a pro very quickly but requires just enough control and finesse that pulling off a long slide is still rewarding. It does get a bit silly when yanking the handbrake and turning 90 degrees at 150mph sees your car stop in about 2 seconds and comfortably change direction but NFS isn’t trying to be a serious racer. At least I hope so because trying this in real life wouldn’t be a good move even by street racing standards.
Drifting is largely aided by the presence of rain. All the time. There is absolutely no doubt that NFS looks great. The PS4 version still has those moments that make you stop and take it all in. But the constant night time setting and perpetual rain is really annoying. It never gets light so you will barely get chance to see those decals and the rain effects get boring after a while. Fair enough NFS has never really been known for its subtlety but some of the rain effects are really in your face. A little subtlety would have gone a long way especially after the initial wow factor has worn off. I would have really liked a day/night cycle but even more just to see the end of the rain on occasion would have been nice.
A nifty little party trick that totally surprised me was during the real time cutscenes you can see your own cars digitally imposed around the actors which is actually quite impressive. They blend in quite convincingly, even though you can tell it still looks good and it’s something new which is to be applauded. The choice to use real people and video for the cutscenes is a little strange but NFS is clearly making a stand and sticking with what it knows. The acting is the only thing less subtle than the rain effects and is predictably over the top and hammy. But on occasion it made me laugh and generally isn’t as bad as I expected. It’s not going to win any awards but it’s not Red Alert 2. It’s also nicely aided by the inclusion of some real racers and gymkhana experts which is pretty cool.
Although the forced and largely unnecessary plot isn’t totally unwelcome it does seem to have been used as an excuse not to include race types. There are enough to keep you going but they are all essentially either race or drift renamed or scored in a slightly different way. There isn’t really any of them that requires you to do anything else apart from the infrequent confrontations with the law. Police have gone completely against everything previous and become a total joke. It’s actually difficult to get into a decent chase which is a shame as it’s always been a favourite past time for me. If you want to you will have to slow down and keep pace which is just ridiculous and totally unexciting. The new fine system allows you to pull over and pay up which can be useful early on in a chase if you’re not looking for a fight.
Need for Speed does a lot of things right but still somehow misses on enough of the checklist to get it wrong. The vehicle roster is much closer to real life street racing but most of it is skipped over far too quickly and the handling mechanics aren’t sophisticated enough to get any real nuances between vehicles that would feel very different to drive in reality. The lack of different race types also means different vehicles aren’t really needed and you will likely just be driving the same car from start to finish. The constant night time and rain is just irritating after a while even though it has to be said that NFS looks great.
Initially I thought they’d done it. Driving around in my tuned up Civic I thought I was back in the day on Underground 2 or Carbon. But all too quickly I got bored of what are basically one of two races using the same car. The plot doesn’t help when there’s a lack of races to keep me interested. But there is a solid grounding in Need for Speed that could be built up to get back to greatness. I hope the next Need for Speed is built from this foundation rather than throwing it all away and starting again as EA have done so many times now.
