Need for Speed is a franchise that is renowned for its fast-paced racing and high performance cars. The NFS series has had many titles over the years and has be around for more than two decades on various platforms.  The focus has constantly changed depending on the trend, but in recent years the franchise has been missing the ball quite a bit. I personally feel the series has had more average titles than decent titles in the past 5 years, other than perhaps Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (PS3/Xbox 360/PC) being one title I rather enjoyed in the franchise whilst it’s been in decline.

It seems like the reboot that has been needed has finally come to the franchise, bringing back focus on the illegal street racing and crews.  The title focuses on a lot of Need for Speed  features present from previous entries such as Underground 2 and Carbon. This also means that live-action cut-scenes are back. The cut-scenes even though most of the time are incredibly cheesy and have very average acting, it’s hard to watch. However, when the cut-scenes feature actual drivers such as Ken Block, It makes you kind of forget about the cheesiness and is enjoyable to watch in its rarity, it could have been be a lot better.

The game opens up with a cut-scene introduction where you get to meet your lovely cast for this racing title. No one is really memorable, so they aren’t really worth mentioning. Once we have done the meet and greet we are taken into our first race.  Just like Pokémon you are given the opportunity to choose between three entry level cars to get you started in the game. Once selected you hit the streets and drive to your first race. This is an open-world Need for Speed title which requires you to drive to race points or activity points to start an event. Each event you play you will earn rep and cash that help towards unlocking better cars, tires, boost’s etc.  As the game progresses the events do get harder, which is something that is welcomed and requires the skills you have learnt leading up to the harder events.

Another positive to mention is the event types and the fact they are quite diverse, mainly due to the various forms of drift racing.  Torque makes a welcomed return which was featured in Underground 2. Alongside this mode there is a Drift Train mode which requires the player to be drifting close to other racers to earn points. There is of course Sprint and Circuit event types to that are for the players interested in speed over drifting.

Fans of the series will be unhappy to know that the infamous rubber-banding that has been present throughout the franchise is still present in this title. It makes the first few hours of the game pretty unfair due to how close the AI sticks to you and rarely mess up. It also reverses and shows that when you are trailing behind that the cars will slow down for you to catch up. This is something that just makes the game feel too easy at times, but also hard at the same time. The balance just doesn’t feel right and is more frustrating than it should be.

The graphical detail is really shown within the car set-up, it really showcases that a lot of work has been put into this area. The customisation doesn’t just focus on making your car be faster, but in-fact focuses on other aspects such as drifting handling styles. There are a lot of customisation options to fiddle around with and all have noticeable differences when you hit the streets. It’s all done so simply thanks to a slider.

There are a lot options for being quite the artist, however it’s not on the level of Forza’s customisation options, but you can still make a beautiful custom paint job for your car.  It’s not the most fluid as I would have hoped and it perhaps takes more effort that in should. The customisation options are great for those who have the time to spend on it and really want to work on their car looking unique, but it falls a bit flat. It’s not the worst I have experienced and it is going in the right direction, just a bit more simple would have been more helpful. Hopefully we’ll see an improvement in future instalments.

Graphically the cars look fantastic and the Frostbite engine really showcases the sheer beauty of the cars in Need for Speed. The environments however are a bit average, they look decent, but nothing ground breaking when it comes to scenery.  Yet driving at high speeds through the rain is something that needs to  experience as it looks wonderful. I would say the rain effects are on the same level of those seen in Driveclub.

Overall Need for Speed is a decent racing title and is one of the better titles in recent years, but still doesn’t match the Underground series. It’s one of the better open-world Need for Speed titles and the event variation and the cars really add to an enjoyable experience, but is still let down by a few setbacks. There is no custom control options available or the option to use a wheel and pedals for those after a more authentic experience.  The online mode is also something that is a laggy-mess and doesn’t really offer much. You have people in your game whenever you are playing and can race them if you or they wish to challenge. It’s not as fun as it sounds and to be honest not many people I have drove past have never really offered to challenged me. The game is decent, it’s not the best racer but it’s certainly not the worse. It’s an average game with great cars and great car design with some great variation in gameplay at best.

Do you want reveal the Review Score?