Thanks to Electronic Arts we had the opportunity to test the new Need for Speed. EA would like to achieve a new restart with their latest racing game of the well known series. The big question is, can Ghost Games create a racing game that arouses the enthusiasm for such games again? Let’s find out.
.
Fans of Need for Speed wished they would get a reboot or the next chapter of the well known and successful game ‘Need for Speed Underground’ for years. This game was released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the Gamecube. We noticed very early that the new Need for Speed includes a lot of features that people liked in Underground and what made the game such successful. You only drive at night or in the crack of dawn through the fictional city called Metropole Venture Bay. This city is similar to Los Angeles and looks fantastic because of great light-effects and worth seeing reflections on the wet asphalt.
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLQGXHy5m6Y
.
Unfortunately, the city seems to be a little bit empty. There are no passers and just a little bit people driving around. We also noticed that, unfortunately, the city is not so large as we thought. We also do not get often the feeling to drive very fast. This all could be the reason for many players that the game could get boring quickly. It could be that players will use often the Teleport-Function to the next event instead to drive through that city, that offers in addition to the downtown part, highways, serpentines and some mountain section. Unfortunately, between this main events there are only a few Donut- and other challenges. Great are the spontaneous 1 vs. 1 duels that offers a little variation between the main events.
.
What we like are the customization options which are a big part of the new Need for Speed. Players are able to customize their cars: You can change the hoods on the front and parts of the rear sections as well as install side skirts, change the exhaust and wheel, spoilers, headlights, mirrors you are even able to change the text on the license plate. Players have a large number of opportunities to customize the cars according to their own taste. In addition to that you get also a lot of tools that helps you to paint the car and to place stickers on the cars. Players have also the opportunity to customize their cars with body-kits. That allows a much faster customization.
.
Tuning was since Underground a big part of the game series. And the developers continues this tradition in the latest game: Players can upgrade parts like the camshafts, intercooler, suspension, differential, exhaust systems, nitro system, turbocharger, brakes, tires and a lot of other stuff. You can get this upgrades by reaching a level or if you complete special missions.
.
What we like is the high range of car settings players can use. This gives a feeling of freedom and raises Need for Speed in the category of simulations. Players can regulate the tires’ pressure, change the steering angle, change the brakes’ balance and set the downforce and differential. You can also change the car’s’ suspension or the spring rate and the stabilizers. Unfortunately it is not possible to save as many settings as we want. This would be helpful because you need different car settings for different races. What we like is that players can change the driveability of the car very quickly thanks to a slider. With this you can switch between the maximum grip and drift-ability of the car.
.
What we also like is that Need for Speed isn’t a simulation even if there a loot opportunities to set your car. Need for Speed keeps his tradition and is with his driving physics a pure arcade racer. But we think that players should use the handling options and other stuff the developers include in this game. What we like is that you have to use these ability to change the car settings from time to time especially if you drive some Drift Racings. We noticed very quickly that we had a lot of more fun after we changed the car’s settings and we also a had much easier to handle the car. We had no problems with the controls of this game or to play it with the Dualshock 4, but we have to say that this need for Speed do not support wheels, what is very sad for a racing game. What we also do not like is, that you can not play the game from the cockpit-view. This is a little bit strange and sad at the same time, because this racing game includes more than 50 great cars like the some BMWs, Nissans, Fords, Porsches, Lamborghinis and some oldtimers like the first Volkswagen Golf GTI.
.
The Need for Speed series has a story-line since Most Wanted. We believe that stories like Fast and Furious, Day of Thunder and others can also work very good in racing games. We think that everyone should also make their own judgment about the story in this game and how they transport it. The video sequences are shot with real actors. We think that is not so bad as it sounds. Many years ago there been a lot of games that had videos with real actors. The reaction was always and is still the same: Smile, because you do not know if they mean it like they say or cry because they mean it like they say. For some players this is funny, other players think that this is a great variation against the with polygons drawn characters with no live in their faces. You know that we are not fans of spoilers and that is the reason we do not want to tell you more about it.
.
What we like is that the standard races are very challenging. As leader you will be aggressively attacked by the other drivers. If you build an accident it is possible to catch up the other drivers very quickly. Unfortunately, we have to say that it not happens once that teammates hit our car and we lost the Team-Race.
.
Like in other Need for Speed games you can get pursued by the police. Unfortunately, the AI is not the best one in this game. It happens not once that it was too easy to escape from the cops. It also take much longer time after they begin to set roadblocks or until that they request for reinforcements. Unhappily, we have to say that the fight between cops and races was never such boring in the games before as in this game. And it also take a long time until you find some cops to start a pursuit.
.
The most worth thing is that Ghost Games and Criterion decided, that users need to be permanent online. It is very sad that it happened a lot of times that players joined the races, too and ruined them because they cut the online connection if did not win. We think that a permanent online connection in games is not necessary. It also means, that if should down the servers in feature, it will be not possible to play the game again. And this are very bad news. We hope that the developers will release an update that turns the online compulsion off.
.
What motivates to play more and be better as other players is the Speedwall in combination with the Autologsystem. This allows you to compare your results with other players and also with all your friends. What we like is that if a friend completed a races better than you, a symbol marks the event on the map automatically.
.
Unfortunately, we have to say that we wished Electronic Arts and Ghost Games had used the two years to develop a better reboot of Need for Speed. On the other side, we have to say that we had a lot of fun to configure our cars and to challenge our friends. Like we said above, we like the introducing of the story with real live videos but many players will not be happy with it. But the story is not so important for a racing game. We also can confirm, that we we had a lot fun driving after we set the cars’ customisations like it should be. We like the handlings but we think that the game focuses too much on drifting the cars. The graphics and sound of the game is great. The game looks fantastic and the soundtrack pushes the immersion. We had a lot of fun to race through the city but the bad caps’ AI ruined a lot. We also do not like the online compulsion. We think that it is not necessary. Like we said a few times before, we had a lot of fun with the new Need for Speed, but this game misses a lot of features to be on the same level as the Need for Speed games before.
.
.
.