The Criterion development team returns to word on the Need
For Speed games after 9 years of working on the Ghost Games series, although
the versions are different. It still holds the name of Need For Speed, a
testament to the return of the beloved team that gave us one of the best
versions of the Need for Speed series in the name of Need For Speed: Hot
Pursuit, is this the return we were
all waiting for?
Unfortunately, the game returns to present a story phase as
it did in the last versions of the series, and this time with a story that may
be the worst among recent stories, with annoying characters that seem to be
inspired by the dumbest personalities from social media, and using phrases and
sentences that try to impress as much as it can from the Tiktok generation.
The game's plot revolves around an illegal street-racing
tournament in the fictional city that is Lakeshore City, and this tournament
takes place over 4 weeks, where you race by collecting money and modifying your
car to get it up to the level needed to compete in the championship. Luckily,
you can complete most of the races and challenges the game offers without
worrying about the story, which focuses on races that only take place every
weekend.
Special features of this version are the cartoon effects
that appear on the player's car and rival cars during races, such as smoke
appearing from the tires, or wings appearing on your car when you use nitro,
and similar effects that give the game its own personality. Your character and
the characters in the game world are also designed in a cartoonish way. It all
comes down to cell shading, and the design of the vehicles and game world is
quite realistic and on a good graphical level. The acceptance of this artistic
approach, that blends the two styles together, may depend on the player's
taste, but we found it to be a nice combination.
On the music and sounds level, the game focuses more on presenting modern rap songs, and we strongly hope that there was an option to turn off those songs or at least switch between them, as you know, each person has his own taste in songs.
The control system is very similar to the previous Need For
Speed, it takes some time to get used to it, but what makes this version
different is that it allows you to drift more smoothly and freely than the
previous version, which had some weight in driving, and this time the car
modification system allows you to change the suspension system more clearly, so
you can adjust your car in the most appropriate way for your drifting style.
The game also gives you several options that you can use to make sharp turns,
unlike the previous version, which limited proper practice to only one method,
and you get a more enjoyable driving system as a result.
The game basically offers 3 types of missions, the first
type is traditional racing where you try to outrun your opponents, the second
type is drift challenges where you try to score as many points as possible, and
the third type, which is a new addition to the series called Takeover, are
challenges where you try to drift and destroy some targets on the track, such
as cones and paint cans, earn points through drifting and fast driving to reach
the save point as quickly as possible, as the points counter fills up over time
in such a way that it doubles, as long as a certain amount of time does not
pass before the accumulated points are exceeded, otherwise the counter resets
to the original value, which means you get points without complications.
Single Stage also offers two types of side missions that the
player can complete between races, and they are divided into missions in which
you deliver a car within a certain time, and missions in which you run away
from the police before delivering those cars, and the best part is that these
missions allow you to experience many supercars or cars that are wonderfully
modified, which is a good thing that gives you insight into the best cars you
can buy to modify and upgrade. It will also give you an idea of the supercars
that best suit your driving style, which will certainly keep you from deciding
to buy them without the hassle of raising the necessary funds for, it is important to note that the more activities
you finish in a day, the more the police will pay attention to you. A continual
risk/reward ratio keeps things intriguing as racing for high payouts raises the
stress. It hurts when you win a lot of money just to lose it all when you get
caught by the police later that day. However, it serves as a powerful motivator
to develop new ways to elude capture or perhaps pay closer attention to how
many events you attend each day.
Speaking of which, one
of Unbound's biggest annoyance for me is the police. They just keep coming at
you when you do not expect it. It does become simpler as your car becomes
quicker and more powerful, but in the beginning, if you have generated a
respectable amount of heat, it may seem nearly impossible to escape the police.
Even with a fully equipped S+ supercar, eluding police was still more
unpleasant than enjoyable since the instant a police helicopter hovers above or
a patrol car gets your attention on a nearby road, a fleet of vehicles and
police helicopters suddenly spawn on the map. So deal with that. Things are at
least a little bit easier to handle on the relaxed difficulty, although even
there, the cops can still catch you and make your life miserable.
It is important to
highlight Unbound's Lakeshore Online feature. Although it operates similarly to
the campaign, it is very independent of it and has its own bank account and
garage. You enter a virtual city, travel to participate in events, in order to
challenge the other players there to a competition. This may be a means to
continue after the campaign if you liked it and wished for more. But in my
personal experience, losing all progress and restarting again in the online
mode was very hard.
I enjoyed a lot of what
NFS Unbound has to offer I like that I don't have to be first in every race to see
any progress in the game; most of the times, I wasn't even close to getting to
the first places. In most situations, moving up only results in a little larger
paycheck, so staying in fourth place still nets you some money to improve and
maybe do better the next time. I admired the dedication to current automotive
culture aesthetics; activities like the takeover are a wonderful addition, as
are the use of different musical and visual styles. Even though I usually found
the cops to be boring rather than exciting, after I got rid of them and
returned to racing, I had a blast moving up the ladder, improving my vehicles,
getting to know the city, and ultimately nailing the turns in races.