11 December,2022 07:14 AM IST | Mumbai | Jaison Lewis
Need For Speed Unbound
Need for Speed is a yearly tradition, much like other Electronic Arts (EA) games, but they are steadily losing audiences around the world to other racing games that have got the formula down to a science, leaving NFS to play catch up with the EA's. The franchise has undergone some crucial changes with Unbound, but the game isn't revolutionary, at least not yet. This needs to bake for another season or two before they get the formula right.
The most significant change you can see in the game is the visual style. It almost seems like the design team were a big fan of the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie. Its use of doodled graffiti pops up a lot throughout the game, and while they have cell-shaded characters, it feels like they were trying to restrain themselves. The graphic elements are a nice touch to the game, but it would have been better to see more of it. What they have is good, though. The smoke cloud from your car drifting on the track is drawn, and you get a set of graffiti wings popping up when you do a long jump. It's a nice change from the hyper-realistic approach that Need For Speed had for years. The realistically rendered things are the cars and the city of Lakeshore. It's a strange mishmash of art styles that weirdly work together, but they could have gone with more rather than less. That said, the cars and the city are pretty, and every car on the roster looks flawless. No inside view of the car, though, like we are used to with Forza. You get to design the outside, in all sorts of ways making your creation truly yours. To make things more interesting, EA lets us partially design the character you will use in the game. There aren't too many options, but enough to make you happy. This is what Criterion should consider while exploring the next iteration of this game.
Need For Speed have forever been trying to crack the story module of their game, and it has always been a hit or miss. The story mode in Unbound is at least not an afterthought, which is a plus in my books. However, the first section of the game, which is essentially an introduction, is very long. Having said that, the tale of NFS is a classic one; a friend betrays a friend, then the friend has to climb up the street racing circuit to take on and defeat the backstabbing pal. The twists and turns in the game are predictable. Some of the dialogue is jarring because you can sense the desperation of trying to sound cool. Nevertheless, despite the clichés, it isn't the worst NFS in terms of story. I also like the renewed focus on it; maybe they will get it right with the next one.
The game, for starters, is much more challenging. Races are not rigged by the AI to ensure you have a chance at winning. Instead, if you mess up really badly, there is a chance you will never make the gap up during the race. This happens even in the easiest mode. There are also limited retries, use all of them up, and you will have to live with the race results. Each race also has its importance. This is because there is a qualifier race every weekend, and you have to earn money and upgrade your car to qualify at the end of the week. It is more challenging because the game has an element of strategy. There are also night and day races like heat, night races are more challenging, but the rewards are higher. Cops are also back, and your heat rating refreshes every cycle. Joining races, evading cops, and other activities, increase your heat level - the higher your heat level, the crazier the cop chase. Level one is just standard patrol cars; with higher levels, you get interceptors, helicopters, and barricades. Also, if you are caught, all the money you earn during the night or day session is immediately lost. You need to catch up on your vehicle upgrade targets that you need to meet for the qualifying race at the end of the week. While there are different activities throughout the map, most of your time will be spent racing, which can get a little monotonous after a while. The car handling takes a little getting used to, which is an odd thing to say about a Need For Speed game. It is usually the one thing you can rely on. In Unbound, it seems to be a bit of a weakness. Cars feel a bit unresponsive, and it is hard to predict how the cars will turn or even drift reliably. With more expensive cars, this gets better after you upgrade, but it is still unpredictable and hard to replicate. A few updates should take care of the handling issue in the future.
This is a good Need For Speed game overall. There is enough of a sense of panic introduced by new game mechanisms to get you excited about NFS again. It also looks good, and the new art style is unique in the racing genre and is done well. Hopefully, the handling of the cars will get better over time with subsequent updates. The asking price for NFS Unbound is steep, but given the game's content, it might be a fair investment for a fan of the car racing genre.
