Need for Speed Review

The Verdict

I love the direction Ghost Games took this reboot. Sure, it's got some corny FMVs to tie a narrative together, but it's something you'll get used to after all the major characters get introduced. But most importantly,the gameplay is absolutely solid. And of course the big return of deep car customization is something I've wanted for a long time, and Need for Speed delivered on that front.

It's easily the best example of taking mechanics from old games that worked, and marrying them with more modern mechanics. I weep for the online-only future of these games, as they're completely unnecessary, but it doesn't detract from the overall experience.

The new reboot gets a definite recommendation from me, especially if you're a fan of older Need for Speed titles, and arcade racers alike.

The Positives

• Let's start off with the driving itself, which is easily one of the most important aspects in, well, any driving game. In short, it feels perfect for a Need for Speed game. It's common that each Need for Speed title controls a bit differently, so it takes time to get used to the handling of cars, as well as nailing the feel of the drift. Here, everything clicked pretty much right away.

• Drifting can be easily pulled off with the handbrake which conveniently slides your car to the side in a turn, much easier than in previous games. But the more advanced drifting techniques will come later when you start messing with your tires and traction, so you can pull them off with just the brake, without ever letting go of the gas. While that may sound intimidating, the game makes all of these settings easy to understand

• The city of Ventura Bay is gorgeous. It's split up into different sections, each one with their own distinct look. Whatever filter EA used for the game makes the city seem photorealistic, almost as though the car was the only thing in 3D, and the city itself you were driving through was real.

• FMVs are back, and I actually didn't hate them. Sure the acting is cheesy, but I didn't mind this progression through the game. You'll get the dorky girl mechanic, the calm and collected drifter, the hot girl who likes to drive with her crew, and the over-the-top cocky asshole. There's a few other supporting characters as well, but these are the ones you'll be interacting with the most.

• You'll get phone calls frequently from these characters as you're playing. You can choose to ignore these if you don't feel like hearing them spew nonsense most of the time and just check their messages, but either way, this is how you'll be unlocking the majority of the story missions in the game.

• Though the game touts that there are five ways to play the game, what that really means is there are five ways for you to earn REP as you complete races. Speed rewards you with going fast without using your brake, Crew rewards you in races where you need to stick together with other racers to earn points, Style rewards you things like drifting or donuts, Build rewards you for impressive feats like 0-60mph in a short amount of time, and Outlaw rewards you for destroying the environment or pissing off cops.

• Speaking of cops, I very much appreciate that their frequency is toned down. They appear way less in the game, which means you can concentrate more actually racing than trying to always outrun the cops. However, when you do get into a chase, even losing them is a lot easier now. I remember being frustrated with previous games which had me escaping from the cops, but then running into about five more during the cooldown period. In this game, it's very rare to even run into a single cop during the cooldown period.

• Even though Ventura Bay isn't overly massive, it's really great that each event has a Teleport function. Sure, you might be losing out on a few REP points that you'd earn by driving there, but it's great that if you just want to focus on the story missions, that you're not forced to drive halfway around the map just to get there.

• As your progress through the story, you'll get access to tons more optional races

• There amount of collectibles was kept to a minimum, which is also nice because it's manageable. There are 30 Vista spots, 30 Donut spots and 12 Free Parts to collect.

• Factoring into the collectibles are also cars you need to beat in spontaneous races. Simply by pressing a button when you're behind another car, you can choose to either do a spontaneous Sprint, Drift or Outrun. These are fun and short challenges that can earn you some extra cash as well as REP.

• Car customization galore! This was a pretty huge deal for me, especially as a fan of Underground 2. Not only can you visually tweak your car with various parts like spoilers, bumpers and side skirts, but you can also make completely original liveries that work on layers. I'm not sure whether they can be as elaborate as the ones in Forza, but it looks like the potential is there. Then there are the slew of performance upgrades that will even make cars like the Toyota 86 viable in later-game races, instead of forcing me to upgrade to a much powerful vehicle.

The Negatives

• Even though there are a slew of performance upgrades for your car, it's a shame that there's no easy upgrade button that would give you the best available parts that are both available and affordable. In this iteration, you have to scroll through each part individually, and then check whether it has a new upgrade for it, since there is no visual cue indicating this.

• The races are fast and frantic, but some of them are there just for padding and have no real consequence. For instance, one mission had me racing Amy, the dorky mechanic, after she built a Porsche. The race was simply for her to test out the capabilities of the Porsche, which meant my standing in the race had no bearing on the outcome. I placed second and still got the "mission complete" message.

• The spontaneous races, while cool, sometimes spawn the racing line in the opposite direction you're going, which makes the whole thing feel awkward.

• Need for Speed games have always had a rubber banding problem but it's sad to see that it still persists here. In an effort to make races feel more tense, the NPC drivers will always get a boost of speed when they're behind you. When you're clearly driving perfect, watch them spin out, and then they miraculously gain super speed to catch up to you is infuriating.

• The always-online feature is absolutely pointless. Never have I felt the urge to challenge any of the racers I saw online, and never did they actually enhance my gameplay experience with them there. What makes this even worse is that there's actually a button to "Play Alone" though you still need to connect online first. It's obvious that this was mostly put in to fight piracy rather than enhance the experience.

Whenever I discuss Need for Speed games with anyone, and the topic of my personal favorite comes up, without any hesitation, I always answer Need for Speed Underground 2. That game introduced me personally, to the world of racing. Sure, I've played racing games prior to it, but Underground 2 managed to hook me in with its open world, heavy customization options and slew of various races.

This year's Need for Speed, which EA claims to be a reboot of sorts, feels a lot like Underground 2. From the night-time only racing, the similarities between Bayview and Ventura Bay, the interactions between other racers with your phone, to the various types of races you'll partake in.

Let's check out what's great about this year's Need for Speed, what missed the mark and our final verdict.