Arcade car games donāt seem that popular nowadays, so what is your opinion on this series?
Some food for thought (not mine)
Itās hard to believe the OG NFS Most Wanted is 19 years old. To this day, I donāt think there has been a better car game. In fact, Iād even claim itās the best car game ever, but that would be too dramatic, so letās just leave it at best in the franchise for now. I think a lot of people would agree with me though, and I mean a lot.
A little explanation for that title: If youāre a Need For Speed fan, chances are you support one of the following opinions:
- Underground 1/2 is the best NFS.
- Most Wanted is the best NFS.
Now, letās see how Underground 1/2 is objectively better compared to MW:
- Customization is more extensive
The end. Thatās literally it. MW on the other hand has:
- Better graphics, physics, etcā¦itās just more polished in every way, which is to be expected from any game sequel, or at least it used to be.
- Police pursuits (more on that later).
I could of course say a lot more, but I donāt want to cross the blurry line of subjectivity, so letās leave it at that. Most Wanted is simply a better made game, with an extra added mechanic: Police Pursuits.
Honestly, you could have an entire post just for the pursuits alone. Arguably what made the game as legendary as it is, at least partially. I donāt know if Iāve ever played another game that features police as good as this one. And its beauty is in its simplicity as much as it is in its execution. There are levels to how āseriousā a chase can be, called āheatā. There is a counter and as long as you run from the police, it keeps counting. Get chased long enough and the heat level rises. Every time that happens, the police get more aggressive and use different methods to stop you. And itās just done beautifully. It starts out easy, and you get cocky. Maybe you feel like challenging them. The heat rises, but you keep having fun. Eventually, you feel like itās time to bail, and thatās when you realise that you have been played. Now they wonāt let you leave. The difficulty really sneaks up on you, even though itās absolutely linear and predictable in its progression. It can be fun, annoying, stressful, hard, in all the good ways.
That alone is enough to lift MW above any of the Undergrounds. And Iāve said virtually nothing about the rest of the game. Iām going to get into the subjective stuff now. The map is frigging awesome. You start out in what looks like the countryside, with its beautiful forested highways and what look like higher income areas. Then, as you progress further through the story and unlock more areas, you turn towards a moreā¦dystopian look, for lack of a better word. Brown, filthy, rusty industrial areas, with garbage and graffiti. I mean look at this. This is a perfect image to give you a great idea of what this game is all about. Grunge, decadence, dystopia. You donāt get the neon lights of Underground 1/2 here, as cool as they are. And the whole thing is absolutely elevated by its metal/rap mix soundtrack, one that would be called āgrimdarkā today, but would also be instantly recognizable by any fan of the game. This is another way MW excels over the predecessors in my opinion. And that is the vibe. The atmosphere. I know people love the night from Underground, but in my opinion, MW offers a far more cohesive, far more complete package, and not just when it comes to aesthetics.
I feel like the whole experience is streamlined beautifully. Each thing flows into the next. The story is simple, yet it has stakes. At the same time, it plays into the gameās Blacklist mechanic, which has you competing with members of the āblacklistā, in order to climb up the ladder. But you have to challenge these drivers first, by completing milestones. Thatās how the game basically āforcesā you to experience all it has to offer. No shortcuts here, you have to work to get to the top and earn back whatās arguably the single most iconic car ever to be put in a video game: The BMW M3 GTR. The absolute legend, the unicorn. A car so iconic, theyāre still milking it 20 years later, to remind you of the long past glory days of the franchise.
Yes, I am fanboying. I mean, this was THE GAME when it was new, especially for car people. I donāt think itās an exaggeration to say that it is, to this day, my benchmark for car games. Seriously, it holds up, graphics look good to this day (if you donāt focus on the backgrounds), driving physics are arcade-y, but still grounded enough to make you feel like a hero, even though theyāre not even close to being realistic. This game has the mojo and the franchise has been in steady decline ever since. There were some highlights of course. Carbon was a good attempt at a sequel, but rushed, it even brought back the customization from Undergroundā¦or most of it at least. Shift tried to do something. Then there was the 2015 reboot, which is easily in my Top 3 Need For Speeds, plagued by issues as it may be, some tiny, others not so much. And ever since thenā¦crap.
What happened to Need For Speed? When did they lose the recipe? At some point, they went back to doing classic NFS, no customization, no story, not even the option to buy cars, nothing, just races to get to the finish line first. They just canāt seem to get it right anymore. I still go back to the original MW every now and then and I canāt help but appreciate how perfect it is, within reason. Everything in that game is what it needs to be, and every thing works with each other to create a great well-oiled machine that just does whatās itās meant to do. I donāt understand why newer games canāt get it right. I thought the aforementioned NFS 2015 was an honestly GREAT attempt, but some of the decisions made for that game baffle me. But I can forgive virtually everything about itā¦except for one thing. Always online? Really? I can only hope that they patch the game before they inevitably take down the servers. Anyway, I digress.
Need for Speed used to be THE franchise for car games, and now itās but a shadow of its former self, if not a joke. I guess it still sells though, which is why theyāre still pushing the games out. I just wish we could once again reach those same highs from -sigh- 20 years ago. It really is incredible that itās been that long.
Play Need For Speed: Most Wanted if you havenāt, itās great.
OG MW is still peak. The way the game comes together is better than the sum of its parts.
BUT I WANT TO TALK ABOUT Unbound.
I played though half of Heat around two years ago. And Ill say it suprised me how nice the driving and the world looked gorgeous, but I didnāt get far. This was a great attempt at modernizing the franchise, and I think it set the groundwork well forā¦
Fast forward to 2024 and Im playing Unbound and loving it. The map is large, expansive, and fun to explore. I legit was able to start mapping it in my head the same way I would with MW. They have such a big range of cars from classic to modern. Alebit the body kit and overall customization is slightly lacking, thereās enough variety that I find myself shopping for new rides because I want to.
And Unbound is dripping with that ASAP ROCKY, manga ass, trippy trap style that permiated the culture a few years back. The neon and drift visual effects I fuck with heavy, because it actually leans into that fun arcadey humor. The characters are cell shaded just like the overlaying style graphics, and I think it juxtaposes the photorealistic vibe if the cars and world well.
The open World Map is much improved too. Its literred with collectables, art to collect, mini world events (speed traps are BACK, along with hot lap and drift challenges). I donāt think its as good as Rockford, but its good in its own right.
Im a little torn on how the game progression is set up. Essentially, the player gets a āweekā to run races and escape from cops to earn as much cash as possible, upgrading your ride along the way, coalescing in a more important qualifier or story race on Saturday. The player can choose to participate in as many races during a day/night as they want before turning in all that cash at a Safe House, proceeding to the next day/night phase. Rinse and repeat. The player will have had to level up a car to a certain class of car (Classes are split into B, A, A+ S, S+), and the races a player can choose to take part in will fall into one of these categories. So its highly advised and even required to have a full stable of cars, not just get locked into one. For that I appriciate it, but this leads me to my next pointā¦
The cop chases. Ugh. Early game theyāre fun and add a lot to the tension, especially when you have a shitbox for a car. But they feel less integrated into story mode than before, as you donāt ever HAVE to really deal with the police in a mission sense. They exist and will always be there to pester you but thatās just it - theyre more of a pest than fun. I could go deeper, but constant high level cop chases make me not want to keep playing some days.
The story is take it or leave it. Pretty run of the mill, but it didnāt actively make me hate it either, so I would says that pretty fucking solid. You can completely ignore it, but its juuuust campy enough Iāve stayed involved.
Probably going to beat it this weekend, but overall, my thoughts are that Iām excited for the next one. Heat and Unbound FEEL like the first two in a mid-franchise trilogy, kind of like Resident evil 7 & 8, and Iām totally ready for the next one.
I really want to try Unbound, it is the first title that has looked interesting to me in the NFS series for a while it is just a shame that I have to use their launcher, if this wasnāt the case I might actually even be willing to break my rule of not giving EA any money (although I would buy it when it was on deep sale that they have fairly often). Shame.
This is quite funny to read, I quite liked Heat and played it all the way through.
Unbound however is by far my least favourite Need for Speed, and one of very few games I regret purchasing.
I just really really do not vibe with it at all, the catch up mechanic is atrocious, and the story and progression is just absolutely terrible.