The new arcade racer from Criterion has the right ideas to drive NfS out of its low. Even if not every fan wish is fulfilled.
It was actually just a slip of the tongue: “Need for Speed as a genre”, says creative director Kieran Crimmins in an interview when I ask him about the differences between Need for Speed Unbound and other racers like Forza Horizon. He immediately corrected himself (“as a series”), but the longer I think about it, the more fitting this description seems to me.
28 years and 22 main parts later (which we have put in order in the big NfS ranking) Need for Speed can indeed justifiably call itself a genre of its own – and it is in crisis. For years.
But after talking to Crimmins from the new old developer Criterion Games and a look at the first longer gameplay video, I am now confident: Unbound could bring the NfS genre – excuse me, the series – back on track, which Need for Speed Heat only touched upon recently. Because underneath the debatable visuals there are a lot of really clever ideas and changes!
Old staff, new design
A return to the street racing of the Undercover series is promised by developer Criterion Games – and at the same time, they state that at least when it comes to the personnel, not that much has changed compared to the predecessors cobbled together by Ghost Games. For the two studios share numerous employees.
Netheless, a lot has changed both externally and under the bonnet. The most noticeable change is, of course, the graphic style: characters like from an anime series, special smoke effects, stylised tracers or wings when the car accelerates or takes off – in the mix with the realistic environments and the chic mirrored bodies, the look is definitely unique.
However, not all of you like the new look. That”s one reason why there”s an option to turn off the effects completely, leaving only the animated figures in the cutscenes.
This “set it how you like it” approach runs throughout the game, according to the interview with Kieran Crimmins. It starts with the driving model, which again has to decide between drift and grip when it comes to performance tuning: Do you want to slide into a drift around the next corner by braking as you know it from NfS? Or would you rather go for a more realistic and semi-simulation driving model, where the goal is to get out of the corner as fast as possible? “We”re stepping it up,” promises creative director Crimmins.
Good news for car fans: you can chase your carts around the track with manual gears if you wish, a more arcade-heavy automatic function is also included. Meanwhile, there are not quite as many options as some fans would like in the view: The popular cockpit perspective is missing in Unbound. Instead, there are three chase cameras, one of them cinematic and more distant as seen in the trailers, as well as a bumper and bonnet perspective.
Those who want to play offline won”t be bothered
While many games increasingly no longer make a distinction between single and multiplayer mode (see the Shared World of Diablo 4), Unbound wants to take the different needs of players into account.
This starts with a simple decision: If you select the “Play Alone” option in the menu, you won”t see any other human drivers in your game. If you choose multiplayer instead, you can assume that any potential opponents you encounter while cruising through Lakeshore will also have a heightened interest in competitive competition.
In some of the previous games (such as 2015”s Need for Speed), the multiplayer mode felt more like an appendage, with game-ready opponents hard to find; this time around, Unbound has its own progression system for online players only, plus free DLCs are already planned for the future. “We”ve completely reworked the multiplayer mode compared to Heat,” promises Crimmins.
As for the campaign, Criterion is fully committed to a similar risk-reward system as in Heat; basically, you have to choose whether to drive home money earned through street racing safely or stay out longer with the prospect of even bigger winnings and thus risk being caught by the police. In the process, you also place bets with your virtual money; if you win, you will collect a lot of money.
You can only complete a certain number of events per virtual (!) day and week, and at the end of the fake week there is also a qualifying that gives you access to the next step on the career ladder. Of course, the clock is not really ticking, so you don”t have to hurry or fear that the game will progress without your participation or that you”ll have to wait a week in real life before you can continue playing. But Unbound”s campaign wants to give you the illusion of a living underground racing scene with its weekly structure – let”s see if that works.
More life in the joint
There”s been little to see so far of the fictional town of Lakeside, where Need for Speed Unbound is set. However, it is now clear that in addition to a downtown, there will also be excursions into the surrounding area, where you will race through the mountains on winding country roads. Creative Director Kieran Crimmins promises more life, not only through the newly introduced passers-by on the pavements.
The game world is supposed to be “densely packed” with events, and there are always opportunities to race along the way: Similar to Forza Horizon, drift zones and lightning traps are waiting for you to put down best performances without having to start a separate race for it.
Need for Speed Unbound will officially be released on 2 December 2022, but pre-orderers of the Palace Edition and subscribers of EA Play or Microsoft”s Game Pass can get started three days before. The preload has already started.
Editorial conclusion
This sounds good, this looks good, this has a hand and a foot: Need for Speed Unbound continues the way of Heat and seems to make the right changes to get NfS back on track. Especially the new separation of single and multiplayer mode gives me hope that this will help both game variants. Together with setting options for automatic or manual gear shifting, drift or grip driving model, comic effects or none, it seems important to Criterion to be able to offer each type of player the ideal experience for them.
The only thing that worries me at the moment is that I haven”t been able to play Unbound yet. Normally EA always shows its new Need for Speed to journalists early on, but this time the marketing team is relying entirely on social media as an advertising medium. There is not even a test version yet, press representatives from all over the world, like the rest, can only start playing at the Early Access launch on 29 November. I”m still unsure if this is a bad sign for the quality of the game. But as soon as I know more, you will of course read it on GlobalESportNews!
