Need For Speed: Unbound - Dec 02 2022

[DarhkFox]

Can you turn of the graphic effects? Friend was playing it and said there were no options to do this.

 

Which is weird since the (twitter) post further up claims its possible.

[scoobysi]

I’m really surprised how bad this seems to be, a Criterion game hmmm, hopefully it improves once you start to unlock cars. I quite like the graphical style of the characters, they still work with the cars but the graphical effects around the cars are just messy, way over the top and out of place.

[thesnwmn]

5 hours ago, scoobysi said:

I’m really surprised how bad this seems to be, a Criterion game hmmm, hopefully it improves once you start to unlock cars. I quite like the graphical style of the characters, they still work with the cars but the graphical effects around the cars are just messy, way over the top and out of place.

 

Thing is, Criterion haven't released a racing game since 2013.

 

In fact, since then, according to Wikipedia, they've not actually been the primary developer of any game. They seem to have become a support team at EA, helping out on Battlefront and Battlefield. They even had this project delayed when they scurried back to help on Battlefield 2042 last year.

 

So how much of the talent still there is even from that period?

 

These studios absorbed into massive publishers are, after some time, probably little more than a name. A husk of what they were. Particularly when they go quiet for a period and especially when they stop making what they were renowned for.

[Bangaio]

I’ve watched some videos of this and it looks so completely bland. Compared to heat which as a game is questionable and as a story laughable it is just night and day - literally! 
 

The art style in heat was incredible. This is just looking very dated and just plain wrong in places. 

[Mr C]

I'll give it a go on the trial but this looks truly dreadful. Maybe the gameplay holds up OK but graphically and stylistically I hate it. There hasn't been a good Need for Speed game since Hot Pursuit. Had reasonably high hopes for this but look set to be disappointed 

[moosegrinder]

The responses to this are making me sad. I haven't had time to download it and was hoping it lived up to its promise

[Ry]

This is growing on me a bit. 

 

I got a chance to drive a much faster car and it felt great. 

 

Then it was back to my price of shit and it felt shit. 

 

Don't see my buying it though. Happy to wait 6-9 months until it's on GP/EA Play

 

 

[K]

47 minutes ago, moosegrinder said:

The responses to this are making me sad. I haven't had time to download it and was hoping it lived up to its promise

 

I don't know what people were expecting, really. It's like downloading FIFA and saying "urgh, what's with all the football?".  It's a Need for Speed game - it's pretty much exactly what you would imagine it would be like, for better or worse.

[Dimahoo]

On 18/10/2022 at 23:38, scoobysi said:

I worry that I’m getting tired of racing games, Wreckfest being the one exception of late. I feel like I’ve played everything else before. I really really hope this is good.

 

 

I know how you feel mate. I always step away and they draw me back eventually.

Heat was alright - it had a nice city ambience in the lighting but was mostly dead otherwise. I preferred the Crew 2.

 

NFS games are very hit and miss hence why people feel the way they do. Some of us know this series from the classic Car and Driver and NFS on the 3D0 and when every game did something new.

Now they just focused on teenage racers and whats worse is they don't really care.  

 

Like Heat i'll get this cheap. I'd rather pay full price for games Wreckfest or the Crew 2. Whatever you think, at least some love went into those games.

 

[MattyP]

On 18/10/2022 at 23:38, scoobysi said:

I worry that I’m getting tired of racing games, Wreckfest being the one exception of late. I feel like I’ve played everything else before. I really really hope this is good.

I am right there. Not enjoyed any arcade racing games for a fair while now. This why I just keep this lot handy and just go back to these when I want some arcade racing fun. A bit of PITA as I have to keep the 360 around. But the arcade racers these days aren't targeted at me and I accept that! Just hate all the "in your face" presentation of most of them. The constant jibber-jabbering, noise and fluff. Just want some decent tracks, good selection of cars, perhaps some music in the background and just left to get on with it. Yes I am getting old. But just got to enjoy what you enjoy in the end... *

 

 

* yes I am downloading the trial of the NFS game. I'll see what its like and try and go in objectively and see what the racing/fun element is like. I expect I won't get on with it though reading some posts upthread!  However always willing to give things a go....

[bignige]

Is there a way to turn the incessant talking off in this? I don’t care you’re from a foster home - just shut up please!!

[Mortis]

So I put a few hours into this last night. I’m still not sold - the handling is improved by turning traction control on and upgrading parts to let you adjust the grip <-> drift slider to better take corners without having the feeling you’ve hit a patch of ice. That gives the cars a bit more weight when driving but it still feels off. 
 The constant calls from your companions are cringeworthy - now maybe as a near 50 yr old man I’m just not the demographic but it all sounds like old people writing how they think young people speak. 
I just don’t feel drawn to advance the “story” and the racing isn’t interesting enough to keep me coming back. 

[dave7g]

Racing is fine, it's Criterion for sure, maybe it's even very good. The cliché hipster, cool guy Millennial story is complete cringe, and I'll just say the soundtrack whilst I'm aware it's not for me, is fucking absolute garbage to my ears.

 

I'll keep going with it, but it seems every single racing game has the same fucking story now. UGH

[BeeJay]

I feel like I got left behind by racing games when they split in to 'arcade' and 'simulation'. I don't want to have to buy a simulation setup and also worry about real clutches and gear sticks. But I also don't want the 'arcade' approach of style over substance. The xbox/360 golden era was before the split when the market was still about pursuing driving accuracy while also maintaining accessability. Now, you either have to be a serious simulation gamer and spend thousands on a rig that takes up loads of space, or make do with the latest forza horizon.

 

EDIT: I know it isn't quite as black and white as that but that's how I feel about it.

[SteveH]

9 minutes ago, dave7g said:

Racing is fine, it's Criterion for sure, maybe it's even very good. The cliché hipster, cool guy Millennial story is complete cringe, and I'll just say the soundtrack whilst I'm aware it's not for me, is fucking absolute garbage to my ears.

 

I'll keep going with it, but it seems every single racing game has the same fucking story now. UGH

I feel for you. It isn't my kind of music at all and there's just no variety to it. 

[moosegrinder]

1 hour ago, K said:

 

I don't know what people were expecting, really. It's like downloading FIFA and saying "urgh, what's with all the football?".  It's a Need for Speed game - it's pretty much exactly what you would imagine it would be like, for better or worse.

 

It's all about how it plays. The story and music and all that garbage I can ignore as long as the gameplay is good and it sounds ok at best. I could give it a go but reading these impressions I may as well save time and bandwidth for something else.

[Sloth]

1 hour ago, bignige said:

Is there a way to turn the incessant talking off in this? I don’t care you’re from a foster home - just shut up please!!

 

Turn the dialogue volume to zero in the menu, and disable subtitles.

[dvdx2]

All the above criticisms are valid, but I don’t think the the game is really aimed at 40-50+ Year olds. The modern teenage chit-chat and gangsta beats (if that’s what it is) are totally alien to me. What happened to a bit of moody dialogue and some good metal/techno/electronica as the ingame music? Has youth culture moved on that much?!.  I am enjoying it though; its nice and smooth, but I need to fiddle around with the handling settings as mentioned, just don’t seem right. There are faint whiffs of NFS hot pursuit, and the criterion input is definitely noticeable.

[womblingfree]

I don’t think most things are aimed at 40-50 year olds, apart from classic car magazines and Saga holidays.

[cassidy]

Well my son is raving it and did about 12hrs on it yesterday. He is a big racing game and NFS fan. 

[dave7g]

I honestly think a NFS story with miserable 40 year olds set in the blazing sunshine racing across america to a 80s/90s alt rock/ hair metal soundtrack would sell just as well as these dreadful tropey "getting insta likes for your brand" bollocks narratives.

 

I'm warming up to this now. There aren't any cutscenes at all and it's just chatter while driving telling the story. The racing is fun and the cars feel good. That's all I wanted really.

 

Although I did hear one song with lyrics "Gimme dat money, all I want is money", reminded me of Greg Miller begging for money on his podcasts.

[englishbob]

I'm hoping at some point they move games out of the USA and set them in the UK - with a Bob Hoskins / Long Good Friday vibe driving around London

 

"Come first you cunt or I'll fucking cut you"

 

That's a game I'll play

 

From the trailers / gameplay I've seen of this - surely only marketing types think this is great - rad, sick, race in the USA - where else in the world?

 

I'm a 52 year old white person - I don't think this is for me.

[Sarlaccfood]

7 hours ago, BeeJay said:

Now, you either have to be a serious simulation gamer and spend thousands on a rig that takes up loads of space

I promise you GT7 with a pad is great fun. A rig is not essential at all. 
 

And nay a “dude” or “bro” to be heard anywhere.

[dvdx2]

I still have the first car, so I’m hoping things improve when something better becomes available. The setting I find best, is changing the drifting to ‘tap brake’ with traction control off - you just then balance your drift out. Still not perfect, but better. 
Saying that, I still wouldn’t be too pleased if I had spent £62 odd, on the preorder. The free 10hr trial should be enough for me, unless it really opens up, chucks a ton of cars my way and becomes amazing (not too sure about that).

[SnoopZakaDaVe]

If there wasn't a trial I would have bought this, as it stands after playing an hour or so it's firmly in the wait to drop on ea play/game pass category unless I get into it after getting my first car etc and get to grips with it. Maybe closer to Christmas when work isn't so busy I'll pick up a physical copy if that happens. What's more likely I'd I'll go back and play through Heat which I didn't give much of a chance 

[MattyP]

Had a go on this earlier. It's not too bad reminds me a bit of Burnout Paradise except BP felt a much faster game. The visual effects are fun. 

 

It does feel like it's a game "designed by committee" though I can imagine a group sat around a boardroom table with a prototype adding all sorts of tick box items in there. The chatter between the characters in the car is annoying it's trying to be a racer with a story?! The characters feel very wooden and like a pair of nice and down the line high school kids from middle America. Not very gangsta at all. I guess this all disappears after a while in the full game though and it's just introductory stuff.

 

However £65 for this? Hmmm. Download a copy of Burnout Paradise and perhaps seek out Rockstars Midnight Club. (Both still available on Xbox at least and BP Remastered is on GP I believe)

[dumpster]

8 hours ago, womblingfree said:

I don’t think most things are aimed at 40-50 year olds, apart from classic car magazines and Saga holidays.

No kids can afford that.  

[scoobysi]

I’m warming to this, some enjoyable racing, although I do feel I’ve played it before. In fact I’d swear there are sections of the road taken directly from both NFS HP and Heat.

 

If only you could turn down the graphical effects, the rear light trail is quite cool but the wings on a jump and tyre smoke are horrible. At one point I couldn’t even see where I was going because of some graphic above the car.

[Ry]

Fuck. Fun n

[dvdx2]

10 hours ago, dumpster said:

No kids can afford that.  

Don’t think too many adults at the moment, could either!