Need For Speed: Unbound - Dec 02 2022

[Mr Do 71]

Or only £22.99 using £25 of Microsoft Points. 

[K]

I completed the trial last night, and despite the ending being a bit soured by me getting busted on Friday night and losing $25,000, I have to say I had a pretty terrific time with this game. I would much prefer a version that let you just select the races from a menu like in Hot Pursuit, coupled with an optional free drive mode (also like in Hot Pursuit), but otherwise this is the best Need for Speed game in quite a while. The races are just absolutely thrilling - the difficulty is spot on, so you're always either elbowing your way through the pack or desperately trying to maintain your lead, and the various mechanics like drifting, boosting and slipstreaming give each race loads of texture. Those are hardly new mechanics, but the implementation here is unusually good.

 

There's loads of stuff wrong with it, which I assume is some kind of contractual obligation for NFS games - the police chases are sometimes a bit annoying and there aren't that many different events (although maybe some more are introduced in week 2 and beyond) and the drift / takeover events are really easy - but the important bits are all in there.

 

With a bigger, more varied map, a tweaked police system, and a slightly less grindy structure, the next NFS game could be something really incredible.

[englishbob]

58 minutes ago, scoobysi said:

It is, Palace Edition is now £47.99 on PSN (40% off) until 6 Jan. Unfortunately the Standard edition hasn’t been reduced.

 

Palace > Standard

 

But it's a bit offhand to not reduce both as someone will get caught out

[scoobysi]

4 hours ago, Mr Do 71 said:

Or only £22.99 using £25 of Microsoft Points. 

So the same price then.

[moosegrinder]

No because the 25 quid comes from Reward redemption so therefore 'free'.

 

The base game didn't appear on Xbox till after I saw the Palace edition so maybe it takes time to propagate also.

[scoobysi]

12 minutes ago, moosegrinder said:

No because the 25 quid comes from Reward redemption so therefore 'free'.

£21.99 with £26 PS Plus Points, FU Microsoft, 😂.

 

16 minutes ago, moosegrinder said:

The base game didn't appear on Xbox till after I saw the Palace edition so maybe it takes time to propagate also.

Is the base game in a sale on the XBOX? Would be nice if that got a 40% discount too.

 

[moosegrinder]

48 minutes ago, scoobysi said:

£21.99 with £26 PS Plus Points, FU Microsoft, 😂.

 

Is the base game in a sale on the XBOX? Would be nice if that got a 40% discount too.

 

It's discounted but only like 6 quid less than the Palace version.

[englishbob]

My man is a beacon of hope in a dystopian urban wasteland of illegal racers and car thieves

 

 

I'm pretty sure that someone had a sense of humour that wrote the script - it's not quite social satire levels - but pokes a bit of fun

 

 

The soundtrack most of the time is not inclusive

 

 

 

[scoobysi]

2 hours ago, moosegrinder said:

It's discounted but only like 6 quid less than the Palace version.

Yep but with the cheap ShopTo credit I have, that comes in around £35 which is more like it. I’ll probably wait until the New Year anyway, see what Santa brings first 😀.

[Haribokart]

I just pushed a grandma to the floor, kicked her head in and stole her purse which had enough to pay for this game inside meaning I got the game for £0.00 - thanks so much oh holy lord Microsoft for this bargain deal!

[JamesC]

I was cautiously optimistic about this game and have kept an eye on it, thinking I might pick it up when the price comes down a bit.

I've come to the conclusion though, that a racing game has to be truly special to be worth playing above Hot Pursuit/Blur/Split Second on the 360. I still have my 360 set up permanantly and these games are just sat on the shelf. I honestly think I'm better sticking with those over this latest NFS mixed bag.

[Kayin Amoh]

I downloaded the 10 hour trial and played for about two hours or so. I really like the aesthetics of it, but the AI is - again- irritatingly and nonsensically OP. I remember Component Parts in the NFS 2015 game being similarly absurd - I was in the best Lamborghini I could get, redlining towards the finish, then Amy essentially hits warp drive and passes me on a straight going about twice as fast as my maximum top speed. 

 

This reminded me on that. I put it on easy, and racers would happily shoot out in front and keep increasing the lead, so I gave it a few restarts aaaand... one car went off the road, only to suddenly reset and appear in front of me as it passed the finish line.

 

Deleted it immediately after. If I stick a game on easy because I just want to relax (incidentally, 'easy' mode is called 'relaxing') I shouldn't have the AI cheating its way to wins. I am taking a look at Heat once it downloads though, fancy just having a quick gawp at some of the entries I missed via game pass.

 

(Spoilering a reddit post showing the AI cheating)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edit: Also laughed hard at an early whine from the main characters. The cops show up, so they moan 'Go and take care of some real crimes!'

 

Yeah. Like potentially mowing down pedestrians at 130 miles per hour or smashing people commuting to work off the road isn't a crime worth taking care of. I'm with the cops on this one, and not just because they're a bunch of annoying little shits.