Need For Speed Is Never Going To Recapture Its Glory Days
© Courtesy of The GamerNeed for Speed has lost its way for decades. This is not a secret. Each new entry is a reboot, a way for Electronic Arts to revive interest in the long-lost Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo franchises. Arcade racing isn't all that common these days, so it's surprising that one of the original founders of the genre took so long to keep going. So what will go wrong?
I didn't grow up with racing games, but Need for Speed has always been one of the biggest players. It has stood alongside Burnout as the pinnacle of the genre, with entries like Underground, Carbon and Most Wanted building on the popularity of street racing and the Fast and Furious movies. Rides are beautiful, especially when they take place under the cover of night to the accompaniment of techno music and police sirens sounding in the distance. The games were great and still are great, but the magic never quite arrived.
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A quick look at Wikipedia's Need for Speed page reveals dozens of games we've all forgotten about. 2010's Hot Pursuits sounds like the last big bang, and everything that's been done since then has been either to rehash what was before or to catch industry trends that the series had nothing to do with. What used to be a very polished look for motorsports has become either a boring mix of gray and black (Need for Speedaproductivesa on. than milk in the sun (The Run, Reckoning and 2015). ).
I didn't even mention Heat, Pro Street, Shift or No Limits. There are so many games and none of them are memorable in this modern era. EA is constantly trying to reinvent the wheel, so you have nothing to fall back on when you start working on something new. We've learned to put this series down, and Unbound wants to change that.
Part of me was surprised to see some colleagues actively anticipating this new record, even though it was vaguely announced and months before its release. Artists like A$AP Rocky act as the face of the game, as their music helps shape the soundscape, providing a platform for younger players to instantly connect with, while the anime-inspired aesthetic doesn't bother me at all. absolute. scorned titles over the past decade. Ever since the death of Burnout, it seems that Electronic Arts hasn't realized that street racing doesn't have to be too intense or dependent on realism, they can take pictures of the moon and show something weird as long as they play great and keep the faith. in his artistic vision. This is where the game's expectations rise with this approach.
Unbound may do that, but it also represents another standalone chapter in a series that's going nowhere. The three-year hiatus since the release of Heat gives me hope, but why announce it with such fanfare when you almost fear its existence? No. The music and visuals are steeped in the trend of the anime line and the buzz of the city, because that's the audience you need to target first. I don't think this is the right direction for Need for Speed, nor do I think this aesthetic is timely enough to be replicated in future games without ultimately overstaying its welcome.
We'll never have the wild combination of Most Wanted, Underground, and Carbon again, and that's okay, but I hope the series is more than just an experimental flash that lives up to the name recognition and actually stands for something. For all its style, the jury is still out on whether Unbound can turn the tide or if it's just a passing wave.
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