Last time we did this, Need for Speed was in a very different place. I’m talking about console launches. Remember the name Need for Speed: Carbon? You probably don’t ‘ it was a meagre effort that limped onto PS3 and 360 over half a decade ago and was pretty typical of a series that, at the time, had grown stale.
But time raced past and the series found its mojo once more thanks to Criterion and Slightly Mad Studios, who put out excellent arcade and sim racers respectively. Now we’re here at the start of a new console launch, and Need for Speed: Rivals finds itself in a much stronger starting position than poor old Carbon did, helmed by Ghost Studios. Judging by this effort, the series is going to keep its pace heading into the PS4 and One.
Rivals is another entry in the arguably more popular arcade iterations of Need for Speed. So instead of hitting race tracks and perfecting lap times, you’re taking to the streets, avoiding cops (or playing as them), twisting into bends at physics-defying speeds and boosting along roads in blink-and-you’ll-miss-it races.
Playing as the Racers is easily the best option
It’s the same thrill-seeking racing that the series has had down for a while now. Rivals displays the same mastery of handling that both 2010’s Hot Pursuit and 2012’s Most Wanted did before it. The silky-smooth controls are accessible for anything, meaning you don’t have to be a racing enthusiast to put off seemingly impossible drifts or smash into opponents to take them off the road. It’s one of the most instantly satisfying gameplay experiences round, and crucially lays the foundation for how this year’s Need for Speed sets itself apart.
Risk is the name of the game here. When leaving your garage and completing events, you build up speed points. The more events you do in one run, the more points you get. Cash-in points at the garage, buy upgrades and weapons to help you with the cops. Simple, no? Well there’s a catch ‘ get busted by the cops while playing as the Racer faction, and you’ll lose any points you hadn’t cashed in yet. Gone.
If that sounds familiar, you’re probably thinking of the brilliant mechanic in Dark Souls in which you can lose all your currency if you die. It greats an enormous sense of tension to every encounter, and the same is true of Rivals. Cops will pick you up for speeding without hesitation, and losing them is easier said than done. Thankfully the game lets you cash in at a garage even mid-pursuit, avoiding potential frustration as you circle round the area.
I haven’t made much mention of the visuals. It’s a multi-million EA project. Of course it looks amazing.
If there’s a flipside to this, it’s that playing as Cops instead of Racers, is a bit of a let down. Sure, the same great controls are still in place, but things like the risk to speed points aren’t. It makes the other half of the game considerably blander, and lacks the same punchy excitement that makes the Racer side standout.
Without taking multiplayer into the equation, Rivals sticks pretty close to post-Hot Pursuit games elsewhere. You’ll take on the same kind of events and unlock the same kind of cars, using the same kinds of menus. The series hasn’t moved much further on past this point in some time now, and we’d appreciate a switch up in UI or event variety, even if reinventing the wheel (quite literally) is getting harder and harder.
Ghost have really pushed themselves in the online section
That said, its online component is indeed a big leap forward for the series. Rivals is a sort of mini-MMO in some respects, as you’ll share your game world with a number of other racers as you cruise about town. These players can start races with you, ensuring that even after you’ve done all the single player stuff, Rivals has plenty of unique challenges ahead.
And that’s just it, really. Rivals has plenty of stuff. It races really, really well and it has plenty of stuff. Oh, and it looks expectedly gorgeous too. What more could you want? Certainly not a bland story, and terrible quick-time events, hey, The Run?
No, this is Need for Speed at its most comfortable. Could we do with a bit more in the way of newness? Perhaps, but at the launch of a new console generation, just be happy not to have another Carbon.
