Why NFS Couldn't Just "Reuse the physics from Underground": A Speculation from Your Local Car-Loving Underaged Weeb.

Updated: 24 Jun 2017

To begin, let me tell you that if they could have just reused the engine, they definitely would have done it. Reusing an engine is cheaper and easier than making a new one. On top of that, they already know how to use it and have plenty of assets for it. However, Carbon was probably the absolute limits of what the engine could do. So, they had to change.

And change, they did.

So, they tried with Prostreet, but had to tweak the engine for the individual game modes, which was iffy at best. But, think about the difference in the amount of content between Prostreet and Carbon. They probably had to make the new engine because the previous engine couldn’t be ported to 64bit, and with the limitations of 32bit, they couldn’t fit as much content in. Attempting to listen to the fans, they tried to make another game like Carbon and Most Wanted.

Need for Speed: Undercover

Like Sonic ‘06 they tried to give what the fans wanted so badly, but couldn’t get the engine to work like the old one. But, the new engine allowed them to make the Tri-City Bay the largest open world environment we’ve seen in an NFS game at the time of its release. However, after the game flopped, they scrapped what they had, and to keep with EA’s yearly release schedule, they decided to start outsourcing full games.

Enter Slightly Mad Studios

The release of a new Need for Speed game not made by Black Box started a new era, in which Black Box, Criterion and Slightly Mad Studios would pass the baton of the Need for Speed name around to keep up with that yearly release EA wanted. With Ghost games now being the sole developers of the Need for Speed franchise, and likely not having the original creators of the NFS Underground/Most Wanted engines, the source code for the engines, or a way of properly porting it to the modern day, they have to make do with what they have, and if nothing else, they’re trying their best.

And a thanks to flux’s video (shown below) for inspiring this.

Comments

Flux (7.0) i did the thing

and i posted it to reddit

….is that okay?

can i also be an underaged car weeb or not

not enough weeb

RentalTheDinosaur (Kompressor) (Chef) (RS3 N8shyon) (R8 Squad)

Thx for the tag

Please tell this to everyone that is complaining about paybacks physics, even though they haven’t even played it yet.

I mean, it can’t stop the game’s physics from being bad, but at least they should know that Ghost is actually trying.

Just the fact that people are asking Ghost to use engine physics of a 15 yr old game made by a studio that is now dead is f*ing stupid
Also, while the Blackbox physics were good, they weren’t as great as people are saying they are, let’s be honest here

They were solid, consistent and fun, but they just can’t deal with what is expected of a modern game.

Personally I prefer the Criterion physics over the Blackbox physics (yes I’m being serious). I think they nailed the physics with HP2010. I liked The Run physics as well. As the NFS community is so diverse, Ghost has to make physics that have a balance between all the types of handlings people liked, which people somehow fail to understand

That’s where you’re wrong kiddo.

Nobody is asking anybody to use a 15 year old engine, what we ARE asking for is for these asshats to stop using the Burnout handling and a dedicated racing engine that plays as well as the old games if not better.

As someone who owns all NFS games from Underground to 2015 (excluding Pro Street and Rivals) the new handling is so hopelessly bad that the “golden age” games (Underground, Underground 2, MW, Carbon) still stand strong because of their simple and enjoyable handling. The modern NFS titles (for the most part) play like an inferior version of Burnout: Paradise, i should know since i own that game as well. The handling is out of place and downright bad.

At the end of the day, i wouldn’t be surprised if this all wasn’t part of a cost-saving measure by EA. To absorb the Criterion team and crank out yearly watered-down Burnout games on the unsuitable Frostbite

NFS shift is the only game that made me feel the power and behavior of different cars. When that boost on the CCX came on, you better hold on. You actually felt the power and balance. Gran Turismo and Forza always felt fake.