Need for Speed 2015 - the review I didn't want to write.

In the days before Turn10 made Forza into the customer-milking franchise it has become, NFS was king.

Pros

Cons

In the days before Turn10 made Forza into the customer-milking franchise it has become, NFS was king. Having hoped ‘the Crew’ would be good enough to knock Forza off the top-spot and recreate what I love about car culture, as with many others I was left sorely disappointed despite some of the coolest cars I’ve ever been able to drive online. I bought Forza Horizon 2 and had to abandon my morals because I absolutely loved it. Then the new Need for Speed trailer dropped and finally there was hope. Hope that the gamer would be treated as a person and we would be given the street racing game we have always wanted.

As more and more videos dropped, I became more and more excited. Seeing the first game in years to feature a late-spec RX7 for me was the icing on the cake. Then I found out about EAs early access and couldnt throw my £3.99 at them fast enough - 10hrs of the full game. Bliss.

After finally downloading the mammoth 18GB file on my third-world internet, I patiently waited to connect to the games always-online system and finally was rewarded with some clever first-person cut-scenes. At 29 I’m probably a bit old to use words like ‘bae’ and I’m long-since out of my fist-pumping days, but I looked past that and finally got my hands on the customisation. Frankly, it’s brilliant. One of the biggest things I resented Forza for as each new title was released is that the modifications haven’t really changed since the game first came out. Need for Speed has successfully knocked it for six with this, with a good selection of different and relevant mods. You’re able to change just about everything visually that you would want to, allowing you to create an understated street-car or a balls-out bozo drifter. Frankly this should be set as the benchmark for all future car games.

Unfortunately, this is where the honeymoon ends. Let’s start at the most obvious point - the handling. I think we all knew it would be terrible and it is. You do get used to it eventually and after six hours playing the game I’m now comfortable with it, but for those of you who played ‘the Crew’ this is very similar.

Then, there’s the always-online aspect. It infuriates me that games even do this. It doesn’t promote community-involvement any more than having a multiplayer option does, but it does mean you can’t escape from the kinds of people who fill youtube comments sections up. On a busy evening, you’ll struggle to complete any single-player story mission as even on the early-access there were kids just driving round smashing into people. Stupidly, you can’t pause a race either. So if you start a ten-minute race you better be sure that there’s no impending visitor, power-cut or house-fire because you’re in for the duration.

Unfortunately, it gets worse. I would say the customisation is almost good enough to mask those two. My beautiful Z pictured on this article is proof enough of that. Hands-down the worst thing about it is the rubber-banding of the AI cars - theres essentially no skill in winning the races, its just sheer luck. On one race I punted Magnus Walker into an oncoming lorry at 140mph barely twenty seconds into the race and saw with my own eyes his Porsche flip onto its roof. Two corners later he overtook me and I continued to spend the rest of that hour repeating the same three minute race before I finally succeeded. This despite the fact that my RX7 is as upgraded as it can be. Ive since done all those missions and now have his Porsche which is obviously much slower than my FD. Its so horrifically unbalanced and unrewarding that it completely ruins the game.

Ultimately, theres a lot I really like about the game but I kind of feel like theyve hired a lot of clever people who have done a really good job of whatever they were asked to do, but fundamentally they were polishing a game that was terrible in its most basic form. I think not being able to pause it is daft too. When some races are ten minutes long, what do you do if someone rings the phone, abducts your missus or sets fire to your front door? Because if youve been playing the same race for an hour and youre finally in with a chance of winning, I guarantee you will be angry enough to let all of those things happen until you finish the race.

So close, yet so far. Pity.

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Comments

Jack Evang

Holy, I’ve been looking forward to this game for ages. The beta I loved, the whole concept was promising and basically was the game everyone has been wanting since the ‘Underground’ days. It’s a real bummer that they had the ‘always online’ feature.

11/02/2015 - 10:43 |
26 | 2

I would agree with you completely and I’ve got to admit this wasnt an unbiased review - I wanted this game to succeed so badly that I was willing to overlook many of its flaws (no cockpit view? Come on…). I wanted this game to be the go-to racing game. Unfortunately when the next Forza horizon game is released I know that I’ll once again abandon my morals and let them steal my hard-earned wages month-by-month. I know the guys at Turn 10 are soul-less thieves, but credit where it’s due they sure know how to make a racing game, arcade and sim.

11/02/2015 - 11:04 |
14 | 0
Cascanova

They should have removed the always online aspect, and added a multiplayer system like that from Midnight Club LA.

11/02/2015 - 13:04 |
8 | 0
Travis Glaze

Need For Speed is a game that will split the community in 3 sections. The first section loves the game and see the game as a great game, even with it’s flaws. The second section the community will be on the fence forever, loving some aspects and hating others. The third will bash the game until it looks and plays like Forza.

Need For Speed is a different game in familiar “clothing”, that is why we will see this split in the community. Personally I love the game and can’t wait for more installments with more improvements.

11/02/2015 - 13:08 |
2 | 2

I wouldn’t agree that the reason it has fallen short is because it doesnt play like Forza - but certainly it hasnt surpassed it, which it should have. Being an ‘arcade racer’ shouldn’t be an excuse for the game being poor in several key areas.

11/02/2015 - 13:23 |
6 | 2

That’s pretty much what’s happening with The Crew’s community.

11/02/2015 - 14:54 |
4 | 2
Eric Delaney

I hate online games so I never bothered to spend the money to have my PSN account running. So what happens if I buy this game? Is it really always connected to online? Or is it like GTA V where you can do single player or switch to online? Because if it needs online, then I’m out.

11/02/2015 - 13:09 |
4 | 2

It needs to be online from the moment you begin to load the game.

11/02/2015 - 13:16 |
4 | 2
ltxVTECLife

Why can’t they just make a game with Forza Horizon Gameplay and map, Forza tuning, Need for Speed graphics. And have ridiculous obstacles like cop cars and weather conditions like in NFS The Run driving through an avalanche. Legit that would be the most epic game. Really just Need for Speed The Run with freeroam and more customization… that’s it

11/02/2015 - 13:09 |
6 | 2

I’d much rather have forza graphics.

11/02/2015 - 15:04 |
4 | 2

Why can’t they just make a Midnight Club for Next Gen consoles.

11/03/2015 - 05:51 |
0 | 0
DannyWRX

The review I’ve been waiting for! I don’t have a PS4 nor an Xbox one yet and I’m getting ready to invest because of this game + new CODs, etc… I’ve been fumbling along with my ps3. This game was going to be the turnpoint for me….. but not anymore.
Thank you oh so much for bringing to light the flaws that you don’t see in the first hour of playing.
Like GTA V, GREAT GAME! … But no one ever talks about how it takes (literally) 8 minutes to start a multi-player match. And God-forbid someone loses their internet connection. BOOM 2 more minutes to get back to your character to be able to start the 8 minute load for another match. Thats 20 minutes with 0 action. For a father of 3, 20 minutes of game time is gold.
It’s insane to me how COD does it so effortlessly. I can start a match in 2 minutes from the moment I power on. And in hardcore games where players can kill each other, I’ve never been killed by some troll like you mention crashing into people or in GTA where he goes killing everyone.

11/02/2015 - 13:14 |
10 | 0
Anonymous

not buying.

always online is a misleading way of putting DRM into a game without telling people. and unless it changes the game will be useless when the servers shut down. my PS2 most wanted is likely to have a longer lifespan than this game, and that is just unacceptable. I shouldn’t be expected to pay full price for what is in reality a rental.

11/02/2015 - 13:28 |
8 | 0
Anonymous

i hate having only 5 cars. i have filled 4 of them and now i can’t decide between rx7, s15 and aventador to fill the last spot

11/02/2015 - 15:01 |
6 | 2
Rogue86 Photography

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Obviously you should buy the RX7. In fact I’m disappointed that it’s taken you so long to buy it!

11/02/2015 - 15:06 |
6 | 4
Bence Matuz

Damn, it was a bit bubble bursting to read this, but thanks for the heads-up!

11/02/2015 - 15:05 |
10 | 0
Maxiguy

I have already preordered the game. I recognize the aspect of wanting the game to succeed. I am very curious about how the game feels to me. The last NFS game I truly liked was Hot Pursuit 2010, I hope this game is as good or even better than that game. I enjoyed reading your review, and I can’t wait to experience the game for myself. I hope that Ghost Games listens to the input the community gives and that they can solve some of the problems the game has in the future.

11/02/2015 - 15:10 |
2 | 2