Need for Speed is back for the next generation with an all new artstyle and an updated handling model. How does it hold up?
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Hey and we're back with another episode Of before you buy the show where we give You some straight up gameplay and our First impressions of the latest games hi Folks it's Falcon and today we're going To take a look at Need for Speed Unbound So this new Need for Speed uh with a new Art style and an updated handling model Kind of feels like it came out of Nowhere but it's a welcome surprise in a Lot of ways Criterion uh the sort of fan Favorite developers who came up with the Burnout series they're behind some of The best Need for Speed games period They developed this one and for whatever Reason decided that the hyper realistic Style that we usually get for racing Games wasn't what they wanted to go with And went four into the spider-verse now This is a style that really pops on Next Generation Hardware like we've obviously Seen games try to do this many many Times and this looks great it also feels Like a noticeable Improvement on the Open world driving formula but does this Game actually revolutionize the NFS Formula or is it kind of another paint By number sequel was some fancy new Effects this is probably the question a Lot of people have especially given the Kind of short notice that we were given On this game it doesn't feel like we had A lot of run-up to it so let's dig into It the style is refreshing if nothing
Else when you're boosting or getting big Air you get these graffiti style Wings On the side of your vehicle peeling out Causes this thick stylized smoke to Billow out really satisfying might I add And these little Doodle effects appear Periodically in cut scenes and certain Gameplay Parts it all looks absolutely Great it gives this game an identity That is unique and the series just Needed that like there's not really Anything that you can look at and know For sure that isn't a mechanical thing Or just knowing like environments or Maps that makes Need for Speed standout Stylistically and well if this is what They stick with we know what a Need for Speed game looks like now that said even At the end of the day I'm not sure they Pushed this style quite as far as they Could have maybe that's something for The next one but here during cut scenes And in certain moments of Any Given race You'll get bombarded with all these Crazy effects but moment-to-moment Gameplay it kind of looks pretty Standard in terms of Need for Speed That's not necessarily bad again this is A game that always looks really good if Not a little bit like every other racing Game so having these effects seep in Might be nice that being said the open World setting of Lake Shore really looks Fantastic it's rock solid 60fps on PS5
But there's just nothing here you Wouldn't normally see in any other open World Racer the car is very realistic Rendered very well and weirdly enough The contrast between the cartoon Characters and the realistic everything Else works pretty well I mean we've kind Of seen that in a lot of games recently And it Blends pretty good I think Developers have more or less gotten what To do there now that said could they Heighten the style of the world a little Bit more yes I would be okay with that Too I think it might be something to Pursue but enough about the visuals I Mean it's really obvious what you're Getting with the visuals from moment one But the story this time isn't quite as Much of an afterthought as the story Usually is on a Need for Speed game you Actually create a character this time Pretty robust set of creation options The actual events of the plot are maybe As standard as you get friend goes bad Race against friend and tournament Nothing special uh but the cut scenes And presentation are a big step up the Story segments don't pop up super often But when they do it looks great the Dialogue it can be a little grating but That's also kind of expected with Need For Speed I might just be used to it Because I didn't find anything Particularly embarrassing but there is
For sure embarrassing stuff that said There's also a funny line here and there Like for real Um once you get past the prologue which Is surprisingly long like a few hours Genuinely yeah like it made me to the Game is gonna be a couple couple hours In and that's when it becomes clear what You're actually doing it's a four week Tournament each week is split up so you Got six days to prepare for a qualifier On Saturday you earn money you upgrade Your vehicle you make it so you meet the Tournament requirements which is a Certain vehicle Rank and a bunch of Money for the buy-in Need for Speed heat Had a similar day and night setup the Biggest change here is how the police Response works every day is split up Into two parts day and night Day events Usually earn less money and are easier Overall well night events bigger entry Fees but you can earn way more every day Starts with you having zero heat with The police but as you participate in Race events the heat starts to build up Police start looking for you yada yada This carries over in tonight resets the Next day so you got to be careful how Much heat you build up police response In this game is a lot better this time Around they're pretty teenagers at Higher levels but at lower ranks they're Relatively easy to escape from at first
You'll have to deal with patrol cars That can barely keep up with you Eventually you'll start dealing with Interceptors how helicopters barricades Heavy Rams I mean when I say heavy Rams I mean like they will smash the hell out Of your car so it's important to keep an Eye on your heat level and make sure it Doesn't get too high because if you get Caught you lose all the cash you got on You and time advances so that actually Establishes some pretty high stakes in Terms of police stuff in this game Because again you need to collect that Stuff over the course of the week it's Cool because it adds this risk and Reward system to everything because you Can't just continually Bank your cash After every single Mission returning to A safe house Advance the day and if you Only do one race event every day and Every night you're not gonna get the Money that you need to get into the Qualifier at the end of the week it's Actually just a really cool way of sort Of making you strategize as to what You're doing and adding to the challenge You can only restart an event four times Per day so there's no rewind or anything Like that if you screw up your only Option is to restart and if you run out You're gonna have to accept whatever Position you and then and that may end Up having you lose money all of this
Combined together makes the opening Hours of Unbound surprisingly difficult Um the AI Racers are not forgiving these Guys will get way ahead of you and it's Unlikely you're gonna be able to catch Up they don't rubber band like we've Complained about in videos before and That's actually both cool and I like it But it does increase the difficulty of Course there's also a betting mechanic And it's pretty essential when you're Just starting out because it gives you a More credible goal to reach for when you Really have no hope of getting first Place instead of trying to beat the Number one racer who you're not going to You can focus on beating one other racer And if you pull it off you get a nice Cash bonus because you bet which is cool Again it adds another layer of strategy To things and I like that but speaking Of money it doesn't come easy in this Game you're not going to be buying cars Left and right at least not at first Because most your energy should be spent Upgrading that vehicle you got rather Than trying to buy a car because they're Really expensive and you're not gonna Get a lot of money for quite a while It's another way this game is actually Challenging at first and and I really Actually like this once you start Upgrading your vehicle things do get Easier though your vehicle rating is
Essential it's not like a lot of other Racing games where a lower rated car Doesn't really make a lot of difference As long as it's in the same class in This game if your car is rated higher Than other cars in your class as long as You don't screw up in a race you're Probably gonna win it once I realized That I was winning races left and right With no problem Um like I'm not saying the AI gives the Race away and it will exploit big Mistakes you make but for the most part The Experience gets much smoother as you Invest money in upgrades and that makes It so you can keep at least one car at The top of every class I really like the Overall game structure but it does start To get a little repetitive after a while Some more variant events would have Probably gone a long way into making Things a little more exciting because For the most part you're just doing a Lot of racing and I don't hate that or Anything but again it does get Repetitive there are few other things to Mix things up like drift challenges some Time trials escape from police missions Stuff like that but I've seen this all In previous Need for Speed games it Feels a little boilerplate and it all Does kind of blend together a little bit Just because nothing's really Particularly new there is one new event
Here called a takeover where you race Through a track running over as many Objects as you can to build up a high Score and they're fun I like them a lot But it's also really kind of the only Real Mission like this and I would have Liked to see some more off the wall Ideas for Missions because again like We're talking about a visual style that Emphasizes a little bit more heightened Feel so we could have had some more Heightened missions the open World stuff Isn't like spectacular either there's Stuff to run over graffiti to collect Speed traps to drive through and that's Kind of it doesn't get in the way but This stuff doesn't really add to the Experience so the gameplay Loop boils Down to this start at a safe house drive To an event escape the cops then do Metal gear solids Automotive Edition for A while as heat builds up then drive Back to base Bank your cash you can't Instantly start events and it takes a While to get access to a lot of the safe Houses so you'll be spending a big chunk Of the game driving to and from events Avoiding cops a lot of fun at first but Eventually gets aggravating because you Don't really get a lot of money from Escaping them and they start to feel Like an interruption to what you want to Be doing you know at least once you get A fast enough car they're not too hard
To avoid but in some instances police Chases can just be a drag so we've Covered a lot of stuff but I really Haven't talked about the cars and I mean It's Need for Speed so it's something we Gotta talk about uh the cars are good And there are a lot of them you probably Not see a whole lot of them in regular Story mode because the only cars you're Probably unlocking the free ones you get For competing in race events they're Otherwise prohibitively expensive but Everything that is in the game is well Rendered there's a ton of customization Options The Creation Suite in the game Is fan fantastic and players are already Making a lot of really fantastic stuff That you can easily add to your own Vehicle the new handling options work Really well too like turning can be Pretty heavy in this game and it's Definitely not burnout like you're going To be using a lot of speed when drifting In pretty much every situation and Overall I gotta say I like it despite Some things it took a little bit for me To get used to it but I will say I think There's gonna be some driving game Enthusiasts that do not like the tap the Brake style drifting this game has by Default but you can change it in the Options if that's not your style like a Lot of these games the cars start off Kind of slow in this case very slow and
Can even be a little hard to control too It's another reason why the first few Hours of the game are a lot more Difficult and it's also why investing in Upgrades makes a huge difference in both Performance and handling it's it's Something you have to do once you start Getting a A plus and S rank Vehicles Things speed up a lot and that's where You really get the intense sense of Speed in this game the vehicles are Tough too there's gas stations dotted Around the map app that you can repair Your car at but these things can take Quite a beating you can survive several Head-on collisions without needing Repairs and that's fine by me is it Realistic not necessarily but uh in Terms of the gameplay Loop it definitely Works I primarily played it on the PS5 But I also gave the PC version a spin on EA play to see how it worked immediately Ran into a problem with the game not Recognizing my controller which is kind Of a serious issue for a racing game to Have the PS5 version hasn't given any Problems other than some minor graphical Glitches and it runs at a pretty Rock Solid frame rate compared to something Like Forza Horizon 5. it's not gonna wow Anybody with its Cutting Edge Graphics But it looks and plays really well and Keeps a solid 60fps even in 4k overall It's a good game I really like what
They've done with the visuals the new Car handling is good campaign starts off Solidly challenging problem is after a While it just starts to feel a little Thin the lack of variety in events and Kind of repetitive structure kind of Bogs the campaign down but the racing Itself really solid if you're looking For an old school racing experience it Doesn't shower you with rewards at every Step and actually tries to challenge you Then at least at First Need for Speed Unbound is a pretty solid entry in the Franchise Um with a steep price tag 69.99 kind of A lot but you can try the game out for 10 hours on EA play if you want to get a Feel for it now this is not Reinventing The wheel so to speak the visuals Suggest a much bigger departure from the Need for Speed we know but it's not that It just is a version of Need for Speed With a lot of positive improvements it's Not all great the open world isn't the Most interesting and the police chases Well fun at first get old after a while That said overall I really enjoyed my Time with Unbound one last thing no cash Shot everything we bought with regular In-game cash I think heat was the same Way but I'm really glad that EA didn't Start falling back in Old Habits that uh We all loathe that's good so like not a Revolution but an improvement if that's
What you're okay with spending 70 bucks On this is worth it if not maybe wait Till it's cheaper but what do you think Leave us a comment let us know if you Like this video click like if you're not Subscribed now's a great time to do so We upload brand new videos every day of The week best way to see them first is Of course the subscription so click Subscribe don't forget to enable Notifications and as always we thank you Very much for watching this video I'm Falcon you can follow me on Twitter at Falconhero we'll see you next time right Here on gameranks
