Need for Speed Retrospective #22
Not only the first NfS game I was willing to finish in a while, but one I actually enjoyed all the way through. It's nowhere near the heights of the series, but after contemplating to give up on this retrospective more than once recently, it was a huge relief to finally be playing a competent and confident product again instead of something cobbled together in the last possible minute.
As the reboot title might suggest, they went back to the Underground/Carbon era look that the series is most known for. And despite building heavily on these earlier titles, I like how different and recognizable 2015 is. The permanently rainy and foggy night-time world looks and sounds absolutely stunning and the first-person cutscenes, as cringeworthy as they might be, are a decent stylistic fit.
Even in the gameplay department, it seems they were going down the remake/sequel route for Underground 2, my favourite game in the series. Comparing the two titles side-by-side, I can see that 2015 is doing remarkably well in many regards, though sadly lacking in others. Where unlocking and exploring new areas was a huge driving factor in NFSU2's gameplay, 2015's open world is wholly accessible from the start. Fast travel (even to unexplored areas) is immediately enabled and hidden secrets are close to nonexistent. All this makes the open world appear much smaller than it is and, frankly, quite useless.
Despite these points and some minor issues with the difficulty curve, I enjoyed 2015 quite a bit. After ten bumpy years of hit-or-miss games in the series, I am finally feeling optimistic again.
(One final point: This game has absolutely no business requiring a constant internet connection. Both idea and execution are terrible.)
Not only the first NfS game I was willing to finish in a while, but one I actually enjoyed all the way through. It's nowhere near the heights of the series, but after contemplating to give up on this retrospective more than once recently, it was a huge relief to finally be playing a competent and confident product again instead of something cobbled together in the last possible minute.
As the reboot title might suggest, they went back to the Underground/Carbon era look that the series is most known for. And despite building heavily on these earlier titles, I like how different and recognizable 2015 is. The permanently rainy and foggy night-time world looks and sounds absolutely stunning and the first-person cutscenes, as cringeworthy as they might be, are a decent stylistic fit.
Even in the gameplay department, it seems they were going down the remake/sequel route for Underground 2, my favourite game in the series. Comparing the two titles side-by-side, I can see that 2015 is doing remarkably well in many regards, though sadly lacking in others. Where unlocking and exploring new areas was a huge driving factor in NFSU2's gameplay, 2015's open world is wholly accessible from the start. Fast travel (even to unexplored areas) is immediately enabled and hidden secrets are close to nonexistent. All this makes the open world appear much smaller than it is and, frankly, quite useless.
Despite these points and some minor issues with the difficulty curve, I enjoyed 2015 quite a bit. After ten bumpy years of hit-or-miss games in the series, I am finally feeling optimistic again.
(One final point: This game has absolutely no business requiring a constant internet connection. Both idea and execution are terrible.)