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Analysis | Need for Speed Unbound bets on a unique look with innovative aesthetics

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1 year ago

March 27, 2023

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Need for Speed Unbound – Ghost Games’ work on Need for Speed Heat was enough to revive gaming’s most beloved arcade racing franchise, but not enough to guarantee they would make a sequel. Unbound was developed by the experienced Criterion Games and, ironically, although it brings an aesthetic revolution to the series and even the genre, in terms of gameplay and design it is basically Heat 1.5.

Need for Speed Unbound

Unique Look

Need for Speed Unbound’s illegal races take place in Lakeshore, a fictional city inspired by the iconic Chicago. Although the construction is beautiful and even very alive with pedestrians and heavy traffic, even with little variation in the scenery outside the stone jungle, what really draws attention is the mix between the realism of the city and the cars, contrasting with the stylized effects. that look straight out of a comic book. Colored smoke drawn when skidding, graffitied wings when jumping off ramps, characters with celshading, and vibrant colors. The combination seems strange, but it works most of the time and delivers one of the most interesting visuals in the genre, which seems increasingly saturated with ideas. Sometimes the combination of styles looks weird, especially when they focus on your character already inside the car, but in the story mode cutscenes and, especially, in the night races, the mix creates striking moments, which must have been created with extreme difficulty by the artists from Criterion, who deserve much praise here. The more colorful and stylized aesthetics, especially in the more modified cars and with neon everywhere, reminded me of the golden times of Underground 2, needless to say, it is a high point of this game. Speaking of the lows, they start right in the story that drives the campaign mode. Taking advantage of this more jovial footprint coming from the characters, the game seems to talk to an even younger audience than the one focused on Heat. Everyone looks like an Instagram or Tik Tok influencer and tries to show an exaggerated rebelliousness and anger over simple things to demonstrate attitude and virtue – all while breaking all the traffic laws in the city to put the lives of others at risk. As expected, your character starts right at the bottom of the street racing food chain, in a prologue that’s longer than it should be. With time and a sometimes frustrating grind, she finds space in new races and can face rivals from the past. There are no unexpected twists or interesting dialogues. For the most part, these cutscenes just get in the way of the races and break the pace of the gameplay.

Heat 1.5

Design-wise, it’s basically Heat all over again, both in direction and progression design, but in a less inspired and varied city as far as settings go. The gameplay cycle is split again between day and night, where it’s possible to participate in events and accumulate money to spend in the garage before trying to win even more difficult races in the following period. The big difference is that now daytime cracks are also prohibited and attract the police to chase. That tension of being able to lose the gains accumulated during the period of being arrested now runs all the time. To lighten the mood, the police seem a lot less aggressive and punitive in Unbound. The feeling is that law enforcement officers allow distancing more smoothly and, in general, chase with less attacks against your car. For those who enjoy pursuits, it can be a frustrating novelty, but it is possible to modify the difficulty to get more tension. Another novelty, one that should please everyone, is the possibility of betting against one of the opponents before rolling the split. It can be against any of them, and the higher the ranking of the car, the greater the reward if you beat it. It’s a cool way to earn more money in races, especially at the beginning of the journey, where winning all the races with a weak car is a difficult task. If, on the one hand, it is an interesting novelty, on the other hand, it can lead to greater frustration when the inevitable respawn problems for opponents occur. It is quite normal for one of them to crash and come back in front of you, leaving the loss and the price of the lost bet very bitter, especially since there is now a limit of only four restarts for the race. Their AI, by the way, remains unintelligent and depends on artificial boosts to remain competitive. Car customization is a high point, as they have a good range of performance variations and many cosmetic options, as is expected from the series. Too bad the online mode is completely separate from the campaign, requiring a fresh start for your garage. There you don’t have to deal with the silly story and you can just focus on the races, but there are also no police chases and the experience as a whole is less polished.

Conclusion

Need for Speed Unbound innovates on the visual side and brings a unique and interesting aesthetic, which seems to be a great way forward for the series. As far as gameplay is concerned, it presents very little news compared to its predecessor and does not leave a Criterion mark, the main expectation since the announcement. It goes for fans of the arcade genre and those who haven’t played Heat, while others can expect a good promotion or entry into the EA Play catalog. pros

Innovative aesthetics that blend well the stylized effects with the realism of the city
Gameplay remains fun, even with little news
Car customization is massive and varied
New betting system generates extra tension

cons

Few new elements for progression
Separate, unpolished multiplayer, lacking essential campaign elements
City with little variation of scenery and motivation to explore
repetitive events

Grade: 7.5/10.0

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A PS5 copy of the game was provided by Electronic Arts for the preparation of this review.

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Need for Speed Unbound

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Analysis | Need for Speed Unbound bets on a unique look with innovative aesthetics