This can occur at any point in any race, and doesn’t seem to be restricted to a specific camera view or even the number of racers on screen, and does indeed ruin the game’s sense of speed and makes handling the cars considerably trickier than it should.Īnd yeah, there’s also the handling. It’s roughly 30FPS, but even in the very first intro the game manages to drop to single figure frame rates seemingly at random. Although the vehicles in the game looking absolutely stunning (seriously, better than Gran Turisimo 5 Prologue) with some gorgeous lighting effects and beautiful environments, the game runs like a dog. Again, it’s entirely optional, but the way it’s presented doesn’t sit well with us.Īnd our problems with the game don’t end there. Whether or not you oppose this type of in-game progression is entirely up to you, but we’d imagine that if you’re the sort of person that can happily spend £3.99 on a virtual t-shirt in this time of recession and uncertainty then surely a similar amount to unlock a few high-end cars wouldn’t be an issue. Sure, you’re not forced to do this, but sudden spikes in the AI’s ability suggest that a few quid to jump to a Skyline wouldn’t be money badly spent. A quick tally suggests there’s £35 worth of upgrades to be had, and you can even leapfrog the difficulty curve and buy the top-end cars. Yes, EA have introduced an in-game system whereby if you can’t be bothered to wait until you level up, or find the right location on the map, you can use your real, hard earned cash.
Although you’re free to pause the game at any time (if you’re not currently racing, obviously) and change, boost, swap and mod your car in the garage, if you’ve not found the required shop in the map you can’t make the modification. Your GPS points you to the next location, but a tap of the d-pad transports you instantly to the nearest race if you can’t be bothered driving there.Īround the city’s districts are a few hidden shops, both performance-wise and also for visual modifications.
It’s closer to the first The Fast and The Furious movie than EA have been before, with similar twists and the same route up through the ranks to the top racers in the city, who are naturally involved with all kinds of nefarious, no-good antics such as car smuggling and dodgy haircuts. The movie sections are a means to an end, a big HD arrow pointing you, the undercover cop, to your next objective. The premise is the usual hocum, although this time the cut-scenes are entirely FMV with apparently famous actors, although what they’re doing here, against seedy lighting and smoke-filled offices, is barely acting.
The introduction throws you right into the driver’s seat of a souped-up 350Z, and from there even the basic cars pack some serious punch, with the upgrade path to a sporty Elise barely 15 minutes into the game via a generous pink-slip arrangement.
Bringing back the flashing blue-lights of the fictional city’s Police force was a bright idea and clearly Black Box have been playing a little Burnout since the last in the series given the sun-bleached, Paradise-like 160km of road you’re free to drive around.Īs ever, this latest Need for Speed-er is a petrolhead’s wet dream. Having realised that Carbon was a little bit rubbish, and ProStreet was an aquired taste that wasn’t really in keeping with the Need for Speed’s demographic of mod-hungry Supra drivers, EA have gone back to what was the best in the recent games: Most Wanted.