Let's all face it, Need for Speed hasn't been the same since it was on the previous gen consoles with Underground 1 and 2, Most Wanted (2005) and maybe Carbon. So what do you think is the downfall of the Need for Speed franchise?
What killed off Need For Speed?
- Thread starter Parasondox
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I only became interested in NFS when Criterion made Hot Pursuit and then Most Wanted. Basically EA just slapping NFS on a Burnout game. I never really enjoyed the franchise before that. So I can understand it works the other way around as well.
NFS Hot Pursuit is probably my favorite racing game of all time though. Espescially 'Interceptor' in the multiplayer mode was so insanely fun. Most fun I ever had with multiplayer.
NFS Hot Pursuit is probably my favorite racing game of all time though. Espescially 'Interceptor' in the multiplayer mode was so insanely fun. Most fun I ever had with multiplayer.
Thank god you made this topic. I was thinking i was the only one who thought this mayParsonOSX said:
I liked underground 1+2 and carbon was great too especially with the level of customisation and tuning available. I think it lost its appeal after they moved the focus away from purely racing and customisation and started to focus on story and police chases
Wouldn't know. I've always been bored the hell out of racing games. They all play the same way, I don't know what more can you expect from a genre that is built around the consistent portrayal of a consistent real-life point of reference. They're basically race simulators and the only two variables that get tweaked every now and then are graphics and the physics engine. Once you have one of these games why would you bother buying another one? Do they keep adding new car models? How often does that happen in real life?
The downfall of the NFS franchise in my opinion was them trying to make their games too social. The Autolog feature had it's novelty, but in the end I could really care less about trying to find other people not even on my friend list who's stats I have to try to beat. Another blight is how it's been too shifty in trying to be more arcade/cinematic on one end (Undercover, The Run, Hot Pursuit, Most Wanted) and more sim on the other (ProStreet, Shift 1 & 2).
I think the biggest thing though, for those of us who are truly nostalgic, is that EA never gave us a true follow up to the Underground/classic Most Wanted/Carbon storyline. I for one would love to see some massive, Fast & Furious styled epic with characters like Razor, Darius, Cross, Nikki and so on, but of course that would take some extra money that even EA doesn't have the resources for. That being said, I do look forward to NFS Rivals...at least it's bringing back some personalization and customization, which is one of the the things I always enjoy in terms of racing games...to make the cars my own.
I think the biggest thing though, for those of us who are truly nostalgic, is that EA never gave us a true follow up to the Underground/classic Most Wanted/Carbon storyline. I for one would love to see some massive, Fast & Furious styled epic with characters like Razor, Darius, Cross, Nikki and so on, but of course that would take some extra money that even EA doesn't have the resources for. That being said, I do look forward to NFS Rivals...at least it's bringing back some personalization and customization, which is one of the the things I always enjoy in terms of racing games...to make the cars my own.
Fair enough but NFS was always on the realistic side of things wasn't it? How much more realistic can it get once you're using a top-notch engine and stat-of-the-art graphics?cloroxbb said:
As someone else pointed out above me, this statement really shows a misunderstanding of the genre as a whole more than anything. There's genuinely a lot more than just "two variables that get tweaked every now and then" when it comes to racing games, especially considering all the sub-genres and such.[footnote]*Edited to not sound like such an asshole*[/footnote] Stuff like Arcade racing games, Simulation racing games, SimCade racing games, Street/Tuner-based racing games, Track-based racing games, Futuristic racing games, Kart racing games, Airplane racing games... the list goes on and on.Johnny Novgorod said:
Not all racing games are the same, believe it or not. And not all of them are about fancy graphics and realistic physics...
Not really, no. Yes, the first game was supposed to be a sim, and ProStreet and the Shift games were more sim-ish. However, the rest of the games in the series have been very arcade-ey and unrealistic. More focused on giving you the "feeling" of driving around in a super fast sports car rather than trying to accurately replicate it. With real licensed cars, yeah, but they aren't realistic in any shape or form (having real cars =/= realistic).Johnny Novgorod said:
I don't think its been a steady decline for NFS, more of a Hit and Miss.
I loved Hot Pursuit and Most Wanted 2012, The Run was...okay..I didn't play Undercover, Prostreet or any of those but I hear they are pretty bad.
One thing though....
Bring.
Back.
Customisation.
I loved Hot Pursuit and Most Wanted 2012, The Run was...okay..I didn't play Undercover, Prostreet or any of those but I hear they are pretty bad.
One thing though....
Bring.
Back.
Customisation.
Well for me it was the latest Need for Speed game that killed off the series. That was the fucking worst racing game I've ever played.
I normally much prefer sim racers but Underground 1 & 2 nailed the arcade side with bags of customisation which let pretty much any car be competitive at all levels. I did not like Most Wanted however, and was put off which made me skip Carbon which had lukewarm reviews anyway. Pro Street was the next one I played in the series and I thought it was definitely a step back in the right direction with the cars feeling great and some decent tracks (shame about the customization and linearity) only to be ruined by Hot Persuit which handled like arse, awful tracks and shitty game modes.
What would turn the series around for me? Underground 3, big varied open world city, all the game modes returning for some tasty ridiculously over the top drag races through to epic 10 minute laps with a varied field of non-supercar class motors, yet able to ape the performance of them. No shitty police, no real need for a crap story shoehorned in, and a decent soundtrack which has been sorely lacking since Underground 2.
What would turn the series around for me? Underground 3, big varied open world city, all the game modes returning for some tasty ridiculously over the top drag races through to epic 10 minute laps with a varied field of non-supercar class motors, yet able to ape the performance of them. No shitty police, no real need for a crap story shoehorned in, and a decent soundtrack which has been sorely lacking since Underground 2.
Id seriously recommend midnight club LA. I thought it was really good and kinda like the NFS underground series and theres some really good tracks plus you can start off with a MKI VW golf which is so iconic
I think it was when they started stuff like The Run, Most Wanted 2012, Pro Street and most stuff in-between, but that's just me. Most Wanted 2005 was my fave NFS game because it had a great reason to want to take down the people on the Blacklist, epic city and car customization, and I feel they ACED the pursuit system. I haven't tried the new Hot Pursuit though, so it could be miles better for all I know. Oh, and Cross was just damn awesome, I loved that guy.
I certainly don't think the new Most Wanted was a very good step in the right direction, as it tried to be NFS Most Wanted and Burnout at the same time, and it sucked in both aspects. Neither of the series it was trying to be really worked in any of its favour.
With that being said, I wish they'd go back to that formula. It was fine then, people loved it. There have been some decent NFS games these days, and Rivals looks pretty sweet. A true successor to the Most Wanted/Carbon/Underground 1 & 2 formula would make my dream come true though.
I certainly don't think the new Most Wanted was a very good step in the right direction, as it tried to be NFS Most Wanted and Burnout at the same time, and it sucked in both aspects. Neither of the series it was trying to be really worked in any of its favour.
With that being said, I wish they'd go back to that formula. It was fine then, people loved it. There have been some decent NFS games these days, and Rivals looks pretty sweet. A true successor to the Most Wanted/Carbon/Underground 1 & 2 formula would make my dream come true though.
Nearly all racing games are not racing simulators. Quite a few would be more demo derby simulators with/without damage actually being implements. Also, while graphics generally do only go towards some sort of realistic depiction of either real cars or fantasy designs, there are some games that completely say screw graphical realism (think Star Wars pod racing for instance, ignoring the actual level of graphics).Johnny Novgorod said:
Also, the physics engine of a racing game is what makes them completely different. If you play something like iRacing, followed by Forza, followed by Grid, and then finally followed by Ridge Racer, you'd very quickly see each one of those 4 are in no way similar in their portrayal of physics.
Most of the time what car companies do is update the bodywork on their cars every few years (most don't notice the changes, but they are there, amongst other changes like engine tuning). Sometimes they take an older design and make a new generation of them (think Corvette C1 to C2, so on, so forth, until C7). It is a bit more rare to see a company make a completely new design from scratch though. Then again, many other types of companies do about the same.Johnny Novgorod said:
Didn't they try to change it to a more realistic racer?
I played Underground 1, 2, the old most wanted and carbon. I love the Undergrounds for the wacky decals, body mods, rims etc that you could get on the cars. It seemed like with each newer release after Underground 2, there was less customisation on offer and everything got toned down. I feel that was the problem with it, it had stopped being the game I wanted out of it.
I played Underground 1, 2, the old most wanted and carbon. I love the Undergrounds for the wacky decals, body mods, rims etc that you could get on the cars. It seemed like with each newer release after Underground 2, there was less customisation on offer and everything got toned down. I feel that was the problem with it, it had stopped being the game I wanted out of it.
As with what everyone else has said...
It's Criterion's fault....
NFS was good when Black Box made it...
Then Criterion came along and turned it into Burnout...
As I've said in many threads like this... Burnout should be Burnout, NFS should be NFS...
Most Wanted (2005) is still my favourite NFS game to date... (Although Underground 2 did have the best car customisations)
It's Criterion's fault....
NFS was good when Black Box made it...
Then Criterion came along and turned it into Burnout...
As I've said in many threads like this... Burnout should be Burnout, NFS should be NFS...
Most Wanted (2005) is still my favourite NFS game to date... (Although Underground 2 did have the best car customisations)
Bam.Thr33X said:
The NFS games from Underground through Carbon were by far and away the finest adaptations of the Fast & Furious series to games that you could ever wish to see. Crazy cars, neon everywhere, more NAWWWWS than Vin Diesel can shake a cannister at, and Carbon's canyon races are blatantly robbed out of Tokyo Drift (which was blatantly robbing Initial D, but that's another issue).
So where did it go wrong? Tokyo Drift made a few people sick of the F&F series at about the same time Carbon did with NFS. F&F started being less about ridiculous lights on cars and started being about generic action and drama, and NFS turned away from its own street racing aesthetic and went for organised race days, and a more simulation-based model than the arcade formula it had got so right; the result was NFS: ProStreet, which was just gash. They attempted to switch back with Undercover, but it was too late, and that era of NFS was over.
And so gone were the... ahem, "hood ornaments", and the neon, and the cheesy plots, and in came legitimate racing, and nobody cared because the stupidity of the previous games was the WHOLE DAMN POINT. NFS had a sense of humour going all the way back to the 3DO original; hell, NFS II let you drive a fucking T-Rex round the track. And as of Shift, it was all gone. The series just hasn't been the same since, and neither has F&F. F&F is starting to get back on track, slowly. NFS might take a while longer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4JnshyKOOQ - this right here looks like what Need for Speed should have continued to be.
I like the criterion NFS games. The core is still there, they just have takedowns in it now. Most wanted 2005 and 2012 only have slightly different physics.
Honestly, not having cops, underground and underground 2 were the odd ones out.
Shift was generic and pro street sucked though. I'm glad criterion got it. At least criterion isn't trying to make it about legitimate racing, leaving midnight club with a monopoly on cops in racing games.
Honestly, not having cops, underground and underground 2 were the odd ones out.
Shift was generic and pro street sucked though. I'm glad criterion got it. At least criterion isn't trying to make it about legitimate racing, leaving midnight club with a monopoly on cops in racing games.
Bleh, sorry if I came off rather assholish with my initial post there. Irritable moods make you lash out randomly, it seems...Johnny Novgorod said:
But, well, to put it in better terms: saying that all racing games are about realism and flashy graphics/physics is like saying FPS's are all about shooting Russians with "realistic" weapons, or that RPG's are all about grinding and characters with androgynous hair styles, or that Strategy games are all about "YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS". It's taking a sub-genre and using that small sub-genre to paint a rather misguided picture of the genre as a whole that can cause even people who don't play said genre very much to go "... yeeeahh, that's not right."
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Anywho, On Topic: The reason the Need For Speed franchise isn't as great as it once was is due to a massive lack of direction. Originally it was all about driving extremely pricey high-end sports cars on winding roads while getting chased by cops (possibly). Basically, the wish of anyone who's fantasized too much about wanting a Ferrari or Porsche. Then, suddenly it turned into a street racing series with the Underground games in response to the Fast and the Furious tuner-craze of the 2000's. After Carbon, the series went all over the flippin' place, trying to be a sim with tuner elements in ProStreet, a hardcore sim with the Shift games, Burnout with NFS tacked on the title in the Hot Pursuit and Most Wanted reboots, a cartoony arcade racer in Nitro, a cinematic story-based racer in The Run, a pile of filth with Undercover[footnote]Oops, I think I might have inserted too much personal opinion there[/footnote], and so on and so forth...
The series simply lacks a consistent tone or style to it anymore, trying waaaayyy too many different things and mixing things up far too much that people are getting kinda fed up with it. It's like the opposite of CoD in that regard. With CoD, everybody complains that all the games are supposedly "the same thing", whereas with NFS in recent years it just hasn't been the same thing between games and people complain about it.
If anything, I'd personally want a return to the original style they had between NFS 1 and Hot Pursuit 2. Fast cars, winding roads, cops, and no tuner/customization/simulation/story-based/Burnout-with-a-different-title bullshit. Of course, I'm probably in the minority when I say that...
[small][small]... unfortunately.[/small][/small]