Need for Speed Unbound.

Krathoon

They just put out a trailer for the new Need for Speed. It looks like they used that animation technique where you draw over the actors.

They probably did it to blend video and 3D models together.

Really, I like live actors myself.

They are also doing little special effects and animations to highlight your driving. Kinda like graffiti.

https://youtu.be/H2Y8XCe7F9E


Discuss.

I don't know. This game might be too hip for me.

-Loki-

Remember when Need For Speed was just a racing game

Krathoon

I find it funny they brought in a celebrity to help push the game. They had some "celebrities" in Need for Speed 2015.

Sorce

I'd be more down for a Heat 2, ngl, but I'm willing to give this a chance if only for that 240.

DemonStacey

A$AP Rocky being there is rad.

I would need to see a lot to make me interested though.

All I want is a damn street racing game with good and meaningful car modding and progression.

I think the last game that actually filled that niche well was Midnight Club LA.

I need me a game like that or Tokyo Extend Racer.

Sorce

Risk & Reward Gameplay Trailer [1:26]

https://youtu.be/D5aU75h7Yzs

Looks like you can bet on the outcome in races this time around, and reap fat stacks of cash.

Sorce

If anyone has Game Pass Ultimate, that comes with EA Pass... which gets you 10 hours in Unbound to demo if you're interested. Playtime progress will also carry over if you then buy the game.

DemonStacey

Ok the more I've seen the more I'm sold. It will have to be a background game though because I have way to much but early reports are its actually pretty good.

And hey, ill get to drive the new Z somewhere since Nissan refuses to actually sell the damn things in real life.

ED!

Sorce wrote: »

If anyone has Game Pass Ultimate, that comes with EA Pass... which gets you 10 hours in Unbound to demo if you're interested. Playtime progress will also carry over if you then buy the game.

Oh shit. I totally forgot that I keep forgetting to cancel EA Pass on PS5. I'm guessing there's some early access shenanigans with this game.

cooljammer00

So an acquaintance of mine had a tweet about this game go viral, and it's basically a clip of the game and how EA seems to have stealth released it/buried it with no promotion?

https://twitter.com/aurahack/status/1597673965606301697

The art style seems kinda interesting, at least. If it's being well received, I wonder if this is one of those weird EA things where they threw tons of money to promote the NFS games people didn't like, but then they misread the room for this one that might actually be good and didn't promote it at all.

Krathoon

Yeah. It looks like it has that NFS silliness. The driving is a little over the top.

ED!

I don't think it's been "stealth released." It certainly has had a MUCH shorter announcement to release schedule, but I think most people are aware of the game. It also doesn't release until Friday officially; people are just using the Early Access from EA Play.

I played a little on the PS5 and game has excellent graphics and performance (the texture loading wasn't keeping up in some situations though), but as soon as the characters start talking I realize this isn't the game for me. Had to turn of subtitles and voice lines to just enjoy the driving. . .which is quite good. Also, they could have gone WAY crazier with the animation effects if you ask me. Like I want the game to look like your protag is having a mild - but heavily visual - trip.

DemonStacey

Yea that tweeter is just confused.

Game has not released yet. The release date has been known. But you can play it early as noted above.

cooljammer00

So okay, technically the game isn't widely available yet, but I know other games have had their publishers heavily promote "You can play it right now!", so them not doing it for this is a choice, esp when EA needs all the good press it can get all the time. Don't they have a new PC launcher to promote?

Krathoon

Is it on PC? I may just grab the PC version so I can play it on the laptop.

They are charging $70 for the PC version. Yikes.

Sorce

Looks like the character designs for the main person are gender-agnostic too, voice aside. So that's good.

cooljammer00

Yeah I know 70 is the new price of games but this is the first one I've actually seen at that price.

Krathoon

CDKeys has it for $44. Somewhere they got some cheap keys.
Just sayin'.

Krathoon

I am having a colossal bitch of a time getting Need for Speed: Pro Street to work on Windows 10.
I am going to try it on my VM with WinXP.

They did something screwy with that game. Most Wanted and Carbon work totally fine in Windows 10.

DemonStacey

Awww man I just learned Unbound uses a semi-timed system which is pretty lame.

They dont let you get soft locked or anything I just think its dumb the whole thing is supposed to take place over a set small amount of time and it wants you to make certain amounts of progress per "week".

Krathoon

Somehow, EA made their download client even slower.

Also, it does not find previously installed games. You have to re-install them. Pain in the ass.

Krathoon

I did get ProStreet to work. Don't ask me how.
Old EA games are really obnoxious to get to work in Windows 10. They try to validate the game and put anti-cheat stuff on them, but they don't update their games when that stuff is not longer around.

Sorce

I'm in.

But anyway, looks like EA has taken the NPCs a step further, and not only are they not just random names in the leaderboard of a given race, but they get specific cars AND backstories/personalities you can read up on before a given race. Also they talk shit during races, which is fun.

Krathoon

The rotoscoping is really starting to grow on me. It does add a campiness to it which I like.

BRIAN BLESSED

People who bought the super deluxe version of the game got a few days earlier access.
I'm going to be honest, EA have made next to no effort trying to promote this game on the social media cycle. They had a bunch of buzz when they announced it with a new social media account and it hasn't shown up on my radar since until Aura posted about it. I had to scroll halfway down the Trending page on Origin just to see the game on the storefront to preorder it, and Need for Speed Payback shows up before Unbound does. No splash image on the banner, nothing. It's a fucking joke

Quick thoughts:
For context, I haven't played Need for Speed in a hot minute - like, the last ones I played were Shift and Hot Pursuit. I have also been playing Forza Horizon pretty damn near religiously every week, so to say I had some teething issues getting a handle on the driving physics for this game would be a severe understatement.
The customization is not bad but again (and this is still mostly a personal issue) for me this butts up against Forza's vastly superior customization toolset. The PC version suffers from being an extremely console port in terms of navigating menus and a total lack of mouse control. It's dumb that I have to hold down two keys on my keyboard just to resize elements by their individual X/Y axes. I haven't found any copy-paste options yet besides the (admittedly nice) option to copy wraps from other cars to other different models. It all just seems a little under-baked.

I like the obnoxious characters and storytelling and soundtrack though, it's pitch perfect. I'm really glad that Need for Speed is back, I just hope they use this platform to improve things across the board for their next attempt. If there is a next attempt because someone in EA clearly doesn't give a shit about the game

Krathoon

BRIAN BLESSED wrote: »

People who bought the super deluxe version of the game got a few days earlier access.
I'm going to be honest, EA have made next to no effort trying to promote this game on the social media cycle. They had a bunch of buzz when they announced it with a new social media account and it hasn't shown up on my radar since until Aura posted about it. I had to scroll halfway down the Trending page on Origin just to see the game on the storefront to preorder it, and Need for Speed Payback shows up before Unbound does. No splash image on the banner, nothing. It's a fucking joke

Quick thoughts:
For context, I haven't played Need for Speed in a hot minute - like, the last ones I played were Shift and Hot Pursuit. I have also been playing Forza Horizon pretty damn near religiously every week, so to say I had some teething issues getting a handle on the driving physics for this game would be a severe understatement.
The customization is not bad but again (and this is still mostly a personal issue) for me this butts up against Forza's vastly superior customization toolset. The PC version suffers from being an extremely console port in terms of navigating menus and a total lack of mouse control. It's dumb that I have to hold down two keys on my keyboard just to resize elements by their individual X/Y axes. I haven't found any copy-paste options yet besides the (admittedly nice) option to copy wraps from other cars to other different models. It all just seems a little under-baked.

I like the obnoxious characters and storytelling and soundtrack though, it's pitch perfect. I'm really glad that Need for Speed is back, I just hope they use this platform to improve things across the board for their next attempt. If there is a next attempt because someone in EA clearly doesn't give a shit about the game

Yeah. I like the silliness of it. It fits right in with Most Wanted (2005) and Carbon.
I also like that your starter car was originally a junker and they showed it in that state when you pick it.

They also do lots of jumps like in good old Need for Speed Underground.

Sorce

"Starter Car".

I don't like Yaz.

BRIAN BLESSED

Sorce wrote: »

"Starter Car".

I don't like Yaz.

I spent hours making the wrap for mine and I honestly might not have kept playing if I wasn't able to transfer the design to other cars lol

Sorce

Mine was a simple white paint job and I was still annoyed. Not as annoyed as I am with these races though, putting it on "relaxing" (or whatever the easiest level is called) is not the time I have experienced.

Krathoon

Is the game rubberbandy? I like how it respawns you when you run off the track.

Sorce

It does have that "miss a checkpoint and you're fucked out of first" thing going on.

BRIAN BLESSED

Krathoon wrote: »

Is the game rubberbandy? I like how it respawns you when you run off the track.

It's kind of the opposite tbh, it's especially unforgiving of stock cars because so much of the player's catchup mechanic depends on drafting for nitrous so if you fuck up and end up at the back of the line the race may already be lost (depending on how far away you respawn)

It also resets on all major collisions regardless of how badly the car flips or is damaged, and I honestly think in a lot of those situations it actually cripples the player more than helps them because getting back up to speed from 0 takes such a massive sacrifice of resources

Sorce

So You're Having a Hard Time...NFS Unbound Driving Guide For Beginners [10:31]

https://youtu.be/f_WnCJJnfyM

DemonStacey

Krathoon wrote: »

Is the game rubberbandy? I like how it respawns you when you run off the track.

It still is. Cars behind you will absolutely start traveling at speeds that make no sense and they should not be able to travel.

I hope someday they realize that its ok to let a player completely outperform the cpu. Someday.

Kyougu

Fuck cops in this game.

You are their only target. They ignore the other racers.

Literally will slow down if they are ahead of you so they can start fucking with you.

Krathoon

Kyougu wrote: »

Fuck cops in this game.

You are their only target. They ignore the other racers.

Literally will slow down if they are ahead of you so they can start fucking with you.

Yeah. I notice the cops are a little psychotic in this one. They kind of overdid it with them.

DemonStacey

Something to try out... apparently this game and heat use the GPS to have cops spawn around you...

So if you dont use GPS you can actually avoid a lot of cops because they otherwise have set patrols. And can avoid having them endlessly spawn while being chased because you will only be dealing with the ones naturally there.

Krathoon

I always say, "IT'S THE FUZZ!" when the cops show up. I may start over because I was half assed playing when I first tried it out.

Sorce

DemonStacey wrote: »

Something to try out... apparently this game and heat use the GPS to have cops spawn around you...

So if you dont use GPS you can actually avoid a lot of cops because they otherwise have set patrols. And can avoid having them endlessly spawn while being chased because you will only be dealing with the ones naturally there.

How do you turn off the GPS, though?

DemonStacey

Sorce wrote: »

DemonStacey wrote: »

Something to try out... apparently this game and heat use the GPS to have cops spawn around you...

So if you dont use GPS you can actually avoid a lot of cops because they otherwise have set patrols. And can avoid having them endlessly spawn while being chased because you will only be dealing with the ones naturally there.

How do you turn off the GPS, though?

Don't have a location marked.

They use the GPS trail to make spawn locations. No trail, no extra spawn locations.

BRIAN BLESSED

Maybe it's just me constantly dropping behind, but I never had the impression cop cars only targeted the players during races. I've seen plenty of them out the front attempting to intercept AI drivers in front of me, and I've definitely seen them spontaneously burst out from behind trees to attack drivers directly in front all scripted-like.

Then again I'm frequently not in first place so maybe they're scripted to prioritize podium positions or something