Need for Speed Rivals Preview

Recently, I had the chance to sit down and get some quality hands on time with Need for Speed Rivals on the Playstation 4, the latest it the long running racing series from EA. And while I was cautious heading into the event, upon playing the game I learnt that the new team behind it know just what a Need for Speed game is.

Rivals see’s you taking either the Cop or Racer roles in Redview County, a southern California inspired setting contains costal roads, mountains and deserts. While the setting itself does not mandate what type of game you get, this is perhaps the most alive world that I have ever seen in a Need for Speed title. While you won’t be seeing people wandering around, the world is far more interactive that in past games, meaning that the shiny fence you used to slingshot around a tight bend is more likely to shatter upon your car hitting it at 300km/h.

 

Its this sense of immersion that this Need for Speed has, and after speaking with James, the lead designer of the game, you can see why it’s there. I quizzed James on many things, and asked what was the one feature, outside of All Drive that he likes the most, and his response was consequences. He made the point that in all past Need for Speed titles, whenever you were busted by the cops; your racing career was not impacted. In fact once you got past the annoyance of being caught, you were right back into the game with nothing to indicate you were busted.

However in Need for Speed Rivals, that is not the case. Playing as a Racer, you are presented with a checklist of objectives each time you leave the safehouse. Completing these objectives earns you Speed Points, the currency of the game, and with these points you can purchase upgrades, new cars and such. But you don’t just bank these points when you earn them, you need to return to your safehouse to do that, and on the way back if you get busted its bye bye points. You can earn multipliers as you race around, increasing the amount of points you can earn, but getting more multipliers means getting more attention from the police, which means a higher risk of getting busted. 

It’s a fine line that the game presents you with. Do you spend as much time out as needed to earn all the points in one go, or in order to make sure you get them do you just go out, get points and then get back to the safehouse. Now the Police do have something similar, but I don’t wish to spoil it for you. The most talked about feature of the game however is All Drive, and this is where the game enters the next level.

All Drive is a new feature to the Need for Speed series, and one that is mighty impressive in the scope of gaming as a whole. While you are driving around as a racer, your friend comes online to continue his police career, and while you are both driving at separate parts of the map, when you get near each other, the game merges both your worlds together. And at a moment’s notice, your cop friend is now chasing you down while you’re trying to finish the race. So not only are you dealing with traffic, other racers and AI cops, your mate is now chasing you down as well. Getting far enough away will split the games and earn you more points for evading the police, but as the game supports 6 people in All Drive, there is no telling what will happen.

And that’s the biggest take away from my time with the game, no matter how many times I tried to do the same things, the game was always changing and that is impressive.