Need for Speed Rivals Reviews

10 1 12

^{A little unusual, but this time, the review hasn't been posted anywhere but here.}

There's nothing, absolutely nothing that makes this game stand out from the rest in the series, actually it feels totally rushed, un-inspired and only made to have a launch game for the new consoles - ported for the old ones to see how much money they could possible scratch out of the title.

Sure, the game looks good on the new generation consoles, especially the cutscenes, but it is quickly ruined by lack of variety, a shoddy physics engine in crashes and if you're signed into PSN, a forced multiplayer mode.

Multiplayer mode will automatically match you up with other players, not sure if it even accounts on the players abilities or levels. But having the game pausing for 1-2 minutes for migrating a host, even that you aren't really playing with others, just meeting up with them, out there, is annoying. This makes it that you can't pause the game, which is fucking ridiculous. You need to get into a command post or hideout to be safe. Pause, making your car a ghost to others and hides you from the map - it ain't that hard, EA. One good thing with the "forced" multiplayer, is with that you can team up with a random player and do jobs together as cops.

Cops line:
Fine and fun for the first 10 levels, and the games story ends at level 20. The designers of the game decided that 20 levels is a little short for the game, so they made trophies up to level 60 and encourage the player to keep on gaming in the ending cutscene. I am level 20 in Cops mode, and I can't imagine that it'll get more fun. Not because I had huge fun, but because I don't expect new modes to show up.

Racers line:
Just started this - writing this the second after I got to level 5. I already hate it. If I stop somewhere and expect to be safe because it is away from the road, I was wrong. Especially if another player, as a cop, is nearby. I am still shown in the map, even if I am idling, doing other things, he can go and take me down easily - even the AI reacts at a still standing racer. In less than a minute of standing in the grass away from the road, a cop 20 feet away started the siren and went straight for me. The worst part? Even AI cops easily take you down, and if you're done with the current objectives, you're out of luck as the cops takes all your cash you just earned and kicks you home. Your level will rise, but certainly not the digital numbers in your bank account. /rant

I wouldn't recommend anyone to get this game. Cops has 3 different events, and racer has 4 (I don't really expect anymore modes to unlock at this point) and that is really lacking for a game that encourages the player to get through 60 set of objectives that goes from earning 250K points to gold 3 [Hard] events as an example. Objective lists can be done in 10 to 40 minutes and keeps your score if you need to stop playing in the middle of the list, even if one of the objectives in the list says "get 100K in one session".

Game looks beautiful - sort of if you're not looking too close at the details - but it is dull, rushed and simply not worth any players time, even fans of the series. The makers should be happy that it is a launch game and not many games has come to the new consoles yet, so PS4 and Xbox One owners are desperate to play some games on their newly acquired boxes which is the only selling point of the game. Now, I haven't gotten around to watch the movie yet, but I expect that the game and the movie is actually at the same level of quality this time around. Surprisingly.

Falling hard on the tail you do, NFS Rivals.

If you're here, checking out if you should buy this game or not, this is my verdict: DON'T. save your money and your time. Get this game in the bargain bin later on, AND play it on alternative account so you don't have to grind this game out. Plug back in your PS3 or X360 instead and play some of the good games that came out late in the old generation.

** Special - how come this game was so praised? **

I am quite surprised at Kotaku's verdict (below) and the metascore of the PS4 version hanging at 80. Burnout Paradise? Where's the co-op challenges then? Where's the 6-8 different modes? Where's the option of playing online or not?

Kotaku... damnit.

The AI is wonky too - being attacked by another cop like this? Wat?

3.0

Showing most recent comments. View all comments.

Also traded it in after just a day... Awful

Posted by PureVapour420 on 05 Jun 14 at 12:25

I voted negative because the only thing I agree with is that the game has awesome graphics. I'm loving this game so far, but then again I loved Hot Pursuit on the 360 and I think this game is a great Hot Pursuit remake. You probably won't have to suffer my negative for long though, I think I'll write up a positive review after 100%ing this game.

P.S. I think the opinion you give in your review does not really connect to the three stars you give the game. Your opinion in the review seems more like two stars or even one star.

Posted on 16 Jun 14 at 08:14

Different people, different opinions - but votes should not reflect the voters opinion vs the writers opinion.

I liked the newer Hot Pursuit too, but that game had more modes and more to experience than Rivals.

Posted by CassiopeiaGames on 16 Jun 14 at 12:01

In many cases, I'd agree with you - I often vote up or down depending on how good the article is, and if the writer happens to have a different opinion about some part of the game so be it (and I will take it to the comments to explain my view). However, in the more polarizing cases (you think the game sucks and the writer thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread, or vice versa), then I think a viewpoint-downvote is justified - especially in a case like this, where your review is less about the traditional gameplay/graphics/sounds/trophies setup and more about everything that's (in your opinion) wrong with the game.

I know the classic setup is not your MO since I've read some of your reviews before and that's okay, you should write how you want to - I'm only trying to explain where my neg comes from.

P.S. I now see that a second comment I tried to post didn't make it onto the site (I'll blame it on the trouble the site had earlier today), but I noticed in your review that you continuously talked about the multiplayer as if it's forced onto you, while that's not true. Multiplayer may be the game's default setting but there is an option in the menu to negate this. If you don't like being around others in the game, you should give this a try.

Posted on 16 Jun 14 at 16:22

Well, it's an opt-out, and not opt-in. You have no clue that other players is on the map and an interact with you, until you either meet one up front, look at the map or you meet a "changing host" screen. I don't like that.

If i was an option given to you upon starting your career, then fine.

Posted by CassiopeiaGames on 16 Jun 14 at 16:53

I agree - I've just started out on my PS4 and I don't have PSN started up yet, but if I do I know I'll immediately go for the opt-out; I'm not that much of a multiplayer guy unless I can play with a few friends, not randoms. I'll try it out the first time, though - what with World of Tanks, Happy Wars and all those games multiplayer seems to become the standard when it's not a story-driven game.

Posted on 16 Jun 14 at 17:02

P.S. I now have a two day gold trial and I can confirm that once you choose to play in single-player mode, the game remembers this. So playing solo is actually as easy as flipping a button once, You'll never have to do it again. Piece of pie next to Dark Souls (if you don't want someone in your world, you're going to have to start up a chat party before loading the game).

Posted on 16 Jun 14 at 23:23

But seriously, it is not only the multiplayer thing that annoys me. The game lacks quality big time and it feels rushed and EA has been cutting corners to make the deadline instead of making a good game. The overpowered police when playing as crook would have been caught by a Q&A team. Guess they didn't take the time to fiddle with the AI.

Posted by CassiopeiaGames on 16 Jun 14 at 23:30

My point was more that you're calling the multiplayer 'forced' while it's not; it's the standard setup but easily ignored.

On the quality subject; we probably can keep talking about this and never agree. I think the game has quality seeping from its pores, and the AI decent enough - at least not a step down from previous NFS games. Might be that I've just not gotten into the situations in which the AI messes up yet, or might be that it doesn't bother me that much.

Posted on 16 Jun 14 at 23:50

well, what happens in the video I attached is just a fun quirk they decided to code in. I didn't hit him, but I made him swerve to avoid a collision - which made him turn around, go straight for me, bump me, then went on his way. I wouldn't say the AI is bad, so not sure why you mention that.

It's the lack of variety and balancing that pisses me off on this game.

Posted by CassiopeiaGames on 17 Jun 14 at 01:06