Need for Speed's Identity Crisis 

If there's one identity you could nail Need for Speed down to - it's street racing. Both the Hot Pursuit and Underground formula are rooted in street racing, just two different interpretations of it. This might also explain why people began to accept ProStreet as a worthy Need for Speed title as opposed to Shift. You exclusively use road cars in ProStreet within a street festival environment, whereas Shift introduced race cars, race inspired liveries, as well as more emphasis on real works tracks and environments. As a result Shift's identity is more rooted in pro racing culture, making it feel different to many people. So while I agree with the sentiment that the series can - and should - embrace all its gameplay styles and push them further, at no point should it stay from its street racing identity.

This is a really good video, surprised you don't have more subs. When I was younger, I was really irritated that EA destroyed the identity of NFS by moving away from Supercars vs. Cops, and into the import tuner scene. My entire adolescence and 20's was spent watching NFS become "EA's mass market racing game for the year based on whatever was deemed 'cool' at the time." It was really weird to sit through. However, I grew to really appreciate it. I have most of my personal favorite entries in the series installed on my PC, and the rest are easily accessible via emulators. It's really cool, the fact that inside a single franchise you have drastically different types of racing games, but they all exhibit a really high base level of quality. Even the "black sheep", like The Run, Pro Street, and Shift, I really like. They're awesome games. Even if they weren't what everyone wanted, at least the ideas were FOCUSED and the games were always of a high quality. NFS was less about an identity and more about "this is the seal of approval from EA that this is a mass market racing game you should care about." The same can't be said about the Ghost era. Between Rivals, 2015, Payback, Heat, and now Unbound, they've basically re-sold the same free roaming hodgepodge of ideas and uber-simplistic driving physics, five times. I personally liked 2015 and Heat (really liked Heat, actually), but the formula has no direction beyond giving you an open map, cars that don't really drive like cars, and hoping you make your own fun.

This. This is the take! They're trying so hard to please everyone they ended up pleasing very few. We can have a more grippy NFS and a more drifty NFS (which are both things different people seem to want) as separate games with their own unique identities!

A bit of a correction. Customization did exist in EA Canada/Seattle era games. The most basic form was in Need for Speed 2 SE and Need for Speed 3 HP. It was slightly expanded in High Stakes while the one in Porche Unleashed feels like the first attempt at what Underground would expand later on. Please do note that these were the case in PC version as I am not accustomed to PS1 versions.

This video right here. Most people don't realize that the roots of NFS is all about high speed sports cars and high speed police chases. Underground, Most Wanted, and other "spin-offs" are amazing too, but when trying the 2010 Hot Pursuit, it really felt like a punch to the face, in a good way. The 2010 Hot Pursuit brings back the formula of old NFS, and it felt really nostalgic and very exciting to play. I get that lots of people would still prefer stuff like Underground and Most Wanted, but that's okay. As this video pointed out, NFS is diverse, but what started NFS is a simple formula of high speed street racing with the thrill of cop chases. Combining lots of them as one, resulted in Heat. It's a good game, but with lots of flaws (still enjoyable though). I just hope that if EA and their developers wanted to keep NFS alive, please don't forget the old formula. That formula is what defines the actual Need for Speed.

Nfs community is already filled with "WHERE IS MY MOST WANTED" people despite most wanted/underground werent hot pursuit (the first nfs formula since the nfs) from the beginning. And that echo is pretty loud from that youtuber you mentioned

I've seen people claim Most Wanted 2012 isn't a "real" NFS game based solely on the fact that it plays similarly to Burnout Paradise. Even some saying it's a good game, just not a good NFS. I've always seen such claims as complete nonsense. As you said, NFS has gone through a ton of different styles so who can truly define what a "real" NFS game is? In my mind if a racing game is well made, fun to play, and has "Need For Speed" on the cover, it's a good NFS game. End of.

I agree, I think the Hot Pursuit and Underground styles are the main staples of what Need For Speed should be, but I think Prostreet, The Run, and Shift should all come back, because each of those were great in their own way

Y'know what I would like to see even more? A new style of game. If you draw a parallel between nfs and the mainstream car culture, you'll see how close they are. The first Need for Speeds were based on the aesthetic and overral scenario of the car magazines that were famous at the time. Kind of a extension to car journalism. Underground followed the fast and furious craze and when pro street's formula didn't work, they got back at trying to replicate the car action movies of the late 2000s/early 2010s. But today, nothing is really happening in the mainstream circle regarding cars. So, what is that style that should be replicated? Should nfs become a "viral tik tok simulator"?

2:49 TBH, NFS Fans don't know what actually do they want.

They should have 2 teams making NFS games. One that makes Hot Pursuit-like titles and one that makes Underground-like titles. That's how Forza and COD go about making games and it would inspire competition between the developers to make their game better than the other team.

Bravo. This video was so needed. The series went from a formula of "this is what we are" to just chasing trends. What sucks is all most of the clowns want is some low rent urban culture "yo yo yo yo my turbo and nitrous and stance bruh!" FnF circus simulator.

It’s been on a downward spiral ever since Most Wanted 2012. And it sucks because I really love said game despite its criticisms.

I think your analysis totally nailed it. Very well said.

Well said, the community takes half of the blame. Also aside from underground formula and hot pursuit formula, the car magazine formula, where the entire focus are the cars themselves, is basically gone now. The titles that belongs to that are the first NFS, the second NFS, and the Porsche Unleashed. The only Studio that tried to bring it back is the original Criterion through HP2010 with the showcase narration, and MW2012 with the special CG animation for blacklist cars. They know NFS well and did their research well but they got undeserved hate from the community and ended by EA since, as you've said it, the community is split by preference.

100% agree. Need for Speed doesn't need to have a set identity, other than the basic fact that it's a street racing franchise. That being said, it's not an excuse for the poorly made and uninspiring games that we have gotten for the last decade. I'm not saying none of them had any good, but there was definitely a lot of bad.

Every time I see this subject matter I can't help myself but to compare it to Sonic, which has the same identity (and nostalgia dependence) problems.

I think you kind of missed the point. The reason why NFS is the way it is, is because the devs simply follow trends of car and pop culture at the time of development. NFS has always been a trend chasing game since the first one. Asking people to be more open, while a noble request, is a lot. There are reasons why certain games work for people and one of them is having a baseline for their identity. NFS has had one in the form of Black Box and it lost it ever since. I'm not calling Black Box perfect, but at least you could expect some similarities between their games. NFS's identity has always been a celebration of car culture (of the time) while encompassing it in a thrilling game package (be it street racing, cops, mods, and/or all of the above and/or anything else popular at the time). What happened was that even EA forgot about this and you get games that totally miss the mark. The issue isn't an identity crisis, it's that the identity was lost altogether.

NFS Missed their " *Biggest* " Identity : *THE SOUNDTRACK* A.K.A. *EA TRAX*

It would've been cool if maybe Black Box was still around to make the Underground style games, while Criterion continues making Hot Pursuit style games, and Slightly Mad Studios making the Shift style legal track racing. That way, we can have the yearly release if NFS games again, and each developer has 3 years to make their games.

the reason why shift failed for the fanbase compared to the prostreet is because of the game engine and car handling

You hit the nail on the head regarding the variety part of the series. I had a feeling that's one of the reasons the series still stands compared to others. -This doesn't change my opinions about the Ghost games tho-

"Embracing variety" is an easy thing to say, but impossible to implement. There's only so much you can ask out of one dev team and more of them are an investment EA won't make, in fact they've only been downsizing in the last decade, closing or relegating certain studios to supporting roles. Also since NFS2015 it looks like the series lacks (or mismanages) funding, most of the assets excluding the map are just recycled, sometimes the games losing things between one game and the next. I know licensing isn't the easiest thing in game development, but a studio like EA shouldn't have much trouble with paying a small japanese workshop to keep some bodyktis in.

I would drool if they made a High Stakes homage

pro street is the most underated version of need for speed

One of the best videos on this topic IMO

The thing with your "multiple studios making multiple styles of game" idea is that they already attempted this with Criterion and BlackBox in the early 2010s. One year we would get a game from Criterion done their way, the next a game from BlackBox done in their unique way. The only games that came out of this were HP2010 and The Run. Seeing as HP2010 outsold The Run, and EA being EA, they canned BlackBox and the "multiple studios making multiple styles of game" was no more. This idea is too risky for EA who only wants maximum profit. It goes further back then this, after UG1, next year's game would've been a cop game, the after a tuner game again and the cycle would repeat. UG1 made a ton of money so they decided to immediately make another tuner game (UG2) and push the cop game (MW) for next year and the roadmap done for. TL;DR: EA already tried to make a different style NFS every year and it didn't work out because money

Heard something I find out long ago. BlackBox wanna to add police in the Underground Series. However, honda didn't want their brand of vehicles involve with it. So BlackBox have to compromise in either don't add Polices or lose Honda. Which is why you didn't see any Honda in BlackBox era NFS games that involve police in it.

NFS HP (2010 - 2020) is the perfect NFS for every style and has the framework for anything to be added on top of it... It's been 13 years and I still play it from time to time...

I enjoyed unbound but I was disappointed because things like cops online and pursuit tech were missing

nfs hot pursuit 3 ps1 and hot pursuit 2 introduced the thrill. hot pursuit 2010 was more thrilling. NFS the run, had the best driving physics. nfs underground 1 was ahead of its time. U2, had open world introduced, and nice customisation. Also a good grip physics. MW2005, had the best cop chase, and cop chatter. combine these, and you have a sick game

I'm alright with the variety NFS has had over its life, and that's what makes me like it! Which is why I prefer the older games to the current ones.

I really think a great starting place would be to make all the games more accessible because then all fans can have what they want along with nostalgia. Too bad EA will never do that.

My only gripe with the Devs are the lack of Variety in cars. example NFS Heat with it's 5 aventadors 7 911s but 0 Toyotas or even some discontinued cars from TVR, Suzuki, age of car can't be an issue because they have a chevy Belair in the game. I hated coming back to the garage after a rally of massive Rep gain seeing over 10 cars unlocked and 80% of them were BMW or Mercedes.

I think they did find there identity again because of the complete focus on the underground street racing again. The problem is it feels like they're trying so hard to be so gen z and it's really cringe

I feel like the focus of NFS being the be all and end all of the different experiences that the series has experimented with might be selling other options short. Between car X street, night runners, there seems to be a swell of indie revivals or alternatives in the works. NFS has experimented and stuck which was deemed successful, either critically or financially because of its huge budget. but in the coming years, it would be a shame to not keep an eye out for projects that are aiming to recapture the different styles that were left behind over the years. Definitely a well phrased video on making your point though, hope you continue with the format you're running with.

Nice video! I think that the "identity crisis" accompanies the series since its second game, when it was released many fans complained because it was unrealistic compared to the previous one.

It would make alot of sense for NFS to be more diversed Considering that in the early days of NFS, it's all just highway street racing but would evolved to tuner scenes but then go back and forth with newer gameplay styles I do hope that one day or maybe even the next NFS game would be the beginning of a new interpretation, just like how NFS did progressed What goes around comes around, and I do be tired of the same old gameplay style of Ghost era games, just the same overrated style that people want from Underground and Most Wanted

I would like them to have games given different titles upfront and have NFS as the subtitle that would just be nice to really show that its different games just under the same producers example Close Draft: NFS or Bare Steel Rugby: NFS

While I agree, I also see a big elephant in the room: Forza and Forza Horizon. That series has basically cornered the market and with every NfS that isn't centered around underground racing, there is the question:" Why should I pick this game over Forza?".

Great analysis video

The moment I found out Unbound's soundtrack spans across 11 languages, I knew it's gonna be a "too many cooks in the soup" across the board. The only thing consistent with the game's presentation was its UI, thanks to AWGE having complete creative control over it

The thing that bugs me about the NFS community is they actually don't know what they want and they're always will be unsatisfied with something missing or wrong. I like to compare them with the Resident Evil fans while Capcom actually managed to do a turnaround for franchise meanwhile NFS couldn't even make a 90 degree turn for one decade. Ik it sounds dumb but that's the way I see.

EA definitely shouldn't try to do new Shifts because we have so much of those legal racing games, they're the only one who made street-racing games that is more popular,i guess, especially for younger auditory. I don't like hot pursuit formula, it's boring, but if you add some customisation a little this,a little that and the game would be just fine, like Most Wanted, so yeah,just go for good street racing simply because there's no competition and make it good, because there are older games that are still beloved and they will be compared to new ones

need for speed is always fun to play because its always different , i love it

All i want is a modern version of NFS world. Me and my friends have been saying it for years and i think it could be a goldmine for EA too.

I think my biggest gripe in the community is that many just aren't willing to accept the changes, especially with Unbound and its graffiti/Psuedo Anime/rotoscope stylings. I love these stylings myself and I love that the devs went as far as to test the waters with something like that, even if the fanbase doesn't, because I see NFS as the ONLY mainstream arcade racer that can pull a move like that and still succeed. I still have my personal greivances gameplay wise with open worlds that are well designed but lacking in areas and stories that try to appeal rather than tell a true story, but these recent aesthetic changes feel right to me, they feel like this is the first step to setting NFS apart, truly, from the competition and bringing in a new age. For that, Criterion has my upmost respect.

The problem with the fan base and others is that they think the most important people to complace are the long time fans but that not true. There must be balance between old fans and new fans

Need for speed was always about racing cars and cop chases.

Tbh my faves were both Shifts and ProStreet and as a time moved on i moved to other franchises. In my view, NFS is great franchise to be a starter point for every racing game enthusiasts to expand

I agree 100% with this video. I was thinking the game needed to root itself to stay relevant only to realize relevant in the modern gaming industry means milking the same game dry with micro DLC and battle passes. I’m glad NFS is a semi annual game that always feels new. Not every NFS game is better than the previous but at least they have character and ARE different. PS: Nfs Shit is actually a bad game and deserves it’s tarnished reputation.

A positive view on NFS is refreshing. I grew up playing the first era of NFS and the Black Box era, so I enjoyed NFS in many forms. If there’s one thing we can all agree on, is that Most Wanted fanboys suck.

I'm in some of the nfs hp 2010 gameplay let's go

NFS Unbound was actually the closest thing to a ''unique modern NFS'' but the issue is the NFS UG Stans kill this franchise and that's why they are always unsatisfied with what they got and can't accept the new changes. They want the exact same formula until they get the their desired ''MW 2005 or UG1-2 Remastered'' or possibly NFS UG3 or NFS MW 2. People are just stuck in these years that affects the other people who are not affect by this nostalgia. Just install mods for God damn's sake, but of course most of them can't afford a PC and they are stuck with their PS2/Xbox 360 ones unlike the PC can't be moded. If you look at statistics most people started from NFS UG1 when 2F2F was the biggest hit ever that inspired this franchise, compared to these who started from NFS HP2 and before that. NFS back then used to be so simple but since NFS UG1 it changed the entire franchise's view which lead to this direction thinking NFS is about ricing your shitbox like 2F2F. And not to mention every single NFS since NFS UG1 had NOS which is from F&F inspired and sadly we won't get a simple NFS without this artificial boost. Honestly playing without NOS is more challenging, despite nowadays people will think it's another FH without the NOS but I disagree. As much as I love open world I honestly find it so overrated and the closed track ones had more character and gave unique variety feeling compared to open world. Open world games after many playings feel the same and boring. Give me unique tracks like HP2 or NFS TR - they gave more atmosphere and heck even the NFS UG1 closed tracks too compared to the open world NFS UG2. Some people may find them repetitive but if you manage to customize your day exactly how you want it's so satisfying. I miss that feature tbh. However the biggest thing if I have to change about current NFS is the soundtrack because NFS soundtrack was going downhill since NFS 2015 and in my opinion NFS Payback's soundtrack was the first bad soundtrack in the entire franchise (despite half of the songs were decent but the other half was unbearable like NFS Heat and Unbound one.) NFS Heat, Unbound soundtracks have barely any varieties as it used to. It doesn't have to be NFS UG1-2/MW 2005 but at least something decent like NFS Rivals or NFS 2015 which were the last modern NFS with great soundtracks. NFS Heat soundtrack was not that pleasant to listen, except for the garage songs, while NFS Unbound is 98% rap and not from the good rap (despite they tried to go Mr Worldwide mode which is not a bad thing but please, at least something good and not cringe). The fact they used a TikTok songs says how they ''cared.'' Yeah, I get it the rock trend kinda dies out nowadays for the old heads but at least try to make it as many varieties of genres as you can and not just 3-4 that will get you bored after 3-4 times listening of the same song. Honestly, they tried to fix everything but messed up one of the important aspect - the soundtrack which is my only complaint. But overall people need to wake up from their 2003 - 2006 dreams.

As good as this idea seems, EA won't do anything about it since they probably don't see the money in it, but I hope I get proven wrong

What killed the NFS franchise was NFS Undercover.

I can agree with this take. I did enjoy prostrert and shift but i'm honestly a hot pursuit person. It's what got me into NFS to begin with. Yes I played underground and enjoyed those too but Hot Pursuit/Most Wanted 2012/Rivals is my go to games. It's sad that people bashed them on release but appreciate them now, reminds me alot of the Mario Sunshine dilemma.

I'll say this. Were it not for the handling, on top of my favorite car in the world being behind a 15 dollar pack, nfs heat had ideas that I really liked. I love the idea that you have two separate forms of progression with the nighttime mode being more focused around the dirtier, grittier high stakes environment of the old nfs' where you unlock the bulk of your purchasing power - whereas the day mode is something that I'm more familiar with in terms of sanctioned races akin to pro street. I love that you can push yourself in the night mode against the cops were the rules of professional racing go out the window and it almost feels like a survival mode. I love that in the day mode, the environment is festival-like, hitting upon the atmosphere I really enjoy about forza horizon with a showcase of really cool cars running on street tracks. I'm pretty sure it's changed, but the handling was just painful. I remember outfitting a lancer for pure grip and the understeer was overwhelming. I was struggling to get the car to just turn, but when I switched it up to drift I was flying around corners as if they weren't even there. I could bare with this, as it's just something to get used to with a different racing game and it's just a skill issue tbh. The thing that sealed the deal for me was when the mclaren f1 was locked being a buy in. Legit my favorite car in the world, and one that I had fond memories of in pro street. It kinda just killed my enthusiasm really.

I do wish you cover the Juiced Franchise since I had fun in the Juiced Eliminator than underground 1 & 2. But ProStreet is Banger

*Two separate NFS* 1) open world 2) cops 3) little difference between drift and grip 4) rivals and NFS 2015- unbound style 1) tracks 2) no cops 3) huge difference between drift and grip (physics) 4)NFS PROSTREET and SHIFT style Forza is similar

I'd love a The Run sequel

As far as SHIFT goes, I think the GRID series has taken the mantle for that.

Okay. I’m subscribing.

The issue for me is having prostreet as a full game. It could work fantastically as a DLC, but seeing as they can't shift away from making a mid game for once to at least have a solid foundation it becomes pretty difficult to accomplish that.

This is such a based video. I could not have thought of that multiple dev studio solution. The only way to get a lot of people hooked to this racing series in this diverse community is to make a game for each category simultaneously because we are just so divided. Supercars Tuners Spinoffs Mixed Thats what it is.

I also love the classic era

I still remember being a kid and think need for speed and fast and furious was the same thing. But I do think I was on to something if need for speed retotally revamped add all the crazy shit from the fast and furious. the essence of need for speed would be lost but we do get a totally new spiritual successor would be interesting

Payback, Heat and Unbound have all been just remakes of NFS 2015 with a different theme, story and small changes. I agree that variety is the essence of the NFS franchise. Here are some of my ideas. I think an offroad motorstorm-inspired NFS could work. Motorstorm and it's sequels have become a cult classic by now and the offroad racing arcade genre is relatively dead. A "historic" NFS set in 80s or 90s Japan with a heavy emphasis on a serious story told in a (real japanese) manga/anime style, open world and embracing Touge (canyon duels 2.0) and Highway battles (Undercover's ones 2.0) while featuring 1 or 2 real life tracks for drift and time attack. Another "historic" NFS would be a 60s-70s US setting with gone in 60 seconds style chases, drag racing on and off track and more. Maybe a super in depth car mechanic simulator-style modification system. Another unconventional idea would be a NFS set in the EU. 80s Germany with 1000SELs, König Ferraris and souped up Capris and the Nürburgring as an ingame race track where the player pursues a club racing career while simultaneously racing on the streets and escaping the police. Or maybe go old school with supercars in Spain, France, Italy or even Greece. A less punishing and more car focussed my summer car style game set behind the Iron curtain would be really innovative aswell. Racing in the eastern block/USSR is something no racing game (to my knowledge) has ever done. As you said, it's variety is NFS' biggest potential.

Based take, keep up the good work 👍

i want a NFS High Stakes II i've been waiting over 20 years for it and if anybody says Rivals, it's not even nowhere near close -_-

*For me, 2015 is THE Need For Speed.* *Cars and racing is the main focus. The police are there but they’re easy to avoid giving you more time to actually race instead of pretending you’re in an action movie. The story, while cringy at times, is down to earth and somewhat believable. It’s just you and your friends driving and customizing cars, you know, like us here in the real world.* *Nobody is rude to you for no reason. No conspiracy theories or how self driving cars are immoral. No social commentary on the ethics of the police or how street racers are somehow THE ABSOLUTE WORST THING to ever happen to society.* *Hell, in 2015, your friends even tell you that if you get the police after you be respectful, be polite, pull over and pay up. Even Travis, the groups Outlaw, says in one of his ”tweets” on the loading screen that ”Unless you’re willing to lose it all, pull over and pay up.” Sound advice from a supposed ”Outlaw”. And the police just make sense in 2015. They’re in a Crown Vic and you’re in something pushing +1000HP. Of course they can’t keep up. And despite what Hollywood might have you belive, police response to someone speeding isn’t to send ”EVERYONE!!!”. You’d be endangering more lives than you’d save.* *People like to talk smack about the handling and how Drift is better than Grip. Prefrences are of course just that, prefrences, but i feel like the handling is ok FOR AN ARCADE RACER. What some people fail to mention is that 2015 is one of the few arcade racers where going fast actually feels quite scary. Due to the twitchiness of the handling one wrong move and you’ll either crash into a wall or end up crashing into traffic. Scary stuff. And it makes it feel rewarding when you’ve managed to do a highway run without any crashes.* *As for Drift vs Grip, yeah i have nothing. That’s pretty stupid.* *Other than the fact that it is online only and that you constantly lose your connection, it is THE PERFECT NFS for me and is what the devs should look towards when making the next game.*

They can Just Mix both Hot Pursuit and Undergroud formulas together.

I think the main the main identity of NFS should be illegal street racing. In whatever form it comes, that's what molded the franchises identity. I didn't like ProStreet at all, it felt boring to me. Shift 2 was a bit more entertaining, though much closer to Grid, than to other NFS's.

To me, NFS' identity centers around illegal street racing - and the many manifestation of this. It does ultimately result in a ton of variety, but I view this as a good thing, not a bad thing. In one way its similar to Mario and Zelda - no single tenet defines these 2 IPs anymore. Is Mario 2d? 3d? Precision platforming like 3d world? Exploration based like Odyssey? Linear like Galaxy? Same with Zelda. That said, I think the bigger issue with NFS is its problem to find a real and marketable 'hook' in its recent titles. They're all fun, but theyre not genre defining like the older titles they've put out. They may eventually reach ProStreet levels of acceptance as time goes on, but we shall see. People like to hate on the big companies for lack of effort etc, but it also becomes harder to innovate as more ideas end up being explored by other devs and our standards for quality increase. We'll see what the future holds...

although i don't play unbound due to personal issues, i still respect the game from afar (optimisation of the newer games are shit, but i love the aesthetic so much that i applaud the ballsiness of the art direction). if a game has a sense of identity that is unique and it's in the NFS franchise, i will always respect that. NFS has always been about variety. it's the mechanics i don't enjoy. sidenote: yadda yadda, story isn't important, and i get that, but i miss the aloof storytelling that made cutscenes funny, rather than serious. i mean it's fucking street racing, no need to make it hamlet levels of deep, you're going to fail immensely if you try to take that seriously.

I played High Stakes a lot as a kid and don’t remember a track like that short clip early in the video.

Variety would help the newer games not feel the same cuz every game since Payback has essentially been an expansion of 2015 and its boring, a new Hot Pursuit style game next year would be really cool ngl

I personally hate just the way to menus are designed, even the hud. Way too much clutter. I think carbon was the most comfortable clutter you could get, but after that they took it too far. When you look back at HP2 and Underground1&2, the display of everything is really simply laid out and easy to navigate. They’re putting in TOO MUCH effort these days.

I know for me it's the brake to drift style driving that ruins it for me. I wish they would bring back the still arcadey but slightly more realistic way that cars drive but I have a feeling I'm in the minority with this opinion

I think I for almost everyone here when I say that, no matter what else they do, the overly arcadish driving physics that makes "brake to drift" a thing that is possible, have to be removed. Along with the way the cars can simply plow through almost everything on the environment with relatively ease. The way the cars can just plow through steel and wooden poles, fences other cars, bus stops, etc..With too much ease in the new games is just jarring and takes away all the stakes of keeping your car on the roads and following the racing lines. Also, the cringe stories and cringeworthy dialogues also have to go, make the player character a mute if they have to again, but just stop with these voiced main characters because it's clear that they don't know how to make them work. Racing games don't need stories. Beyond all of this, I also think that what they need to do is release two different kind of games at the same time, both focused on the street racing: One is a hybrid of Underground/Most Wanted'05/Pro-street where affordable Tuner/muscle cars racing on the streets, legally and illegally, are the focus. And the other is for the Hot Pursuit/Rivals/The Run crowd, with high-end sports and exotic cars racing on highways, countrysides, etc. If the franchise can't stick with one camp and can't make both of them on the same game, then making the two camps is the next best thing.

I personally see need for speed as the call of duty of racing. That may sound bad but call of duty is decent. I personally don't like it but even I can enjoy a round. That said, nfs comes out every year or so, offers the flavor they have, and if it's not your taste, meh, a new one will come out soon. Personally my favorite was hot pursuit on the PS3, I know I sound nuts but the PS4 remastered doesn't handle the same to me (is it my imagination?) What id enjoy in the future would be a game more akin to the run. That was a wonderful game and there's not enough point to point racers. I also enjoy that because they're triple A, they always look great and most importantly to me, offer a physical disc !!!!

Need for Speed have a identity crisis, Forza Horizon having identity crisis oof.

Honestly this man literally said it, the fandom of need for speed is part of the issue. cough esp the diehard mw2005 fanboys... I think its the reason why I was so happy about the cell shading of Unbound, it's trying to have that variety, and to me personally it looks great. I wish they just didnt held back.

I think is about time to change the road for nfs instead of what we have now I mean just l just look at NFSHP2010,NFS THE RUN,NFS CARBON,NFS MW2012 and NFS RIVALS way more fun and i tried NFSMW2005 and....it wasn’t anything special for me I mean... I don’t know why but I enjoy it but nothing really mind blowing or anything well. Anyway nfs should really do something different now since nfs2015 the devs really didn’t really surprise me at all with their games yeah I agree on another hot pursuit,prostreet or shift I just think like they are so unique and nfs community treats them like trash whenever you mention it. Also I glad that nfsmw2012 wasn’t like the build version that everybody wish I have a feeling that if Criterion where to create that version people will still hate it and they will still love nfsmw2005 more than happy of what we got hate me all you want if I like the final version but the build feels cool and all but it didn’t work.

You forgot V Rally

What A your take on "Concept Destruction" ?

*shows many footage of Alex getting busted or wrecked in hp2010*

It's Need for Horizon now. At least Unbound made a difference.

#wewantnfs

Why not take both formula's, put them into different game titles 1 need for speed the other, something else completely. Or the other style can be like _"Need For Speed presents:"_

Underground 2 (I skipped the first one because it wouldn't run on my PC) was the first major disappointment I had in a game. "Why do you start with everyday cars? Why do you have to free roam?" and the worst one "Why do I have to visually customize?" . But I was young, so I played it until the end with the naive thought that "maybe the supercars and cops come in the post-game". When it turned out to not be the case, I immediately uninstalled it. That's not the image the franchise had grown to have. For a similar reason, I haven't played any of the Ghost Games entries.

Every NFS game since Most Wanted 2012 has been a flop because it's trying to do too many things at once. They need to bring back hot-pursuit style games and grippy handling. Brake-to-drift always felt like it was half-assedly copied from Burnout because it's what Criterion devs were used to work with, not because it fits the franchise. EA should pull their hands out of their asses and make a Burnout Paradise sequel already, we don't need yet another generic NFS-Burnout hybrid

E.A supports Cheaters . NFS UNBOUND just came out 3 months ago. Cheaters all ready can mod infinite money .this was all done the first day it came out. NFS Franshise is complete dead .

You know, brake to drift didnt start with hot pursuit 2010, the 1st era games on the ps1 also had legitimate brake to drift if you select the arcade handling

EEEEEEEY WE WANT SOME *_MOOWWWLEEEEEYY!_*