Need For Speed Unbound Won't Save the Franchise (but it almost did) 

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6:08 "They're cocky and that makes you want to take risks to relieve them of their cock." Truly one of the quotes of all time.

Best in the biz, clear and fair. Making sure every NFS dev I know gets spammed this 😄

This game is 1 step forward for the innovation 2 step backward for the content

Whitelights retrospectives are so strangely unique, his script is poetic in nature (the arkham city one especially). I cant quite describe it, but its fantastic.

Miss those days when nfs was one of the most hyped arcade racing

I cant tell if its more painful to play a bad game, or to play game so dang close to greatness. I cannot wait for a racer to come out that just gets most everything right.

"So play it and wait for 3 more years in the painfully familiar way that Need for Speed Will Truly find itself again" - This just got me teared up.. Might as well be waiting for my whole life. But I will if I get to live the life of early 2000s in NFS again.

"And though the Lake shore city was alive, I could not find it's heart" Damn, this dude can write.

5 mins in you mention one of my favorite things about this game. you do not need to be the winner to feel like you had a good race in this game, and that’s so hard to nail. the story progresses either way, which gives you a slight sense of urgency in your placements too. I remember going into races KNOWING i wouldn’t win, but would place high enough to earn the cash i needed

It would have also been cool to have different garage designs given that you unlock hideouts from certain characters, but instead they all look like Rydells.

What a pristine review, the part about the police is spot on, it's never been easier yet it's the most annoying when you trying to move between events and you see like 10 to 20 cops free roaming on every possible corner of the map, you'd think half of the population of lake shore is police patrolling men

My problem with NFS is that you could pretty much take any of them since HP10 and say "it could've been great", but they all had decisions that just defy sheer common sense, either by Criterion/Ghost themselves, or EA interfering.

What's interesting is that a mechanic in Blur's party multiplayer racer ( how to take right angle turns using nitros) becomes an exploit in NFS unbound, just because the AI can't do it.

I don't even play racing games at all and yet here I am watching every single racing game video you put out. Keep up the good work 👍

when i'm in a "be cringe" competition but my opponent is NFS dialog writer

The day/night system of Heat was such an amazing idea, shame they removed it completely. After the first 2 weeks of the "story" I literally just speedran through the game, and after the story I had to cheat in a ton of money to at least get a couple more hours of enjoyment by customizing some cars. I got barely 30 hours of gameplay out of the 80€ palace edition.

i loved the visual style, finally a slightly different looking driving game

It's so sad to see the arcade racing genre in this state where it's barely limping along.

The fairest, yet somehow most positive, and most detailed criticism of Unbound I've seen. Encapsulates everything I loved and hated about this game. Really hope the developers and EA suits take note of the complaints and praises that so many of us have expressed that you've encapsulated so well in your review. NFS feels like it has the best chance to be back in a long time, I hope Criterion takes it.

Many things you describe as a plus point here existed back in the Midnight Club games, people behind the wheel, living streets etc. Rockstar really should bring it back, still the undisputed king of arcade driving games.

I can actually use this man’s voice to help me sleep, and that’s in the nicest way possible. It’s so damn relaxing

Hard not to notice the surface level similarities between the story of Unbound and Most Wanted 05: Car stolen, race to get it back, top dog of the city wants to stop you. What makes MW05's story "great" (or, rather, servicable, I should say) is how little it gets in the player's way. Most of the story happens in the text messages you get from the characters, the tone of the story doesn't change at all,

The Crew had the most interesting take on police. They change depending on the terrain and state that you're in. Sure they weren't as hard as NFS cops could be, but they were really fun

37:46 "Tess has been the sussiest of bakas from day one" I look over from my table saw at work, "Fucking excuse me?"

From a quick intro, straight to the point. Big fan, Whitelight

Grip turns really DO feel like a bowstring being pulled back. White light is so good at describing how I feel

I think an easy and more believable fix for the cops would be to have dedicated police stations that put out an AOE of police concentration on the map. A station would most likely be somewhere in the city, where the most people are located, so the most cops would be there. As you moved further from the city towards suburbs and rural, the police population gets lower, like in real life. Maybe 2-3 smaller stations with a smaller AOE could be spread out, but they would also send less police after you until you got closer to the concentration. City races would reward more cash and XP too, versus rural races, but rural races could be longer or emphasize needing cleaner and faster driving to win, since other racers and yourself would not to need to worry about cops or more objects around city streets to crash into. However, going off the road could mean hitting a tree or cliff and having a very slow recovery over driving on a something like a sidewalk. If you are trying to escape, the easier way would be to move away from the concentration. But you could risk escaping closer to city to have quicker access to the next event. There's more ways to break line-of-site in a city too, versus open fields in the country. You pose less risk as a street racer in rural areas than in cities, so the police would want to put in less effort compared to racers closer to the city. Pair this with other cop fixes, and it could feel more realistic and also more rewarding.

Unbound looks like they saw Initial D and wanted to mimic the realistic cars with cartoon characters

The game has potential. It's not perfect, no game is, but it could be a shot of adrenaline (or nitrous) for arcade racers. I'm excited for what Criterion could do with the series.

The amount of times I had a box truck or van pull in front of me in an intersection and stop was extremely frustrating

This game reminds me a lot of Midnight Club LA. The sense of speed, the vehicle combat, the cocky characters, drafting boosts, the risk reward of the burst nitrous.

Hit the nail on the head with the “insular book club” feeling, NFSU2 felt alive in ways because of being able to see other racers in their riced out cars cruising the same as me, hearing their engines loud over the droning normal cars quick glance at the minimap to confirm I’m hearing another racer close by. Unbound dropped the ball massively just felt like that scene from whatever show or movie it was “how do you do fellow kids”

Down every minute it was a perfect review, as a long time fan of this series, i am glad that someone sees the potential but also knows what it lacks with problem. The only thing it left for me was creativity and this game brought back the idea of creativity, but falls down in other areas. I hope i get a good old racing game, where every thing was exciting enough to keep me coming back.

The burst nitrous system reminds me of the ‘slipstream nitrous’ from rockstar’s midnight club. Only took EA 15 years to pilfer that concept from rockstar; I’m sincerely surprised it wasn’t done sooner.

These people keep calling them anime effects. Corporate "I'm Totally Inclusive" poster style ≠ anime.

Hands down best video game essay channel out there. Keep up the great work, it's a joy listening to your smooth voice read the exceptionally well-written scripts.

"Unbound spins its wheels relentlessly and it's not long before you've given up on the hope that it will ever find traction." Line goes hard. 35:20

NFS was a big part of my childhood, but since 2013 most wanted came out I started to drift from that series to something like Forza Horizon. But later, there are more and more good games even from the big companies. It's a renaissance of gaming, a bit bold to say, but some of them go back to their roots, if you catching what I'm throwing and it's great to see that

Imma jus say this, I'd pay 5k for a dishonored full series retrospective

The way the nitrous cancels momentum is a really interesting concept to me, since it reminds me of the way boosting works in Hydro Thunder, I love that franchise because the boost can be used to take really tight turns, the boost is fired the way your boat is facing, so you can go into a corner, turn 90 degrees, and boost hard to get out of it, your sideways momentum is quickly reduced by the side of your boat hitting the water, causing a ton of drag, but your forwards momentum is rapidly increased by the boost, this lets you take tight turns better. In that game it feels less like it’s overpowered, it still needs skill and timing and careful usage of the boost to do it, and it feels like the game was really designed around using it, but hearing that Unbound’s nitrous works similarly makes me want to give it a go.

One of my gripes with the "modern" Need for Speed games (post black box), is the number of music tracks is always too god damn low. Especially when you find yourself skipping the occasional track it gets even worse. Same problem with every single Horizon game too. Is it the same in Unbound, where you start hearing repeats not even 4 - 5 hours in, or have they added more finally? Btw, that relieved cock line is probably my favorite Whitelight line ever. Once in a generation literary genius, and I'm all for it.

man sometimes I really wish these videos came with a list of the music used in them, some bangers in here

Well said. I hope Criterion takes notice. That is whatever lefts of Criterion - only 12 members of the original team were working in Criterion.

Really fantastic review, and you were able to articulate the issues with the campaign structure better than I could've.

I don't think the driving is intense at all, even with all the colours and lines. Reason being, when you crash, it's like, "oh shit, I've crashed, that was unlikely, given I can drive through literally everything, and now I'll just catch up again", and then you go on like nothing even happened. How intense is that? Ah, whereas in Hot Pursuit, when you crash, it's a big deal, as it should be when you travel that fast.

It's a good day when whitelight uploads! The best video game review/video essay channel out there!

Such a shame that Unbound will be forever overlooked despite doing so many things right as a racing game. Partly because of the rough edges and lack of content as result of a rushed launch, and partly because the current racing community's stubborn refusal to try something that looks slightly less than extremely realistic. But at least i'm glad that there are rare reviews like yours that do the game justice by recognizing its potential.

Thank you for you amazing work Whitelight. I've been trying to work out what about this game isn't gelling with me. Then you eloquently and succinctly summed it up for me. You have a true gift.

Great critique and analysis of this game! I'm a fan of the burst nitrous personally; The advanced mechanics involve burst grip turns, and maintaining combos to keep the burst meter full throughout the race. I think that's where the game's arcade racing truly shines. It comes close to how much fun I had in MCLA- though I do miss the querky abilities and open race courses from that game.

Unbound had potential. If they kept on it, or inspire someone else to do what Unbound did but better... we can have a great arcade racing game in the future. In this season of so many simcades, some fun arcade racing games would be lovely to just sit back and enjoy. Also Whitelight, very good narrative in explaining what's in Unbound.

These videos are simply fantastic. Really in a class of their own.

I love the way you described the anime style effects and the driving as a whole. Great script and video.

Thank you for finally reviewing NFS_Unbound 3:52 After an almost 4 minute wait, he finally said the magic word. 5:45 AI racers getting proper identities is a breath of fresh air IMO because you can finally blame that particular racer for costing you your 1st position (or getting you busted) 13:48 I was waiting for this moment. 15:46 I agree. I always wanted a racing game where you start a race and find out that one of the racers is actually an undercover cop. 23:12 Tanner's Dodge Challenger! 26:36 Thank you for being one of the first people to actually compare Lakeshore City with WD Chicago. 33:17 Well, Most Wanted suffered from the same issue as I had a fully upgraded Porsche Carrera GT by the end of the game that made the M3 GTR look like a joke. (I could have fully upgraded my starter Cobalt SS instead) 40:22 Thank you for finally mentioning Driver SF, I think that racing game developers trying to make a decent story should take a look at Driver SF. You should consider reviewing Driver San Francisco one day. Great video Whitelight!

Absolutely great analysis of the game. Most of this is stuff I really think they could fix in a patch but it's been out long enough that it doesn't sound like that is happening.

One of the best video essays I’ve seen on RU-vid. And that’s truly saying something. I loved this game but felt the same as you, it was missing something. And still is. I think a revenge story based around Alec could have been crazy. If the really villainized him. Made him manipulate Jaz and such. Could have made this much more

39:07 That has smoother double-speak than I expected of an NFS.

Shoutout to all the based video essayists out there calling out the piss poor state of arcade racing. We might mot see you under the mountain of sim racing nerds complaining they're not realistic, but we certainly hear you.

I'd love to see you do a follow up on Watch Dogs Legion someday, then you'd have the entire series under your belt! The DLC for that game is great too, it could honestly probably be a video by itself, and does bring into question why Ubisoft's recent games have been getting fantastic DLC when the base games themselves are nothing special.

Your video essays are some of the best out there. I always put them on once the kids are in bed, but then end up falling asleep to them myself. You've got a chill, smooth way of communicating! Thanks for the great content bud! I just couldn't get the control setting in this game feel "right". It was either way to loose, or way too quick to snap steer.

Its nice to see a video talking about the good AND the bad instead of trying to murder a game, there is way to much hate on the internet for some reason on new releases. Loved your video, amazing job.

6:09 it's explanations like these that keep me coming back

"relieve them from their cock" was such an unexpected line, a true poetic masterpiece from Whitelight

What an amazing video. I hadn't watched any of your videos and I gotta say, you are great at what you do. Your script is poetic and your delivery humorous and very easy to listen to. New sub.

great video as always. but something that once you notice you can't un-notice is the plosives are quite loud and prevalent. a pop filter could help

Video games should go back to being video games. Leave real world crap out of it.

One thing NFS always had is style, and its funny because once a new NFS title releases, its always unique in its own way, yet people still seem to find a reason to banter about it, because they can't comprehend the fact that NFS isn't casually milking their players out of recycled content for the past 10 years [glancing at forza horizon w/ this one]

Ive been binging you channel for a few days because i have a lot of time and its great content, would love to see you review the current state of destiny after watching you older reviews(im sure you stopped playing like so many) i would love to hear your takes on gameplay and story.

The undercover cop actually doesn't show up on your map until you're basically on top of them unless you have a specific upgrade in your car

They should have taken the 2015 approach with the story by having no story at all to focus on the content and gameplay. Because I really liked the characters you race against and Rydell, it could have been just that, it was really just Yaz and Tess that were really the turn off of the campaign

Does anyone else find the politics in the game world extremely strange? Like I play my game and crash into like 5 different innocent civilians at 200mph on accident, almost certainly killing them if it was real life (The AI do the same), and basically everyone in the game talks about how street racing is a harmless way for the youth to have fun and the police are abusing them by arresting them. In every other need for speed it felt like either you were an outlaw and just took the risk with the law or the police were genuinely abusive and were actually doing things they shouldn't (nfs heat for example). The police aren't abusive in this game, they just simply arrest people for street racing. It all feels a bit preechy and doesn't make much sense as a message to spread in a video game. Not to mention it isn't something that is mentioned once in passing, it is something that comes up almost every single day in game. Otherwise though, I would say this is one of the best sets of characters in a need for speed game, there is a whole lot less cringe than normal.

I had exactly the same problems with crash detection and inconsistent obstacle breakability in NFS 2012.

Thanks for these videos. Appreciate the massive effort you put in. I left NFS with unterground 2 and went to Burnout Revenge and Paradise and never looked back. Talking about Heat and now this one. Which should I pick up? Which is the better one? I want a challenge and I love the style of Heat but the cringe is off the Charts. Or should I pick up some other game? Miss the days of blasting Soundtracks, wrecking opponents and having fun speeding through a city.

I see You and Rey can't let go racing games, hope to see some great nfs in future.

Was really looking forward to the day that you did a review of this game, I am glad you take your time with this s*** because it's strangely poetic. You can always tell you're speaking from experience, you played the terrible games you know what this series can be and you clearly are passionate. Keep up the amazing work

Escaping cops started to feel repetitive so fast. So many times during one game session, it made me want to play solo less. Didn’t even feel like a racing game anymore, but more like a ‘don’t get caught’ game.

Even Burnout: Paradise City hasn't perfect crash detection. But there's more emphasis on crashing and spectacle.

Nothing better than to escape from everything and watch a new video from Whitelight lmao

Nothing better, than a Whitelight video after gym. Thank you for the great videos bud!

_Raycevic uploads a Racing game video_ _Whitelight uploads a Racing game video._ They're the same picture.

What a fantastic video (just stumbled across this channel). I finished the story earlier today after about 20 hours and I agree with about 90% of everything you said. This is the first NFS title I've bought in literally 21 years and the first NFS game I ever had was NFS II (I'm old). I finally got my hands on a PS5, heard that Unbound was decent enough and managed to find a new physical copy for 55 EUR after some hunting. I'm unable to compare Unbound to the entries before it but I've been thoroughly entertained playing through the story of this one. I wasn't expecting much from the story so it turned out to be just fine. One of the best lines of dialogue was the protagonist (in my case male) yelling out an exasperated "TESS!" at her dumb bullshit, the game showing a bit of self-awareness. But the best part was the driving, which was a lot of fun and downright thrilling at best. Plus, I've always liked cars as both machines and design objects (despite never owning one) and, you know, video game cars look good now. The in-game economy is weird, at least looking at the story mode. You won't have much trouble upgrading a car throughout the week to make it to the qualifier, but there are so many cars and you pretty much have to choose just one per class in order to progress through the story at a steady pace and especially the hypercars are so expensive it makes no sense to grind in order to get more than one. It's like the game has too many cars and too little content to take advantage of the majority of them. Nevertheless I'm happy with what I got for what i paid.

the human opponent thing was one of the reasons death rally was so awesome way back in 1996. i can probably name two thirds of the roster to this day off the top of my head because the game pushed you to be competitive with each one of them.

This game looked sick and honestly was the first time I've thought about picking up a NFS game since underground. Not paying 100$ for a NFS game though, not for any game for that matter.

When I originally beat the game, i thought that was just Chapter 1 of at least 2. I thought there’d be another month and a build up to battling Alec or the mayor or both. Was pretty disappointed when there’s wasn’t more. I hope we get a DLC that adds another layer to the story.

Haven't played a racing game in 10 years but your videos are so extremely entertaining they just keep my attention going and time goes by

But it was good, and that's enough of a 'victory' for the franchise for now. Really hoping Criterion can maintain its momentum from here on out.

This game needs eurobeat

I still am disgusted that EA decided to charge $70 for this game. It isn't worth the extra $10 than heat was at launch

My impression of the crash sensitivity is that maybe they wanted to make the consequences of a crash very low, but were afraid of potential situations where a less than destructive mistake- like spinning out into a wall at relatively lower speed -might actually cost you more time than one in which you absolutely destroyed your car due to the quick and fast respawn. So they attempted to balance things by preempting time-consuming mistakes by just "crashing" the car and restarting you, or at least trying to predict (and not necessarily succeeding) when this might be happening.

Great job articulating all of the issues I've had playing this.

I genuinely enjoyed unbound and it's new mechanics and i genuinely hope it keeps getting updated

Great video. I didn't even finish the story because you're basically always at Heat 5 and it got too exhausting taking 30 minutes to get to the next event because I trigger a chase every 100 meters and end up miles away. Also the money earned was pitiful and I had to bank almost all of it to pay for the weekend events and car reward events. Also the multiplayer was too bare bones.

Worst thing about this game for me was the fact that all my singleplayer progresss didnt even transfer over to multiplayer. Completely ruins a lot of motivation to play and customize cars in singleplayer.

It will probably never happen but man i would love a Rivals sequel with this art style (except the humans, they look too jarring)

When this came out I replayed Underground 2. Didn't finish it but had a great time for a few weeks.

great video! loved the analysis of the story in relation to the worldbuilding and the world itself

I also feel that the cars can feel a bit unbalanced at times, my A, A+, and S cars completely smoke the competition because I grinded for upgrades and they were as maxed out as they could be, but I chose the GT2RS as my S+ car and it didn't have a very high top speed so Shimizu in his La Ferarri would just stomp in highway races. If AI racers performance was more balanced to your car it would feel better.

Small correction about undercover cop cars - what makes them undercover is the fact that they don't show up on your map

No nonsense review and straight to the point. Respect.

The worst aspect of Unbound is c as everything they added outside of driving tweaks. It’s deliberately integrated to make the game longer. Buy in/win %, the day night split forcing more chases risking money, having to upgrade the garage instead of unlocking, big buy ins for car races, the day to day story…it all feels very Ubisoft. Game Padding. Edit: I forgot about limited restarts. That can fuck off.