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Need For Speed: Mediocrity

Ready to own the streets? Get behind the wheel of iconic cars and floor it through Ventura Bay, a sprawling urban playground. Explore overlapping stories as you build your reputation – and your dream car – and become the ultimate racing icon. Need For Speed (2015) is the twenty-second installment in the Need for Speed series, and is a reboot of the franchise.


About
Description


💾Graphics
I will say that I do like the graphics here for the most part. The vibe this game delivers is pretty nice as well. The night time theme gives me this underground racing vibe that is pretty cool and unique for a modern racing game. Some issues like the UI being an absolute mess in my opinion and shaky screen and flashing lights on screen at times are pretty annoying when they appear.


🎮Gameplay
The game has some pretty good gameplay elements, and some questionable one as well. Let’s start with what's good. The car customization is pretty good. Many cars have amazing options and being able to share liveries with ease is a great touch. Being able to change the exhaust, stance, bodykits, headlights/taillights, etc. Sadly the higher end cars don’t really have many options here in terms of cosmetic customization. The races are all really fun and the variety in races is good. Ranging from sprints, circuit racing, touge, drifting, etc. The game has a good variety of races to keep you interested. The car list is also really impressive with so many kinds of amazing cars. Ranging from your amazing JDM icons (even Toyota), iconic European beauties, and your incredible American muscle! Now the game does have some serious issues. A huge one is for sure the handling model. Huge tip: Never make a grip build, unless you love to understeer into walls. Drifting is such a mix bag. At moments it feels fine, then others you correct it and the car just gets stuck going straight. It’s such a weird handling model they used. It doesn’t help that the map doesn't suit this handling style either which is a shame since the map is actually pretty fun. The cops are super underwhelming as well. The cops never become a serious threat in the game. Also the AI in general are super easy, providing little to no challenge into the game. Also another huge problem is that this game requires you to always be connected online. That means that you cannot pause mid race, and expect some server maintenances.


📜Story
The story in my opinion is a snooze fest. There are some nice moments in it, but for the most part it’s so tamed. There are no antagonists, no stakes, no consequences. It’s just buddies racing and trying to impress some racing idols. There is some tension in some scenes, but that’s really rare anyway and doesn't mean anything in the story. It doesn’t help that the finale is so underwhelming too. The whole story is just underwhelming and anticlimactic. Some characters are pretty annoying too. The dialogue is also awkward at times and feels forced and cringy and they absolutely love to harass your phone and call you nonstop, even mid race! It’s not a horrible story, but it is boring at times which feels like a drag midway through the game.


🎭Multiplayer
To be honest I haven’t played much online. I know you can create clubs, race with friends and meet others in an open lobby which is pretty cool. I haven’t had any issues with the online part of the game. The players are pretty chill and never had server issues so far.


🕛Playtime
This game may take you around 15+ hours to complete. It’s a pretty lengthy story with many collectables to get as well. If you are looking to complete everything, you are probably looking at around 30+ hours to complete.


🎧Sound
The sound design is actually really impressive. Need for Speed always does a good job with car sounds, and this is no disappointment. All cars sound amazing and fun to drive. Music is a subjective topic, but for me I didn’t really enjoy it that much. There are some decent tunes in here that I enjoyed, but others are so questionable and left me scratching my head in confusion.


❗Bugs❗
I had some issues here in terms of bugs. I had the texture and ground not load up at times, making me fall under the map. A shock to see that as this game has been out for a while. Seeing a bug like that in a racing game is not good. I had some AI do a 180 degree U turn and drive the other direction. That one was a head scratcher. Also some other minor issues especially involving the AI and police.


🔅Performance
I had no serious issues with performance. I played on ultra settings and had a mostly stable 60fps. I had some crashes, but that could be server related. I also had no stutters and the game ran pretty good on my end.


✔️Pro’s

Great car variety
Amazing atmosphere
Car customization
Fantastic sound design
Incredible graphics
Solid map design
Game progression
NFS Underground vibe
Your car shows in cutscenes
Good mix of races/activities




❌Con’s

Boring story
Always online
Requires EA app
Buggy experience
Long load times
No pausing mid race
Difficulty is too easy
Soundtrack is a mix bag
Handling/physics is pretty clunky
Police chases are underwhelming
Annoying/cringy side characters
Customization for supercars are limited
Constant phone calls from the side characters




🏆Rating
5/10
Buy this game on sale for around 25-50% off.


🔗Conclusion
I honestly wish I could give this game a mixed review. It has some good mechanics and has a vibe that fits the game perfectly. Sadly with all of the other issues this game is plagued with, I just can’t recommend it. If you are new to racing games and want something easy and super casual, then for sure get this. If you are looking for a challenging experience with a fun story and amazing racing, then skip this game. This is a mediocre experience for a Need for Speed game. I Love the vibe this game has, but it just needed more polish and care. Luckily later entries would do a better job with the formula Need For Speed 2015 presented.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1262540/Need_for_Speed/
Specs for Review:

GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 1070 8GB ROG Strix
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.9 GHz
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR4 3200MHz