Need for Speed as a whole
Hello,
This is TITAN, and this isn't a thread about Rivals in particular. It is a thread about the entire Need for Speed franchise. I know that this may be overlooked, but please read this.
Need for Speed has been an integral part of my childhood. I have been playing it since Underground 2 when I was 5 years old. Now, granted I wasn't exactly the best at the time, but I have gotten significantly better at the games. I have played all the games since Underground 2, and I will continue to do so as long as the franchise is alive. Unfortunately, EA seems to want to pull the plug on this racing staple because it isn't raking in as much money as it did before, and I would really hate to see that happen.
I would say the downfall of the game started at Hot Pursuit (2010), when Criterion took the helm. It was hurt even more when Most Wanted (2012) was released. They integrated so many unnecessary features into the game, that it didn't feel like Need for Speed anymore. It just felt like a Burnout replica. It wasn't that good in the sense that a Ford Focus ST had the possibility to beat an McLaren MP4-12C. That doesn't seem logical in the slightest. One upside I can find in their development run is that they produced a massive open world, and I really enjoyed that. However, I don't see any other redeeming factors.
Rivals, thankfully, wasn't developed entirely by Criterion, and was co-created by Ghost Games. Because there was a second dev team that wasn't Criterion, Rivals was significantly more enjoyable than Most Wanted (2015). Don't get me wrong, I like Criterion, but they shouldn't develop Need for Speed if they're just going to make Burnout replicas. This is Need for Speed, and there is a completely different feel to a Need for Speed game than a Burnout game.
Some features that I found abhorrent in the past few games, was the crashing cinematically. I always found them pointless and it just took away from the gameplay. Car damage was another thing that didn't sit well with me. Granted, in Rivals it is necessary because of Pursuit Tech, but even Pursuit Tech isn't something I enjoy. Need for Speed isn't about vehicular warfare, I believe that it should be left to games such as Grand Theft Auto and such. A massive problem in Rivals was how overpowered the police were compared to the races. First off, the racers had 20+ cars, if you included the DLCs. The police have 60+ cars, including the DLCs and the variants. They have the Hennessey Venom GT, the Bugatti Veyron, the Koenigsegg Agera R, the McLaren F1 LM, and so many more vehicles that can easily take down racers in a heartbeat. If there is going to be police side in the Need for Speed, at least make the two sides balanced by giving them cars that are neither overpowered nor underpowered.
Something that I have been missing in Need for Speed is car customization, and I don't mean the vinyls and paints jobs and license plates as such, I'm talk about about full fledged body and vinyls modifications, such as the ones in Need for Speed Carbon, Most Wanted (2005), Undercover, Underground, etc. I believe car customization is absolutely essential when it comes to Need for Speed. That was a major reason as to why I kept playing. I know it's too late to ask that you bring back Black Box and resurrect the EAGL engine, but if that happened, so many fans, including my self would be very happy. Black Box era Need for Speed games were the best ones there ever were, and I think that I would make many people happy. Not only that, but because so many more people are happy, more money would flow in and it would fill your pockets as well. Another idea is a remastered version of the classics, like Most Wanted (2005), Carbon, the Underground series. It would make many people happy and it would bring in a lot of revenue.
After a long rant, I think I have said enough. I hope somebody from EA looks at this thread and at least considers what I've said. It would make me very happy to know that I have at least been listened to.
Thank you,
TITAN
This is TITAN, and this isn't a thread about Rivals in particular. It is a thread about the entire Need for Speed franchise. I know that this may be overlooked, but please read this.
Need for Speed has been an integral part of my childhood. I have been playing it since Underground 2 when I was 5 years old. Now, granted I wasn't exactly the best at the time, but I have gotten significantly better at the games. I have played all the games since Underground 2, and I will continue to do so as long as the franchise is alive. Unfortunately, EA seems to want to pull the plug on this racing staple because it isn't raking in as much money as it did before, and I would really hate to see that happen.
I would say the downfall of the game started at Hot Pursuit (2010), when Criterion took the helm. It was hurt even more when Most Wanted (2012) was released. They integrated so many unnecessary features into the game, that it didn't feel like Need for Speed anymore. It just felt like a Burnout replica. It wasn't that good in the sense that a Ford Focus ST had the possibility to beat an McLaren MP4-12C. That doesn't seem logical in the slightest. One upside I can find in their development run is that they produced a massive open world, and I really enjoyed that. However, I don't see any other redeeming factors.
Rivals, thankfully, wasn't developed entirely by Criterion, and was co-created by Ghost Games. Because there was a second dev team that wasn't Criterion, Rivals was significantly more enjoyable than Most Wanted (2015). Don't get me wrong, I like Criterion, but they shouldn't develop Need for Speed if they're just going to make Burnout replicas. This is Need for Speed, and there is a completely different feel to a Need for Speed game than a Burnout game.
Some features that I found abhorrent in the past few games, was the crashing cinematically. I always found them pointless and it just took away from the gameplay. Car damage was another thing that didn't sit well with me. Granted, in Rivals it is necessary because of Pursuit Tech, but even Pursuit Tech isn't something I enjoy. Need for Speed isn't about vehicular warfare, I believe that it should be left to games such as Grand Theft Auto and such. A massive problem in Rivals was how overpowered the police were compared to the races. First off, the racers had 20+ cars, if you included the DLCs. The police have 60+ cars, including the DLCs and the variants. They have the Hennessey Venom GT, the Bugatti Veyron, the Koenigsegg Agera R, the McLaren F1 LM, and so many more vehicles that can easily take down racers in a heartbeat. If there is going to be police side in the Need for Speed, at least make the two sides balanced by giving them cars that are neither overpowered nor underpowered.
Something that I have been missing in Need for Speed is car customization, and I don't mean the vinyls and paints jobs and license plates as such, I'm talk about about full fledged body and vinyls modifications, such as the ones in Need for Speed Carbon, Most Wanted (2005), Undercover, Underground, etc. I believe car customization is absolutely essential when it comes to Need for Speed. That was a major reason as to why I kept playing. I know it's too late to ask that you bring back Black Box and resurrect the EAGL engine, but if that happened, so many fans, including my self would be very happy. Black Box era Need for Speed games were the best ones there ever were, and I think that I would make many people happy. Not only that, but because so many more people are happy, more money would flow in and it would fill your pockets as well. Another idea is a remastered version of the classics, like Most Wanted (2005), Carbon, the Underground series. It would make many people happy and it would bring in a lot of revenue.
After a long rant, I think I have said enough. I hope somebody from EA looks at this thread and at least considers what I've said. It would make me very happy to know that I have at least been listened to.
Thank you,
TITAN
