Need For Speed: Rivals review

Those who know the Yin and Yang of Chinese philosophical culture understand the concept of duality well. The world, in its immensity of nuances, is a constant dual balance between things. This sensation of "double" sight, of man / woman, day / night: provides a mental setting to delve deeper and deeper into the delicate quantum mechanisms that govern our life.

But here we are not dealing with an interpretation of the Theory of Relativity, and so what does all this have to do with video games, and specifically with Need For Speed: Rivals?

Simple! In the latest effort by Ghost Games with a lot of Criterion legacy, the concept of duality and diversity of points of view is at the center of an incredible and adrenaline-fueled adventure, which officially opens the way to Next-Gen videogame for the brand. 

Most Wanted 2012 did not provide much new to the historic brand that now seemed to have exhausted all its driving force. The saga has essentially remained a reference point in the racing world for the name built over the years and for the simplicity of the game all in arcade sauce. The developers therefore found themselves having to decide whether to abandon the past, also by virtue of the transition to the new generation of consoles, or to maintain a certain balance and a consolidated setting without upsetting anything and providing a substantially good quality game, waiting for one. more profitable development in the future.

And it is with a philosophical attitude of balance that has been mixed in a high-performance Frostbite 3 graphics engine, a game that has all the prominent elements of three episodes of the saga: Most Wanted, Hot Porsuit and Carbon. Three different pasts that in this longed-for appointment intertwine in a journey that is more psychological than a guide. 

As soon as you put your hands on the controller and install the game that on Xbox One includes 15.4 GB of files to be installed on disc, we will experience the feeling of a return to the past with colors and shades that remind of Carbon. From the first moment it will be clear to us that the gameplay will be substantially linear, guided, but adrenal, satisfying and also long-lived. The story opens in total anonymity; there will be no shred of plot to glue the drift: we will be totally alone, and forced to choose our destiny.

After a short and well thought-out tutorial that will show us how the different game elements of the past episodes have been amalgamated in the fictional “Redview County” location, we will be faced with the choice of two possible careers: that of fugitive or cop.

For a career as a fugitive, the constant feeling of anxiety will dominate. Everything revolves around challenging opponents on the street in long "head to head", or participating in the events shown on the map. For the latter we talk about: timed races, classic races, escapes from the police. Scattered around the map there will be speed cameras ready to record our dizzying speeds and also the fearsome cops always ready to give us no respite.

But what will our purpose be? Do we necessarily have to run indefinitely like hamsters on a wheel of scripted and always the same events?

Not at all. The career as a fugitive is concentrated in Speedlist, that is lists of objectives to complete in order to advance, and in order to unlock gadgets for our car, new cars (return of Ferrari) and technical updates compressed in packages to buy and mount under ours racing cars.

The adventure is therefore a constant advance between objectives and updates for our cars, plus something really well thought out and ready to make us grind our teeth. Being fugitives obviously the police will be our "rival". But we are not talking about escapes from eaters of fried donuts, perhaps obese and in constant sexual abstinence due to grueling work shifts. We are not talking about patrols or checkpoints where we can stop and have an alcohol test, on the contrary, we are talking about the most resolute and organized police force ever seen in a video game.

To buy the upgrades and of course the cars we will need money. The ones provided in the game are actually an abstract currency called "Speed ​​points". By completing objectives, races, and driving around the county to destroy cars and public goods, our gauge will get fat visibly. But just as we decide to return to a shelter to deposit the sweaty money, here is almost always a steering wheel ready to start a chase. Our "wanted level" will increase as our chases take car casualties and piss the police off. For the first 3 levels we will have no headaches if not the anti fugitive gadgets (stunners, rams, IEM) with which we will be threatened by the police, but from the fourth onwards and with the addition of the helicopters the situation will become really hot.

The more our virutal money indicator increases, the more obviously the chases with the police will become challenging. Unfortunately, the possibility of escape is directly proportional to the quality of our vehicle, of our driving, and let's not hide it, also a lot of luck. Therefore, the best strategy is to acquire minimum shares of speed points (20.000) and deposit them gradually in our hideaways.

The policeman career will instead be surrounded by the hunter aura that will surround our powerful vehicles provided by the police districts. The speed points will obviously not be lost and all the anxiety of the fugitive career will be razed to the ground. Here the attitude of power, of legality, of legitimacy to the hunt given to us, psychologically speaking, by being law enforcement will be the master. One of the words recited in the introductory film by a fugitive towards his police rival is emblematic: "I am the life you don't want to live." With a simple statement it is clear that the two careers, in addition to providing a long-lived and rewarding adventure, are mirrored and lead to the same goal: to challenge your rival.

But not all that glitters is gold. The gameplay is solid, well-articulated and fun, especially intuitive for those who have never worked on an episode of the well-known saga. The escape from the cops in the fugitive career, from the very beginning turns out to be really hard and sometimes the impression is that the more the C factor, rather than the skill shown on board our vehicles, has proved to be decisive in some daring situations. to escape the police. Only after a couple of hours of play will it be clear what strategy to undertake but despite everything, what should be the "adrenaline" component turns out to be the most frustrating. Also, the high probability of hitting a patrol every time we hit the street seemed frankly a bit exaggerated. But fortunately we are not at levels where the game is made impossible, better clarify: we simply have to guess which strategy to follow to face our "criminal" life.

No sore or prominent note for the policeman career since at this juncture we will be the "frustrating" component.

Need For Speed: Rivals Multiplayer is basically stripped down. Six players will be able to battle on the streets of the county, increasing the degree of variety and dynamism of the game, without however affecting the gameplay in a clear and decisive way. The multiplayer therefore integrates into the single-player campaign and foments the adrenaline of the game, provided of course you meet really good players. Once online, through the EA server the opponents will be catapulted into our game world, who respectively will embody the role of fugitive and policeman as expected. Let's say that this component is more a contour to an already full and satisfying single player, after all those who buy NFS Rivals, do it for this component and not for the multi.

The Xbox One version we tested the longest, despite our hands being rushed even on the PS4, PC and current gen, shows a Frostbite in form that often gives really interesting glances. Going from a road immersed in the woods to a snowy one and almost smelling the fresh snow on the side of the road, is a confirmation of the important work done by the development team on the graphics sector and above all of the power of a graphic engine that never stops never to amaze even when there are no bullets to show and collapsing buildings. We have no doubts, on the graphic level Rivals is really a valid title however some small elements made us slightly turn up our noses. First of all, the 30 Fps block in a fast and adrenaline-pumping racing title like this penalizes the visual experience a bit. The impression is that at least on the PC, X1 and Ps4 versions, the title could have been still improved, but that probably in order to maintain the balance with the current gen, and certainly the short time to refine the Next and Pc version, they have led Ghost Game to prefer a more "conservative" approach

As for the physics, we are faced with a mixture between an old school arcade and a light simulation. In general, the commands are very precise and the game world is equipped with a balanced and faithful physics, but not simulative to each model of car proposed. Those looking for a simulation, has the wrong address NFS: Rivals is an arcade whose game laws are customized according to the gameplay and this is the power and strength of the brand.

Unfortunately some scripted behaviors as well as the only sketchy vehicle damage system could have been better.

In general, the game does not dare where it could, but begins to do justice especially on the graphic level to those who expect something more on PC or Next-gen consoles.