Need For Speed: World (First Impressions)

[Diligence109]

So this game was under my sights for a while... and it was just released as open beta the day before yesterday. I found time to sit down and play it a little today... and these are my thoughts!


There are no girls like this in the game. Not even on loading/splash screens. Don't get your hopes up.

The Preface
This game was advertised as a free Need For Speed game that operates in an online open world... basically, a f2p Racing MMO. The strings attached you can play for free but will never be allowed to progress past level 10 (this is a pretty serious gameplay disadvantage and you'll get maybe 5~10 hours out of it before you hit that wall.) The plus side is that to unlock the full game EA is asking a fair one time payment of $20.


The Initial Aesthetics
The game downloads, installs, and patches rather quickly. As the game starts, you're thrown right into setting up a profile (which takes as long as "enter name" and "click") and buying your first car from a limited selection that doesn't permit you to waste too much time on thought... basically, from the moment you decide to download the free game you're very quickly thrown right on the streets where tutorial prompts appear that inform you with refreshing brevity that everything about this game is what you expect it to be and is exactly like previous NFS titles.

The graphics aren't state of the art - they're watered down for online performance, but you can still easily recognize that you're playing NFS. It is worth mentioning that the eye candy that might have been an appeal in previous versions is lacking in this online cousin. The sound quality is also noticeably lower than previous NFSs... something that sorely disappointed myself, an audiophile...


The Game (you just lost it)
If you've played previous NFS games you'll recognize this one - the engine, the city, and even the gameplay... everything about this game is a mash-up of any previous NFS I've ever played (which admittedly only includes NFS: Underground 2 and NFS: Most Wanted.)

The "open world" environment turns out to be a thinly disguised promise that means "we have the city that you explore in other NFSs or in games like Midnight Club that serves the purpose for you to get to that race start point and launch the race instance and race people. Oh, and since this is an online game we've got you all sharing the same city and you're free to wander but since it's grossly over-crowded and you all drive like LUNATICS we've made it so you can't collide with other players unless you're in a nice, crowd-controlled race instance."

Basically, the "open world" is just an elaborate interactive list of races for you to explore. The one other element they included in the open world was the ability to get into pursuits - something I recognized right away from NFS:Most Wanted. The pursuits work the same way they did in that game and are just as addictive... except the graphics and sound aren't as good.

Why did we sacrifice graphics and sound? Because this game is online. Why is online good? Cause we get to play with other people and the game becomes multiplayer. What's the issue with the pursuits? The moment you get into a pursuit it becomes a single player instance in the open world and all the other players on the screen evaporate. Don't get me wrong - the rush of destroying countless police cruisers and watching the cost of damages for the pursuit to the state rack up is still quite an addictive thrill, it's just a shame that the only "multiplayer" element of the pursuits is that you can compare your pursuit "scores" against other players.

Well, at least the races are multiplayer, right? We might not have open world "outrun" races that you can challenge people to on a whim, and pursuits may not feature the ability to have more than one person running from the cops at a time, but at least you can race together! That is, if you don't mind awkward and laggy collisions. Oh, and a level mechanic that makes it so being a higher level means your car simply preforms better than your opponents.

The racing mechanic hinges on powerups that are essentially abilities you unlock and upgrade by leveling up. Higher level = more ability upgrades = you win the race. There is some tactic to the way that you use various abilities, so I'd imagine that when you get later into the game there is a lot of skill involved in how you use your nitro, no matter how better it is than someone else's. However, I was a little disappointed to discover that the race was more about how you used your powerups than some good, clean, vanilla racing. Blur fans rejoice, you're going to be at home with this game!

Well, at least I can hang out with my friends, since the game is multiplayer... .... ........ right? I started playing this game with Muffin and with some incredible difficulty (even in the face of having a "teleport to player" button) found her in the overworld where we were able to rejoice that our cars could magically drive through each other and do.... nothing. We could race together, of course, but that was about it. Not saying that's a bad thing, just would have loved some multiplayer pursuit instances!


Final Thoughts
Would I recommend this game? OF COURSE - it's free! At least for a fair enough long time to get a serious trial run of it... The game is fun to play - even in sight of various short comings to my own expectations. I'll probably at least play it up to level 10 cause it's rather entertaining. I'll likely figure out how to use powerups effectively by then and be roped into buying their game because I'll feel at home with it and be enamored with the particular ways I've customized the appearance of my car... who can say no to a clever marketing scheme that says free*? (*for a while)

This game is by no means any grand artistic or ingenious achievement for the gaming industry, but it's simple and entertaining and it doesn't have any huge faults. There's a game there to learn and play and it's INCREDIBLY accessible - easy fast download that puts you right into the streets and the action. I'd suspect that this game is going to be very successful for EA and I applaud them for it. If enough of my friends got into playing the game's particular powerup-style-racing I'd probably pay for it to play and compete with them.

So, go for it, hop in your virtual car and give the game a whirl. It'll be fun wether you buy it or not, and it's free, so what's to lose? I'll see you on the streets!