Need for Speed needs a sabatical
By RodneythePom 8 Comments
It must be tough working on the Need for Speed series. As soon as the game goes gold, you have a month of vacation and then it's back to the drawing board.
The yearly process of churning out game after game has begun to wear down the once great Need for Speed series. The question is not what will they do next, but will the next one get any better?
Need for Speed: Most Wanted is arguably the best entry to the series in recent years. Since then it has steadily declined and the average reviews of Need for Speed Undercover all but expose that the series' creativity tank is running on empty.
Every year we have a new Need for Speed and I must ask why? Most Wanted was a great blend of street racing, cop chases and free roaming. Carbon was more or less a duplicate that took place at night and featured "gang" racing fights. Pro Street was an ackward venture in to professionalizing the series and Undercover is a soul-less return-to-the-roots attempt.
Not only is Undercover a hollow attempt to revist Most Wanted's magic, but it is also marred by the same technical problems that have hampered the last three games.
I understand that the Need for Speed series is a money tank that EA loves to tap on a yearly basis, but consistent poor efforts will result in the series being ignored for better games.
Need for Speed Undercover has to compete with Midnight Club Los Angeles, a game series that doesn't churn out a sequel every year (though I expect a "dub remix" edition). Midnight Club is a much better game, and hopefully a sales butt kicking will show EA the err of their ways.
We don't need a Need for Speed every year. With the wonderful world of DLC on the Xbox 360 and PS3, I wonder why EA doesn't simply take a year off and re-vitalize it's Need for Speed team. Keep gamers satisfied through meaty DLC offerings while putting together a strong title worthy of the Need for Speed moniker.
Gamer's are impatient but at the same time, they appreciate a solid effort. Infinity Ward takes a year off between Call of Duty's (ignore the Treyarch ones) to make an honest effort at improving the series.The result? Multiple GOTY's for Call of Duty 2 and multiple GOTY's for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and record breaking sales.
Perhaps the Need for Speed team should spend some time at Infinity Ward and learn from their example?