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    Need for Speed Rivals

    Game » consists of 12 releases. Released Nov 15, 2013

    A cross-gen open-world driving game set in a fictional Redview County.

    People who have played NFS rivals! Impressions so far?

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    Rekt_Hed

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    I got 11 days to cancel my pre order. What do people think of this game?

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    ttocs

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    It's a great racing game that does something unique - implements multiplayer and single-player together in a seamless fashion. The tutorials are lacking and you'll spend some time trying to figure out what to do but once you get the hang of it it's smooth sailing.

    The graphics are amazing on the PS4 as well. It's one of the better looking launch titles if you are getting it for that console. I'm sure the Xbox One will be just as good looking as well.

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    Rekt_Hed

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    #3  Edited By Rekt_Hed

    @ttocs said:

    It's a great racing game that does something unique - implements multiplayer and single-player together in a seamless fashion. The tutorials are lacking and you'll spend some time trying to figure out what to do but once you get the hang of it it's smooth sailing.

    The graphics are amazing on the PS4 as well. It's one of the better looking launch titles if you are getting it for that console. I'm sure the Xbox One will be just as good looking as well.

    Good to know duder. I played the shit out of Hot Pursuit but Most Wanted didnt grab me so am hoping this will keep me going for a good while.

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    Blastroid

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    #4  Edited By Blastroid

    Bought 4 game - COD Ghosts, Killzone, Knack, & NFS Rivals. So far Rivals has 95% of my attention. On last level of racer and 40% through cop story. I think once you unlocked a few good cars them the online becomes much more fun. Without a good car as a racer 3 online (real people) will just destroy you. As a cop with a poor car it is almost impossible unless you work in packs to stop anyone without a decent car. So there is a problem with online game balance nut this is true for almost any multiplayer game. You might find yourself going offline to finish up a few tasks where the online part makes it difficult to pull off. For example tasks where you have to gather so many points before finding a hide out. Online you get so close and then destroyed and an entire hour of points goes bye bye. I think the size of the map is a little small but is understandable as you can only have so many players on one server. I hope some DLC comes out to allow different islands later on.

    The arcade racing is nice as the learning curve is not vast per car and you can spend more time on concentrating on the game than having to hit that corner just right. There is some skill involved but not as much as a sim of course. That is going to be my downfall when Forza 5 comes out where the racing style is night and day different.

    All in all the game gets a 4/5 for me and although I think it is not completely next gen it still looks great, plays great, and most importantly I am having a Blast!

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    Ares42

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    #5  Edited By Ares42

    Has anyone seen any impressions on graphics/framerate of current gen versions ?

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    Willza92

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    #6  Edited By Willza92

    Is this the first next gen "check out this single player OH NO WAIT IT'S MULTIPLAYER" game released?

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    DBrim

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    I picked up the PC version and put three hours into it tonight.

    The framerate is locked at 30, which kinda sucks. Everything else looks really nice, even on my semi-good 660 Ti. Good wet roads and thunderstorms, as you'd expect from a game derivative of Hot Pursuit.

    The risk/reward of the racer campaign is super interesting. It feels GREAT when you bank a big batch of points, but it's maddening if you miss them. If you accomplish your goals but crash before you get to the hideout, you have to move on and get no points, which I see as potentially problematic.

    The pre-order cop car is a bit overpowered. You feel a bit like a jerk if you bust a racer (specifically if it's another person), but you also feel GREAT.

    The cars handle more like Hot Pursuit than Most Wanted, and there's nowhere near the crashing emphasis as either. If you ram a car, they don't crash. It barely feels like a Criterion game (which was what I was kind of expecting). When you crash, it doesn't give you as good of a "rolling start" as either of those games, which is kind of annoying.

    The "story" dialogue is so terrible/corny that it's actually really funny.

    The multiplayer is glitchy (lots of server lag when running into other racers), and there's a message saying that the servers are undergoing maintenance later tonight. Maybe they're fixing it. The world is big and it loads only six people in, so you rarely run into other people. This is a weird limitation that makes running into somebody else an event, but it causes other problems. There's a "host migration" process if the host disconnects, but the pausing doesn't work quite right. I've lost one race and gotten busted (losing all points) as a result of that hitch. With the other people not being very important, it feels like all of those annoyances are for nothing.

    Overall, I'm enjoying it. But it's not without its flaws.

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    noremnants

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    The online aspect is very disappointing. The city feels small and uninteresting compared to something like Burnout Paradise. Racing is fun but I have noticed quite a few bugs (side swiping a guard rail and being instantly turned around to face the other way, Respawning facing a cliff/wall, etc.)

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    Sooty

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    #9  Edited By Sooty

    I think the online is fine, the world doesn't feel empty which is what I expected after the review. It'd be nice if you ran into more human racers/cops but because that doesn't happen constantly it kind of makes it more exciting when you notice an online id above a car.

    ...although I would definitely not complain if they patched in a higher player count

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    Seppli

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    #10  Edited By Seppli

    Just wrapped up my first lengthy session with it (playing the Racer campaign).

    • At first I was put off by its loose campaign structure with its speedlists, but once I got used to it, and that essetially each speedlist is the equivalent of one lvl-up, and that I can jump into any unlocked event from the hideout and then take it from there, I warmed up to it.
    • The core racing is as exciting as I hoped it would be, with a focus on crazy Ridge-Racer-esque drifting, just like 2010's Hot Pursuit.
    • The sense of speed is crazy. Popping a turbo will wreck you.
    • I kinda dislike how it inevitably turns into a crazy pile-on of cops, which is counter to what I enjoy most about recent Need for Speed games - namely obsessing over each and every event and stunt and speed trap and trying to get the top spot on the leaderboards. If the heat is on, the game doesn't let racers quickly restart events.
    • The HUD and minimap aren't up to the task. Some corners require really hard braking, and neither the HUD, nor the minimap are informative enough to prepare me for such. Especially given the crazy speeds.
    • 30 FPS feels crummy after playing BF4 at 60ish FPS all day yesterday. Also - some microstutters every now and then.
    • Playing as a racer, I feel like the AI cops are way too sturdy. If I'd balance a Need for Speed game, AI cops would be as easily dispatched as in the Blues Brothers movies. Wrecking cops left and right, that'd be my kind of powertrip - kinda like Burnout Dominator. The only way the cops should get me, is by wearing me down with infinite numbers, whilst I'm wrecking them by the boatload. In actuality, wrecking a single cop is an ordeal - each and every cop is pretty much on even footing. That's less fun than it should be, really.
    • The density of jumps and such on the map is way too low for my taste.
    • Due to how poorly the minimap and HUD perform as guidance tools, and how the map is put together in general, it's never really clear what's a shortcut or alternative route, and what's taking me the wrong way. I never had that problem with Hot Pursuit.
    • I absolutely hate the extreme contrast art direction, whitewashing everything into a singular impression of shiny lighting and dark shadows - at the cost of color vibrancy and readily apparent detail. Beneath the oppressive and obstructive lighting and shadows, there's a much prettier more vibrant and detailed looking game.
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    Sterling

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    #11  Edited By Sterling

    I personally don't like it. I wanted something more like Most Wanted again. The cars don't feel as fast as they should. I don't like the overall presentation. I also think its too imbalanced in favor of the cops in this game. And the banking of points or you lose them, so you can't level up is super stupid. I can't play the game I want to. I am being penalized for wanting to just be a crazy driver. I hate that I have to return to a hideout after a mission otherwise I run the risk of losing my progression. This is a fucking racing game.

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