Need for Speed has been in our consoles and hearts for over 20+ years so far, and it’s still fantastic! There is a lot of new features in the newest entry in Need for Speed, and a lot of familiar ones in the like as well. When you first start out, you’re given the choice of a Honda Civic, Mustang, or a Subaru BRZ to begin. It’s pretty fair to say you can build a bankroll easily and frequently in the game since you don’t have petty money being offered as in past entries.

You can smoothly walk away from a race with $5,000. You can unlock, build and buy your dream cars from the assortment offered in-game, and via pre-order bonus if you did so before launch. From Volkswagen’s starting at $8,000 all the way up to Ferrari’s for over $200,000, you can buy your dream car and race it against anyone.

Once you get rolling in the game you will soon start to remember the old feelings you got when you played Need for Speed on Xbox or PsOne or Playstation 2. Drifting in the streets, blasting through your nitrous to cross the finish line, and even over revving your engine to kick off the starting line is all back in this new game. Although the game is locked at 30 frames per second, NFS 2015 is still a lot of fun though. As Need for Speed offers gamers plenty to do regardless of the constant online connection that’s required. EA wanted to offer gamers more presentation. Therefore, a smaller frame rate was required.

The gameplay was exactly what players wanted it to be: retrospective, innovative, familiar, and fun. It’s easy to pick up your Dualshock 4 controller and remember precisely why you loved Need for Speed with this particular game. Races only last a matter of moments, and you can collect bank to your heart’s content. The sole downside is your car collection. If you planned on being a lethario—forget it. You can only house five cars in your garage at any given time, and unfortunately there’s no offline storage available for your other projects or dream cars. Online is required, but no extended perks right? Right.

Need for Speed 2015 offers the most customization options available in its extensive history. It also offers the largest map in the series so far according to EA. Ventura Bay is much larger than Need for Speed Rivals map size. However, as I played, many of the buildings and aesthetics seemed repetitive and uninspirational to say the least. It’s easy to see why they focused on presentation instead of the bigger picture—much like Bobby Flay and his cooking—taste isn’t important it’s how the food looks.

Although there were a lot of great things that were awesome about the game, there were some that—in a word—were quite annoying. For instance, you can’t pause the game, at all. Pushing the select button brings up sub menus—which in other games—creates a separate window “pausing” the game. In Need for Speed this doesn’t exist, leaving the player stuck in a constantly changing virtual world. You also are forced to sit through tedious FMV’s, that supposedly go with the story, but feel more like a dumbed down version of The Fast and The furious without Paul Walker.

Once the storyline has concluded there’s not much replay value in the title, since no DLC is planned as of yet. I can only imagine car packs, accessory, and customization or even musical packs will follow. We “might” also see the return of classic stages from past entries, like Bayview in Need for Speed Underground 2, or even storyline DLC to open older locations to race in.

EA also afforded players the opportunity to engage in daily challenges and milestones for the game. Driving into oncoming traffic, reaching and maintaining maximum speed, and even having near misses helps build Rep, which equals more money. You can also pay off cops before your bounty reaches over $500 if you don’t feel confident enough to out run them—or if you’re rolling in the dough. If you’re worried about online players controlling cops and trolling you just because—don’t. EA has done away with that aspect of the online life, and not a moment too soon.

Pros:
+ Great familiar gameplay reminiscent of Need for Speed Underground
+ Good musical score
+ Good implementation of current social media
+ Diverse car and customization selection

Cons:
– Low frame rate
– Annoying cut scenes for almost everything
– Always online
– Little to no replay value

Verdict: 4.5/5
Although there are more reasons to love the game than dismiss it, there’s still room for growth. EA hasn’t put out any DLC, or add-ons, and we don’t know what’s planned for patches yet. There could be better things about the game, but it’s still good enough to be a reboot.  I recommend giving Need for Speed a shot on any console or platform you own and am looking forward to seeing what Ghost does with the follow-up if there is one.

Kenay Peterson
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheDark_Mage

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Tags: Ghost Games, Need for Speed, Need for Speed 2015, Need for Speed PS4 review, PS4 review