Need for Speed: Rivals Reviews
Hit the road and make it your own, just a word of caution, I'll be out there to, gunning for you.
So, how do you make a series still feel fresh after twenty titles? By listening to your fans, knowing what works and what the fans want, and by delivering a game that's more than just a seasonal refresher. Need for Speed Rivals is clearly ready for the next generation of gaming, and so are we.
If you're looking for a challenging game of cat and mouse with exotic supercars and a gorgeous back drop, Need for Speed: Rivals is what you're looking for in spades. Think fast, drive faster. Going slow is for chumps and old people.
The bottom line on Need for Speed Rivals for the Xbox One is that it's a gorgeous world that is pushing the hardware to its limit. Gameplay, however, is as close to the same as its Xbox 360 predecessor. For those who have the Xbox 360 version, it isn't a must buy. If you're jumping into the world for the first time, though, then you will enjoy the best-looking Xbox One game outside of Titanfall.
Need for Speed Rivals is a great entry in the series and a huge improvement from Most Wanted and Hot Pursuit. AllDrive brings multiplayer to a new level, and the experience sets the bar for all racing games from now on. That said, since AllDrive is so important to the overall experience, multiplayer gamers will likely get a lot more out of it than those who play alone. But, if you're looking for a racing game that's rewarding, fun, and visually impressive, then Need for Speed Rivals is the game for you.
It's not the most stable racer, but Need for Speed Rivals puts spectacular ideas to great use
While Shadow Fall may be best representation of the PS4's visuals, Need for Speed Rivals is the best representation of its power. It's blisteringly fast, not batting an eye at speeds over two-hundred miles per hour for a sustained period of time. Cars look realistic, environments are highly-detailed and the dynamic HUDs and interface are the best the series has seen. It's raw, visceral, intense and boasts a ton of replay value thanks to over one hundred events and seamless online multiplayer. Need for Speed Rivals proves how impressive a PS4 racing game can be by offering a fully realized product that blows past conceptions of what a launch title can offer.
Rivals is more potent, pure and unhinged fun, and probably 2013's most exciting racer.
Need for Speed: Rivals is like the love child of GTA and Grand Turismo. It avoids the repetitive closed-course race tracks in favor of a fun, free-spirited open world racing experience.
The end result is a game with crystal-clear vision and execution. Rivals ends up being a rather unique racing experience--one that isn't meant for everyone, but will be beloved by those that "get" it.
Dozens of hours of gameplay, the only racing game on PS4 at launch, a fantastic showpiece for your next-gen hardware of choice, and a hyper-connected experience—Rivals is one of the best games to own on PlayStation 4. Rev your engines, folks, this will be on hell of a ride.
Retains many of the staples from the Need for Speed series, but paves its own path with its dynamic shared worlds
Ghost Games will likely get there, though, and what they've conjured up in their debut effort is a remarkable achievement. Before downsizing, Criterion created some of the last generation's very best arcade racers in Hot Pursuit and Burnout Paradise. Ghost Games has carried on that torch and crafted a racer that any of its competitors would do well to match in the new generation.
What is Rivals? It's the assertion that EA's true flagship for the core in the new generation isn't Battlefield, but Need for Speed. It's thrilling, it's beautiful, it's chaotic, and it's the best thing going on those expensive new black boxes you have. Ghost Games, the spawn of Criterion, really brought it.
Need for Speed: Rivals takes some of the best features from prior franchise entries and combines them with a seamless single-multiplayer mode to create an absolutely terrific, utterly bonkers race-and-chase game that looks and sounds as good as it drives.
The organic "lobby" structure of Rivals' open world is a promising idea, unfortunately mismatched with a low player limit and an imbalanced power relationship between the cop and racer. I suppose you could seek to defy the odds and play as a racer, but eventually the cops will find you, and they will wreck you—probably more than once. Don't be offended though; they're just doing their job.
To be honest, we spent the majority of our time just cruising around the county, drooling over the views and picking off random racers that happened across our patrols. Need For Speed: Rivals had Marcus Nilsson as an executive producer – who's previously worked with EA and Dice on the Battlefield franchise. It's clear his philosophy for online gaming has carried over to Need For Speed – though there is an option for solo play, this game is a far better entity when you've got friends on the server. That's what it was made for, and that's where it excels.
Need For Speed: Rivals puts you in a gaiant , connected web of high-speed car chases where you can join in on (or spoil) other people's fun.