14 DAY TRIAL // The Need for Speed series from Electronic Arts has gone through a few not-so-great years recently, as while the Hot Pursuit reboot put it on a good track, lackluster titles like The Run or the not-so-successful Most Wanted from last year made a dent in the franchise's popularity.
Things are seemingly set to turn around, as EA founded a new internal studio called Ghost Games that's working on Need for Speed: Rivals, a new entry in the series that, while focusing on the age-old cop vs. racer conflict, chooses not to use previous monikers like Hot Pursuit.
Instead, the game wants to stand alone by allowing players access to all sorts of new things while playing as a racer or a cop, and by bringing back the personalization mechanic that will allow players to customize their cars in many different ways.
As part of a special presentation at Gamescom 2013, EA and several Ghost Games staff showed just how NFS: Rivals will work, as players will be need to go through different Speedlists, which are basically a series of varied challenges that, when completed, earn players bonus XP and unlockable cars, personalization options, and more.
These speedlists include different goals, which get higher and higher as players progress, and will keep things fresh, while prompting them to risk the SpeedPoints they earn during regular races or events.
Cars feel pretty good in NFS: Rivals, and their behavior varies greatly both in regards to the quality of the asphalt, but also in terms of its state, as a wet one will affect the handling.
As mentioned before, Rivals marks the long awaited return of the personalization options from older titles, as players can not only improve the performance of the car, but also its visuals.
In terms of performance, players can choose to augment different aspects like top speed, acceleration, or handling, without complicating themselves with upgrading actual car components to get the desired effects.
In terms of visual style, players can use all sorts of custom paint jobs, vinyls, or liveries to improve the aspect of their ride, both in terms of racers but also in terms of cops, although their options will be a bit limited.
Changes have also been made to the pursuit technology wielded by the two sides, as each can access several common abilities, like the EMP, but also have many exclusive options, like the roadblock for cops or the turbo option for racers.
NFS: Rivals is out this fall for PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.