14 DAY TRIAL // Racing games have been enjoying a massive amount of popularity for a long while now, largely due to Electronic Arts' very successful Need For Speed franchise, which has entertained people with adrenaline-filled races for quite some time, but which, lately, hasn't been up to par with what the company wants from it.
As such, EA announced a few weeks ago that it had tasked some of its studios to develop four new titles, thus branching the series into all niches, appealing to casual, hardcore, online and classic gamers. But while further details about the new titles are pretty scarce, it seems that EA is bent on putting the spotlight on its upcoming free-to-play title, Need For Speed World Online, which will be launched in summer in Asia, and after a few months in all other territories.
While only one screenshot was made available, some eagle-eyed NFS fans have observed that the backdrop is very similar to a part of the Coast City, where the action of previous title NFS Carbon takes place. The producer of the game, Scott Henshaw, has now stated that the fans are indeed right, and that NFS World Online will take place in the cities found in the Carbon and Most Wanted iterations of the franchise.
“We were impressed how quickly people noticed this when we released the screen; they clearly know our games well. It’s true that we’re using the city of Carbon (we’re actually merging it with the Most Wanted world too) but these games are two of the most popular and best loved games we’ve shipped, so we’re excited to bring our players back to those cities. We chose Most Wanted as a baseline for this game and have been working to significantly improve the look of both worlds. You’ll see Carbon in daylight and experience an entirely new atmosphere in Most Wanted. While the streets will be familiar, the uniquely customizable interface, game and player progression will be entirely new to Need for Speed.”
So there you have it, it seems that players will already be accustomed to the streets of the future racer, as they have already raced on them. While some people may think that this is just laziness on the developer’s side, let's not forget that both cities were very big, and the combination of them will result in a massive open world.