New general manager Matt Webster talks about the studio's future in light of recent departures and their next project.
Need for Speed: Unbound has been revealed, and with Criterion Games serving as the developers, the game has a good chance of pleasing fans.
"Through 2012's Need for Speed: Most Wanted, it demonstrated that it knows how to take a Need for Speed game and knock it out of the park."
You're joking, right? Their take on Hot Pursuit was good, but the Most Wanted reboot wasn't good at all. It was boring, had no visual customization, and the way you collect cars really killed a big part of the NFS experience.
I like what I've seen so far of Unbound so I'll give them the benefit of doubt, but I'm not going to pretend their last NFS was good.
As far as I can remember ... NFS Most Wanted came after NFS The Run .... and The Run was so bad (with qte running on foot) ... that the simpler purely driving focused Most Wanted-2012 (with no humans in the game) was better appreciated
I didn't like the weird style of that Most Wanted either ... but was still better than The Run and Undercover.
NFS Hot Pursuit 2010 is still one of my favorite racing games.
Yeah that could have been a factor. But I'll be honest, I played The Run years after release. The story was weird and the QTEs were terrible, but I thought the actual driving felt much better than other NFS games at the time. And I kind of liked how the races flowed through different regions and weather. Though that game had a *ton* of big issues like being limited to changing cars at certain points, performance issues, etc.
I think they ran out of time developing Most Wanted. Such a weird game and seem like they just slapped something together last minute after creating the world and physics.
I think Ghost were closer at getting it right, but their games also seem a bit rushed. Heat was quite good, actually. Just give them one more year to develop a game and I think they could hit it out of the park.
"and with Criterion Games serving as the developers, the game has a good chance of pleasing fans."
The Criterion NFS games are literally some of the worst. Where is Ghost Games at? smh
Nah, Hot Pursuit is easily to best NFS game since the PS2 era. It's brilliant, and at least Most Wanted (2012) was fun to play. It just shouldn't have been called Most Wanted.
I'd rather play a game that's actually fun rather than praising bad games and giving them brownie points just because they're trying (and failing) to imitate NFS Underground.
Ghost Games delivered a decade of mostly poor racing games offering little enjoyment. Their games are some of the lowest rated games in the franchise, and that's well deserved. NFS 2015 (some of the worst rubber banding I've seen in a racing game) and Payback were disasters and Heat gets a lot of praise simply because it isn't as bad as those.
Given the lack of quality arcade racing games last gen, their handling of the franchise was really disheartening.
Criterion are a much more talented studio by a mile. NFS Unbound will probably be the first new NFS game I enjoy in a decade. Jesus
Also, the top comment on the NFS Unbound trailer is "Remember guys, we just want a fun game to play!"
lol. People don't normally say stuff like that for a franchise that's remained fun, and didn't go downhill in quality. It speaks to the audience's frustration with Ghost Games' output for the last decade.
For me 2012s NFS most wanted was a poor imitation of the 2005 game. They lost its soul on the way to making it a next gen remake which wasn't actually required as most wanted was actually a launch title for the 360.
Imo 2012 most wanted was so sterile and boring abandoned the adt style and lost the sense of speed.
The only positive from that remake was the fact I got to take it on the go with the vita for free with the PS3 version
They really needed a vision for Most Wanted. It' such a stylistic mess, like what is going on what the insanely out of place mission introductions? They were so weird and the style was all over the place.
Agreed. Criterion are much better just sticking to Burnout. Their NFS games just don’t feel right imo.
Fraser Gilbert of PureXbox writes, "It looks like very early gameplay footage of the next entry in the Need for Speed series has leaked online."
NFS is a bi-yearly released title now, been that way for the last 3 NFS games. So i'm not understanding why you'd think they'd release it yearly... Eventhough they stated in the EA conference that it was in a very early build stage.
I havent been keeping up with need for speed to be fair, I thought the last one was older than it was🤷♂️
gotcha, yeah I believe the last 3 NFS games have been put on a bi-yearly release schedule. So the last one came out last year, the next one (this one) won't release until 2021.
Looks fun. I like the sense of speed, does remind me of burnout paradise. Hope we see it in 2021.
Yeah, I can't stand this guy. "Stop adding more Criterion!" He's complaining about the Criterion NFS games, yet they were the only good NFS games in the last decade. Hot Pursuit, in particular, was ridiculously fun. Payback and Heat were atrocious, and both critics and users strongly disliked them. I payed €3.99 to try out Heat and felt like I was ripped off at that price. Bland with no personality whatsoever.
I really like the look of the gameplay in this leak (unlike the Ghost Games' NFS games, it actually seems to be fun) and hope that the developers don't listen to "influencers" like this who think that 5 and 6 out of ten games like Payback and Heat were a step in the right direction. haha. Criterion are the only hope for a good NFS game at this stage. Not buying this game if they cave in to this guy.
I don't trust this franchise anymore, the last NFS that I thought was any good was Underground.
Same here JackBNimble
That was the "Last" Good NFS
Underground
Criterion's versions was and is crap.
Last good NFS after Underground 2 was Criterion's Hot Pursuit (2010).
It won in numerous Best Racing Game category from various publications beating out Forza Motorsport 4, Gran Turismo 5, Test Drive Unlimited 2 and MotorStorm: Apocalypse.
Its even rumored to get a Remaster treatment this year end.
It's really to early to tell how this will turn out nothing has been rendered really it's all placeholder blue boxes and untextured surfaces.
Easily a 2021 game for next gen and current cause EA wouldn't miss out on that install base
Need for Speed and Criterion Games, Outriders and People Can Fly -- forget brands and marketing. Teams make video games, and team compositions change.
There are cultures in teams though that live on after people leave though I agree the most important factor is the team lead and how they are running the project.
Interesting article with some good points. Unfortunately it is usually just a marketing ploy when the majority of the talent/creative force of a studio are long gone but gamers are led to believe it is the same original crew
P.S. Criterion should have made Black 2 years ago when it was stil the same team
The article kind of meanders around, but I do think that gamers jump on marketing band wagons way too quickly.
And the band wagon is both ways. Gamers jump on the "Oh, that studio/publisher is bad" band wagon just as fast as they jump on the "That studio only makes great games" band wagon.
Now they are free to make a new, proper Burnout game. None of this paradise nonsense!
burnout 2 was my favourite, infinite chain boosting on stunning tracks
I would love Criterion to reboot Road Rash.