Need for Speed: Most Wanted - I am still playing

Back in early November, I wrote about NSF:MW and how it was the nail in the coffin for the NFS franchise.  Yet, over a month (almost TWO months, in fact) later, I am still playing the game. Why? Because at its core, driving around in different cars in different races to meet various goals is actually pretty fun.  Of course, the things I didn't like I still don't like: landing perfectly in grass but being told I "crashed" because it was in a "closed" area of the game, multiplayer, etc.

I have been systematically riding in each of the available cars, completing all the races for each car, trying to have gold medals for every car and every race in the game. It's an upgrade thing, I think. It is the challenge and satisfaction of meeting the goals set.  It is crashing into cop cars in order to start an all-out blitz against me. It is racing through traffic at 190+ mph trying not to hit anyone. It is making killer jumps.

I think the reason I keep playing is because I understand the game much better as an arcade racer than as the game I *thought* it was going to be. I do not often participate in DLC add-ons, but for less than the price a lot of iOS apps, I bought the Speed Pack. I am now zipping around the city at 200+ in several vehicles, and it is a fun game.

I still don't play multiplayer. I still hate the sorta-open world. But, I have to admit I do enjoy the game for what it is more than I don't like it for what it isn't.



Original article appears here:
http://www.poppedinmyhead.com/2012/11/nfs-most-wanted-2012-nail-in-coffin.html

NFS: Most Wanted 2012 - The nail in the coffin

I've been playing the latest Need for Speed game since it was released. I bought the pre-load download (which seems to be missing the promised bonus content for pre-ordering). Of course, George Carlin would have had a field day with all these "pre" prefixes, but that's a tale for another day.

Let's start with what I like about the game: Open-world driving. I can go (almost) anywhere I want, any time I want. I just drive.  I like the "Jack Spot" feature.  You drive around and find locations where cars happen to be parked that you can "Jack" to add to your garage. Very cool idea, a la GTA. Once you get used to it, the menu system is also a handy feature.  Bring up the menu anytime you want, then hunt down races, Most Wanted cars, and more.  The multiplayer (remember, I am talk about things I like here) is a weird combination of demolition derby and team-based task accomplishments. You may have to run a flat-out race, or perform a certain number of jumps, or take down opponents until you are the last car standing, as it were.  In some respects, it is a lot of fun.  But, in other ways, this is yet another disappointing nail in the coffin that has become the home of the NFS franchise.

What don't I like? A lot. As in every other "open-world" game of the NFS franchise, the openness is limited by mountainsides, guardrails, etc. It's not truly open world. You can go a lot of places, but not everywhere.  I find myself careening off a cliff only to land inside an enclosed area to be told I "CRASHED."  Baloney. Likewise, cement barriers, guardrails, etc block your path, forcing you to drive in the pseudo-open world.  Let's move on. The single player game consists of driving around aimlessly as you look for cars to Jack, cops to run into, etc. Basically, you drive around doing a lot of nothing. So, you bring up the menu. Navigating the menu at first was a royal pain. I could not figure out how to move my selection. Once I did, I selected "Set Destination" but nowhere did the game say, "Oh, hey, now you have to get OUT of the menu so your destination path shows on the screen.  To that end, I have played several times when there was NOTHING on the screen except for my car and the environment. I had no HUD, no menu, nothing. And, no key press or crash or anything except ALT-F4 to close the game would "fix" it. This happened in both single player and multiplayer modes.

Let's talk multiplayer. For the most part, I hate it. I think it is stupid. You join a random group of other cars (unless you set up a friends-only game) and spend your time simply bashing into each other. The game is plagued by the same issues as the other PC-based NFS games: cheaters win. If you have a trainer/cheat enabled, you can take out every single other car just by touching them with your car. Of, in my case, I always get taken out by cheaters even when all they do is bump my side or tail. How do I know they are cheating? Because non-cheaters can't even com close to replicating that move.  Even in a room of non-cheaters, the multiplayer experience sucks. The system will give you a "Meet-Up" point and everyone races to it.  Once there, for 3-5 minutes, everyone drives around, smashing each other in a dodge-em cars free-for-all.  Boring. When the system says "GO," everyone follows the designated path to whatever task is assigned.  Once everyone reaches THAT destination, you lather, rinse, repeat for about 5-6 more events. Yawn. Oh, did I mention that you CANNOT play as the cops in Most Wanted!? Say what!? That was the best part of NFS Hot Pursuit, or any other NFS game where cops are involved. Let the players who want to be cops be the cops.

NFS Most Wanted 2012 is basically Need for Speed World made over such that people have to buy the game. I guess since no one was playing NFS World for free, they thought, "Hey, let's re-market it as a new game and make people pay."

Well, I'm done with the NFS franchise. I realize that I am just one guy and my little bits of money don't amount to much in the scope of EA's revenues, but maybe others will join the bandwagon and EA will take a hint.  The NFS games used to be fun games worth playing over and over. Now, they are just huge resource hogs worth half a play-through. I'll finish out the single player game because I paid for the game. I won't be joining the multiplayer again at all.

EA used a tag line, "Challenge Everything" for a while. Maybe, they should challenge their developer partners to make better games.

Goodbye, my friend, NFS. We had some good times, but I'll be looking for another PC driving game to fill the void you've been digging for several iterations now.  To borrow from a song, "So, the next time you want get me to buy.. Why don't you stay... You can't give me what I need."

Review: Need for Speed The Run

One of the video games I received for Christmas this year: Need for Speed-The Run.  I had seen several previews, videos, etc for the game, and being a fan of the NFS franchise, I had to put it on my Christmas wish list.  I got the Limited Edition, which gives access to a bonus set of cars and Challenge Tracks that the "regular" edition doesn't.  I put regular in quotes because I have yet to see an edition with the words "limited edition" printed on the box.  I digress.

The game has three modes, basically: The Run Storyline, Challenge Mode, and Multiplayer.  I'll start with Multiplayer because, well, I haven't used it yet.  It connects to EA's AUTOLOG system for game matches.  You race against your friends. As I understand it, you can jump into games at any point - no more of the Autolog lobby.  I'll play with that and let you know.

The Run Storyline is the main game.  You play a scruffy nerfherder named Jack.  You have to race across the country in order to win a boatload of money to pay off the mob.  It's Rat Race meets Cannonball Run meets... I dunno.  During the game, there are cut scenes and screenshots featuring various characters that really have no bearing on the game at all.  In the midst of your racing across the country, you are tossed into these weird mini games where on-screen prompts show you when to hit the space bar, arrow keys, enter key, whatever.  During one scene, you jump from building to building, avoiding helicopter gunfire.

The mini games, to me, are a waste.  I came to race, not play some loosely constructed story.  I know, many people like having a backstory to go with their racing. I am not one of those.  I came to race my car.  And, HOLY SMOKES do you race!  Now, this is not the "simulation" style that many NFS games are known for.  This is arcade racing.  If you slide off a mountain while driving through Colorado's beautifully-rendered high country, you get a RESET to try again from your last checkpoint. You get 4 or 5 (I can't remember just now) resets per section before you have to start the section over from the beginning.  Let me tell ya, it can get VERY frustrating: To be on the last leg of a section only to miss a turn with no resets left will have you screaming at the monitor.  I kept running into/off of obstacles that caused resets on some levels but not on others.  It was hard to figure out where I could scrape some paint and where I had to stay between the lines.  This especially held true where my car would slip off the road into a patch of grass only to have the screen go black and the dreaded "RESET" appear. The other area to watch are telephone poles.  In some areas, you can blast right through them, while in others, they are as solid as a building.  And, you have no idea which is which until you run head-on into a pole.

The handling is pure arcade, and once you get the feel for controls, you can drive any of the cars because they all drive the same.  At least, it felt that way to me.  Some people have posted that they hate this and that it is unrealistic.  LOL, "unrealistic."  It's a GAME, people. Of course it isn't realistic.  Would you realistically be driving half these cars in your life, ever? Nope. Anyway, there are sports cars, exotics, and racers.  It doesn't matter.  Hop in and drive.

The biggest complaint I have about the game: I can't enjoy the views.  You race from San Francisco to New York via Las Vegas, Colorado, Chicago, Cleveland, and other locales that fly by at 240+ mph and you don't get to enjoy the nuances that make those places what they are.  I would love a free-roam mode where you could grab a car and just drive around.  Ah well, this *IS* an arcade racer, after all.  I will say, though, that driving through the subway is one of the coolest sections of all - sightseeing or not!

The game progresses through 10 levels.  You have meet certain goals to continue: beat 8 racers, beat 6 time trials, whatever.  You cannot progress without beating the goals, and it only takes a few tries to beat the goals.  A couple levels are harder than others, but once you've "Beat 6 Racers" once, you've done it a hundred times.  I did not realize this was how the game was played.  I was hoping you started off the race and then tried to beat everyone to the end - open-ended style: that is, whatever position you were in at the end of each leg, that's the position you started the next one.  I think that would have added so much more to the game. They didn't ask me.

You eventually win the race - because you have no choice, really.  Oh, wait, is that spoiler? Of course not - you eventually (hopefully) win any racing game, right?

Challenge Modes are unlocked as you progress through the story.  Each Challenge features several tracks/goals for you to beat.  You get to race the same locales you did in the story mode, but with different tracks, different goals, etc.  You can also try to best your Autolog pals.

The game is a lot of fun, and can be extremely frustrating.  For me, that's what I like about it most - figuring out just what's going on. Now, I think I'll go back and play through the story and locales with some sightseeing in mind.  Who cares if I win or not.  I want to see some sights.

Sorry, Hot Pursuit, the honeymoon is over.

I hate falling in love with a game.  Oh sure, Hot Pursuit and I had our differences (random crashes to the desktop, weird clipping and lag issues), but all-in-all, we were a happy couple.  And then, EA and/or Criterion Games changed after the wedding was over.  It didn't take long.

XBOX and Playstation users (and probably Wii as well) have access to a cool add-on called the "Super Sports Pack" that adds new vehicles, tracks and racing modes to those systems.  Those of us with PCs, however, have been left out of that one.

If that weren't enough, they've released a PC Patch #2 for the PC users.  It fixes the random crash problem (at least for me, and for now) as well as adds.... wait for it, you will NOT believe it... LOUDER engines.  Yes, that's right.  Whoopdie doo.  Seriously?  The volume of the engines was such a big deal that it required inclusion in an update??  Stupid.

Here is the real problem: both of these additions/changes make playing games much harder because when one tries to join, often there is a "CANNOT JOIN BECAUSE OF INCOMPATIBLE VERSION" message that pops up. 

Thanks to these moves on EA's part, they have turned a game open to just about anyone and everyone with any kind of system to play against each other into a game that requires TONS more time finding "COMPATIBLE" games.

I've trolled through the various needforspeed forums and have found many folks that have sworn off EA permanently (or at least they claim it, anyway).  The console-only downloadable content started the furor, but the 102MB "update" seems to have really tipped the scales.

I'm still playing because when I do find folks to race against, it is still a TON of fun.  But, getting in brings the ol' blood pressure up for sure.

As a side note: I suppose there are always those who like to spoil the fun for folks.  I met up with one today.  This person was out to get me, even if we were both cops (or both were racers).  I guess every online game has "friendly fire" that one has to contend with.  Oh well, as best I could, I gave it right back to him/her.  That's all well and good, but it really takes away from the fun of teaming up with a fellow cop to take down a particular racer.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010 (Part 3)

This should wrap up my extended "review" of NFSHPLE.  Really.  Of course, you never know with me.

So, what have I been doing with the game since my last post about it?  Playing online with the Autolog system.  Without a doubt, playing against other actual people (as opposed to computer racers/cops) makes the game a whole different animal.

Some folks are out to take out anyone and everyone in the race - whether you are on the same "team" or not!  The first couple of times I ran across these types, it really threw me for a loop.  I though all the cops were supposed to work together to bust the racers.  Evidently, some players didn't get that part of the memo.

The Autolog system allows players to find and join friends online or the player can be assigned to a random race with other players who just want to get in there and have at it.  Adding new "friends" is easily done by either typing the name a known racer (I knew no one) or by checking out the other players in the lobby while a race is being built.  I have many friends in-game now, and those were added from the different events I've taken part in.  I generally prefer the "Hot Pursuit" games, though there are also "Interceptor" and "Race" modes as well.

In "Hot Pursuit," players are divided into teams based on the number of players and the Bounty Level of the players.  Up to eight people can compete at a time in each race area.  The races are further divided by the class of car one chooses.  I prefer the "Sports" cars (Porsche Roadster and Dodge Charger SRT8 being my favorites there), but I have also played in "Performance" (with the likes of Dodge Challenger SRT8, etc) and each of the other modes.  When the race starts, each player gets to choose his or her car plus paint job (for racers).  The cars start out already in motion, and the contest is on.  Each "side" gets various weapons (spikes, EMPs, etc) to use against ANY other car on the road.  If you are a racer, your goal is to survive to the end of the course.  Cops try to keep that from happening.  Sometimes, especially when racing with 'friends,' teamwork really comes into play.  It is a lot of fun to have folks you've learned to know play along side you (even if they are on the other team). 

In "Interceptor," only two people play - one racer and one cop.  I think I have done exactly ONE of these.  There is no way anyone is going to wait around in the lobby, hoping some other player happens by.  So, in my experience, "Interceptor" is best played when a friend is online.  Head into the lobby, select "Invite Friends" and find an online partner to play.  It is fun, but not as much fun as full-out Hot Pursuit mode.

In "Race" mode, players choose the class of car then join a race.  This is flat-out racing - no weapons, no cops.  I've done several rounds of pure racing, but I'd rather be involved with a weapon-based duel.  In one recent race, I crashed my car and the other racer (yes, just two of us in this particular one) took off.  I could not catch up... Until the very end of the race. Literally, at the finish line, the other racer crashed into a passing non-racer and I did the same.  Somehow, I managed to flip my car over the finish line and beat the other guy.  Wild stuff!

I enjoy racing against other players with similar Bounty Rankings, but my experience shows that Bounty Level has NOTHING to do with how well (or poorly) the other folks play.  I've played against some Level 20's that don't quite seem to understand the controls and I've played against some level 2's that had me busted faster than I could even press the Spike Strip button one time!  Whew!  By the same token, some of the best events I've taken part in have been with just me (at level 15 and higher) against one other person (level 3 or lower).  I especially like playing with folks that have only been online less than a week (one of the stats you can see).  I like to try and "help" the player learn the ropes.  Basically, I let them play with various weapons, tactics, etc. while they try to outrun me or gun me down (depending on whether they are a racer of a cop).  The little voice in my head takes on that of Andre the Giant in "The Princess Bride:" - "I just like you to feel you are doing well..."

The biggest issue, as is the case with any online game, is LAG.  The game does a very good job of keeping lagging players from messing things up during the race, but this often results in cars that disappear just when you try to ram them or cars that suddenly appear behind you, ramming your car when the map shows nothing.  It makes playing very hard.  I can't blame other racers, either.  Our DSL is so random that sometimes *I* am the one lagging.  In fact, during one race, the game popped up a message reading, "You have been booted because of your lag time." (Or something like that).  I will say, though, I have had very few games where lag was an issue.

The games are also pretty quick, with each lasting 3-7 minutes at most.  My main complaint is the amount of time it takes for the game to move from the "Locked" stage in the lobby to the racing stage.  The system gives the lobby a maximum of 60 seconds to get folks into the game.  That's not the bad part.  The problem is that sometimes it takes 3-5 minutes just to start the countdown.  I don't know when ticks behind the scenes, but surely there would be a way to take care of that delay.  With the delay in full effect, each race can easily last 20 minutes total, even though the actual RACING part is usually under 5 minutes.  The lobby has no way to chat, though.  It would be fun to be able to talk to the other players before or after a race.  Oh well.  A small price to pay for some online racing fun.

Well, if you happen to grab a copy of the game, look me up: DavidInArk.  I'm sure I'll be crashing into some random guardrail somewhere!

Need for Speed:Hot Pursuit 2010 (Part 2)

In a  previous post, I had just started playing Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010 Limited Edition (NFSHPLE).  Since that post, I have completed most of the racer events and all of the trooper ones.  Allow me to qualify that statement by letting you know here and now that I have *completed* them.  I have not received gold medals in all of them, however.  In fact, in most of them, I had to play through several times (and in a couple cases about a DOZEN times) before even getting passing marks.  Some of the races are tough!  I especially have a problem with the ones where I have to get the car to a certain point without wrecking the thing.  Yeah, I'm not that good a driver...

The scenery and effects still blow me away. Gorgeous views and I love the weather effects!  Let me say that some cars do a better job on wet roads than others, and having a lead foot does not bode well in many cases, regardless of the conditions.  I also made extensive use of Nitro as an aid for escaping sharp turns.  I will say that when done effectively, it is a sight to behold.  When done badly, it'll make you want to grab your head in shock and Uuuggghhh...

I did manage to hit a bug in the game during one race.  I was trying to cut over into the oncoming traffic lane (you get a nitro boost for driving against the flow of traffic), and I pulled one of those weird Pinto-esque moments: I hit the divider, a fellow racer and two "Sunday drivers" at the same as hitting my Nitro button.  I did an amazing crash, but when the car reset itself on the track, it actually reset UNDER the track!  I could see everything above me (cars, scenery, boundaries, etc).  I couldn't move, of course, and after a moment or two of hanging there, my car did a free fall into the nothingness that is outside of the game's normal design.  Everything went a weird smoky white, and a fter a moment or two with the nose of my car pointed downward like a plane about to crash, the game corrected itself again, and I was suddenly racing down the road again.  It was more than a bit surreal.

By far and away, my favorite way to play so far is in Hot Pursuit mode.  I make a much better cop busting bad guys than I do as a bad guy trying to escape (or win a race while outrunning cops at the same time).  I have not ventured online yet, which I plan to do this weekend.  there are several "open world" modes that you can play where you join other racers and/or cops and freely drive around looking for trouble.

My guess is that the game is much cheaper now that Christmas is over.  So, if you didn't get a copy for the holiday, I say you grab one and strap in!

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2010 (Part 1)

One of the games I got for Christmas this year: NFS:Hot Pursuit Limited Edition (NFS:HPLE)!  I am an avid Need for Speed fan, going back to the very first edition.  I've played most versions on the PC and the Hot Pursuit series have always been some of my favorites.  I love being the cops busting bad guys.

NFS:HPLE breaks with the "open world" design and goes for straight up match-up style racing.  The player has to complete certain races or certain tasks at specified locations.  The player chooses which ones to do based on what has been opened up by the game.  As events are won, and as "bounty" increases, new races show up on the map.  In open-world games (like NFS: Undercover), the player drives around the world until s/he feel like taking part in an event (or they can use the GPS to select events from a map).  In NFS:HPLE, the makers decided to use the overlay map system.  It's not a bad system, it's just not as free-wheeling as some NFS players may like or be used to.

The game does offer both racer and police "Free Drive" modes, though.  These modes allow the player to explore the area without triggering any kind of event.  Basically, it's a way for the player to get a feel for the lay of the land.  If you've played NFS in any of the previous Hot Pursuit forms, you may recognize areas of the map.  I have only played the game for a few hours, but the first thing that struck me: how familiar things were.  Maybe because I have been playing around with NFS3:HP (the *original* Hot Pursuit) that I "got it" right away, or maybe I've lived in the NFS world that it's so familiar to me, but in either case, there are homages (or more accurately REMAKES) of many of the Hot Pursuit areas.  For example, the Timber Mill area features huge fallen trees that you can drive your car through (the road is cut into the tree), and this was one of the coolest effects way back in the day.  In today's game, the effect is even more pronounced because the graphics are AMAZING!

Lighthouses with rotating lights, oceans with rolling waves, street lights that cast light and shadows (sometimes to the point that you can't see an oncoming car in your path!), mountain vistas that take your breath away.  Yes, this is a game, and though racing (or avoiding cops/busting racers) is the main goal, trust me when I say you *will* want to take advantage of the free driving just to look around the place. 

For me, it was like visiting my home town with fresh eyes.  Mining tunnels with railroad tracks were fun the first time around all those years ago, but with today's physics models, the railroad tracks themselves are 3d (making it fun to try and drive on them).  Cutouts in cliff sides allow the player to take quick shortcuts (assuming you can handle the tight squeeze!).  There are some new areas I don't recognize, and I don't know if that's memory failing or if those are actually new to this game.  It doesn't matter.  It just looks cool.

Racing comes in the way of time trials (get to the finish in certain time), racing (beat other racers to the finish), escapes (get away from the cops), and combinations of those.  As you win events, your reputation (or Bounty) increases.  The better you do, the more bounty you earn.  Earning bounty unlocks more cars, better weapons (spike strips, EMP, etc), and more tracks.  As a racer, most events have a Gold, Silver and Bronze achievement level.  As long as you medal (at least so far as I have seen in the time I've played), you unlock new races.  Of course, the idea is to score Gold in everything, but some of these events are TOUGH - especially the ones where you have to get to the finish by a certain time.  And even the Nitro doesn't always help!

Every car in NFS:HPLE has Nitro equipped standard.  This is a nice touch.  You build Nitro by driving in the oncoming traffic lanes, accumulating close calls (passing by another vehicle VERY closely without hitting it) and by generally driving recklessly.  You don't want to crash into things though, because that slows your time.  Eventually, you will unlock certain levels where you get Turbo in addition to Nitro.  Turbo rocks!  Well, mostly.  The downside is that EVERY car gets Turbo for the same map, so your racing adversaries and the cops keep up with you.  Really, then, what's the point?  Okay, the point is: screaming through the race at ultra-unrealistic speeds is a HUGE rush (pun maybe intended).  Man, you FLY through level!

On the cop-centric levels (whether you are the good guys or bad guys), cars have spike strips, EMPs, and other tactics to use against the opposition.  I love watching my spike strip take out a fellow racer.  I actually like to see that more than I do taking out a cop.  For the most part, I can deal with cops.  The other racers, though, are tough competitors.  As a cop, you have things like Spike Strips, EMPs, Road Blocks and Helicopters at your disposal.  Road blocks are more effective in crowded area where the racers are forced to crash into the waiting officers.  The racers also get weapons and can jam your signal, drop spikes, etc.  Some of the races are quite furious as you dodge traffic and everything else while hunting down the baddies.

Cops and racers have a "Damage bar" above each of them and you have get their "health" to zero - by use of weapons, crashing, or whatever means you can.

I've unlocked several cars (both racers and cop cars) but do not actually have access to them from the menus.  Not sure how that works.  I have also unlocked several different race types (like highway patrol) that I have yet to take part in.  Guess I see how that works as I keep playing.

I'll post a follow-up review after I've completed more of the game.  In the meantime, I fully recommend snagging it for whatever gaming platform you have.

Next up: I'm taking my dance moves into the "Michael Jackson Experience!"