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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."

Pre-Loading a Pre-Order

A while ago, I pre-ordered the new Need for Speed game: Most Wanted.  I received the following email recently:

My pre-order is available for pre-loading. Pre-loading!? Is this like pre-boarding a plane? Am I being Punk'd?  Sorta.  Basically, "pre-loading" means that you can download the software and have it ready to run on the official release date.  The software is locked until the publisher releases the software for you to use.

Really?? In today's world of electronic delivery, why do we even have specified release dates anymore? If I can download the software, then it's ready. Why put some artificial "hold" on it in the first place? Oh, because people buying it in the store will have a disadvantage? Well, duh.  Here's the problem I have with in-store purchasing these days: It doesn't matter.

That's right, if you buy software in the store, there is a VERY good chance that you will have to download a full-length update to the game anyway. So, why bother buying it? When I got Battlefield 3 as a gift, I loaded all 8 Gigs of it, then had to wait as the game was updated from the 'Net anyway. The physical media provided me NOTHING.  Don't get me wrong: I absolutely **HATE** this change in software delivery. If I choose to buy the media, I should be able to use it right out of the box.  For several years that was how things worked. Not anymore. So, why bother?

And, because electronic delivery is essentially the only way to get software now, then why bother with "pre-loading?" Once I download it, let me play it. All the hype and hoopla over release dates is manufactured. It is time to put it to bed. Release the game. If someone pre-orders and they can download it, then they've got it. Period. If there are hard-copy versions available to buy in the store, then let people buy it, install it, and run it. Since they will have to download a full-version update anyway, there is no benefit to making the electronic-delivery purchasers wait for some made-up "release date."

Now that I've had my chance to rant, I'll go pre-load my pre-order. Should take about 8 hours on our CenturyStinks 1.5mb DSL... Yeah, that's right. The fastest speed we have here is 1.5mb. Welcome to the reality of "broadband" in rural America.

IPad Air...ball

At one point, the iPad Mini was rumored to have the name "iPad Air." At a $329 starting price point, they should have kept the name and added "ball" to the end of it. They completely missed the mark. Sure, die-hard fandomites will suck these up just because they are Apple. But, why would anyone in their right mind want one? Other 7-inch tablets are $199-$250. Meanwhile, the big brother is now on its fourth generation, thrown in as an aside to today's Mini launch.

I cannot possibly recommend the Mini to anyone: school or otherwise. Common Core specs aside, the Mini is an absolute waste of money. Want a smaller form factor? Get the new Touch. Want iPad functionality, get a real iPad for $70 more (even an iPad2 is a better device than the mini - and, since the 4 is out, the 3 will most likely drop in price). Apple could have absolutely walked away with the entire tablet market had the Mini been better-spec'd and lower-priced. Finally, Apple throws out a junk ball not seen since Newton. They shoot and miss.

The only saving grace for Apple: Windows 8 will surpass the Mini in absolute fail-ability. Two disastrous tech releases in one week. That's got to be some kind of record.

Zoom the Desktop on Mountain Lion

Apple, in its infinite wisdom, disabled the CTRL-SWIPE for zooming your desktop in Mountain Lion.  Why? Who knows!  The upside is that you can easily fix this:

System Preferences
Accessibility
Zoom

Once there, uncheck the first option. Select the second one (leaving Control, if you want or change it to whatever you want).

Here's a screenshot: