Why I Prefer Not To Be Reincarnated – Consciousness Unbound
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The first thing that jumps out when starting Need for Speed Unbound is its vibrant art style. At a time when most other racing games are striving for photorealism, EA’s latest distinguishes itself from the rest of the grid by adopting a stylized mix between reality and comic books. While its cars land on the side of realism, the characters behind the wheel are cel-shaded and its open world falls somewhere in between the two aesthetics. Vivid graffiti-style flourishes also pop up when you activate nitrous or fly off a ramp, and drifting kicks up colorful tire smoke that looks hand-drawn, with all of these effects punctuating the action with a unique sense of style.
There aren’t any modern racing games that look quite like it, yet the rest of Unbound feels like a continuation of 2019’s Need for Speed Heat. From the distinction between day and night races to the cat-and-mouse chase that occurs when you have to outrun the cops and make it to a safe house in order to bank your money. Unbound doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel, but what’s here maintains the series’ recent quality, even if there are some wrong turns along the way.
As is now customary in Need for Speed games, Unbound features a rather forgettable story about getting back at a former friend who stole your ride. There’s little point in delving into details because, ultimately, it’s inconsequential. Cutscenes are sprinkled in every now and then, but for the most part, the story is just sort of there, happening in the background as you drive around the city, so at least it’s unobtrusive. There’s some fun incidental dialogue every now and then, including one mission where you’re traveling with a “weeb racer” who spends the whole journey telling you about the history of anime and how it definitely isn’t a cartoon. Rapper A$AP Rocky also makes an appearance (because why not?) and it feels like he was given a microphone and free rein to say whatever came to mind. It’s a moment that stands out in a game that’s filled to the brim with ancillary dialogue. Aside from this, the story is relatively easy to ignore, but it does succeed in giving impetus to the game’s structure.
Need for Speed Unbound is a good racing game, and a reminder of when Need for Speed was fun, but the way its campaign is structured presents a bit of a problem. Unbound has four weeks where events take place, each ending with a qualifier on Saturday.
During the week, you’re meant to grind races for cash to upgrade your car, or buy a new one in time for the Saturday event. Being the most important of all races, it has a bigger buy-in than any of the weekday events.
In other words, you need to have a load of cash by the time Saturday rolls around. If you don’t for whatever reason, you’ll have to keep repeating Friday until you can beat the Saturday qualifier and move to the week after.
^Stay tuned for the Thursday Nite Rant!
Need For Speed Unbound existed for years as a ghostly whisper: a vague apparition that haunted EA’s shareholder meetings, but never quite took corporeal form. That is until October of this year when was revealed that not only did it exist, but that it was due out in just a handful of weeks, and it had a leftfield art style which combined animated graffiti and comic style art superimposed onto the series’ traditional hyper-realism.
This, to put it mildly, caused a lot of eyebrows to lift. Some of them in pairs. But thanks to EA Play (and, for most of us, its inclusion with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate), we’ve been able to dip in for a meaty ten-hour trial and confirm that the risks have paid off: Unbound is a slick open-world racer with fresh ideas that isn’t afraid to punish the player for slipping up.
Need For Speed Unbound technically isn’t out until December 2nd, but you can scoot in right now if you’ve got Game Pass and are willing to download EA’s app. It’s available as part of EA’s Game Trials, so you’ll only be able to play for 10 hours before you’re kicked out, but that’s time for cop chases and powerslides a-plenty.
I haven’t played a Need For Speed game since I was 13 and this wasn’t on my radar at all, but yeah, sure, let’s drive. It looks just like the games I remember but with optional silly animated wings and dust trails.