After the release of “Need for Speed Heat”, the series went on hiatus. The developer, Ghost Games, was pulled from the series and turned into a support studio called EA Gothenburg. That put former “Burnout” and “Need for Speed” developer Criterion back in charge of the franchise. What Criterion has put together is called ‘Need for Speed Unbound’. It will be launched in December and it looks very interesting.
In many ways it follows the classic “Need for Speed” narrative structure. A certain event required the player to make his way through the street racing world to beat the best racer or the biggest racing challenge. This includes building well-tuned cars and dodging the police. It looks like the customization options will be just as robust as other recent entries in the series.
What is unique is the art style. Based on the screenshots and reveal trailer, the highly realistic depiction of the city and cars occasionally includes an overlay of graffiti and street art-inspired 2D graphics. In addition, all the characters in the game have cel-shaded rendering to give them a cartoon-y look as well. There are some game modes referenced by Criterion and EA that focus on style. One of these is rap artist A$AP Rocky, who appears in the game with his modified Mercedes 190 E. We’re curious to see if some of these graphical feats will play a bigger role in some of the gameplay.
The game will launch on December 2. Customers can pre-order the game, which will give them a variety of exclusive customization items and an in-game bonus of $150,000. A Palace Edition version of the game is also available, featuring Palace Skateboards themed items and custom cars. The basic version of the game costs $69.99 and the Palace edition is $79.99. The game is offered for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. EA also noted that additional free content for the game will be released after launch.