if you could only turn off the graphics.
especially the street battles, which are well populated with patches of cars on long highway stretches at high speed. if you've ever raced on the highway with friends, the game actually captures the high speed **** that can happen pretty well [begin the trashing] sans the incredible explosions and death that can occur. plus um.. any kind of drifting and anything nighttime.
the art direction is totally off. its a nice world for highway driving but it lacks variety in almost everything else. no sharp corners. shortcuts don't resemble shortcuts. every road in the game feels 12 lanes wide. etc. and wtf? i don't know where these race game designers, ea and otherwise, get the idea that glowing everything makes it realistically involving. racing is crisp and dirty. there's rain and mud and sparks and chunks of metal and tire.. you know? this game looks like you're driving around with cataracts.
and nighttime.. does anybody care to do this crap in the daytime? and while some of us like it that crazy the game just doesn't quite pull off the complexities of day traffic. so it loses twice there. once again, its a crappy engine.
the ai for the pigs can be both brutal and cheesy. you can play with them for a while and then suddenly they'll drop off if you turn a corner. getting out of a stop can be frustratingly fun. but, you know, when they've got me boxed in it would be nice to have a couple of them jump out and start coming at your car, weapons drawn, for a little incentive. maybe later on in the game they actually come after you when you're in a street race, which could add a lot of fun, but i wont know because its not worth it to find out.
oh and the music sucks. i guess all the rappers are out trying to find the next rock band type idea to franchise on and any serious driving rock is too hard to find :rolleyes: byom.
all in all ea has killed need for speed (probably selling out to the car companies AND gov scare tactics ;) but if you don't mind its atrocities, it can be fun for a half an hour if you're really stoned. don't forget a trainer to unlock stuff!