Should have stayed under the covers
However, this game in my opinion is a total letdown. The car models used here is not as good Pro Street. We're back with the matchbox looking cars and the car detail is almost non-existent. The map detail is pretty good though, you'll be surrounded with tall buildings which probably caused them to reduce the car details to keep the frame rate at an acceptable level. And now, there are motion lines that shows up at the back of your car when driving at high speeds. It might be necessary if you're reading a comic book, but looks cheap when applied on a racing game.
Gameplay is not really all that good unless you're a huge fun of unrealistic driving physics. You can take corners without screeching on the road at 240Kph. You can zigzag your way to victory without worrying that you might lose control at high speeds. And the only time that it will happen is if you use your handbrake. Collision detection is also broken, it properly detects 'em with some of the cars. But there are a couple of cars that will react like you have side-swiped them eventhough your car is still a meter away from them. It seems like they have generated a fixed distance for collision regardless of the car model. And frustration will surely become an issue on levels wherein you need to follow an arrow pointing you in the right direction. That's because the arrow changes direction almost at the same time the corner comes a few feet away in front of your car. Running at high-speeds with an arrow asking you to turn just a split-second away from the corner is an irritating experience. And for the fans of maps with shortcuts, this game has 'em. Problem is it's a bit tough trying to find them. I sometimes end up taking shortcuts by accident. But if you're going to play this game a lot, you might be able to memorize their locations.
There's a good amount of cars here and can be purchased pretty early on the game. Which is a good and a bad thing because it defeats the purpose of upgrading your car. You might as well just purchase a new one since they're pretty cheap and at the same time it will cause the car to be unlocked in quick race mode. Which brings me to another issue with this game. I just don't see the point why you should purchase the cars in career mode just for them to become usable in quick race mode. And don't get me started about the race types, eventhough I have already raced in pursuits, knockout, and checkpoint races ... none of them can be found in quick race. Granted that I am still just on the early stages of the game and they may get unlocked later on. I still feel like it's not proper to keep them locked if they are already available in career mode.
If you're looking for cutscenes, well there's none. What you get is a bunch of screenshots of Maggie Q and subtitles for you to read. It's boring at best, and there might be a clip on the later stages (or at the end) of the game but I haven't seen a single one even after winning quite a hefty number of races. I'm sure that EA could have squeezed a few of them in the game but I guess they just chose not to.
The sound effects is okay, but the soundtrack is not what the usual NFS games have on offer. I'm not even sure what genre some of those tracks are ... 'coz they sound reggae to me. Not something that I would want to listen to while I'm driving though.
For those gamers who love playing racing games with total disregard to realism and wants an almost instant gratification, this game is definitely for them. Why upgrade when you can just purchase a new car ... and why worry about loosing car control when your ride hugs the road like a 5 ton truck? The game might offer some new features that wasn't available over the previous releases but they all feel half-baked to me. None of them made the game feel like it's a better version. It feels like the game was rushed to meet a deadline and the result of that is a mediocre racing game that is not all that fun to play.
.:My reviews are only as good as everyone else's. Take every single one of them with a grain of salt:.