EA tried to go for realism in this installment. They just forgot that NFS was never about realism.
But hey, if the crashes are cool, then the game deserves a 9/10, right?
...Right?
Many of those that are giving this game a 9, a 9.5, or a 10 have obviously never played Forza 2. Or any true SOLID racing simulator.
Let's start with the cars. There are around 40-45 cars in the game. 90% of them were in Most Wanted or Carbon, and 60% of them were in both. Let's compare, shall we?
Forza has upwards of 200 cars, and around the same number of tracks, give or take a few. Forza's tracks are real-world, and Forza doesn't seem to rely on advertising nearly as much as ProStreet.
The thing is, EA tried to go for realism in this installment. They just forgot that NFS was never about realism. NFS fans (well, at least me and many others) didn't want a simulator, just the same sort of feel they've been getting from past games. What I liked about the previous installments was in fact how UN realistic they were. I mean, what's more fun than slamming a cop on its side and sending it hurtling 50 feet in the air? There aren't many other racing games out there that provide the same level of pure adrenaline that NFS does. Or DID. That's why I gave this game a chance. I can't believe the change.
While I appreciate EA going in a new direction, was canning half of the last games' features really necessary?
No. They could have done so much more with this game. They could have made new cutscenes with likeable characters (ie Razor from MW and Cross from Carbon). Heck, they could have at least TRIED to continue the story from Most Wanted and Carbon!
EA destroyed more than half of the features from the last game and replaced them with cool crash scenes. Deal, right?
NFS certainly changed. But for the worse.
I have begun to lose faith in the NFS series. There are the classics that invented the series that were some of the greatest of all time. Most Wanted was the series peak, and the originality plummeted from there. The fact of the matter is, Most Wanted was worth a good 50 bucks. This game is 60, and it's certainly NOT worth the money. Do yourself a favor if you are new to the series. PLEASE buy Most Wanted first. It's half the price and much more enjoyable.
And for any true NFS fan who decides not to agree with this review, or to those lunatics that are giving this game AAA or AAAA reviews, I'm a bit amazed how you could consider this game even comparable to the previous installments. Anyone who has played the games since Hot Pursuit for the PS2, or even since Most Wanted, knows that the games still have plenty more ground to cover. And EA has yet to make a real great game since awhile back.
But hey, I won't feel sorry for you. Just go and enjoy your "cool crash scenes." I could just dump my game at Gamestop and get the demo for that.