gamescom 2013 Community Retrospective | Vikki From GGS Gamer Takes On Need for Speed Rival…
dmcdonagh
2013-09-03
See what Vikki Blake from ggsgamer.com, part of the gamescom 2013 community team, thought when she her got hands on Need for Speed Rivals.
Did I spend a healthy portion of my hands-on time waiting to recover from busts/crashes/falls? Yup. Did it put me off? No, not really. For all the bang-crash-am-I-playing-bumper-cars-or-what-whalloping, Need for Speed Rivals is smooth, slick, speedy and surprisingly good fun, no matter how much – or how little – prior experience you may have of the Need for Speed franchise.
That doesn't mean it’s easy. It takes considerable skill - and time - to build up the expertise to properly navigate the racing roads of Rivals, but the rewards are as high as the stakes. Moving between single and co-op campaigns is seamless and load-time free, enabling you to switch effortlessly between modes. Hit the left bumper in sight of a competitor – AI or human – and you can kick off an impromptu road race. Shake off a pursuing cop car or three to boost your score, or jump into one of the designated time trials scattered around the course. Pursue – and destroy – the racers as a cop, and run off the highest scorers to steal the biggest bonuses. The action is fast, noisy and uncompromisingly powerful, all set against backdrops so jawdroppingly gorgeous, they may well distract your driving…
It’s clear that EA have listened closely to the feedback of the fan community, and Rivals seems to embody much of what fans have loved about previous incarnations, including jumps, challenges, trials, improved customisation and – above all else – open world exploration. If you were previously unconvinced, look again - this might just be Need for Speed’s most successful addition yet…
