NFS Most Wanted: Criterion Style

[KaOTiK]

You know another thing I really miss and it took a bit to realize what it was, the environment take downs that the original Most Wanted had. Taking out the supporting leg of the giant donut and stuff to help get cops off your butt. That was part of what made the cop chases fun.

 

[moonbogg]

I bought this game last night and let it download. I won't get to try it until later tonight, but so far it sounds like a half decent burnout game, but nothing like NFS, and not as good as paradise. So, if thats the case then that kind of sucks really. I'll just have to wait and see. I was really hoping for an improved Paradise, but it looks like I am going to be let down.

 

[dpodblood]

It's unfortunate they used the Most Wanted name to sell this game. I was a huge fan of the original, and even though this game looks decent I know it wont live up to my expectations.

I guess now we hope Black Box makes Need for Speed Underground 3?

 

[moonbogg]

ok WTF is this crap? This looks as cheap and cheesy as the other console garbage they released. No anti aliasing? Framerate skipping on high settings? I am very disappointed in the look and feel of the game. This is a console port through and through. I hope I can get used to this and find some value in this game because I already coughed up the $50.

 

[CVSiN]

ok WTF is this crap? This looks as cheap and cheesy as the other console garbage they released. No anti aliasing? Framerate skipping on high settings? I am very disappointed in the look and feel of the game. This is a console port through and through. I hope I can get used to this and find some value in this game because I already coughed up the $50.

no skipping at all on my rig..
super smooth with everything maxed and AA forced through Nvidia console.
and this is just my Asus G75 laptop.

 

[CVSiN]

Played for about three hours or so tonight, still not into it.
Like I said before, it looks REALLY GOOD, and the cars are good choices as there is a wide range of them.
I just want a game that's FUN to play! MW seems more like work and it's just not enjoyable.
I'll trade all the realistic racing sims out there for a game that's fun.
After I finished playing NFS:MW2012, I went back and played about an hour of Burnout Paradise and even with the almost cartoonish graphics compared to MW, the city felt more alive and was simply more fun.
I'll admit (if it wasn't obvious), I want another Paradise with these kind of graphics and detail, but give me Road Rage, a Junk Yard/Garage, insane jumps and stunt runs, and just pure insanity at times.
I could care less if I'm driving a real Camaro, or a car that looks a whole lot like a Camaro but has no Chevy badges and is a called a "Carson GT".
The NFS series has left me disappointed for a long time, and it looks like there's no going back to the days of Paradise.

You want fun.. get an Xbox and get Horizon.. this game has a far better multiplayer than Horizon though but the single player is far superior.

This game shines as a MP game.. that is a ton of fun with 10 peeps and drop in and drop out and the activities are a blast.

 

[moonbogg]

Well I played some multiplayer and its better than I first thought. The gameplay overcomes the performance issues and lack of visual quality for the most part.

 

[shortylickens]

? I'm half way through the game and getting points has never been an issue, I haven't repeated any events. Generally I just do 1-2 events for a car to see if I like it and I keep doing the Most Wanted races with my Marussia B2 that has everything unlock/Pro.

Oh, I was thinking of Hot Pursuit.

Sorry, all the games look alike to me.

 

[Soundmanred]

no skipping at all on my rig..
super smooth with everything maxed and AA forced through Nvidia console.
and this is just my Asus G75 laptop.

No problems here either, looks amazing and performs flawlessly.

 

[CVSiN]

Well I played some multiplayer and its better than I first thought. The gameplay overcomes the performance issues and lack of visual quality for the most part.

yeh the Multi is great fun.. if Forza had done what they did it would be a flat 10.

 

[moonbogg]

I guess "performance issues" are relative to one's expectations. Others are complaining as well, as seen in this thread.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/12getv/nfs_most_wanted_pc_performance_issues/

I have googled it and found people with high end rigs have performance issues with FPS tanking to the 40's when looking at the city. It seems to be related to reflections and shadows and it doesn't always happen. Game will be smooth and locked at 60fps, then suddenly tank to the 40's. I'm not the only one and can't believe that if anyone plays with the game maxed out they don't see some of this to be quite honest.

Multiplayer is a lot of fun in a very burnout paradise kind of way, which is great for me and what I was hoping for. If they have a time saver pack to buy upgrades I might go ahead and do that to get good cars for online play right away. I love the chaos and takedowns in multiplayer, but I really miss the tricks you could do in burnout, like flat spins, rolls etc. At least you can do absurd jumps.

EDIT: Also here.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=497553

 

[CVSiN]

Like I said no issues stutters hits of any kind.
stays locked at 60+ FPS and this is on a Nvidia GTX 670M 3 gig card in my laptop.
This is a gen3 SB i7 with 16 gigs of ram and an SSD though on Win8 Pro retail.
Asus G75 VW.

I guess "performance issues" are relative to one's expectations. Others are complaining as well, as seen in this thread.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/12getv/nfs_most_wanted_pc_performance_issues/

I have googled it and found people with high end rigs have performance issues with FPS tanking to the 40's when looking at the city. It seems to be related to reflections and shadows and it doesn't always happen. Game will be smooth and locked at 60fps, then suddenly tank to the 40's. I'm not the only one and can't believe that if anyone plays with the game maxed out they don't see some of this to be quite honest.

Multiplayer is a lot of fun in a very burnout paradise kind of way, which is great for me and what I was hoping for. If they have a time saver pack to buy upgrades I might go ahead and do that to get good cars for online play right away. I love the chaos and takedowns in multiplayer, but I really miss the tricks you could do in burnout, like flat spins, rolls etc. At least you can do absurd jumps.

EDIT: Also here.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=497553

 

[gorcorps]

The most surprising thing about this thread is hearing that people can get Burnout Paradise to run. I bought it a few months back and can't get it to run at all. It used to force close but now it just freezes after the intro video is done.

 

[moonbogg]

Like I said no issues stutters hits of any kind.
stays locked at 60+ FPS and this is on a Nvidia GTX 670M 3 gig card in my laptop.
This is a gen3 SB i7 with 16 gigs of ram and an SSD though on Win8 Pro retail.
Asus G75 VW.

Could you drive around with FRAPS on and take some screenshots while looking at the city down a long street? Or better yet, make a short video of some FRAPS gameplay?

 

[Karstein]

I picked this up on Tuesday night. These are my views (mainly gripes) so far:

- It's another Criterion game. The usual blend of arcade racing and destruction.

- As far as graphics go, I'm on the side of the fence that does think there are issues. I'm playing at 1920x1080 on a 24" monitor (BenQ XL2420T if it matters) and it definitely does look a little rough around the edges. I can only assume that those that don't notice it are playing on smaller screens using resolutions closer to consoles. No AA options = fail.

- As for slowdown/stuttering, I have noticed there is something going on there but haven't really delved deeper/run Fraps or anything to check as it honestly hasn't affected me that much. As some have said, there does seem to be a sort of 'FPS rubberbanding' effect occurring for want of a better term, particularly in the city areas at night.

- No apparent 120hz support.

- Single player is lacking - no story and everything is a standard race. Multiplayer seems to be where it's at, but in the games I've tried to match into there have only ever been 1 or 2 other people.

- I don't think the map is prominent enough any more. In BOP It was perfect on the loading screen for races as you started to get a really good feel for where everything was in a natural period of 'downtime'. Much better than looking at numbers and a winding road animation graphic in front of low-quality images...

- The GPS isn't zoomed out enough, and there doesn't seem to be a way to change it. It's annoyingly JUST zoomed in enough so that if you're following an Autolog route, sometimes you have no idea you need to make a long turn or take an off-ramp until it's too late.

- No real penalty for being busted.

- Nice selection of cars, but too many available in the beginning.

- Car handling is ok for me (using a 360 controller). Better cars and upgrades make for more manageable cars.

- Catchup mode seems way more obvious than usual. You can take a guy out and he's back on your tail in a matter of seconds.

- The camera is annoyingly jarring when going over bumps and jumps. This especially makes no sense in 3rd person mode.

- Someone mentioned it earlier, but the soundtrack is incredibly weak. There are a couple of memorable tunes and that's about it.

- The Need for Speed name has been completely bastardized now. Why they decided to let 3 different studios make entirely different games under the same name is just odd. Moreover, Burnout is hardly a weak IP - they should use it. And why the hell do they keep reusing old names? It's confusing and pointless; Hot Pursuit and Most Wanted are nothing like the original games.

- Related to the previous point a little bit, it seems that Criterion are having a bit of an identity crisis when it comes to having to work under the NFS name. They just don't seem to want to try any crazy or innovative ideas like they did with their Burnout titles. It feels like they've had to settle in an awkward middle ground.

Anyway, I am sticking with it for now despite all my gripes, but it's certainly not the best NFS title (or Burnout, for that matter).

 

[CuriousMike]

I wish the following existed:

Multiplayer->Audio->Volume->12 year olds with headsets blasting their stupid music into the game-> 0%

 

[moonbogg]

I would have to almost change my mind completely about this game. Been playing it more and its really great, especially online. I didn't give it enough of a chance and judged it primarily on the performance issues. I helped reduce the lag a lot by turning geometry detail to low, but leaving all else cranked. It doesn't make a difference visually from what I can tell and the game runs much better. It now only lags at night in the city, but hopefully that gets fixed.
I am a fan of cheesy racing music and I actually like it. BOP has cheesy music and I loved it as well. Anyway, the game has performance issues and single player seems to be good only for breaking records etc, but multiplayer is a blast and has enough of a burnout feel to keep me happy. The jaggies suck, but my eyes have adjusted and I just forgot about them and played the game and enjoyed it. So, not perfect but it grew on me fast.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Thanks to everyone for your honest critique of this game as you saved me $60. Most Wanted is my favorite racing game ever and this clearly isn't a MW game, at all.

 

[SEIZETHEDAY4EVA]

I'm a big fan of Burnout & especially Hot Pursuit but the one thing that I absolutely love about those games and something that is a trademark of both of them are the really cool video sequences you get when you hit an opponents car off the road and reck their vehicles but for some strange reason in this game it just gives you a bit of text on the screen saying 'take Down', i'm finding this a real killjoy as those small clips gave me such satisfaction.

Anyone else feel the same way?

 

[KaOTiK]

Those little clips are beyond fucking annoying. Since there seems to be no real constancy with takedowns. If it is another racer or a cop you can ram them going full speed from behind and take them down, a random car on the road? You get taken down. Same with T-bones. The clips are shitty and serve no purpose because crashing is not at least suppose to be a feature in a NFS game. At least in Burnout games when you crashed it was cool because your whole car would crumple up and get destroyed. This you get some half has dent that the neighborhood kid would put on a car with his bat.

 

[SEIZETHEDAY4EVA]

Those little clips are beyond fucking annoying. Since there seems to be no real constancy with takedowns. If it is another racer or a cop you can ram them going full speed from behind and take them down, a random car on the road? You get taken down. Same with T-bones. The clips are shitty and serve no purpose because crashing is not at least suppose to be a feature in a NFS game. At least in Burnout games when you crashed it was cool because your whole car would crumple up and get destroyed. This you get some half has dent that the neighborhood kid would put on a car with his bat.

Each to their own i guess but to me it makes the game more fun and immersive although i do agree it's not very NFS like. In fairness though i haven't had chance to play the game for longer than an hour so their is still plenty of time for the game to grow on me and with such high review scores all round i'm sure it will before long.

 

[CuriousMike]

I don't like Burnout ( and I'm waffling on the new NFS ) primarily because of the 'take-down' sequences.

They slow gameplay down, pull me out of the moment.
I find them aggravating as eff.

 

[KaOTiK]

I don't like Burnout ( and I'm waffling on the new NFS ) primarily because of the 'take-down' sequences.

They slow gameplay down, pull me out of the moment.
I find them aggravating as eff.

If you don't like Burnout do not buy this new NFS. You will simply be throwing your money way.

 

[SEIZETHEDAY4EVA]

Now that I've played this game for over 5 hours it has really grown on me to become my favourite racing game yet. Criterion sure know how to make the best car games hands down.

 

[moonbogg]

Now that I've played this game for over 5 hours it has really grown on me to become my favourite racing game yet. Criterion sure know how to make the best car games hands down.

Yep. Now I just have to figure out how to make those damn cars do a flat spin and i'll be all set.