Need for Speed Unbound review: the racing series’ best new game in years

It’s all about the stakes, and it’s all about the racing action Speed is essentialUnbound may be familiar, but the game is a breath of fresh air for racing fans — and for a 25-year-old series that badly needed it.

The most surprising thing about me Speed is essentialUnbound, however, is a subtle adjustment to the game’s economy and progression that allows me to do something I’ve always wanted to do with this franchise: spend real time with one car, building it up and blinging it out, without the fear of missing out on the flashier cars that are constantly unlocking (or are available at triflingly cheap costs in an in-world dealership).

Moreover, I feel like I’m actually racing, rather than trying to engineer a cinematic first-place finish in every event just to get to the next one. Here’s the fundamental gameplay loop. Speed is the key to success is much the same as 2019’s Speed Heat, whose day-night cycle had players racing in sanctioned events in daylight, but increasing their “rep” — and drawing cop attention — with activities at night. You never lost money, only rep.

But it is not. UnboundYou will have to climb much slower to reach the top of your cash pile. Cash is the only way to win nighttime racing, and you could lose all your cash if you are caught by police. There’s no “rep” to unlock certain high-value cars and customizations; Unbound The economy is cash-based and most of the best-paying races can buy in to it. This means progression is going to be much steeper (this is especially true if you’re going to spend money on the game’s new customization options). The cash buy-in to the core events represents its own risk-versus-reward question (though you’re usually only losing money if you finish last, or close to it). Even though the pay-outs may be lower, you will still get at least 2 meetups with no cash buy-in.

Image by Criterion games/Electronic Arts

The grind inside doing “free” races is apparent, but I actually appreciated their availability because they’re a much safer alternative to picking a fight with the cops in Speed is the key to success’s open world of Lakeshore (think Chicago). They can be quite intimidating, especially in large numbers, and certainly on the streets. It is almost impossible to break the line of sight no matter how many times you try to make a turn, or use emergency brakes U-turns.

Fortunately, a minimap gives you a generous notice of the cops’ locations, so you can cut down side streets before they spot you, or back off if you’re trailing them on the freeway. If you’re spotted, the cooldown to a full chase is very short; you have to be blowing past them full-throttle most of the time. It is crucial to know where you can go to get your cash. You get desperate to keep it.

It seems much more natural to do what you want with the cash than it does by trying to get as many as possible. Coming back to the garage after a particularly strong haul very early in the game, the first big-ticket option wasn’t my next car — it was a very nice tuner package for the one I was currently driving.

It’s kind of ironic, because I was, in fact, hoping to save my cash to get into a different car and start knocking down more races; the 1988 Lamborghini I selected at the character creation stage was a role-playing choice, really. After half a dozen events, I found myself wanting something more like the 1969 Dodge Charger — muscle and drift — for the point-to-point races out in the suburbs that feature a lot of switchbacks and corner-cutting.

Image by Criterion games/Electronic Arts

You can always regret the first choice you made in a car. Speed is the key to success’s story path is going to ease that worry quickly. The garage you work in has an unhappy friend and takes off with your car. Unbound’s narrative unfolds along the usual, rote arcs of interpersonal revenge, with a major street-racing event as the story mode’s overall goal.

Criterion suggests a more-is-more philosophy. Unbound’s pacing, and therefore its long-term enjoyment. A heavy-handed, action-movie style story has made the franchise a strong contender in the past. Past Need for Speeds (especially 2017’s RefundsI had to constantly switch between vehicle types in order to be first, as it was so important to advance to the next event. You can read the rest of this article. Speed is the key to success, I might be grinding for the buy-in to the next big race, but it’s actually manageable, even without a win.

That’s a good thing, because after having my A+ starter car taken from me, I got mowed down by the AI field. There are many. Unbound’s more flexible post-race results mean I can build a connection to a select few vehicles based on more criteria than “first-place potential.” It’s also worth noting that there is no rewind feature (same as HeatThere are only limited restarts for each event. It was hard to decide if fourth place really is worth it. Or if the nasty head-on collision against a minivan truly deserved a second chance.

It is important to stress that it is fun and enjoyable under these circumstances. Speed is the key to success’s hood, and it isn’t just the “anime Need for Speed” that players may have seen in the game’s meager publicity before launch. It’s true that Unbound’s unorthodox visual style does the most to distinguish the game from past entries, but I was surprised that something I was prepared to resent ended up a solid, supplementary design choice, as opposed to being the point of the whole game.

Image by Criterion games/Electronic Arts

Although the cars and racing scenes are photorealism, the characters driving them are animated. And every stunt they execute arrives with street-art emphasis, whether that’s neon-colored highlights on the rims, go-fast lines popping off the hood, or a pair of graffiti-style wings when you launch off an overpass. Your driver will be able to take a photo of themselves through the windshield, showing off their custom-made outfits. I thought all this stuff would interfere with the visual information that racing games have to present to drive both fast and cool — but it doesn’t.

That’s not to say that the handling is any more intuitive than in past Need for Speed games. There’s still a lot of oversteer, a really heavy turn-in that makes drifting, in most cars, look like a kart racer rather than something slick. You can also use the Nitrous to eliminate all steering when you are not driving straight.

It is more difficult to handle than it seems. Forza Horizon 4, for example, and with a heavy emphasis on pedal-to-the-metal velocity and nitro boosts, you’re going to be smashing up a lot of property. It’s jarring as hell to see pedestrians diving out of the way, but they always make it, and I admit that seeing people on sidewalks in daytime makes a city like Lakeshore a lot more lifelike.

Image by Criterion games/Electronic Arts

Aaron Paul was the star of a 2014 movie that featured this iconic name in racing games.Need for Speed has been a major success in the half-decade since its launch. Unbound is a relief as much as a delight — it shows there still is a lot of fun to be had in the open-world racer format, if a studio is willing to think about some of the smaller things differently, rather than try to revolutionize the whole shebang.

Heat, a solid game that built up a dedicated audience, probably didn’t get the fairest shake in public opinion after it launched three years ago. Electronic Arts changed the way it developed action racing. Unbound arrives with the same lack of glamour, the same diminished cachet, but it is so much more fun, and so much more worth my time racing and running from the law, that the game feels like racing’s comeback player of the year.

Speed is the key to success On Nov. 29, the game was launched for Xbox Series X, Windows PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Electronic Arts gave us a pre-release downloading code to review the game on PlayStation 5. Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.