Not messing about, video up top of the post, we purely want to get the information out there. For those of you unable to watch the ~30 second video right now, let me detail what you’re missing, from my point of view of course.
Straight from Electronic Arts’ Need For Speed webpage:
UNITE THE CULTURE OF SPEED
With over 20 years of history in its rear view mirror, Need for Speed™ returns with a reboot that delivers on what Need for Speed stands for – rich customization, authentic urban car culture, a nocturnal open world, and an immersive narrative that drives your NFS game.
Fuelled by our very own car culture community, Speedhunters has helped deliver a NFS experience that is grounded in authentic car culture by diving into the world of past, present and emergent trends of the urban car scene. NFS will unleash the passion for cars when it releases this Spring, 2015.
So you’ve probably already noticed from the look of the stills and the quote above that we’ll be having an entirely night-time set NFS game, with a focus on the car culture world and car customisation – and I hope you didn’t miss the red-and-blue police lights in the background of the header image… Many have likened all this to what is often considered the best NFS title(s) ever released; Need for Speed: Underground (2).
From the stills above, it seems to me like they’ve incorporated some sort of dirt system, wherein your car will get dirty by driving in rainy and/or dusty/muddy conditions. The stills also tell me there will be rain – it’s not much of a surprise to see, considering how wet everyone gets (excuse the incoming pun) over games with well-done weather engines.
So far we can see at least 3 licensed car manufacturers; Porsche (green 911), Ford (matte grey Mustang), and Subaru (red BRZ). There are of course modifications on each of these, without knowing much about Porsche 911s and Ford Mustangs, the 911 seems to have a bolt-on fenders and a pop-riveted body kit, and an oversized rear wing spoiler, which I can only assume was not standard. The Mustang features bonnet-pins (to keep your bonnet from flying off when driving at speed) and carbon fibre bits, as well as those green LED strips inside the front grille. The BRZ has a rocket bunny stickers, and I assume also the body kit they make (a bit hard to confirm from the NFS stills):
Likely, the modifications will be helped immensely by the good people at Speedhunters, who for years have been at the centre of the car culture scene and have great insight into what people love and hate in the modifying world, as well as what is popular.
As for the video; it’s recorded footage from bystanders who witness multiple instances of cars street-racing, drifting, cruising and evading cops. Just enough to get your adrenaline running, heart pumping that little bit harder and faster, and then the video ends. EA claims the video is in-game footage and supposedly we can expect the game to look like that too. It looks a lot like watching a real-life movie (Fast and Furious comes to mind), which of course looks a lot like real life.
I for one (who has played every NFS title since 1994), love the (limited) news we have so far and am expecting great updates/leaks as the weeks and months roll by. After the NFS franchise took a break from their yearly release schedule which had been going since 2002, they’ve had two years to produce and polish this game, so certainly sets our expectations that much higher. Our next bit of news relating to this upcoming title is due June 15th, at which point I’ll likely have another update for you all.
Ever since I can recall, NFS titles have released in November some time, we’d expect the tradition to continue at this stage.
As a lover of games, cars, and car modifying; this game hits all the sweet spots. Back soon!