Racing game fans generally have had a lot of options this past generation, both good and bad. There’s the simulation racers likeGran Turismo,Forza Motorsport,Project Cars,Assetto Corsa, and more. Then there’s the arcade-like racing games likeThe Crew,Trackmania, and the biggest perhaps beingNeed for Speed. At least, that’s how it used to be. Nowadays,Need for Speedoften finds itself in a very middling position in the racing game genre. “Hit or miss” is the best way to describe this series, especially in the last decade of games released. The few high points like 2010’sHot Pursuitand more recentlyNeed for Speed Heatin 2019 have all been marred by severe lows.
With a new generation of racing games on the way alongside the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, the future of theNeed for Speedfranchise is more uncertain than ever. Primary development of the series has now moved back to Criterion games, the former developers ofBurnout. The Ghost Games studio, which developed various entries in the series includingNeed for Speed Heat, has been repurposed into a supplementary development studio for various EA titles. Criterion at the helm of the franchise could mean more of the same, which isn’t whatNeed for Speedneeds to reach its former reputation.Need for Speedneeds a revamp from a foundational gameplay perspective.
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Need for Speed’s Identity Crisis Undermines Itself
For many fans, it’s become low-hanging fruit at this point to emphasizeNeed for Speed(2015) andNeed for Speed Paybackas the franchise’s lowest points. The truth is that, even withthe latestNeed for Speed Heatmaking nominal improvementsto many gameplay aspects, the game was still a disappointment. Even leading to the shuttering of Ghost Games,Heatsimply didn’t make enough changes to the formula to warrant a resurgence inNeed for Speed’s popularity. The story was a bit more grounded, the abundance of race events was a blessing and a curse, and the handling was different but not better. It’s almost as if the franchise is in design purgatory.
Perhaps the biggest criticism weighed againstNeed for Speedin its current framework is the franchise’s identity crisis: Criterion-developedNeed for Speedgames have a heavy emphasis on brake-to-drift cornering andBurnout-style handling, while any deviation from that featured slower/more ambiguous handling in a less engaging driving experience. The end result has been two very different models of aNeed for Speedgame, neither of which has reached the former highs of the franchise prior to 2010. Now, with next-gen consoles finally out, anda newNeed for Speedgame reportedly on track to release in 2021, it’s hard to imagine anything is going to change.
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Need for Speed Hasn’t Been a Surefire Success for a While
Need for Speedneeds to truly reinvent itself, not just keep flip-flopping betweensome kind ofBurnoutamalgamationwith theNeed for Speedname on it, or something far worse. The Criterion brake-to-drift handling design effectively removes any form of skill or precision when cornering, and yet numerousNeed for Speedgame since 2010’sHot Pursuithave implemented it. The desire to oversimplify an arcade-like racing experience and appeal to a majority audience has made nearly everyNeed for Speedgame either identical to the previous one, or worse. With Criterion now helming the franchise exclusively for the near future, that’s probably not going to change.
Alleged leaked development footage from the 2021Need for Speedgame seem to indicate anotherBurnout-style game, albeit in a very early development stage. However, it does hammer the point home that the super arcade-like status quo ofNeed for Speedis still going to continue in 2021’s entry.Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit’s remaster is further proof of this, which was actually a critically acclaimedNeed for Speedgame with the simplistic drifting mechanics. However, if the franchise keeps coasting on Criterion’s designs solely, future entries are going to continue looking and playing like the lastNeed for Speedgame that came out a few years prior.
There’s a reason why 2010’sNeed For Speed: Hot Pursuitand 2012’sNeed for Speed: Most Wantedare indistinguishable from each other without context. Both games were fine examples of Criterion’s work, but another entry like the aforementioned games isn’t a surefire success anymore.Need for Speed Heatappealed to the original 2005Most Wantedfans in several different ways, but it was still a very different game.Need for Speedhas reinvented itself narratively and stylistically several times, and that’s totally fine. So long as the driving mechanics still remain this simplistic ideal of an arcade-like racing experience, then 2021’s entry will just be more of the same.
ANeed for Speedgame is in development for 2021.
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