After giving my initial first impressions of the newest iteration of Need For Speed, it is time for a full review of the game. Has anything changed from my initial first impressions? The answer to that is yes, as I’m really liking the game. Is the new Need For Speed an open world game worth purchasing? Read on in my Need For Speed 2015 review to find out.
First thing you’ll notice is the movie like cut scenes which will focus on 5 main people in the game (minus yourself as it’ll be a first person perspective in the cut scenes). What I started to realize as I’m getting further into the game after doing a lot of the races and challenges in the game is that each of the five people represent each of the game’s major racing themes which will range from speed to drifting and even escaping from the cops.
Now I don’t want to spoil everything in the game, but doing challenges in all of these themes will head towards someone who is well known for auto in real life. As far as the main characters, which you’ll frequently hear from in the game’s cell phone, they do seem kind of corky at first but they do eventually grow on you in time. They will definitely call on you quite often in the game to get you to do some challenges against themselves or others so that you can advance the story.
I want to talk a little bit about the graphics and the open area of the game. For this generation of game systems, they look pretty good and it is awesome how the rain beads just glisten off whatever vehicle you choose to drive and the car models themselves look pretty identical to their real life counterparts.
I would say they are very close to the car models of the PS4’s Driveclub or Xbox One’s Forza series. The fictional city you drive in which is loosely based off of Los Angeles is pretty big with multiple areas of the city to explore, from industrial, to suburban, and even way up in the hills and mountains. There are many different types of road surfaces from slick city streets, to some dirt roads in the more far flung areas of the map to open highways.
Something I have to mention though is that while the open world that you get to drive in is large and looks impressive, the city itself seems nearly devoid of traffic. Sure you’ll encounter it here and there, but just not as much as even the last Need For Speed game or even Midnight Club Los Angeles from the previous generation.
Nevertheless though if you’re not paying attention during a race, what traffic there is can cause you to lose precious time if you drive into them. Also, it is pretty much almost always night in the game though occasionally it’ll go to dusk or dawn, but it doesn’t last long and you’re quickly back to night. The roads are also always rain slicked and it makes you think it rains here all the time. Your car will also suffer some physical damage, but nothing too catastrophic.
You’ll still be able to participate in the challenges, but your car will definitely look banged up. Not to worry though you can take your car to the game’s main garage and it is an automatic repair.
It is time to talk about the game’s vehicle customization. It is fairly reminiscent of the former Underground series and there is a lot of emphasis on the aesthetics or looks of your vehicle. It kind of reminds you of the early Fast and Furious movies with just how much you can customize the visual aspects of it.
You can add decals, different paint styles, change the front and rear bumpers, the front and rear lights, and much more. The tuning or handling of the car can be changed to something to more of your liking say if you’re heavy into drift, you can adjust the weight handling of each of the tires to be more drift prone or customize to focus more on speed. You choose what is best for you.
Another aspect I like of the vehicle customization is that once you gain access to more parts and accessories for your vehicle, you can upgrade them to get better performance, speed, or drifting to better compete in the later and tougher challenges.
Theoretically, you can pretty much keep the same vehicle you started with at the very beginning of the game and keep upgrading your parts to compete with the other more powerful vehicles that can be unlocked or faced later on down the road. There’s just not always a need to upgrade to a newer vehicle once it is unlocked unlike some of the past Need For Speed games.
How do you get access to new parts, accessories, and vehicles and progress in the game? You earn rep points, money, and rank up. The more rep points you earn, the faster you will rank up and the more access you’ll be able to get to different challenges located all over the map and the story’s challenges later on. You’ll earn rep points from drifts you do, to doing a clean race, driving into oncoming traffic without hitting any, getting high speeds and more. You’ll get a lot of rep points from the challenges you successfully compete in by generally getting first place or 2nd depending on the type of challenge you do.
Now here’s some things to keep in mind if you do choose to buy the game. It requires an internet connection to play the game as you have to connect to EA’s servers. There’s no way to play the game off line which is similar to Need For Speed Rivals from 2 years ago.
This could turn some people off to the game, because not only does it require an internet connection, but you also have to be a member of PlayStation Plus to play the game online in which you can do a monthly subscription a one time yearly fee of $60. I myself have a monthly subscription to PS Plus. It is cool sometimes to run into other online players in the game as they can challenge you sometime or just want to take a look at your customized vehicle and they can also participate in any other challenges you might be doing at the time.
There is rubber band AI in the game which I don’t mind too much as it does keep the challenges close, but sometimes though you just really want to pull away from the competition with the hopes of them taking a long time to catch up.
I haven’t really run into an unusual glitches or anything that would hamper gameplay on the PS4 version of Need For Speed. I only encountered one brief slowdown, but really that is it and thankfully I have not deal with suddenly being disconnected from EA’s servers and having to load up the game again.
I am glad I bought the game as I do like the open world city, the car customization and yes even the characters from the cut scenes and who seem to always call you. I think the action is a bit more intense in Need For Speed Rivals plus not much traffic in the game and the fact that you can get through the game’s major challenges within a day or two take away from it just a little bit, but the great car customization, the games different types of challenges and other online players will generally make you forget about most of those issues.
I suggest getting the game at Best Buy as I did because if you join their Gamer’s Club, you’ll 20% off of any new game. It is nice to have so you don’t have to pay the full $60 for the game. Another great place is Amazon as it is going for about $20.00 there right now.
I also want to mention that with Black Friday and Cyber Monday just around the corner, you’ll definitely want to come back here as there will more than likely be special deals and sales regarding this game so stay tuned if you want to wait until then to get the game. In the mean time, enjoy the video below of me doing one of the drift challenges in Need For Speed. I surprisingly come in first place even though I’m not the greatest at drifting. This will give you an idea of what to expect in the game.
Wow! Impressive. Sounds like Need for Speed is going strong. Though I haven’t played since Most Wanted. I have always like the customization & game play. Though it is pale in comparison the Gran Turismo, my opinion, it was always a great racing game.
But sometimes I wish they’d go back to the old Hot Pursuit games. Those were really fun.
The graphics do look amazing. Almost reminds me of Midnight Clubs graphics.
So what is the open area racing like? Can you drive through buildings? Can you go off road?
Oh man, you mentioned one of my most favorite racers, Midnight Club and oh how I wish they would mention a new game in the series being developed for the new systems! As far as the new Need For Speed is concerned, the open area you get to drive around in is a fictional city called Ventura Bay that is based off of Los Angeles. You really can’t drive through buildings, but you can drive through construction zones and take out signs and barricades as well as light poles and such. You can go off road in some areas of the map, but it really confines you to more of the city streets in the game. Nevertheless though it really is a fun game and I think you’d enjoy playing it.
Very nice! Sounds fun. I myself own an xbox 1 and am a Forza Fan. But I do love the need for speed games. Forza is a race on the track more realistic version, but it kind of takes away of the action thrill that need for speed gives you, which makes it more enjoyable to me. nice post.
Hey there Trevor! I actually have an Xbox One as well and while I’m not a big fan of the main Forza series in which you race on a track (the graphics are gorgeous though!) there is a spinoff series of Forza called Forza Horizon which I love. I have the original one on the Xbox 360 and Forza Horizon 2 on the Xbox One. I really like Forza Horizon 2 because it is a very large open world setting that is based in Europe with gorgeous scenery and cars. If you haven’t played it yet, you should. Going back to the Need For Speed series though, it generally does have great thrill and intense driving action which has generally set it apart from other racers. It is available for the Xbox One as well if you ever want to give it a try.
Finally….an open world fan!
I took one look at your site and said “Brilliant, at last some-one who appreciates the possibilities created with Skyrim, etc. Gaming has mass appeal and any decent reviews are in great demand.
Your writing style is very informative and you’ve gone into as much details as anyone would want. Not being a racing fan I knew little about it but have learned more than I knew in total before.
It was a good idea keeping to a cleaner page format as this makes the images really grab the eye. Several times I was kinda distracted by posts when looking through the categories listings so they work really well.
You’ve already got a good and varied range of reviews and articles so there’s lots to see in different areas. I can see you’ve been very busy and that you are a fan of these games. Your enjoyment and knowledge of them shines through.
Each of your individual posts is very detailed and gives a solid grounding for any visitor who is keen on these types of games, as I am.
Thanks for the newsletter, I will look forward to seeing the future ones you do.
The very last thing I did was to press the Home button on the top menu. Wow – the use of the first pic there was a real grabber. Some sites go down hill when you go from a post to the homepage but yours did the opposite. Very eye catching with good use of the sub boxes bellow.
Over this is a very cool website! It’s one I have already shared with a friend or two who I know love PS4s so very best wishes and thanks for a cool site.
Hope this helps – Andre
Thank you for the kind words and I’m glad you like the site! I know there are good gaming sites out there, but it seems there are not very many truly dedicated to open world games. Since open world games have always been my favorite type of game to play, I have always wanted to have a website geared more specifically towards open world games.
I do like some games in other genres, but my first love will always be open world. Skyrim is fantastic and I wish they made a version of it for the PS4. The Witcher 3 though is a fantastic open world rpg game and in some publications is being hailed as game of the year.
I do love open world racing/driving games the most since it kind of mirrors my love of driving, traveling, and exploring in real life (you won’t fine me illegally racing though, haha!). I do love a good free roaming adventure game and The Witcher 3 and Skyrim are some of the best out there.
There are other open world games I have not mentioned on my site, but are definitely on my radar and they are Fallout 4 and the new Metal Gear Solid V series as well as Far Cry. I just don’t have the time to play all of them right now, lol. Definitely check back as I will have many more updates to come that will be about current and future open world games. Stay tuned!
This is awesome Brian,
Its been a while since I’ve played Need for speed, the last one was Hot Pursuit which was years ago. Watching that video makes me wanna play again lol.
Its like taking a nice long drive in an expensive car – Just that its free and you don’t have to actually pay for anything lol. Great article man, definitely getting this game. Cheers
Hi there Riaz and glad you enjoyed my review of the latest Need For Speed! Hot Pursuit was wonderful and I would love it if they made another sequel to that specific NFS game. That is one thing I love about the Need For Speed series, it give you the exhilaration of driving very expensive cars that most of us in real life will never get to. We can drive them as fast and as crazy as we want to in the game! This game is definitely worth purchasing and whenever you get it, post what you think of it! Have a good one!
Hello,
I am glad I came across this. As a ps4 owner myself, I have played Need for Speed multiple times. This new games seems better then the previous editions that I have played. I have never played multiplayer, however. The game-play seems and looks amazing judging by your review and the pics.The cop mode seems very interesting as well. Nice review.
Hey there, glad you like my review! I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did with past versions, but I really had fun with this new iteration. One thing about the multiplayer on the new Need For Speed is that it is seamless meaning that when you launch the game and start driving in the open world, you are automatically connected to EA servers (only way to play the game unfortunately) and other players online are automatically driving around the large map. You can challenge them if you want to or just drive around with them.
Hey Brian,
Need for Speed 2015 looks absolutely ridiculous! The graphics are unreal and the cars are sweet! It’s been a while since I have played a game of that magnitude. My brother along with my cousin’s little guy are the big gamers so I’ll have to let them know about it. It was very informative on the storyline of the game and you have some great video of it. Great article!
Hi there npern and glad you liked my review! Thanks for the comment! Yeah this Need For Speed game pleasantly surprised me and I’m glad I picked it up. The game developers have released a little bit of new content for it too and also have some big ones planned for the month of March. I’m definitely looking forward to it!
Good ol’ Need for Speed!! I don’t think i’ve played ever since Underground…so it’s been a while. They’ve definitely made many improvements! Might be time to dust off the PS4. Do they still have the drag racing style races? The graphics nowadays truly is amazing, soon enough we really wont be able to tell from real world.
Best regards,
Kohei S.
Hi there Kohei! Yeah should definitely give the Need For Speed Series on the PS4 a try. The latest entry in the Need For Speed series now has drag races thanks an update earlier this year. It is definitely one you should give a try.