Need For Speed Unbound was released a year ago under Criterion’s development team. After playing the Most Wanted Remastered Switch version, I wanted to compare the last time Criterion developed the Need For Speed titles. With rumors of a Need For Speed Most Wanted remake in the works, this year was lacking a Need For Speed entry in a year full of returning racing IPs. That doesn't mean that Unbound has been without content. Their latest major patch, titled “Vol 5” was released last month with a recent patch mere days ago. The number "five" isn't for show, as Unbound received four previous like-sized patches throughout 2023.
As is the fate with most EA titles, Unbound regularly goes on sale as it reaches the end of its lifespan. I wanted to see how much the game has changed over the year if it changed, and how my thoughts on the Need For Speed franchise changed. This is coming from playing Hot Pursuit Remastered, a game developed by Criterion over a decade before Unbound. A lot can change over a decade so I'll also talk about what I felt they did right in Unbound as well as what I missed from Hot Pursuit. Ultimately, is this game worth playing now if it wasn't before?
A year ago I've spoken quite fondly of the street racer, praising it for its confidence in going bold with its themes. Separating from the "realistic" approach, Unbound combined artistic animations with realistic backdrops, no doubt made famous by cinema such as Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse for example. This integrated with Unbound's gameplay as the street art aesthetic reflected everything the player did. Colorful smoke emanated from tires as players entered a drift while following corner lines was met with a satisfying spark to the tires.
Taking on long jumps gave your car "wings" and emojis from the car related to the art style the player chose will occasionally appear related to what's happening in the game. A perfect start will lead to a positive "emoji" while getting taken out will result in a negative one. Having a maximum burst boost will usually result in a "king" shaped emoji, signaling that the player has maximum nitrous. It was a bit distracting at first, but I found myself able to focus more on the race over time as I got used to it. There are many visual cues that I relied on during both playthroughs of Unbound and being able to see when my nitrous was available made a huge difference when I had fifty cop cars on my tail and I was weaving through traffic at two-hundred plus miles per hour.
Almost as a running joke, the latest patch released the "Original" [sic] smoke, which eliminated all of the "colorful cartoon effects" altogether. While the gesture is great, it made me realize just how out-of-place realism felt in this vibrant world. My gripe then stems from how diluted that "creative" vision was. If Need For Speed Unbound embraced its animation aesthetic 100% like in Need For Speed Nitro for the Nintendo Wii, it would have been a different title altogether. Many would have called the game "childish," yet one of the most visually impressive racing video games was a cel-shaded game, Auto Modellista.
This also goes into how superficial Lakeshore's world is. I didn't notice it much during my first playthrough a year ago, but the reason why Unbound's plot felt like it was all over the place was because it was. I'm not sure how much of it was intentional, but Unbound is a "month in the life" of a pair of privileged street racers who are all "row fight the power!" while also crashing through residential areas and destroying public property in mega expensive fast rides. I understand I'm supposed to suspend my disbelief in video games, but not when the conversations in between races make little sense.
Through various skits and conversations in the form of radio breaks, the player learns that Lakeshore is a melting pot of street racers. Street racers are a euphemism for the rebellious youth while those in power attempting to stop the racers are corrupt and unjust. The problem with this approach is that this was already done in the game before it, Heat. There was also more at stake for the players and those surrounding them. In Unbound, the player never meets the guy pulling the strings, they never run into the mayor or the chief of police directly either. The cast is airtight and those who do make an appearance offer nothing to the grand scheme of things.
Again, the plot centers around a grudge match between two privileged street racers who I was expected to feel sorry for because they were in "the system," and yet none of that was explored in any capacity. Life Is Strange True Colors is an example of using the shelter system as an actual plot device that fueled Alex's motives. In Unbound, our rival, Yaz, steals cars from our foster father's garage because of an argument. If I argued with my moms, my instinct was never to steal from her purse or whatever. Much less, I don't know, stealing several million dollars worth of cars from the garage of a man who is struggling.
And even the ending didn't do much to salvage it. The player is the dumbest protagonist in Need For Speed history, taking on odd jobs for the obvious traitor who is interested in lining her pockets. Tess even mentions this much to the player in the beginning that she's only in it for the money and not "the thrill of winning." Most of the game encourages the player that "winning isn't everything" so long as they make enough to earn their way through the qualifier. Now all of a sudden winning matters at the final hour? Don't even get me started on A$AP Rocky preaching about what's "relatable" as a multi-million dollar rapper either. (I'm a big Rocky fan though)
So what do the new "volumes" add to Unbound in terms of content? Nothing in particular unless you were big into the game's customization and character creation. New playlists for online and new custom variants of already existing cars with cool gear like a Gundam-style helmet and seasonal gear. Unbound went the approach of the "battle pass," where each "volume" is a "season" full of cosmetic mumbo jumbo. Again, if you were expecting bonus content or maybe improvements to the game's story, then unfortunately you're not missing out on much.
Despite all of the criticism, Need For Speed Unbound remains one of my guilty pleasure racers. It's not beating the likes of Kandagawa Jet Girls though. That was a fixation that cannot be replicated. Unlike Kandagawa Jet Girls, however, Unbound is a dull and dry lifeless environment. Outside of the city, Lakeshore is just hills, highways, and nothing else that sets it apart from the rest.
There aren't many landmarks that make the area stand out. A far cry from the older Need For Speed titles, including Hot Pursuit, where every level and district had something unique. I would love a Need For Speed title that went bold with its environments. This is something most modern racers struggle with as everything wants to be a "sim" nowadays. If you're going to give us vibrant animations and expressive colors, don't pair it with the driest environment that looks like "Anytown, USA."
If the Most Wanted rumors are true, maybe it'll be nice going back to Rockport as even Most Wanted's city had several distinct locations. I remember the highways, the university district, the residential area, and the docks. Regardless, it wasn't a bad time to revisit Need For Speed Unbound and I hope future developers take the idea of an expressive open-world customizable arcade racer to greater justice.