With Electronic Arts and Ghost Games taking a break from the Need For Speed series this year to work on 'the game the players want' for 2015, I thought it would be a good idea to express what I want from NFS 2015. For starters, if it isn't Underground 3, I don't want it. Almost all the games in the NFS series after Underground 2 were mediocre at best, with some being absolutely awful (Hot Pursuit, Most Wanted 2012). Where did EA go wrong?
So what do I want from Underground 3? The possibilities are endless. All that is needed is a place to start.
World and Events
- The game needs to be completely open world. Players need to drive to new events to participate in them, drive to shops to purchase new items etc. (NFSU2 style)
- The world needs to be massive. It would need to have city regions, industrial regions, residential regions, coastal regions, rural regions etc. Different scenery is always good, seeing the same areas over and over makes a game get stale very quickly.
- Day time/Night time. Different events need to occur in the day and in the night. Legal circuit races, drags on the local track can all occur during the day, while at night, that's when the fun bits come out. Illegal drag events, racing through a busy town center, drift events in secret locations etc. A time shift could be used if you don't feel like being an illegal racer and want to go do the legit scene for a while or vice/verse
- There must be plenty of special events. As mentioned above, the drift events in secret locations, massive drag meets in the desert or in the town center late at night. Special legal events must also be incorporated. Endurance races, track days etc.
- There have to be police, but the police must also be realistic in terms of performance. A Ford Crown Victoria is most certainly not going to keep up with a heavily tuned Nissan GTR. NO SPECIAL POWERS!
Vehicles and Customization
- Being a racing game, the cars are quite obviously pretty important. I personally feel that seeing as it is a street racing game, there shouldn't be any Ferrari's or Lamborghini's in it. There are plenty of games where you can race super-cars, this should not be one of them. There need to be Volkswagen's, Fords, Honda's, Nissan's. Audi's and a few Beemers for the guys that have too much money, and especially your classic tuners i.e. Toyota Supra, Honda s2000, Nissan Skyline etc. and then just for fun, add some muscle cars, they are always good fun. The SUV's in NFSU2 were completely unnecessary, but in saying that, it was awesome having them there. So add them too.
- Possibly the most important aspect of a racing game, and I cant stress this enough, is car sound. Too many racing games have come and gone with cars sounding like either dirt bikes or fighter jets. Get the sounds rights.
- The importance of vehicle customization is right up there with that of car sound. The NFS series lost the plot with regards to customization after Underground 2 in my opinion. The morphing of sectors in a bumper for example just isn't cool, just put out a big selection of pre-designed bumpers for us to choose from. That's more or less how it works in the real world isn't it? But customization must be more than just sticking a new bumper on. It must be about making your car unique, a 1 of a kind work of art, something you would like to show off to the online community. Allow extensive vinyl creation. If i feel like replicating a nice livery I saw on TV the weekend then I should be able to do that. If i want massive rear tyres and tiny front ones, let me do that (not with morphing, with actual tyres and rims that you have to buy) A nice touch, but not completely necessary would be the ability to customize the interior of your car. If you want a track day car, pull out the interior, fit it with a roll cage and racing seats, if you want an illegal street racer, add a nice steering wheel, custom seats to show off a bit, a massive sound system etc. Everything needs to be customizable - bonnet, doors, bumpers, fenders, spoilers, lips, rims, exhaust tips etc. Along with that, each component of your car that you can see needs to be individually paint-able.
- Performance upgrades need to be vastly different from previous NFS games. Each performance part needs to be individual upgraded or swapped out, and different options such as brands and types need to be offered. Brakes for example, I only have enough money for new disks, but i have to choose between a Ferodo or a Brembo kit, obviously I will buy the cheaper option. Performance parts also need to have a clear effect on the sound the car makes. Different exhaust notes from different types of exhausts, turbos, blow off valves etc. Also give the opportunity to swap out engines from certain models of vehicles and place them in others, a Honda s2000 motor transplanted into a Honda Civic for example.
- The garage where all your vehicle are stored and displayed should also be customizable, this is after all the same thing you're going to see every time you select your car. It should therefore be something you like and something unique.
Online Features
- The online system needs to be an extension of your single player profile. The car you race with in single player is the same car you race with in multiplayer. A decent lobby system needs to incorporated where drivers can park there cars and have players call them out to race, or where you can call out other players. Race conditions and stakes are set by the challenger, circuit/drift/drag and cash/pink slip etc. Multiple people can be called out for events.
For now that is pretty much all I can think of, will add more as new ideas come along. Please comment with your ideas, let us get EA to give us the game we want, the game we deserve. Need For Speed Underground 3.