The first gameplay footage of the pre-alpha build for Need for Speed was revealed at EA's press conference at E3 on June 15, 2015.
The E3 presentation shows a part of the story, followed by the customization of a Subaru BRZ which showed the new and improved
customization system, and the 'action camera' which was later revealed to be one of the five different camera angles.
There are five different gameplay types: Speed, Style, Crew, Build, and Outlaw where players can earn points for engaging in to
progress in the game through five overlapping storylines. Need for Speed takes place in the fictional city of Ventura Bay and its
surroundings which is based on Los Angeles.
Need for Speed is an online open world racing video game developed by Ghost Games and published by Electronic Arts, released for PlayStation 4
and Xbox One in November 2015, and released on Origin for Microsoft Windows on March 15, 2016. It is the twenty-second installment in the
long-running Need for Speed series, and is a full reboot of the franchise. It marks the series' second eighth generation installment,
and is the first Need for Speed title to only be on eighth generation hardware. It also marks the franchise's first return to the import
scene and tuner culture focus since the release of 2010's Need for Speed: World.
Need for Speed has a redesigned 'Wrap Editor', and body modifications return to the series after nearly 5 years.
The game features real-life tuning companies including RAUH-Welt Begriff, SEIBON, and RTR Mustang. A new 'Handling Slider'
was exhibited in the E3 gameplay video, which combines the best elements of the earlier Black Box titles' grippy tires, as well
as the drift style of the newer Criterion titles.
The story revolves around the player and a small ragtag group of racers waiting to be noticed by any of the game's five icons, all of them being
real-world motorsport and street racing figures. Spike (Adam Long) wants to meet Magnus Walker, Amy (Faye Marsay) has a desire to greet Akira
Nakai, Robyn (Christina Wolfe) wants to come to Risky Devil, Manu (Howard Charles) wants to impress Ken Block, and Travis (Leo Gregory)
is inspired by Shinichi Morohoshi. As the game progresses, the player earns money and reputation among the other drivers and people he meets
along the way. As soon as the player defeats Magnus Walker, however, a cutscene appears in which Spike becomes jealous and angry, saying that
the player got the chance before Spike did. After this, Spike gets over it because of Travis saying to him that if one of them gets noticed,
they all get noticed. Once the player becomes the ultimate icon, the final challenge is against Travis, Spike, Amy, Robyn, Manu, and the icons.
After the race, the final cutscene includes all of them taking a group photo together, with the player wearing a mask to hide his true identity.
Need for Speed received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[30][31][32] Critics praised the game's
near photo-realistic visuals and customization but criticized it for being always-online, having only dusk to dawn racing, rubber-banding AI,
lacking a cockpit view, performance issues due to the always-online requirement on all platforms, the inability to pause the game, having no
manual transmission, and lacking drag races (the latter two being added in an update).
Luke Reilly of IGN gave the game a score of 6.3 out of 10, praising the game's great visuals and sound and the drifting feeling, but criticizing
the game's story, the game being too brief, the multiplayer under-delivering, the rubber band AI, daft time-of-night effects, having no drag
racing, and no ability to pause the game.[41] Alexander Kalogianni of Digital Trends awarded Need for Speed a score of 6.0 out of 10, praising
the game for its gorgeously stylized game world, multitude of tweakable car characteristics, engaging visual, customization options, and cool
soundtrack, but criticized it for FMV, repetitive mission types and the AI being aloof.
