Need for Speed is one of the most successful driving video game sagas in history. Originally born in 1994, this franchise is the living summary of what is Electronic Arts as company. Need for Speed titles have thoroughly explored the motor subculture, becoming a benchmark in the industry. But not all have been hits. EA has had serious problems with this franchise by wanting to overexploit it, which made it commit multiple errors, such as straying from the central theme, exhausting the formula with annual releases, or even striking down the studios that brought IP glory. Let's warm up our engines, because in the following lines we will review all the History and titles of the Need for Speed saga.
The first years of the series
The origins of the Need for Speed saga are quite peculiar. The original title was possible thanks to the financing of Road & Track, a famous car magazine that put up the money so that EA could develop the title.
Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed (EA Canada, 1994)
Currently, we want Need for Speed to be an arcade game. In fact, we don't like it when EA gives this game a simulator feel. However, the original 1994 game was intended to be a simulator.
For the time, The Need for Speed had a gameplay realistic, very elaborate sounds and many roads. The essence of Need for Speed was already in this first title that came out for 3DO, DOS, PlayStation and SEGA Saturn. The idea was as simple as racing Japanese and European cars, dodging traffic, and getting out of police chases in one piece.
This first version already had online multiplayer mode. As you can imagine, it was the foundation on which a whole legend of driving games was built.
Need for Speed II (EA Canada / EA Seattle, 1997)
The formula would be repeated in 1997, although second parts were never good. Critics had their complaints because the game had numerous technical problems. He popeo and the falls of frames they were quite common. So much so that the official PlayStation magazine even claimed that the game had atrocious handling.
However, the saga took an important step with this title. The game became much more arcade. There were those who celebrated the movement and also those who complained about the change.
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit (EA Canada / EA Seattle, 1998)
We come to the first great Need for Speed game after the original. With expectations on the ground because of his predecessor, Hot Pursuit He had it easy to surprise. She had very good graphics, although the icing on the cake was the police chases. Now, the cops could chase you during illegal races, a very interesting mechanic that was kept for future titles.
The multiplayer mode let you play as a pilot or as a policeman. The racing tracks were also very varied, and the car could be tuned to suit the player's handling or gain performance.
Need for Speed: High Stakes (EA Canada/EA Seattle, 1999)
When a franchise starts to work, Electronic Arts does not hesitate to squeeze every last drop out of it. A year later, High Stakes It arrived for PC and PlayStation.
The game was well received, although it recycled everything possible from its predecessor and I didn't risk anything new.
Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed (Eden Studios/EA Canada, 2000)
This title only had vehicles of Porsche. The player had to participate in races that unlocked the models in chronological order. There were differences between the PlayStation and PC versions, as the Windows version did not feature police chases.
Although we are not facing a game of the best in the saga, it must be pointed out that it was the first to have a story. This would later become an important part of every development.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (EA Black Box/EA Seattle, 2002)
We jump to the sixth generation of consoles. Reusing the successful formula of Hot PursuitThis sequel It came with much improved graphics. It also had a good number of game modes.
Hunt or avoid being hunted. Hot Pursuit 2 premiered 'be the cop', a mode where you could even request help from helicopters to stop the illegal races. It featured a good number of vehicles and four different environments with varied circuits.
The golden age of Black Box
The time that followed Hot Pursuit 2 was highly influenced by the success of the films of At full throttle. The subculture of tuning He was living his best moment, something that was highly reflected in the titles that Black Box developed.
After the bombing of Underground, Need for Speed became a hit game. The games were no longer just focused on racing, but there was a history. In fact, this block of games shares a protagonist. Each story is the continuation of the previous game. The titles started with very simple plots, but they became more and more complicated.
During this stage, Need for Speed was selling like hotcakes. People of all ages enjoyed tuning vehicles until turning them into real tacky. Unfortunately for Electronic Arts, this period came to an end.
Need for Speed: Underground (EA Black Box, 2003)
Need for Speed and the culture of tuning They constantly fed back. In 2003, Electronic Arts decided to give a reboot to the franchise with a title that it would lay the foundation for the future of IP.
Underground it had a career mode with a story, not that it had a very complex plot. With Samantha's help, we would climb the list of most reputable racers in the city and we would win cars, including our partner's Honda Civic Type R.
The game also had a workshop to customize the vehicles and make them as brown as possible. However, police pursuits were not implemented. The players were catching the taste of doing races in Olympic City, and the title ended up being a complete success.
Need for Speed: Underground 2 (EA Black Box, 2004)
La direct sequel of this game would come a year later. Underground 2 premiered a new free mode that allowed the player to do the kaffir in the streets. The story of this installment begins just after the events of the previous one. After beating Eddie, we will receive a mysterious call to join a street racing gang. However, it will all be part of an ambush. Our Nissan Skyline GT-R will be smashed to pieces after being run over by Caleb's Hummer H2. With the insurance money, we will buy a basic car and we will have to start from scratch a few months later.
This is one of the most complete games in the entire saga. We can compete in a multitude of different tests, participate in special events and access various game modes that gave the title a lot of replayability. The customization of the cars was substantially improved.
En general, Underground 2 it garnered good reviews, and laid the ground very level for the next installment, which would be the greatest of all successes.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (EA Canada/EA Black Box, 2005)
If you have ever browsed second-hand car websites and fantasized about buying a BMW M3 E46, it is because you played Need for Speed: Most Wanted.
We traded night for day and we repeat the play of Underground 2. In this case, we started out as Rockport's best streetcar driver. The game presents us with a racing system in the form of a list, similar to what was seen in the two previous installments. The goal is to be the most wanted in the city by the police.
Rockport is a drag racing paradise. Being high on the list means having power and reputation. Of course, climb steps of the Blacklist It's not easy, because in Rockport we bet the car with our opponents.
The plot of Most Wanted begins when a certain Razor challenges us. We accept, as it looks like it will be an easy victory for us. We went out and got a good advantage over our rival. However, a few meters from the finish line, our protagonist's "bemeta" stops. Razor wins the race and takes our M3.
Shortly after, our partner will explain to us that a member of Razor's gang has sabotaged the BMW. Come on, it is not that we have lost, but that we have been robbed. From this moment on, the objective of the protagonist is none other than to return to recover the #1 position of the Blacklist. We'll have to do it from below. We will start with humble cars, and we will raise the sports cars to each of our enemies. However, the police and the Sergeant Cross They are not going to make it easy for us to recover the aforementioned BMW.
Most Wanted became The most recognized game in the entire Need for Speed saga. It was a sales success, and we could say that Electronic Arts has not been able to release a video game that surpasses it since.
Need for Speed: Carbon (EA Canada / EA Black Box, 2006)
Need for Speed: Most Wanted He had set the bar very high. The saga was selling like hotcakes, and EA could not pass up the opportunity.
Need for Speed: Carbon (Carbon in English) is the explanation of What happens when a franchise is overexploited. Objectively speaking, this installment has the same quality as its predecessor. However, it came at a time when people were already saturated formula.
This is a direct sequel to Most Wanted, although his story begins before that of the previous game. Palmmont City It is a city where the gangs divide up the territory. Years ago, during a big racing event where a lot of money was at stake, the police broke in completely unexpectedly and set up an ambush. For some reason, the cops turned a blind eye to us, and blatantly let us get away. All of our companions were arrested, and that is the explanation of how we ended up arriving in Rockport to live the episodes of Most Wanted.
After finishing off Razor and escaping from the law, our protagonist arrives in Palmont City with his recovered BMW M3 GTR. But he doesn't come with one hand out the window like in the ad. He does it at full speed, well Cross nips at his heels. Cross has been expelled from the police force for his malpractice, and now works as a bounty hunter. To get rid of him, we'll take Cross to the canyon, underestimating his ability behind the wheel. Unfortunately, the BMW M3 will be destroyed in the escape attempt after colliding with a trailer loaded with concrete pipes.
La plot of Carbon it develops slowly. As we gain reputation, we will meet characters who were present on that fateful night. They will tell us what they saw that day and we will get an idea of what happened. For this, it will be time to set up a new band and win territories. The 'crew' system of Carbon It allowed us to participate in races with partners who had special racing abilities such as giving us slipstream, throwing enemies off the track or warning us of shortcuts.
Carbon It also has a very interesting mechanic that was never used again in Need for Speed: the Canon. It was a final test in which two contestants risked their lives in the Carbon Canyon. It was a two-round race in which you couldn't make a simple mistake, since a wrong turn in a bad corner would end up with your car falling into the void. No wonder this title was the official video game for the film. Fast and Furious: Tokyo Race.
The decline of Black Box and the changes of course
Despite having closed a brilliant era, Electronic Arts did not seem satisfied with the numbers moved by Carbon. Thus would begin a new stage in which they tried to reinvent themselves without success. So much so that more than solving the problem, what they did was increasingly sink the reputation of the IP.
Need for Speed: ProStreet (EA Black Box, 2007)
Electronic Arts is a company that always makes the same mistakes. The formula of being a hooligan in the streets and being chased by the police seemed to have reached its ceiling. But the Americans weren't willing to slow down the pace of pitching. Had have get a Need for Speed a year, so they tried labeling a different game.
Prostreet is the first in the Need for Speed line of weird games. And it is that 'Street' had the name, because here they competed in legal careers.
At the time, fans of the franchise were highly disappointed by this experiment. Seen in perspective, it's not a bad game. In fact, it cannot be denied that it did not serve as inspiration for titles such as The Crew o Forza Horizon.
Need for Speed: Undercover (EA Black Box, 2008)
We continue with the experiments. We return at street racing, but we recovered the mechanics of the policemen from Hot Pursuit 2. The result is a strange video game that hasn't quite caught on with the general public either.
En Undercover we participated in illegal races, but also we collaborated with the FBI to end up arresting various criminals. The game innovated just enough, and that's why the criticism ended up eating it alive.
Need for Speed: Shift (Slightly Mad Studios, 2009)
We continue along the path of Prostreet. We removed arcade mechanics from the equation and embarked on a whole simulator. Shift not bad at all, considering that Gran Turismo 5 it took millennia to reach the PlayStation 3.
Need for Speed: Shift is a very good title. It had a good catalog of cars, a good variety of tracks and really good handling. The only negative about this game is that it really isn't Need for Speed. However, taking into account that the saga was currently in low hours, the experiment can be understood.
Try to rip it off, Criterion
It was necessary to recover the essence of street racing. Electronic Arts took it as a priority.
So much so that they ended up hiring Criterion Games (the creators of Burnout) to embark on a project as delicate as the remake of one of its most important titles. the stage of Underground but also Carbon It was left behind, and EA wanted to try the formula that had worked in the past.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remake (Criterion Games, 2010)
Reinventing itself wasn't working, so Electronic Arts decided the sensible thing to do was restore the Need for Speed of the first stage.
Hot Pursuit (2012) develops in a open world four times bigger than Burnout Paradise, game of the one who drinks for obvious reasons. It was the first game to feature Autologous, putting a lot of emphasis on multiplayer. Vehicle customization is gone. The title focused solely on the gameplay of the persecutions.
The game had good reception, despite the fact that under no circumstances did it overcome the barrier set by Most Wanted. It had several awards and a Remastered version of this remake in the year 2020.
Need for Speed: Shift 2: Unleashed (Slightly Mad Studios, 2011)
Before resuming the path of illegal racing, Electronic Arts once again tried the simulation. It turned out quite well, because the sequel to Shift raised the bar a bit more. In fact, even though more than 10 years have passed since its release, it is still quite an enjoyable title today.
It wasn't a bestseller, but it is a very good simulation game. To Caesar what is Caesar's.
After this title, EA said goodbye to Slightly Mad Studios, who would later create games like Project CARS. Come on, EA has more aim with business than Fernando Alonso signing up for a new F1 team.
Need for Speed: The Run (EA Black Box, 2011)
Criterion was embarking on an important project, so EA gave the opportunity to Blackbox. The developer who gave everything to Need for Speed would end up leaving through the back door. The team had the difficult task of introduce the frostbite engine (Battlefield's graphics engine) in a car game.
The run introduced missions on foot, something never seen in this franchise -besides being a mechanic that absolutely nobody had asked for-. Probably, the time that Black Box used to adapt the graphics engine was the cause of this game not standing out at all.
At this point, EA did what it does best: shut down studios. The run It was the end of Black Box, which would end up dissolved in 2013.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted Remake (Criterion Games, 2012)
Good with good equals good. If we merge the best game in the entire saga with the studio that apparently makes the best games in this genre, the result should be unbeatable. TRUE?
Well no, but not because the game was bad. Criterion I was already coming from a game that had worked well, and expectations were through the roof. Before the game came out, it already had nominations and had won awards. And with so much hyping, then what happens happens.
Most Wanted 2012 It is a very good Criterion game, but it is a very bad Most Wanted. The open world title was seen by many as the spiritual relief of Burnout Paradise. People almost forgot that they were in front of it Most Wanted that he had killed it 7 years before.
The Ghost Games era and the return of Criterion
In the previous stage, EA had two hits and many misses. With such a low batting percentage, and with so few cards in hand, something had to be invented again.
Need for Speed Rivals (Ghost Games, 2013)
rivals It was the first Need for Speed of Ghost Games. A decent title, but one that followed a continuist path.
At this point, Electronic Arts decided to take a stop the franchise for the first time. Apparently, some manager's light bulb went on and he realized that the time factor could be limiting the quality of the productions.
Need for Speed (Ghost Games, 2015)
Ghost Games had a second opportunity that they knew how to take advantage of really well. The title itself already indicates that Need for Speed is a complete reboot for the saga. Fans of this game usually call it "Need for Speed: Need for Speed" for fun.
We return to the streets at night in an open world with impressive quality thanks to the Frostbite engine. we are typical motorhead who wants to make a name for himself in a group of young motor fanatics. Our protagonist wants make yourself known among important personalities of this world like Ken Block, Akira Nakai and Magnus Walker.
The game is counted as a movie, despite the fact that the plot es very basic. When we are not in the car, we are with our colleagues organizing situations or making plans to stay out of trouble.
Ghost spared himself modeling the characters in 3D and shot directly through the real action. A brilliant decision, since everything marries with an astonishing naturalness. Also, since the 'bosses' in the game are people who exist in the real world, this, and the first-person perspective, gave the game a very fun touch.
Need for Speed (2015) is probably the best NFS of this decade, competing face to face with Heat. Is not perfect, but it does have the spark that people like so much from the time of Underground. It had its own personality and an unbeatable setting.
Of course, the negative points of this game spoiled Ghost's successes a lot. First of all, the car handling it was still weird. Frossbite was still an engine made for a shooter and not for a racing title. On the other hand, the police stopped being a diversion. The police chases turned into a real nightmare. Patrols were nearly impossible to disable, and at times, we spent more time running than competing. This mechanic that we liked so much in Underground 2, Most Wanted y Carbon it would end up being annoying. Unfortunately, he continued like this for the following titles.
Need for Speed: Payback (Ghost Games, 2017)
keeping level, Payback It would arrive a couple of years later, but without surprising in the least. The game repeated the same scores.
Need for Speed had become a car without chains in the middle of a snowfall. To top it off, Electronic Arts wanted to get more of the account, which made them make a big mistake. They put in a card system to progress with microtransactions and loot boxes. Graphically, Payback looks worse than before. And if we add to this that his only contribution is a mediocre story and a transition between day and night, then it's better to move on to the next one. A title to forget.
Need for Speed: Heat (Ghost Games, 2019)
In 2019, Need for Speed recovered the visual aspect of the 2015 title and seemed progress in some points.
En Heat we compete at night in street races for reputation. During the day, we'll get in the car to participate in legal races and earn money.
Despite being an entertaining game that easily enters the eyes, Heat it's no wonder either. It's a good game when compared to previous titles, but it's still not even a shadow of the Black Box era.
Eight years after releasing Frostbite, Need for Speed continues to have serious driving problems due to the use of this graphics engine, which is not designed to drive vehicles. On the other hand, the plot of the game is ridiculous. There is no interesting common thread that encourages you to continue playing. And finally, police chases ruin the game again.
En Heat you have to advance as much at night as during the day. Parts are unlocked with reputation. To do this, you will have to participate in illegal races, make a fuss and get the police to chase you. However, the system they used for this game can cause you to waste hours of time. You only earn reputation if you make it to your garage and sleep until the next morning. It doesn't matter how many points you've got; if you are stopped by the police, all your efforts will be in vain. Unfortunately, the police in this game are minimal, and getting rid of them is anything but fun.
Need for Speed: Unbound (Criterion Games, 2022)
After a very fruitful period of Ghost Games, Electronic Arts has once again trusted Criterion for the next Need for Speed on the list. Unbound It's out on December 2, and it's already one of the most criticized games in the franchise.
Unbound will be based on a chicago inspired city. Criterion has strongly opted for the visual identity, giving a style cartoon to this installment, withdrawing realism to bring back the arcade.
This title comes out only for next-generation consoles and PC. Everything indicates that street racing will once again be the fundamental part of the title. Proof of this is the use of eighties cars.
Time will tell if Criterion has hit the mark, or if EA should have continued in the style pioneered by Ghost Games. In any case, it is still early to draw conclusions.
Other Need for Speed games
Need for Speed World (EA Black Box / EA Singapore, 2010)
Was massively multiplayer with model freemium with the same engine and style as the games from the Black Box stage. The game included the Rockport and Palmont City maps. Graphically it wasn't great, as EA wanted the game to be compatible with as many computers as possible. The game was financed by microtransactions and it was a pay to win manual.
This MMORPG was nothing more than a fusion between Need for Speed Most Wanted y Carbon, but online. Players had to do illegal races and run away from chases to get money and mods. Mechanically, inherited many elements of Carbon such as the classification of the cars or the mechanics during the races.
However, it did not come to fruition either. Electronic Arts shut down the servers in April 2015. Since 2019, there are communities that have dedicated themselves to maintaining their own servers for this game in an unofficial version.
Need for Speed: Nitro (EA Montreal, 2009)
It was only released for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. It was an independent game with circuits and a system adapted to Wiimote controls.