For One Step Forward, There's Another One Backward || Need for Speed: Rivals Review

[@flawlesspwrs]

rivals is like a fine wine. let it age, let yourself play it more and the more youll appreciate how fun it is. online is a mess, and the game has a lot of technical issues and the repair system is broken. but my god, this game's police chases and graphics are a masterpiece. this game made me feel like im in a fast and furious movie more than payback did just purely from the chases and pursuit tech. your arguments are valid, i remember being so upset at the driving in this game. the game ultimately gets a "its pretty good you know" but i feel as though the game didnt fully embrace its vision due to technical issues and some bad gameplay decisions. also felt like the balancing issues couldve been solved by just increasing the damage dealt by ramming and increasing the health. despite this you eventually get good enough to escape easily and exploit its subpar AI. this game is definitely one of the hardest NFS games ive played and has an extremely high skill ceiling, as well as a difficulty spike in terms of getting good at escaping pursuits.

[@Guspr181]

16:45 personally i think that is more of an skill issue than the game beacause you didn't use the shockwave

[@kohlsnofl5110]

Doesn't slow down, doesn't use shockwave. But his points in the video still stand

[@flix1179]

agree

[@eX0dus77]

Kinda calling you out here, but in Most Wanted mode for NFS HP, there isn't a shared pursuit tech cooldown timer except for with roadblocks. Counter to that is a longer individual cooldown timer. I will acknowledge, though, that the cops are OP. Even the undercover cars have more health than maxed out Racer vehicles. And the fun-factor whole pursuit system in this game can be thrown out the window the second someone from the opposite faction joins your race/pursuit and wrecks you, namely modders/hackers thanks to the lack of in-game anticheat.

[@bluedul904]

16:44 you should have slowed down and then gotten behind the police car there

[@CarlRaven91]

I do own the Limited Edition on PC, and I did enjoy it! Also love the fact that this game has some cars that only appear in here, and the return of Ferrari to NFS!

[@kirolossoliman6775]

16:53 Honestly skill issue

[@Sans-ih2el]

Soft boy wants driving 250 km/h in single lane traffic to be accommodating. You need to be careful. Skill issue.

[@flix1179]

16:48 use shockwave bruh, u can push always spike trips, miners and other cars

[@Ikcatcher]

I like what Rivals was going for, but there was just so many minor gripes I had that really annoyed me

[@ThunderousFolf]

That's how it is for me as well. Like I said in the video, Rivals has potential and there are moments where the game shines. But I've got a whole lot of gripes about the game too.

[@evo2500]

they had a good idea but executed horribly, it needed playlists with invites and bigger lobbies

[@Taganoym]

​@@ThunderousFolf I suggest you just play while turning off the internet, the servers are trash.

[@ebmt3786]

F-8 literally said in the game that they weren't looking for a fair fight so idk, maybe the cops are meant to be so overpowered like that

[@arianramadanov_s1teknikele418]

A bit late, but there's one thing that makes me not only forgives, but really happy about the Cops being so broken and unbalanced. The game itself says on the cutscene: "They are here to kill." And the Cops just did that. And personally for me, this Cop mechanics that people says so broken and unbalance is actually perfect for me. It's just feels like "Now it's a Fair fight" feeling for me now that i'm surrounded by the cops and Helicopters and all of their Techs.

[@Taganoym]

Grammar.

[@HyperVanilo]

04:00 That's just a you problem, I never have such problem and I played MW2012 online session a lot, plus I played on keyboard, every time I crash it's 100% my fault

[@MusicAddict9228]

I wouldn't mind them reworking the always online getting rid of that and a few other things like overpowered cops balancing that more and re-releasing it as a remastered

[@trombulan]

Yes! Most of us enjoy the game to this day and we want a remastered version where bugs are squished and things are a little bit more polished. Other than that, it's a good game nonetheless 🎉

[@pennytrui1149]

Nah the reason this game is popular is because of the brutal cops. You'd actually be really making nfs rivals fans sad if they removed the op cops. The cops in this game are iconic because their hard whenever people hear redview county cops they know you're about to get slayed by a Bugatti at 200 mph

[@IAMNOTRANA]

It would never happened. EA killed Ghost studio and any chance of remaster is dead. Hell, even 2012's most wanted has better chance of remaster than rivals.

[@AviViljoen]

Best Rivals review I've seen so far. Very well done!

[@OldSchoolgamer49]

I am 50 years old, I am well aware my NFS reflexes are no longer what they used to be, I never played this game when it came out, I downloaded it just the other day, and very quickly learned not to play online, I also learned for my SP safety, I go no higher than heat level 4, once it hit that off to the safe house I go. Heat level 5 and up changes the game and I rarely survive with my beginner cars. But keeping it at heat level 4 and under, my old ass can handle it and the game is fun.

[@ptaku2007]

Actually in nfs rivals, it is easy to escape level 10 heat with 1st car tuned to the max. If the game isn't hard enough like for me, you can download extreme police mod that makes police actually op

[@The_absolutely_madness]

Where I get that?

[@ptaku2007]

@@The_absolutely_madness If I remember it right, it is included in rivals + mod

[@zacariascisneros6399]

In defense of MW2012 about the driving and the map: Skill issue. It's just that

[@syrexio]

I will say I'm... conflicted on Rivals. It's not bad, but the cops being even more unfair than Heat at times pisses me off, other players playing as cops to harass you pisses me off, the physics bugs and just bugs in general are rough, the plot was weak, the final race was misery, and the lacking customization (limited to paint and terrible decal liveries) without being able to alter body parts is disappointing. But... the game can still be enjoyable here and there in its tense moments, though I wish we could stop doing health systems for the player in the police systems. This one's just okay.

[@murazor007]

I actually understand three main flaws you pointed out here while only one was a big issue for me. The "Rapid Response". Although I understand your complaint about tight roads being to hard to drive on, they weren't any issue for me when it comes to completing events since I'm able maneuver a slightly better on tight roads in this game. But there are moments where even me couldn't dodge traffic or avoid hitting on ramps. But they were not frustrating or experience-breaking just as in Most Wanted 2012. But that possibility of hitting somewhere does actually affect on "Rapid Response" events greatly. TBF, in Hot Pursuit, the possibility if hitting somewhere is very very low. So there is a bigger chance of you winning in RR events in that game. But here, it can be very tough. And when talking about cop chases, they were never a much of a challenge for me unless I go up to 8-10 heat level. Even then, I mostly manage to survive if I was in the dessert side of the map. The cop chases for me were never dead hard as most people experience it. And also sometimes the handling model felt a bit similar to that in Burnout Paradise than the one Criterion invented for Hot Pursuit. Because some cars were bit lighter than their HP and MW counterparts and the handling model felt like a bit Mischief one similar to Burnout Paradise's handling model.

[@ralphlorenzperolino3054]

Rivals is one of the best NFS games but also underrated. It's the Zetsubou no Shima of NFS. What I love about Rivals is that it's literally an open-world version of Hot Pursuit despite the game being glitched out due to the 30FPS lock because of the AllDrive feature. Then again, the bugs might annoy people, but it worked out as one hell of a fun experience. I'm surprised that you didn't mention the soundtrack. Rivals' soundtrack was fire. It didn't have metal music for intense racing, but it did have hard EDM songs that will make your adrenaline pumping through your blood, compared to Unbound's soundtrack which is literally shit.

[@amirnator456]

I’ve played Rivals a lot on my PS3. While I agree with your points on the escape system, the traffic, and the cops showing up during non-hot pursuit/interceptor events, I would say that the heavy handling combined with the tight turns makes fast driving tense enough that it’s satisfying to master. The police being brutal also adds to the immersion in a sense that they feel committed to their job like they’re characterized as being. I might be biased because I play with the Koenigsegg One:1 DLC car mainly, so take jt with a grain of salt. I’d say if they fixed the escape system, made traffic cars more visible from afar, and overall fixed the glitches, It’d be even better.

[@KanManiac2506]

8:51 that P1 said "i believe i can fly"

[@zeewy2x]

16:41 there was a way out of this. the safehouse was under 3 miles away, so what you could've done is pop jammer as soon as the cop tried to EMP and then pop shockwave when the FF cop gets close so you have time to adjust to the roadblock. now yes, this game might feel like chess sometimes and i agree that it's unfair that a single mistake can fuck your run up, but i mean it wasn't "impossible to deal with". btw there's no hate in this comment, i just wanted to share how i would've handled it TLDR: skill issue but i love folf

[@trombulan]

16:54 😅 that's "Brutus division" in action

[@hil1893]

Just for fun add to your list the nfs hit pursuit reboot on the wii. It absolutely doesnt have a good physics and map combo

[@ThunderousFolf]

Just watched some videos about it. It looks like it would be one of those games where some of it is fun, and the remaining parts are a nightmare to manage and play

[@abonis6389]

Skill issue

[@LAJIRAFA66_ALT]

Rivals to me just felt like a huge downgrade from Hot Pursuit 2010, i wanna clarify the underground black box era need for speed games are my favorite but i do like the the fact NFS has different styles of racing games from the classic style of normal sports cars vs cops and the legal racing from pro street and Shift. I'm glad criterion at least tried to take the games back to their roots but Rivals just feels off compared to Hot Pursuit while Most Wanted 2012 just sucked in all aspects.

[@NotSponsoredByEA]

I would've liked the game more if it wasnt capped to 30 and got rid of the weapon system.

[@akiplay312]

The weapon system is the selling point of this game tho and the main focus. That's just skill issue on your end. Also 30 fps cap ain't bad at all since it looks amazing and has a good motion blur. Play it a bit and you'll get used to it. Way better than the Unbound.

[@The_absolutely_madness]

It’s still a great looking game some may say even better then some of the current games

[@aaronmince]

I enjoyed rivials it was fun compare to 2012 most wanted but dear God do the cops rail you one after the other once you crash once.

[@vipbeef2174]

The no-crash cam mod for PC makes the game more playable and decreases your chances of being busted by a cop after you bump into a wall.

[@Taganoym]

Get gud.

[@flix1179]

the physics of rivals forces you to perfect your predictions, and of course, learn the map and its curves; not to mention the times that the very reward of knowing how to drive well in rivals is getting from point A to B faster, without crashing. Patrol are faster, and get nitro by racing, enforcer are tankier and do more hit damage, however, get more nitro by doing damage, undercover have more Control, and get more nitro being behind another car. cop "bias" is in fact worst for racers....but for cop too! spike trips, helip, and roadblock can fuck up cops too xd and ya crying about the vanilla cop dificulty...bro, try out v1.8 cop

[@stevebrine9657]

skill issue