Need For Speed Unbound Won't Save the Franchise (but it almost did)

[@Whitelight]

Use my link nordvpn.com/whitelightvpn to get an exclusive NordVPN deal. To commemorate NordVPNs 11th birthday, for a limited time only - you will also receive an additional mystery gift.

[@anarchistSpacer]

hi

[@Doctor_Straing_Strange]

Another video about a videogame I'll never play. But I will still watch ot

[@MARKHENSTROM]

No.

[@presidentirinavladimirovna7054]

Love the Prinz Eugen skin spotted in the NFS Heat clips

[@rocklight1304]

I don't even Play this game Yet I still Watched it bro. You are very Entertaining!!

[@TunergiArchoz]

6:08 "They're cocky and that makes you want to take risks to relieve them of their cock." Truly one of the quotes of all time.

[@monkerulz]

Loved the part where Whitelight said, "It's cocking time" and cocked all over the cars

[@ForeverNoob14]

When I heard it, I was like "what did he just say?" lol had to come find a comment about it

[@beflyaudio]

This line broke something in me

[@brightonic]

I was like “pause”

[@sambaugh2722]

It makes me angry that the most liked comment (so far) praising this hilariously-written and perfectly-delivered line does so with the most boring, overused, unfunny meme in existence. And you didn’t even use it correctly. And is only made worse by the most liked reply being another overused, unfunny, copy/paste Morbius meme.

[@BlackPanthaa]

Best in the biz, clear and fair. Making sure every NFS dev I know gets spammed this 😄

[@aavishkarpayale3712]

Finally someone will give the devs a representation of what we really want.

[@off9760]

love you dude, I really hope they actually fix some of the issues

[@kjriwoutube]

Hey its Mw2012 Lover 69 😂

[@lukamilic]

Pff, yeah right

[@christiantaylor1495]

​@@kjriwoutube he played mw2012 300 hours

[@napadan]

This game is 1 step forward for the innovation 2 step backward for the content

[@MX-ul5ps]

criterion games always had poor content

[@animationcity8178]

@@MX-ul5ps NFS HP was pretty good

[@tonysoviet3692]

@@MX-ul5ps They were great as an independent studio, the Burnout franchise is a timeless classic, not to mention the tremendous content in Burnout Paradise (expanded map, motorbikes...) I'd blame EA rather than the studios within it.

[@purwantiallan5089]

@@MX-ul5ps after NFS PAYBACK, CRITERION GAMES seemingly loves to do tons of step backwards in terms of overall game contents.

[@purwantiallan5089]

@@tonysoviet3692 yes. Burnout Paradise had tons of game depth despite running on open world like LEGO 2K DRIVE.

[@the_crypter]

"And though the Lake shore city was alive, I could not find it's heart" Damn, this dude can write.

[@sleepy8500]

I noticed how older Ghost games mostly specially Payback is more alive with how it has more Ai in the city and highways and when there is a race there is park cars and people near the area waiting for the race to start...it's a shame that Unbound doesn't even try

[@smolltaco5667]

As someone who recently went to chicago, i like the map tbh If i could make it better i would add more cars and maybe the ability to see racers from your crew or other crews on the street and be able to seamlessly street race them, upon other details around the map

[@OffscreenkillVA]

Indeed He can. These Scripts are truly magnificient in many Ways. As a writer myself I find this to be one of the Most enjoyable Things about His Content.

[@cooltwittertag]

@@sleepy8500its sad just how dead and ugly the last ghost maps were

[@yrdonp1131]

Yea he can write in the same way Brian the dog from family can write.

[@altgame3336]

Miss those days when nfs was one of the most hyped arcade racing

[@gfasterOS]

By process of elimination, it still is.

[@0uttaS1TE]

@@gfasterOS Not much else to get hyped for

[@TheCocomunges]

I mean it still is, only because there’s no more competition

[@yellowdude9425]

NFS used to be so badass

[@vinowalken]

It still the most successful racing game but the hype died

[@clorasmcsmugger2653]

It would have also been cool to have different garage designs given that you unlock hideouts from certain characters, but instead they all look like Rydells.

[@SlickEvan]

This

[@mbotxmbot8846]

Like Carbon?

[@Kraken_Kouhai]

​@@mbotxmbot8846always loved that detail

[@easthorizonfilms]

Whitelights retrospectives are so strangely unique, his script is poetic in nature (the arkham city one especially). I cant quite describe it, but its fantastic.

[@DreamsCodex]

I can't agree more! I couldnt stop laughing for several moments in this video because of all the bashing towards the charaters 🤣

[@Vektorion]

Watch his 7 hour Death Stranding review, you'll love it

[@rkshn]

his Driveclub review is peak poetry. one of my favorite review/video essay/video on youtube.

[@Bishop2155]

I just don’t like the cartoony effects like the tire smoke it just seems 2001 ish and Arcady

[@TheKalo9]

Damn bruh the glazing is crazy

[@SiamHossain7]

The fairest, yet somehow most positive, and most detailed criticism of Unbound I've seen. Encapsulates everything I loved and hated about this game. Really hope the developers and EA suits take note of the complaints and praises that so many of us have expressed that you've encapsulated so well in your review. NFS feels like it has the best chance to be back in a long time, I hope Criterion takes it.

[@fime6311]

But.. how about online mode, NFS campaign hasn't been great for a few years now.

[@LogoMotive11]

I cant tell if its more painful to play a bad game, or to play game so dang close to greatness. I cannot wait for a racer to come out that just gets most everything right.

[@RefrigeraThor]

Id say the latter. For the reason that a bad game will just disappoint you once and then you can leave. A game on the cusp of greatness keeps teasing it's imaginary potential and will keep living rent free in your head.

[@krusher181]

@@RefrigeraThornot if it’s got microtransactions

[@qew_Nemo]

For me definitely the latter. I can laugh a bad game off but games that failed to reach their true potential haunt me for years.

[@0Blueaura]

@@RefrigeraThor free to play need for speed game with one city where you unlock new parts for your car until you are able to buy a better one for hard earned cash, with multiplayer being open serverses with many people like in nfs world, but the game expands on itself with new cities and cars with a story that progresses indefinitely

[@clementineshamaney5137]

​@@RefrigeraThor thats how i feel abt fallout 4

[@7ndrew]

My problem with NFS is that you could pretty much take any of them since HP10 and say "it could've been great", but they all had decisions that just defy sheer common sense, either by Criterion/Ghost themselves, or EA interfering.

[@scottneil1187]

There were 10 hot pursuits!?.

[@7ndrew]

@@scottneil1187 yes

[@jblazerndrowzy]

@@scottneil1187 Actually, there was 2010 Hot Pursuits

[@7ndrew]

@@jblazerndrowzy There were 2012 Most Wanteds too, so I don't get why people are complaining

[@RIPzippyshare]

since Carbon.

[@modernlogix]

"So play it and wait for 3 more years in the painfully familiar way that Need for Speed Will Truly find itself again" - This just got me teared up.. Might as well be waiting for my whole life. But I will if I get to live the life of early 2000s in NFS again.

[@lchollies3651]

It’s unlikely. But they could surprise us

[@anut8733]

The core gameplay of street racing was actually good in Heat and Unbound but they all lacking the same things; wacky story and also the sense of progression. Climbing through the blacklist and/or unlocking new region, new cars and parts is what Underground 2 and MW 2005 does much better. Hell, even random street racers with their cars roaming around in Underground 2 was better at makes the game more lively than just putting actual npcs in Unbound.

[@shira_yone]

They need a clear vision and not just keep half assing _potentially_ great vibes and atmosphere that is brought down by lack of commitment. It's the popular thing to do to praise Blackbox NFS, but one thing that they constantly nails is a focused and clear direction. UG is the quintessential fast and furious experience in videogame form, MW'05 is pure rebellious spirit and edge, Carbon have impeccable art direction with the duality of high energy neon night city and high thrill canyon, ProStreet is still the best trackday racer boy simulator with atmosphere to match (and it was a risk to fully commit to such a vision, but it's heart is unquestionable), UC and The Run are shameless schlocky hollywood movies experience but their identity is clear and uncompromised.

[@modernlogix]

@@shira_yone true those games live on as they had clear identity to backup the gameplay.

[@jarrodeaston6373]

​@Shirayone It's not just that. The gameplay needs a huge overhaul as well. These games have played like garbage since 2011 and they need to start from scratch.

[@Jared-ll3tt]

The Crew had the most interesting take on police. They change depending on the terrain and state that you're in. Sure they weren't as hard as NFS cops could be, but they were really fun

[@kapsize_8251]

What's interesting is that a mechanic in Blur's party multiplayer racer ( how to take right angle turns using nitros) becomes an exploit in NFS unbound, just because the AI can't do it.

[@modernlogix]

NFS MW 2005 also had this I think and it was fine there I think because it was required to fight the cops they had in that game lol.

[@aguywithgames3135]

@@modernlogix You mean Speedbreaker? Man, I miss that mechanic. Turning your speed demon into an near-unstoppable juggernaut was awesome.

[@modernlogix]

@@aguywithgames3135 oh that was awesome, but i was talking about boost cancelling the momentum. The boost in that game I mostly used to get my drift in control and cross corners at a much faster speed than ai.

[@christiantaylor1495]

I've still not even raced the AI yet. Any racing game without at least 20 different difficulty settings is just a joke to me. You people don't know what it's like to be 100% focused for an entire hour 1v1 fighting for 3rd place for it to come down to the last lap and realise all the difference was made thanks to your pitstop plan. Either play arcade racers online until they get good ai difficulty settings, or play a sim racer and get a wheel

[@christiantaylor1495]

@@priyapepsi Let me enjoy NFS 2015 to Unbound then

[@gabroooka]

The day/night system of Heat was such an amazing idea, shame they removed it completely. After the first 2 weeks of the "story" I literally just speedran through the game, and after the story I had to cheat in a ton of money to at least get a couple more hours of enjoyment by customizing some cars. I got barely 30 hours of gameplay out of the 80€ palace edition.

[@MONTR65]

Why did you buy the palace edition if it doesn't have more content and you want to customize cars yourself. Not defending the game but that wasted money's your fault

[@thiccbaron]

jokes on you.. Just like heat they won't push any updates so there is no reason you should pick this up right away. Right now the game is +-25€

[@Ser_Salty]

The day/night system is a great idea until you max out your reputation. Once you're Rep 50 and collected the Ultimate parts, why would you ever go back to night? Why would you risk losing all of the money you made during the day (Unbound improved on this system a lot, with only the money earned in the current session being lost, rather than most of your overall money) for absolutely zero reward? Now you're "stuck" only racing at day for more money to build more cars, but there's no risk. And really, it should've been the other way around. The publicly broadcast, official races during daytime should've earned you rep, because a lot of people will see you race, and the illegal races should've made you money, because classically, illegal street races are for cash or pinks.

[@deedeekreep9139]

The idea was wack for online.

[@christiantaylor1495]

I waited and got it dirt cheap on sale. I can't believe anybody buys games full price. It doesn't matter how much money I accumulate; I'll always wait for a big sale or buy preowned.

[@AllTheNamesIPickedWereTaken]

I don't even play racing games at all and yet here I am watching every single racing game video you put out. Keep up the good work 👍

[@kingturtle9552]

I can actually use this man’s voice to help me sleep, and that’s in the nicest way possible. It’s so damn relaxing

[@hondafknciviv3818]

I ended up falling asleep not even ten minutes in because of the voice lmao

[@Tacticalknife00]

From a quick intro, straight to the point. Big fan, Whitelight

[@notme7486]

Hit the nail on the head with the “insular book club” feeling, NFSU2 felt alive in ways because of being able to see other racers in their riced out cars cruising the same as me, hearing their engines loud over the droning normal cars quick glance at the minimap to confirm I’m hearing another racer close by. Unbound dropped the ball massively just felt like that scene from whatever show or movie it was “how do you do fellow kids”

[@noimageavailable2934]

It's so sad to see the arcade racing genre in this state where it's barely limping along.

[@shawklan27]

Buying a ps2 that comes with all of the popular arcade racing games makes your point all the more alarming. Flatout 2, MC3, Ridge Racer, the nfs games, fast and furious, auto modellista, juiced, gran turismo, burnout. They can't be beat by todays games.

[@mrmasky9783]

@@shawklan27 burnout..the only need for speed i can play that scratches the itch that i am a burnout junkie is payback. I don't know why but it feels more like burnout but nfs

[@scottneil1187]

Many things you describe as a plus point here existed back in the Midnight Club games, people behind the wheel, living streets etc. Rockstar really should bring it back, still the undisputed king of arcade driving games.

[@doyouwannarollwithme]

Too bad the "undisputed" king of arcade never managed to have half as good of a driving model, police or aesthetics as NFS at its peak lolz

[@RandomCarfromNFS]

@@doyouwannarollwithme cap

[@maxrodriguez889]

exactly, and it even carried in the ways that unbound lacked with some of its customization options, the fact that each meet up was different AND you could see the other racers on the road during free roam!! one of my favorite things about mcla that i didnt even realize was a fav until i played unbound was that the cops were actually COPS. and by that i mean you had to actually obey street laws when you were near one because they'd actually stop you for running a red light or stop sign, obv for speeding but just doing overall dumb shit would cause the cop to chase you. not like unbound where you could cause a 6 car pile up going 120 mph and the cop will just keep cruising on by. little stuff like this makes unbound feel so dull even though it is still a good racing game

[@scottneil1187]

@@doyouwannarollwithme Sure dude, that's why the team behind the games do all the vehicle stuff in GTA nowadays, clearly bad and the police were realistic unlike the NFS games. If the aesthetic was so bad then why did they team up with real world manufacturers and Dub magazine?, nevermind using the name Midnight Club which is a real world driving crew.

[@Tha-mountain]

gta still making money tho

[@CssHDmonster]

i loved the visual style, finally a slightly different looking driving game

[@johnnymcjohnson1373]

agreed, especially since the NFS series is a more arcade style racing game rather than Forza or Gran Turismo and this art style not only emphasizes that fact but also lets it stand out

[@ridhosamudro2199]

If anything it doesn't go far enough.

[@CssHDmonster]

@@ridhosamudro2199 considering how much backlash the current art-style has gotten, i dont think EA execs would have allowed it

[@K0Y0I_sis]

You obviously never heard of Auto Modelista before, haven't you?

[@Pawn2e4]

@@CssHDmonster The stuff during the race looks alright, but god the humans look terrible.

[@mcrel5999]

Grip turns really DO feel like a bowstring being pulled back. White light is so good at describing how I feel

[@TheFakeMakotoYuki]

Yeah of only drifting was good in this game

[@Tha-mountain]

@@TheFakeMakotoYukifixed now?

[@TheUltimateHacker007]

​@@Tha-mountainNope. It's a glorified powerslide

[@Tha-mountain]

@@TheUltimateHacker007 which should be better than day one right?

[@TheUltimateHacker007]

@@Tha-mountain It always remained the same. Drifting doesn't feel good or isn't something that you can be good or bad at. It just exists

[@totallynuts7595]

Hard not to notice the surface level similarities between the story of Unbound and Most Wanted 05: Car stolen, race to get it back, top dog of the city wants to stop you. What makes MW05's story "great" (or, rather, servicable, I should say) is how little it gets in the player's way. Most of the story happens in the text messages you get from the characters, the tone of the story doesn't change at all,

[@GabePlaysYT]

It was the same in Payback which is also a game all about revenge - which is what Most Wanted 05's story boils down too: revenge against Razor. EA has been subconsciously trying to mirror the same success as Most Wanted 05 with little result.

[@jolejolevv]

@@GabePlaysYT i mean maybe if the just do a remake of the game. Maybeeeee

[@MikoyanGurevichMiG21]

@@jolejolevv funnily Criterion's last Need for Speed title before unbound was.....Most Wanted. They even had a plan to remake the story of the original but all got shoved in the end for a toned down lite version of Burnout Paradise wearing NFS clothing.

[@nerd_nato564]

@@MikoyanGurevichMiG21 Didn't they work on Rivals and Heat as well?

[@ItzAnonyms]

​@@nerd_nato564they did, but more as a background role, after all, the crashing animations are clearly them

[@rus.t]

The game has potential. It's not perfect, no game is, but it could be a shot of adrenaline (or nitrous) for arcade racers. I'm excited for what Criterion could do with the series.

[@grimsladeleviathan3958]

37:46 "Tess has been the sussiest of bakas from day one" I look over from my table saw at work, "Fucking excuse me?"

[@forceknight7469]

Such a shame that Unbound will be forever overlooked despite doing so many things right as a racing game. Partly because of the rough edges and lack of content as result of a rushed launch, and partly because the current racing community's stubborn refusal to try something that looks slightly less than extremely realistic. But at least i'm glad that there are rare reviews like yours that do the game justice by recognizing its potential.

[@TheCapitalWanderer]

same

[@xMartyZz]

Hands down best video game essay channel out there. Keep up the great work, it's a joy listening to your smooth voice read the exceptionally well-written scripts.

[@lesliehokama1626]

man sometimes I really wish these videos came with a list of the music used in them, some bangers in here

[@Owenbegowen]

The amount of times I had a box truck or van pull in front of me in an intersection and stop was extremely frustrating

[@izanazir7088]

Down every minute it was a perfect review, as a long time fan of this series, i am glad that someone sees the potential but also knows what it lacks with problem. The only thing it left for me was creativity and this game brought back the idea of creativity, but falls down in other areas. I hope i get a good old racing game, where every thing was exciting enough to keep me coming back.

[@wmlsnj]

"Unbound spins its wheels relentlessly and it's not long before you've given up on the hope that it will ever find traction." Line goes hard. 35:20

[@tSunrise_]

This game reminds me a lot of Midnight Club LA. The sense of speed, the vehicle combat, the cocky characters, drafting boosts, the risk reward of the burst nitrous.

[@emaadally5658]

And people saying it it’s the worst nfs game 😢. I love the fact that you have played the best racing game to ever exist. Midnight club will always stay close in my heart.

[@NotSponsoredByEA]

The cocky dialogue is really bad though. In MCLA it at least felt more grounded. The racing itself though is pretty good. There is a reason for why people are mixed on the game, there are improvements but a lot of flaws as well. Not to mention the weird political preaching forced in. People should really stop defending products as if it were their holy bible or something, it's a product made by a company to earn money but they clearly failed.

[@TroublingStatue]

One of my gripes with the "modern" Need for Speed games (post black box), is the number of music tracks is always too god damn low. Especially when you find yourself skipping the occasional track it gets even worse. Same problem with every single Horizon game too. Is it the same in Unbound, where you start hearing repeats not even 4 - 5 hours in, or have they added more finally? Btw, that relieved cock line is probably my favorite Whitelight line ever. Once in a generation literary genius, and I'm all for it.

[@CMDR_Marthy]

Its nice to see a video talking about the good AND the bad instead of trying to murder a game, there is way to much hate on the internet for some reason on new releases. Loved your video, amazing job.

[@notsocuteonion]

NFS was a big part of my childhood, but since 2013 most wanted came out I started to drift from that series to something like Forza Horizon. But later, there are more and more good games even from the big companies. It's a renaissance of gaming, a bit bold to say, but some of them go back to their roots, if you catching what I'm throwing and it's great to see that

[@0uttaS1TE]

It's too early to say but it feels like devs are getting more freedom.

[@notsocuteonion]

@@0uttaS1TE Agreed

[@ShizukiShirano]

Sadly not for the racing games (at least as of now), they all dying (cus of different reasons) and its probably even surprising that NFS still lives and tries (but that's cus there is no competition too).

[@bryo4321]

@@ShizukiShirano it sucks we’ve been stuck in a cycle of trying to live up to most wanted and midnight club for the last 15 years but I will admit I’m glad we got games like unbound and heat. They aren’t as good as the older games but at least it’s something to scratch that edgy street racer vibe. I still like forza horizon but those games have felt more and more soulless the older the series gets.

[@blinkachu5275]

"It's a renaissance of gaming" Heavily disagreed, most if not all racing game series have had their prime. NFS was best during the 2000s era, Burnout who?, Midnight Club who?, Forza Horizon 1 is still the best in the Horizon series, Forza 3 or Forza 4 is the best in that series, GT7 is cool but has egregious issues and GT4 is still the best in that series I could go on. Every single racing game series has past their prime. Newer entries never are truly terrible, but they also always have so many flaws that they just end up being disappointing

[@tontobonto2073]

when i'm in a "be cringe" competition but my opponent is NFS dialog writer

[@voidwalker3591]

Really fantastic review, and you were able to articulate the issues with the campaign structure better than I could've.

[@liamtitan5598]

One of the best video essays I’ve seen on KZbin. And that’s truly saying something. I loved this game but felt the same as you, it was missing something. And still is. I think a revenge story based around Alec could have been crazy. If the really villainized him. Made him manipulate Jaz and such. Could have made this much more

[@Brawndo27]

The burst nitrous system reminds me of the ‘slipstream nitrous’ from rockstar’s midnight club. Only took EA 15 years to pilfer that concept from rockstar; I’m sincerely surprised it wasn’t done sooner.

[@dpn8254]

Imma jus say this, I'd pay 5k for a dishonored full series retrospective

[@Whitelight]

Yeah?

[@siddharth-gandhi]

It's a good day when whitelight uploads! The best video game review/video essay channel out there!

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

The way the nitrous cancels momentum is a really interesting concept to me, since it reminds me of the way boosting works in Hydro Thunder, I love that franchise because the boost can be used to take really tight turns, the boost is fired the way your boat is facing, so you can go into a corner, turn 90 degrees, and boost hard to get out of it, your sideways momentum is quickly reduced by the side of your boat hitting the water, causing a ton of drag, but your forwards momentum is rapidly increased by the boost, this lets you take tight turns better. In that game it feels less like it’s overpowered, it still needs skill and timing and careful usage of the boost to do it, and it feels like the game was really designed around using it, but hearing that Unbound’s nitrous works similarly makes me want to give it a go.

[@cxlciummmiv]

One thing NFS always had is style, and its funny because once a new NFS title releases, its always unique in its own way, yet people still seem to find a reason to banter about it, because they can't comprehend the fact that NFS isn't casually milking their players out of recycled content for the past 10 years [glancing at forza horizon w/ this one]

[@UpstageBeast]

Great critique and analysis of this game! I'm a fan of the burst nitrous personally; The advanced mechanics involve burst grip turns, and maintaining combos to keep the burst meter full throughout the race. I think that's where the game's arcade racing truly shines. It comes close to how much fun I had in MCLA- though I do miss the querky abilities and open race courses from that game.

[@BotBruh448]

The undercover cop actually doesn't show up on your map until you're basically on top of them unless you have a specific upgrade in your car

[@parker73724]

Does anyone else find the politics in the game world extremely strange? Like I play my game and crash into like 5 different innocent civilians at 200mph on accident, almost certainly killing them if it was real life (The AI do the same), and basically everyone in the game talks about how street racing is a harmless way for the youth to have fun and the police are abusing them by arresting them. In every other need for speed it felt like either you were an outlaw and just took the risk with the law or the police were genuinely abusive and were actually doing things they shouldn't (nfs heat for example). The police aren't abusive in this game, they just simply arrest people for street racing. It all feels a bit preechy and doesn't make much sense as a message to spread in a video game. Not to mention it isn't something that is mentioned once in passing, it is something that comes up almost every single day in game. Otherwise though, I would say this is one of the best sets of characters in a need for speed game, there is a whole lot less cringe than normal.

[@TigerChamp99]

Thank you for finally reviewing NFS_Unbound 3:52 After an almost 4 minute wait, he finally said the magic word. 5:45 AI racers getting proper identities is a breath of fresh air IMO because you can finally blame that particular racer for costing you your 1st position (or getting you busted) 13:48 I was waiting for this moment. 15:46 I agree. I always wanted a racing game where you start a race and find out that one of the racers is actually an undercover cop. 23:12 Tanner's Dodge Challenger! 26:36 Thank you for being one of the first people to actually compare Lakeshore City with WD Chicago. 33:17 Well, Most Wanted suffered from the same issue as I had a fully upgraded Porsche Carrera GT by the end of the game that made the M3 GTR look like a joke. (I could have fully upgraded my starter Cobalt SS instead) 40:22 Thank you for finally mentioning Driver SF, I think that racing game developers trying to make a decent story should take a look at Driver SF. You should consider reviewing Driver San Francisco one day. Great video Whitelight!

[@dasmole4804]

Unbound looks like they saw Initial D and wanted to mimic the realistic cars with cartoon characters

[@raspberrypie3826]

the game has some really incredibly dumb lines to try to justify street racing. "most racers are just people from marginalised communities expressing themselves" bruh, straight up calling minorities inherently criminal, who let this through

[@MuradBeybalaev]

39:07 That has smoother double-speak than I expected of an NFS.

[@pughtube]

These videos are simply fantastic. Really in a class of their own.

[@shreyasjoshi4867]

Well said. I hope Criterion takes notice. That is whatever lefts of Criterion - only 12 members of the original team were working in Criterion.

[@SpyralKing]

You know what? I actually quite like the special Nitro from this game because it sort of works in the same way as the time slow effect from NFSMW, but real time, allowing you to do otherwise impossible turns, which I like

[@Morion60]

Thank you for you amazing work Whitelight. I've been trying to work out what about this game isn't gelling with me. Then you eloquently and succinctly summed it up for me. You have a true gift.

[@DouglasBurton]

Absolutely great analysis of the game. Most of this is stuff I really think they could fix in a patch but it's been out long enough that it doesn't sound like that is happening.

[@sanjisins]

I love the way you described the anime style effects and the driving as a whole. Great script and video.

[@MenacingCapybara]

6:09 it's explanations like these that keep me coming back

[@longerthanthirtycharacters]

I'd love to see you do a follow up on Watch Dogs Legion someday, then you'd have the entire series under your belt! The DLC for that game is great too, it could honestly probably be a video by itself, and does bring into question why Ubisoft's recent games have been getting fantastic DLC when the base games themselves are nothing special.

[@tristanraine]

The DLC is the only redeeming factor of WDL, other then that it's kinda shit. It's a shame too, I liked WD1 and 2, then they threw it right in the bin after.

[@justjuniorjaw]

Unbound had potential. If they kept on it, or inspire someone else to do what Unbound did but better... we can have a great arcade racing game in the future. In this season of so many simcades, some fun arcade racing games would be lovely to just sit back and enjoy. Also Whitelight, very good narrative in explaining what's in Unbound.

[@SALEENS7GTR5]

I think an easy and more believable fix for the cops would be to have dedicated police stations that put out an AOE of police concentration on the map. A station would most likely be somewhere in the city, where the most people are located, so the most cops would be there. As you moved further from the city towards suburbs and rural, the police population gets lower, like in real life. Maybe 2-3 smaller stations with a smaller AOE could be spread out, but they would also send less police after you until you got closer to the concentration. City races would reward more cash and XP too, versus rural races, but rural races could be longer or emphasize needing cleaner and faster driving to win, since other racers and yourself would not to need to worry about cops or more objects around city streets to crash into. However, going off the road could mean hitting a tree or cliff and having a very slow recovery over driving on a something like a sidewalk. If you are trying to escape, the easier way would be to move away from the concentration. But you could risk escaping closer to city to have quicker access to the next event. There's more ways to break line-of-site in a city too, versus open fields in the country. You pose less risk as a street racer in rural areas than in cities, so the police would want to put in less effort compared to racers closer to the city. Pair this with other cop fixes, and it could feel more realistic and also more rewarding.

[@ileutur6863]

Shoutout to all the based video essayists out there calling out the piss poor state of arcade racing. We might mot see you under the mountain of sim racing nerds complaining they're not realistic, but we certainly hear you.

[@0uttaS1TE]

Raycevick and Whitelight are carrying this genre

[@shawklan27]

​@0utta S1TE yep they are doing the Lord's work

[@DevinMillarDM]

It was just ASAP Rocky’s version of Heat. While the game itself is fine, the only problem is how ridiculous hard it is.

[@Brodyody]

Great job articulating all of the issues I've had playing this.

[@GIJERRO]

Escaping cops started to feel repetitive so fast. So many times during one game session, it made me want to play solo less. Didn’t even feel like a racing game anymore, but more like a ‘don’t get caught’ game.

[@comfortable_east]

IDK if it is only me, but the physics doesn't feel right in this game. My reference if the original 2005 MW. There, in straight line you could see the car having micro jitters which gives the feeling of tires gripping the asphalt. Present day cars in games run smooth. During turns, the cars would just skid enough along with drift to give the feeling of speed. Present day, the cars go into drift without any skidding. At high speeds, the surroundings would blur, again giving the feeling of super speed. I'm aware many people are not fond of blurriness, but I think an exception can be made for racing games (especially arcade ones) The drifting felt feathery, I felt in full control of the car. But in the modern NFS it feels the car tires have glue on them, it feels I'm losing a lot of speed while drifting.

[@sssveden]

In MW you could barely even drift, I don't think it's THAT realisitc. Also Most Wanted had glue as well, and even much more than Unbound. With half of the cars in MW you didn't even have to brake and you could hit a wall to slow down anyway. The sense of speed was the best of all tho

[@EmceeJoseph]

I had exactly the same problems with crash detection and inconsistent obstacle breakability in NFS 2012.

[@davethefreshmaker]

I see You and Rey can't let go racing games, hope to see some great nfs in future.

[@takoshihitsamaru4675]

_Raycevic uploads a Racing game video_ _Whitelight uploads a Racing game video._ They're the same picture.

[@sikito2541]

Nothing better, than a Whitelight video after gym. Thank you for the great videos bud!

[@lieutenantcandlewax]

Simping

[@ThunderKat]

Maybe if your stolen car belonged to your little dead sister it would make more sense to recover it I guess. But definitely they took the easy route of NFS Most Wanted (the old one) and copy/past it along many other of the features inexistance. In Most Wanted they also fill they had that issue of forcing player to spam slow motion camera as it was impossible to take short curves without it and wasn't for lack of skills.

[@IlhamParamartha]

No nonsense review and straight to the point. Respect.

[@cpt_nordbart]

Even Burnout: Paradise City hasn't perfect crash detection. But there's more emphasis on crashing and spectacle.

[@GraveUypo]

the human opponent thing was one of the reasons death rally was so awesome way back in 1996. i can probably name two thirds of the roster to this day off the top of my head because the game pushed you to be competitive with each one of them.

[@BallOfSloop]

Since launch like 5 people I’ve seen online like the art excluding the humans but to me it’s such a good style, EVERY part of it EVERY person it’s just perfect to me

[@hi_its_jerry]

"relieve them from their cock" was such an unexpected line, a true poetic masterpiece from Whitelight

[@Omega_1306]

Why wasn't there a tally and sound effect Everytime the word bullshit was mentioned because it's hilarious

[@MexicanusPrime-gc6zg]

Video games should go back to being video games. Leave real world crap out of it.

[@rockstar-made]

Haven't played a racing game in 10 years but your videos are so extremely entertaining they just keep my attention going and time goes by

[@theFORZA66]

gotta disagree with the momentum take on the extra boost bar. I find it very fun and it adds a lot of depth, especially when you get good at timing it

[@arkitrik1335]

bro im in week 3 third day and you answered the big question of why I fall asleep in the middle of a race/chase (I'm not that old yet). the game feels so dead, I lost the motivation to do the rest of the story, and have zero motivation to grind for online. very good video man, hope your channel grows!

[@hey_manny]

Smart choice. It’s overhyped tbh

[@nomercy8989]

When this came out I replayed Underground 2. Didn't finish it but had a great time for a few weeks.

[@hawken796]

That's the problem with older nfs games. They're great for 5 - 7 hours and then you realize there's nothing else to keep on going.

[@nomercy8989]

@@hawken796 Replaying Underground 2 made me realize it maybe the game that started the "open world map covered in icons" trend. In the final chapter there is so many icons you just can't be bothered playing all the races to finish the game since you already have everything unlocked and maxed out.

[@LilBoyHexley]

My impression of the crash sensitivity is that maybe they wanted to make the consequences of a crash very low, but were afraid of potential situations where a less than destructive mistake- like spinning out into a wall at relatively lower speed -might actually cost you more time than one in which you absolutely destroyed your car due to the quick and fast respawn. So they attempted to balance things by preempting time-consuming mistakes by just "crashing" the car and restarting you, or at least trying to predict (and not necessarily succeeding) when this might be happening.

[@WUWASOLO]

Nothing better than to escape from everything and watch a new video from Whitelight lmao

[@B-Diddy-6]

Your video essays are some of the best out there. I always put them on once the kids are in bed, but then end up falling asleep to them myself. You've got a chill, smooth way of communicating! Thanks for the great content bud! I just couldn't get the control setting in this game feel "right". It was either way to loose, or way too quick to snap steer.

[@airbendingninja23]

I genuinely enjoyed unbound and it's new mechanics and i genuinely hope it keeps getting updated

[@Three60Mafia]

Cops were extremely frustrating because the game cheats and spawns them ahead of your GPS and also they constantly immediately re-acquire you through bullshit mechanics.

[@PH96Official]

Was really looking forward to the day that you did a review of this game, I am glad you take your time with this s*** because it's strangely poetic. You can always tell you're speaking from experience, you played the terrible games you know what this series can be and you clearly are passionate. Keep up the amazing work

[@IndeedBeni]

What a fantastic video (just stumbled across this channel). I finished the story earlier today after about 20 hours and I agree with about 90% of everything you said. This is the first NFS title I've bought in literally 21 years and the first NFS game I ever had was NFS II (I'm old). I finally got my hands on a PS5, heard that Unbound was decent enough and managed to find a new physical copy for 55 EUR after some hunting. I'm unable to compare Unbound to the entries before it but I've been thoroughly entertained playing through the story of this one. I wasn't expecting much from the story so it turned out to be just fine. One of the best lines of dialogue was the protagonist (in my case male) yelling out an exasperated "TESS!" at her dumb bullshit, the game showing a bit of self-awareness. But the best part was the driving, which was a lot of fun and downright thrilling at best. Plus, I've always liked cars as both machines and design objects (despite never owning one) and, you know, video game cars look good now. The in-game economy is weird, at least looking at the story mode. You won't have much trouble upgrading a car throughout the week to make it to the qualifier, but there are so many cars and you pretty much have to choose just one per class in order to progress through the story at a steady pace and especially the hypercars are so expensive it makes no sense to grind in order to get more than one. It's like the game has too many cars and too little content to take advantage of the majority of them. Nevertheless I'm happy with what I got for what i paid.

[@SelectClay]

I know you're not a huge fan of the momentum shift burst nos gives but it's literally a Sonic Riders drift and I love that about it. Nothing says arcade racing like crazy overtakes that those hairpins can provide through the build-up of burst nos!

[@tanikaze7697]

you may have never heard of Blur.

[@SelectClay]

Nah I know plenty about Blur, saw the ads for it way back and this channel's video on it. I just have many hours in the Riders games, so my first idea of shifting momentum forward with a burst of acceleration comes from there.

[@tanikaze7697]

@@SelectClay fair enough. have a good day sir.

[@9mmdump]

They need to do a japan version focused on mountain circuits with lots of exciting drift events and MORE JDM classics.

[@TheCapitalWanderer]

uhhh, NFS Carbon?

[@DripGxd_Cam]

Heat was better. I feel like unbound didn’t utilize the most important lessons from heat.

[@BigWoodzCBCL]

I'm currently playing since it was free for PS+ members. I think the fact they listed it there will give the game a bit more life. This is the best racing in NFS in a long time. The last few really struggled with a good balance. I feel like this one is getting back to the core of good street racing gaming.

[@CVoYager]

Regarding the story, one common thing in current storytelling is no matter movie or game, if the villain is female, she is always misunderstood or a victim. Also by the end of each story, she somehow redeems herself or becomes good again. Sorry but I don't buy it, when revenge is the main plot then let me have it.

[@StudioCorpse]

Dredd (2012), Far Cry 3, Tangled, 101 Dalmatians, Hela (Thor), Kathy Bates in Misery... Dude there are so many non misunderstood/victim female villains that are non redeemable out there, what are you talking about

[@CVoYager]

I said currently you are giving examples about 10 years ago.@@StudioCorpse

[@2811JPR]

What an amazing video. I hadn't watched any of your videos and I gotta say, you are great at what you do. Your script is poetic and your delivery humorous and very easy to listen to. New sub.

[@StarlightLancer01]

Forza Horizon 5, NFS Unbound, Gran Turismo 7... peak mediocrity, boredom, amd blandness in today's racing game community.

[@sssveden]

Finally someone who doesn't meatride Forza

[@John.Rambo09]

Please do No Mans Sky next, I am addicted to your reviews and lord knows how many days I've taken off work at this point to watch them. Would really appreciate a NMS review how the game stands currently.

[@LordmonkeyTRM]

I think the main thing games like these suffer from is short development cycles. The fact they're as good as they are is a testament to the skill and hard work of the dev teams involved. Also middle management meddling.

[@rface0]

I hope the takeaway from the shortcomings of Unbound at EA isn't that the style was a problem - they should actually double down on it going forward.

[@pilouuuu]

At this point they should just remaster the original Most Wanted.

[@SD-mi2vc]

They will wokeify it. Plus all the features in the og game, would be mircotransaction locked in the remake.