Why NFS Unbound's Soundtrack Was Disliked

[@Canvas12]

I like how you just blatantly stated that you don’t think the soundtrack is excellent or amazing or anything, along with mentioning that most of the people who have an issue with the soundtrack are only the mini rock fans who grew up during the earlier nfs games. Yet, judging by the recent comments I’ve seen so far. People still CANNOT READ OR WATCH (yet they got the time to type out stupid comments which I find super ironic). I’ve seen some hilarious comments where people were all like “WoW yOu AcTuAlLy LiKe ThIs SoUnDtRaCk?” - 🤓 and some were more like “StOp BlAmInG rOcK mUsIc!!! NoT EvErY rOcK fAn Is LiKe ThIs!!!” - 🤓. Like it’s funny how people really assumed you meant ALL rock fans. When in reality all you said was just only a “mini” portion of fans. As in probably only like 5% of the entire fanbase. PEOPLE THAT DOES NOT MEAN THE ENTIRE GODDAMN WORLD!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Man the NFS community never fails to humor me. Also great video btw. Love all the points you make. And your music taste you showed earlier is very fire my guy 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@6-1-98]

emoji users be like...

[@2dumb2type]

my man here simping hard

[@superdrinkingpepsi]

NFS community is made out of children there's simply no point in arguing with them

[@makmakg242]

This comment gave me brain cancer

[@hiroshikitsun7585]

👹

[@jarrodeaston6373]

I think my biggest problem with the soundtrack of these games is that it doesn't sound like music for racing. Like for the garage, it's fine, but for racing it doesn't work. The music doesn't get me pumped up and I wanna get excited before a race begins. Also great video Jake!👍

[@zerotofifty]

Asphalt 9 suffers from this. Garage soundtracks are literally some of the best songs I've ever heard in a racing game but they just don't work in races so they are replaced by subpar tracks that are more adequate but just not good.

[@wyattmunger5529]

That's what really made the soundtracks for Underground 1, Underground 2, and Most Wanted work. By default, Rap was used for garages and menus while rock and electronica were reserved for the racing.

[@thatoneewokthatdied2291]

YES! Exactly. I also am someone who generally doesn't listen to modern rap but "Shittin' me" by A$AP Rocky was one of those tracks that I really enjoyed whenever it came on. For tuning in the garage or even just cruising through the city it hits the spot really well but during racing it felt misplaced. Too chill/calm. You don't even need a specific genre like rock or electronic for races but it needs to give you adrenaline, it should put you on the edge. There's a reason you don't hear chill music during high-speed car chases in action movies.

[@not_kjb]

Well yeah no one wants to hear music about "THIS PÜSSY TASTES JUST LIKE HEAVEN" In a fucking racing game

[@diogovieira3362]

exactly this

[@Paragleiber]

Being able to turn off individual songs would definitely help a lot. I don't understand why NFS isn't offering this option in their recent games anymore. People loved that feature in the older games and you would think that it would be easy to implement. At least Gran Turismo still has it in GT7.

[@rlas]

Agreed 💯

[@JeyVGaming]

Not sure if this is true or not but I've heard that some song artists from one of EA's Trax made a complaint to EA to why include their songs if people can just simply turn it off. Which led to some disagreements between them. Maybe that's the reason why EA decided to remove that option nowadays. Which, sounds pretty stupid, tbh..

[@youssef1770]

@@JeyVGaming well its EA we all know what EA is and how EA is....

[@Kev27RS]

GT7 doesn’t give us that option though. We can listen to the whole soundtrack in the menu but can’t turn it On & Off. Well, not the “menu music” at least…

[@Frightenerd]

I think this would help out the game a lot in the soundtrack department

[@GamerAlexVideos]

I think another aspect to consider is that a lot of the music in Heat and Unbound isn't really racing music. It's too slow and lower tempo, so for me I don't get in a hyped mood when racing. As much I agree with you opinion on Burnout 3's soundtrack, it still at least feels like racing music. I think that is part of the criticism that people fail to say because it's all being drowned out with 'the songs sucks' but not *why* it does.

[@WSPonPlayStationandXbox]

Exactly! Unbound's songs don't hype me up while racing but they can actually help me concentrate with the aspect of its racing because if there was no soundtrack at all, it would just feel boring or disturbing because I wouldn't be used to it, imo the people who just doesn't give Unbound's soundtrack a chance or just can't accept the change of trending music style these days just needs to get a grip if you ask me, yes some of its songs are questionable but I still enjoy it because I have favourites and that's what I like about it.

[@unpass]

100% factual about the slow and lower tempo songs. In UG1 you can manually enable the menu songs to play in races, but it feels wrong. MC, pre-Ghost NFS, Burnout, and even Crazy Taxi understood this.

[@shawklan27]

@@adlibbed2138 fuck I cannot wait to experience ride to hell for the first time in the coming weeks. The infamy of the game makes for great personal suffering :)

[@altrd_mango]

I could say... they wanted to transmit the vibe with the music. They achieved that, but in execution it's just bad. Some songs are way to slow, in Heat the only ones that can be saved as "racing music" were the ones that appeared at night. On Unbound it's the same, the could have choseen better artists and albums, Ice Cream being the worst offender. And that one song with Rosalia and Tokischa... not a big fan of Reguetton/Mombaton, but they could pick some Bad Bunny song for having that "Carribean artists" on the roaster.

[@unfractured_]

I agree with most of this comment, the only part i don't agree with is the "too slow" part, in reference to NFS Heat's night race selcection specifically. Some of those songs have the kinda pace that makes me feel like i'm playing midnight club 3 again (especially Murder Music by Chase & Status, and Hive by Impish)

[@krishacz]

people are seriously sleeping on nfs 2015's soundtrack. the chemical brothers, avicii, the glitch mob, wolfgang gartner, major lazer, aerochord... good stuff and it perfectly fits the atmosphere. that's the thing with game soundtracks: the music should fit the visual tone of the game. 2015 had a very contemporary, urban, grounded look which went well with the music, unbound has a stylized, street, hiphop look that any other genre would not fit

[@TheJakeMG]

The only songs I'd consider 'meh' were some of the freeroam tracks but everything else was pretty exceptional. People also ignore the Drift music which actually includes METAL. However since had no EA Trax feature, everyone forgot about them existing in the game due to not being able to hear them in standard races.

[@drakvaclav826]

@@TheJakeMG OH YEAH - I mean, that final Drift event with Ken (RIP, Legend), with "Wünsch dir Was" blasting in the background was something else.

[@somedudenameddes0121]

I love nfs 2015's ost, I listen to like 80% of the songs on a daily basis. It's the same with heat, but only the night tracks. With nfs unbound, I can count the amount of decent songs in the game on one hand. Half the songs are meh but don't, 45% are just straight dogwater, and 5% are actually decent racing music.

[@JRC99]

@@TheJakeMG That was my biggest issue other than the broken physics. I'm not too hot on drifting and the only part of the soundtrack in 2015 I liked was locked to those events. Ridiculous

[@askerleaves1614]

Ye, "Go" had to be one of my in the game and I was glad they brought it back for dirt

[@NexusWarior211]

It's because half, if not more of Unbounds songs are just objectively awful music, at least for something like racing. Im not going to claim that older NFS games had fantastic fits for what was going on screen, but they worked well enough. When i think of iconic music for NFS i think of Buzzhorn, Celdweller, Rom Di Prisco, not a slow french song, not mummble rappers, and certainly not whatever that one song is that is basically just random noise. There is a reason Eurobeat was picked by the audio designer of the Initial D anime out of all other genres - it's cause it goes well with the action, and well you know, the studio behind Initial D actually gave a shit about what they were making unlike EA.

[@fallrivers743]

as a kid i hated music so i had it all muted on my games, so i never gained this bias to rock music. now as an adult i can listen to pretty much anything and enjoy it from heavy metal to even jazz and classical, but in my opinion from listening to the nfs unbound soundtrack from start to finish without pause on youtube (thanks ad blocker), i can say that it really isn't good. like for a racing game it just doesn't really do what it needs to do, like some songs got no real beat to help you get into a groove, and some are just annoying as all hell and make your ears bleed, and the ones that are "good" are more of a "i'll listen to it if i have to" kind of a vibe. idk man, like i love music but this game has bad pick after bad pick on repeat.

[@youssef1770]

A comment of a kid from the worst community opinion be like:

[@fallrivers743]

@@youssef1770 what do you mean by that? Like I'm curious really.

[@KenBlockShark7910]

the thing with nfs heat and unbound is that the music doesn't combine in a racing game, in garage is well it could relax you, but when you race you want something that inject the adrenaline, not only rock, for example EDM, dupstep, drum and bass, if nfs unbound race music were more agresivve, and there more varity, the music of the games wont be so hated

[@TheXardas12]

Exactly my thoughts on the subject. I think the authors take in the video is very shallow minded and doesn't actually answers the issue.

[@arandominternetperson4462]

Listen to Midnight Club 3 and LA's soundtracks for a hip-hop inspired game soundtrack. They're pretty good. I don't like Heat and Unbound's soundtracks simply for the reason that they don't feel fast and exciting. Like you said they feel the same. Midnight Club and the older NFS games had music for free-roam, menus, garage, and racing. And a diversity in not only artists, but genres which helps with immersion in my opinion.

[@TheJakeMG]

They’re absolutely hip-hop is inspired and are great soundtracks, but they have a lot more types of music in them than the last two NFS games. The aesthetic of those two games isn’t as strict as NFS Unbound, and the games came out in a time where rock music was much bigger than it is right now.

[@civicrider5556]

@@TheJakeMG technically unbound isnt really all hip hop, it has some electronic too but thats atmospheric electronic in short its actually 80% hip hop/rap, 20% electronic its basically what heat did, 80% latin pop, 20% electronic

[@TheJakeMG]

@@civicrider5556 You must've played more at Day in Heat?

[@r0b3rt_959]

I mean, not only that; I think Midnight Club 3 is the best example of a diverse soundtrack. Somehow, all the songs R* picked work while racing. You can be listening to Sean Paul and Damian Marley, and then out of the blue you're listening to Marilyn Manson and Kasabian. And it doesn't feel out of touch.

[@civicrider5556]

@@TheJakeMG yes 😢

[@malfolin]

The problem is, devs forgot that music should suit the acton, that's why people put freebird riff solo on chase scenes or Paint it Black on Call of Duty shootout, this music suits the scene and what is happening on the screen.

[@yoshimario]

true they forgot that music should suit whats actually happening, when im going more than 400 kmh i wanna have some kicking music to go alongside it, not some really slow badly made trap, hell play in the entire nwa discography while playing unbound and its at least 10 times better, thats because it at least has some dope beats, hell do yourself a favor and play the best mix of rock, rap and electro you can find while playing unbound, i can tell you this, it will be much better

[@lonelydriver1421]

Someone may have stated this already, but it's not about the genre. It's about how it gets you pumped up when playing/driving. I may be part of the small percentage that likes heavy rock/metal music, but man have you guys ever listened to the Pro Street soundtrack.

[@ralphlorenzperolino3054]

ProStreet soundtrack? To me it was average, not energetic at all, Rivals nailed it more.

[@Shotgunky]

I don't think it's a genre thing when it comes to what constitutes "good" racing music, I believe it's entirely down to tempo and thematic relevancy. Unbound has far too much slow, downbeat trap music. It doesn't really fit with the mental image people have of fast cars speeding down highways. A lot of people want their music to be fast and loud, just like the machines they're throwing around corners. It gets you in the mood, it hypes you up, it makes the visual and the auditory feel connected. Take the Forza Horizon series for example. The most consistently popular radio station across the franchise has always been Hospital Records, which is the drum and bass radio. This is despite the fact Horizon XS exists which is the "rock" radio. Hospital always has these fast, head thumping tunes. But the choices often selected for Horizon XS are more in the vein of mild pop rock.

[@CeladonHairExtraordinaire]

Yep pretty much. I can't imagine Maximum Tune's soundtrack being super popular with everyone, but for me and some others it's the absolute goat for racing OSTs.

[@r3uvsgaming]

Preach brother, Maxitune soundtrack is absolutely awesome.

[@pinishere]

i know im late for a year but cant believe someone actually put.. idk, Maximum Synergy to Unbound races, that soundtrack's a banger

[@bigz2088]

First of all. I'm a big metal head, so my comment might be altered by that, but on the other hand I'm 15 so I don't have any nostalgia for the old NFS titles. I think the main problem with the music NFS uses now, is that it's too slow. It just doesn't make me feel excited, and this isn't because it's not rock, and metal. For example, I love the electric style music in Underground2 (even though the ines I remember the most are metal songs). I just feel like the music in Unbound and Heat isn't good for a racing game. Also as you mentioned, it'd be much better if I could turn off a specific music, that I don't like. And btw, there are quite a lot of rock/metal songs that I find and would fit in a racing game perfectly. I'm not saying that the whole soundtrack has to be rock, but if they've added some music of a lot of genres, and added the option of turning off specific music, that it'd be much better. Nice video though, I liked it a lot

[@RossCuth]

Here's the thing; I can like any song from any genre of music, even weird ass music like breakcore, purely because of how weird it sounds. And even though modern video game soundtracks usually have a hand full of songs I really like, i'm usually okay with the rest of the soundtrack being background noise, this is how I feel about GTAV and NFS: Heat's soundtrack, alot of their music I can still listen too and be like "It's not exactly my cup of tea, but I can still listen to it." NFS: Unbound has been a rare exception, where I only like A$AP Rocky's music, and the rest is music is just straight up bad. It's the first game I can think of where i've had to mute the music and put my Spotify on in the background. And again, i'm very easy to please when it comes to music, hip-hop and rap included, I like Ice Cube, 50/50 on Kendrick Lamar, Dr Dre and now A$AP Rocky. I can like those genres. But if I take Need For Speed or any video game out of the equation and you made me listen to Unbound's soundtrack, i'd still say it's terrible music. I can also say how none of the songs really give that fast, blood pumping feeling of racing, but alot of comments say that already. This is just my honest opinion on it. I'm all for different music genres, and I overall understand what the developers were trying to go with in terms of the vibe and aesthetic in regards to the soundtrack. But for me, it was a complete miss. I wasn't super big on Heat's soundtrack either, but atleast I never had the urge to turn it off and put on my Spotify to replace it. And imo, there are a fair amount of good songs in that soundtrack. As a suggestion to fix this problem, have the soundtrack as is as a garage and/or cruising playlist. But when the racing/events start, have a more heart pumping playlist of songs, that way it's alot more fitting and keeps with vibe of what your doing on screen.

[@nocatchnobeat7015]

For anyone who hasn't given NFS prostreet's soundtrack a listen, you are seriously missing on some hidden gems.

[@ArmoredLyonell]

Mind recommend me some? :]

[@ralphlorenzperolino3054]

I prefer Rivals more than ProStreet.

[@youssef1770]

​@@ralphlorenzperolino3054 man rivals got some great ones tbh

[@ralcolfwolfcoon8207]

Yeah, no

[@mahiru20ten]

@@ArmoredLyonell watch my feet, blackjack

[@flashrocket9158]

Well, Ever since Watching Initial D, I almost never play NFS No Limits without listening to my Eurobeat Playlist, and hearing 'Calling All Cars' and 'LeCastle Vania' every 2 or 3 races gets old. Why it works is because both Eurobeat and Racing games are fast paced, and highly energetic.

[@JoCaTen]

Can confirm, Eurobeat manages to turn on a certain spot on my brain that can increase focus.

[@quintonworden6318]

For me a lot of it comes down to nostalgia, the post grunge, pop punk, and metalcore of mid 2000s racing games was like the soundtrack of my childhood and that kind of thing was super popular at the time. My musical tastes have evolved a lot since then and include a lot more progressive rock and jazz influences, in fact most of the music on those soundtracks isn't something id consciously put on when specifically listening to music but when it does come up in a playlist or I go back to one of those games I am always hit with all the memories of having fun as a kid and finding things in common with other kids through music I wouldn't have heard without these games.

[@dennisjungbauer4467]

Yeah, I think that plays a big role as well - nostalgia. Certainly there are songs in soundtracks that I wouldn't listen to normally, but that work well in the game. And I also think I didn't like the soundtrack of NFS MW as much when I was a kid; I remember there were songs I didn't like, particularly some Hip-Hop IIRC, but nowadays these songs are dope. :D Partly because my music taste changed, but also expanded, opened up to Hip-Hop for example, but surely also part nostalgia.

[@rightbehindyou9398]

Jake you missed one CRUCIAL point, it's that the energy is just not it. There's a reason old nfs games played the chill hip hop songs in the menus then blasted Scavenger during gameplay. The soundtrack also used to collectively build up a certain vibe that matched the game (example: Fluke - Snapshot for ug1), and there is no way anyone can say that "Linda" by rosalia builds up any vibe but juvenile and disgusting (watch the music video). Also the older NFS games soundtracks used to introduce a lot of new artists and even make their careers like Junkie XL, and the new soundtracks just feel like spotify top 30 of the week selections. As an experiment, lets see if in 10 or so years anyone will remember the music from heat/unbound as fondly as any of the older soundtracks. No matter what taste anyone has there is no defense for poor selection and poor audio direction (because the soundtrack directly represents what the game sounds like, and if it sounds like "Linda" by rosalia then there's clearly a huge issue).

[@axl1632]

Man Scavenger it's one of the worst rock songs that you can heard for a racing game (in my opinnion); because it's from an annoying trendy rock genre called; Screamo rock & Emo Rock; which it's literally songs which the singer it seems like it's cutting-off their veins of it's neck, which it makes to restart the races or return again, because it's causes me a big headache to hear these annoying Schreeching chorus of that song...

[@ComingInHotPink]

@@axl1632 Get yourself a rope, redditor

[@hezlonway100]

​@@axl1632nah scavenger is one of the best songs of nfsu2, it's energetic. it does his job at making you want to go fast

[@axl1632]

@@hezlonway100 but the singer when it starts to screeching; it makes me otherwise to change it back; when I’m either leaving the shop or restart the race to play something else…

[@davileon01]

I dislike unbound's OST because it feels so damn repetitive. The same 808s, the same hi-hats, the same "overused trap snares"... I really love rap music, but that game made it feel like rap has only one single beat.

[@XxmetalHeadxX88]

At this point, I think the main reason why modern racing game soundtracks are not as great as they're once was is because developers assume people would have a music app of some sort playing in the background. So they don't bother wasting money on music licensing.

[@bruuhpods3926]

I think Motorstorm specifically Pacific Rift had a good diverse soundtrack like having Noisia, Aphex Twin, and even David Bowie’s “Queen Bitch” which i was surprised and actually fit well with the festival atmosphere and racing in the game.

[@wyattmunger5529]

I think a lot of soundtracks these days like to stick to songs released within the last three years. If they started to/went back to incorporating songs from today with songs from ten years ago and further back, then there would be a nicer variety through age alone.

[@miguelmoreno6990]

MotorStorm Monument Valley, Pacific Rift and Arctic Edge had god-tier soundtracks: you had a wide variety of genres, each from different eras and it all fitted with the game's atmospheres. Well, MSMV loves to drink from desert/stoner rock too much, but I'm not complaining X) Also, and in MSPR you could both select songs or switch them forward/backward at any time with the D-Pad, and turn up/down the volume! No other games that I know lets you do that, at most skipping to the next song...

[@mr.razington7881]

@@miguelmoreno6990 I have played this game for years but I never knew this, thanks for the tip!

[@agit5270]

Motorstorm games had the best soundtracks, despite the wide range of genres it all fitted together so well, it basically shaped my mind and musical taste as a kid, no words can describe how much I've loved that game

[@kpegc]

@@miguelmoreno6990 I wish Evolution kept that approach for Apocalypse. I think Apocalypse could have had just as diverse a soundtrack as those games if Evolution retained the more non-linear Festival campaign that made them unique. For me, the out of place story mode and the overly serious, cliched orchestral soundtrack deprived the game of what makes MotorStorm unique. In my opinion, these were factors behind that game's poor sales and the series' subsequent demise.

[@weonvirtual]

What makes a good racing game soundtrack? Is it the genre that it's build on? No. Is the recognizable and popular artists? Maybe. But overall a good racing game soundtrack is one that obviously has a great selection of the genres it has, it has good diversity (not just different artists from the same genre, but rather different styles in order to get room for both slow and fast-paced songs) and fits the whole vibe of the game. It's very hard to criticize music, it's one of those things that is very subjective and may have different results for one person to another, so hopefully all of this ost discussion can give more attention to the topic and bring us better/well received racing games ost from the future

[@epicdude3659]

another problem with some of these modern games is that we don't really get a choice in what order the songs play, at least back in Hot Pursuit 2010 and Most Wanted 2012, we could change whether the sound track was sequential or shuffle. i like using sequential so i know how many songs i need to skip until i get to the ones i like.

[@altrd_mango]

Finally someone said that Burnout Revenge soundtracks has more variety. Burnout 3 it's cool n' all in general, but... just having Metalcore, Rock, etc... Revenge got a lot more variety... Today, Flyover, The Big Jump, Light N' Sounds...

[@shawklan27]

Goddamn Today is up there as being one of the most perfect tracks to appear in the history of racing games and no one can detest otherwise. A song that completely elevates revenge out of the other burnout entries due to even featuring that song.

[@altrd_mango]

@@shawklan27 The problem with Today? It's not on Spotify.

[@TheJakeMG]

It is on my end in the US. I guess it's a regional problem.

[@wyattmunger5529]

@@altrd_mango Be warned. A lot of people on Spotify put the radio edit version of Today in their Burnout Revenge playlists for some reason, which is effectively an entirely different song. However, the one used in the game is available on Spotify (at least in the US as Jake said) and is known as the album version.

[@-eclipse-8435]

Flyover is a banger, drum and bass is slept on nowadays.

[@RedzaMalaysianCrossover]

In my opinion, a lot of devs nowadays try to chase the "trend" especially for younger audience or even Gen Z.

[@TheJakeMG]

What does this even mean? For context, what generation are you in if you don't mind me asking?

[@RedzaMalaysianCrossover]

@@TheJakeMG I'm grew up with 2000's rock/rap/hip-hop music and that kind of generation need to stick with.

[@unfunnybrownman]

well, thats exactly what they did back in the 2000s just see how Most Wanted 05's is full of emo post-hardcore or metalcore like Avenged Sevenfold, thats just the stuff that was popular back then, nowadays is way more on rap and trap, so its not really a "recent" thing, thats just how mainstream culture works

[@shawklan27]

Bro I don't even like most modern racing game soundtracks and my answer to your observation is that isn't that EXACTLY why the type of music that were chosen in games back then? Rock and metal was infinitely more popular with the youth back then compared to now so it explains why the newer ones are focused alot on rap and hip hop mostly.

[@TheJakeMG]

@@RedzaMalaysianCrossover Gen Z refers to anyone born from 1995-2010. What are you talking about?

[@Fielder5757]

Everyone over analyses the hate for NFS:Unbound soundtrack. It's not because it lacks diversity or tempo, it's because the songs are mostly straight up autotuned garbage and noise. Some are harder to listen to than ISIS beheading videos.

[@MrMasterabc]

Reales comment here. The songs themselves are just giga trash.

[@breezy3176]

​@MrMasterabc the songs really just sound corporate slop there is nothing really unique about them

[@mahiru20ten]

I feel like car type dependent soundtrack like Carbon could work. Like if you play with muscle cars it plays rock, if you use supercars and such it plays house and hip-hop instead, and so on.

[@yoshimario]

however give a toggle to let all soundtracks play with all car types like carbon

[@dennisjungbauer4467]

I found that a cool touch in Carbon as well. :)

[@KMakoENVtuber]

Damn I forgot about that…such a classic.

[@shockwave.studios]

Modern muscle cars generally attract rap fans (Chargers, Challengers)

[@breezy3176]

And tuners would play more like techo and shit

[@DrevorReal]

Very interesting vid! Some thoughts right off the bat: "Rock music is not as popular anymore" Well, this kind of isn't true. Statistically, we got more people listening to all sorts of rock whether it be independent, post punk, progressive metal or even rap metal - which is the genre that sort of defines Most Wanted and was very popular during the early 00's. Rock is simply too wide a genre to go away. New bands pop up all the time. It's true that we don't quite hear of big name rock bands anymore but that's more to do how the music landscape has changed, streaming replacing mp3 sales, etc. "Unbound's soundtrack is just more hip hop focused" Well, NFS soundtracks have always been very "hip-hop" focused, including even MW 05 which distinguished itself by pulling in a lot of rap and hip hop acts. Usually merged with nu metal and electronica, but hip hop nonetheless. Heck you got some grandmaster flash remixes in there - if that's not old-school hip hop I don't know what is. "Unbound's soundtrack actually fits the race culture theme they were going for" True, but it's also paced differently. Which is why people say it's just less suited for high speed illegal street racing. Because it is. Firstly, MW distinguished between menu songs and race songs, but Unbound's got a lot of bleedover. Secondly, previous NFS games usually tried to have energetic tracks with rapid beats and aggressive borrowed notes. While a lot of people very clearly unfairly critique Unbound's soundtrack because they just don't like it, the truth is that it's simply not as suited for high speed racing.

[@TheJakeMG]

I like your comment but… when did I say the third thing exactly?

[@DrevorReal]

@@TheJakeMG oh I got the sense that was sorts what you were saying when you talked about how they were going for the hip hop aesthetic? Maybe I misheard. I apologise in that case!

[@makmakg242]

Addendum to "Rock Music is not a s popular anymore" Counterpoint: MGK's Pop Punk album Tickets To My Downfall and and Olivia Rodrigo's Sour, which has few Rock songs on it, proves that Rock isn't "Dead". It's still underground until a popular mainstream artist attempts to pick it up on their next single.

[@axl1632]

Or they literally even try to own & play Unbound by themselves to have a proper opinnion that isn't take it by someone else's.

[@bucketslash11]

i grew up with Burnout 3 Takedown and i LOVED the punk rock dominated soundtrack of it, Paradise went more varied with its rock/metal which isn't a bad thing either

[@TunaMayoInumaki]

punk? pop rock*

[@richardsavings6690]

I'm sorry, I only know of the classics by Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven and the like.

[@stingysmailbox8209]

Burnout 3's soundtrack isn't even real punk rock.

[@KMakoENVtuber]

It was the most emo/pop punk soundtrack ever…AND I LOVED IT

[@axl1632]

@@stingysmailbox8209 Except the "I Wanna Be Sedated" song by The Rammones which *IS* the authentic Punk Rock. The rest of the songs; I agree that are Pop Punk.

[@r0b3rt_959]

We don't complain about Burnout 3's soundtrack because *IT GOES ALONG WITH THE GAME'S THEME.* It's fast paced, frenzy, keeps you pumped and on edge while you try to stay alive and smash everyone else against oncoming traffic.

[@rightbehindyou9398]

Burnout 3 is one of my all time favorite games, and if it didn't have that music I'd think the game's crap. That's how much the music matters.

[@FischToaster00]

I'm a rock fan, but there was one thing that struck me about Need for Speed Payback back then. In the previous game NFS 2015, there were extra rock songs for drift events, which fitted the mood very well and gave a suitable adrenaline to the third. In Payback, the rock songs were replaced as rap by the drift events. And this is where I noticed how these rap songs don't go so well with the speed and drifting anymore. It didn't support the races as well as the rock songs did. I also like to listen to rap in private. But I've created Spotify playlists for real-life driving that fit whatever situation I'm driving in. A night driving playlist, a day playlist, one for very sunny days, one for heavy rain, etc. All of these scenarios have different moods that harmonize particularly well with the appropriate songs. Unbound's soundtrack isn't bad. But many songs do not fit the scenarios in which they are played. A lot of times during my playthourgh I thought I would have rather listened to this song in the garage than at races.

[@nicov9324]

I not really a fan of rock in general, but i do think that the old soundtracks fits the gameplay, making you fell like such a badass, and make the race's way more fun, but for the newer games it's just felt like its just a spotify Playlist thay plays randomly and it just lacks that umph, just imagine you are on a last lap and you're 2nd, with the old stuff it feels so intense, but now that stuff is happening and all you hear is "heyyyy we want somee moooooney" it's just killed the intensity of the gameplay imo

[@Whooler6by]

Funnily enough one of my favorite soundtracks from a racing game is Hot Pursuit 2010 And most of the songs were just electronic

[@Frightenerd]

There is a bit of variety in the electronic music in unbound, which I like a lot. I really think this game needs a jukebox or ea trax feature. I started to like a few tracks of the game which are quite out there for me musically, like el paavi, that hyperventilating japanese mumble rap, tared, in meinen benz, trophy, split and some other stuff like wicked and fun. There is a lot of stuff worth liking in this soundtrack if you give it a chance with a bit of an open mind in my opinion. Tho I was kinda bummed to not see any rock, metal or stuff like that, but it's probably because of pop culture right now and the theme of the game as mentioned in the video. Tho I would lose my shit if a track of Imperial Circus Dead Decadence got into this game, especially the more special ones

[@yoshimario]

i am open minded when i say, mumble rap is a disgrace to language, all it took for me to make this opinion was one deutschrap song that had mumble rap. ironically you mention in meinen benz while that is one of the worst excuses to deutschrap ever. please listen to sido-mein block, please just listen to it. why is mumble rap a disgrace to language? you can't understand it, thats how. language is ment to be understood, thats why we don't mumble when we want people to understand us, if you don't want anybody to understand what you are saying then don't say anything

[@Movehawkzz]

𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙍𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨 Because they are bad?

[@QUENTINBIB1]

Saying that people think that NFS Unbound -me from this nightmare- soundtrack sucks is because they are basically only listening to rock and that now rock music is not as popular as before there is none in the game is some S rank BS. I recently played through Midnight Club 3 and it has not only a varied soundtrack, but all the rap music is actually FITTING and even as a metalhead, I can appreciate good music from other genres. You sound like the type of guy who unironically like that "hey we want some money" or whatever is this shit.

[@TheJakeMG]

I love how you paused the video before I said I hated Money and didn't think the Unbound soundtrack was amazing or anything. All I said was I thought it had some good picks. I also did not say people didn't like the music because they only listen to rock. I said it happens because it's primarily what they like (this is from me watching the behavior around the discussion) and NFS lacks it now, which creates a further dislike for the selection.

[@QUENTINBIB1]

​@@TheJakeMG The only thing it lacks is good music no matter the genre. Hell at this point, even the GT2 PAL soundtrack is better. The main excuse for the NFS Unbound soundtrack is that it creates 'identity' and an 'atmosphere'. Okay, but you can create that without sounding like shit. Imagine GTA Vice City with bad songs? I unironically like all the radio stations in this game. The Ridge Racer soundtrack has a lot of charm too and is quite unique. Project Gotham Racing had different radio stations to fit the city where you were currently racing in. Gran Turismo has its lounge/jazz fusion music which to this day is instantly recognizable and iconic. In 10 years, nobody will listen to Unbound soundtrack, because it's full of music enjoyed by people who browse TikTok all day and, like all trends, especially recent ones, they tend to fade away quicker than GT7 single player mode.

[@rjbalbuena7789]

I hope I don't sound old saying this, but the moment racing game soundtracks started to sound amazing to me leads far back to the PS1 era racers like Ridge Racer Type 4 and the Japanese release of the first Gran Turismo. Even the recently translated Sqauresoft horror/racing title Racing Lagoon comes to mind. I was around 10 I think. At the time jazz fusion was popular and I was surprised at how elegant and sophisticated music can be and it was racing games that introduced me to them. Come the 2000s and a new breed of racers like Midnight Club, Burnout and NFSU appeared and there was suddenly a new vigor to the music that came with them. And it was perfect then too because I was a growing teenager at that time so the music didn't only connect with me, it was cathartic, and it gave these titles such a rebellious personality. It gave me this feeling that these worlds were perpetually alive, and I guess that's why I miss them so bitterly. Sometimes it's not even the music anymore, it's just how these racing games are presented overall. The grit and edge are all gone, I feel. I'm not sure if it's a generation gap either. How can 10 year old me enjoy jazz fusion when it was music not catered to a kid? Maybe triple A studios are missing the point now. It's all social media and tiktok drivel and that's what I hear with new soundtracks. No hype, no mood building, just narcissism. Although, there are some exceptions. The Wipeout HD Collection and GRIP seem to still understand how certain types of music work for certain racing games. I guess it depends on the game if it needs music diversity or not.

[@DjLamborghini]

Music of R4 is just magical

[@nicolasgoncalvespereira655]

As a rock and heavy-metal fan, i absolutely agree with what you said. I personally think that Burnout 3 has the greatest soundtrack in a racing game ever, and the same goes to Revenge. But i also like variety. I like NFS MW soundtrack because of the rock, the heavy-metal, the hip hop, and the overall way that it blends all of these in a beautiful package. While i love Burnout 3 soundtrack, i agree with you on the fact that there is no variety. But then, if people like it or not is subjective, and i personally love it, but that's because i love rock. Great video also!

[@ricardocividini]

Thing is, Burnout 3 soundtrack sounded like racing music, NFS Unbound soundtrack is just awful, not only for that, but for music as general, almost all the songs are just ridiculously bad, and these songs dont even come close to something you wanna hear when racing.

[@nicolasgoncalvespereira655]

@@ricardocividini Exactly. Burnout 3 and Revenge songs made us press the boost button so hard, it oblitared every car and every single thing close at the moment like if it was an adrenaline shot. It was magic. It also fitted perfectly, objectively speaking because of the rusty, destrucutive and fast presentation and overall game pace. NFS Unbound soundtrack just feels like a torture, and a "meh".

[@xickortv574]

For me, Hip Hop and rap took a nose dive after 2014, so seeing so much of it in Unbound with all of it being quite generic makes it grading. I'm not even like a huge rock fan, but Burnout 3 has songs from the 70's leading up to the early 2000s' such as "I Wanna be Sedated" by the Ramones and and a few others by them. I'm not saying its' soundtrack isn't innocent of what it does, but it at least has that going for it. Unbound just has the usual music that I could live without.

[@post-surreal]

you don’t listen to hip hop if you genuinely believe that

[@szybkiwojtas7895]

There is a shorter answer: because fans feel nostalgic. Don't get me wrong, I like listening to classic racing game soundtracks and I like SOME NFS Unbound songs (Racked, Taco, In meinem Benz, Be a Hoe Break a Hoe, Vampire & Big Persona). I think it depends on one's music taste. Edit: These people who say it probably grew up on 2000s rock music but rock music is nowadays not as relevant as it used to be. I mean do you know any new rockstars? No! There are only old guys releasing newer songs.

[@fachrizaltofu]

They should go with how Shift 2 handled soundtracks. A handful of songs but 3 different versions each. Where else would you find a brutally realistic racing game remixing Escape The Fate and make it fit as garage music and replay music?

[@johnnycashfan3398]

*Turns down music volume and puts on spotify playlist* "Ah much better." You see you can't beat old racing game soundtracks for one key reason...They have energy to them where Heat and Unbound don't have that same energy for racing the music in Unbound and Heat are crap you'd hear at the club instead of a high octane racing game. Wanna do a rap or hip hop sound track get some artist who would bring that agression to the table like Eminem, 50 Cent, Wu Tang, Dr.Dre stuff like that would help make the soundtracks a lot more exciting and would make you wanna race your best.

[@Blaza303]

Feels a bit repetitive hearing people say "Rock is Dead" when the scene is thriving right now, so many new bands have emerged from the scene combining elements of old and new, i feel Unbound leans towards the Skater culture with it's Graffiti Tag and Clothing influences just aswell as the Hip-Hop scene, they could've put a few songs from BMTH, Fever 333, Ho99o9 and Wargasm and it genuinely could've worked, i just like my eggs in more than one basket, keep the Hip-Hop but pepper it with Metalcore and Electronica

[@YISTECH]

Yeah, true. Only people stuck in their own little world would think otherwise

[@DetectivePhatWeedington]

The problem I have with racing game soundtracks in the modern day is they don't pick songs that fit the game or get you pumped up and enjoying what's going on. It's not the fact that it's a genre that I don't care about. It's just the song itself is just dull and doesn't fit what's going on. A good example is the past two NFS games (Heat and Unbound), I like hip-hop a lot since I grew up around it since I was a kid, but some of the artists that they picked for those games are not good at all. I like ASAP Rocky and Run The Jewels in Unbound, But the rest of the artists in that game have some hidden talent that should remain hidden for the rest of their lives, and they just don't fit the game. They sound too dull to be even in a racing game in the first place. And say what you want about Burnout 3's soundtrack (even though you're just objectively wrong), at least it somehow made you feel excited to play a racing game, even though putting pop punk with a racing game is like combining a Wendy's frosty with french fries (people who do that are skinwalkers). I mean, I don't care about reggae as a genre, but some of the songs in that genre in Midnight Club 3 are great and fit the game's presentation.

[@Rafagafanhotobra]

Late 90's - Early 2000's - Peak era for racing game soundtracks. Lets not forget the bangers on GT2 and Wipeout.

[@b.1570]

Até você se deparar com a versão japonesa e vamos ser sinceros... Jazz Fusion é bom demais e combina muito bem em jogo de corrida.

[@horizon_angel]

To me, Unbound's soundtrack isn't all bad, I found some banger in there, some are better for menu, some are better for race, just don't misplaced it Now then, I don't understand why they remove features like EA Trax, or even skip song in race like Heat, it makes me, when a song that I hate plays, I can't skip it, so I'm kinda stuck with it, nor I can remove it from playlist Now, I don't have problem with rap genre or anything, it's just Unbound have less option for it. I mean even from neighbors games like Forza Horizon 5, who probably still sounds bad for older Horizon fans, at least that games let you change radio station when a song in a radio isn't what you like. To me, Unbound lack option, and it's kinda grinds my gear

[@jimbo2revengeance]

This whole "movement" is mainly tied to the general mediocrity of racing games nowadays. While a few "bad" songs in an otherwise fantastic game can usually be ignored, when you start losing interest in the racing itself, the music sticks out much more. When shapeshifter comes on during an intense race, it enhances the racing for me, even tho i usually don't like this blend of nu-metal rap with screaming, because Most Wanted was designed as a driver aggression simulator first and foremost. My experience with modern racing games is limited, but games like the new Forza Horizon's, and NFS Unbound lack a lot of the weightiness racing games used to have, to simplify, you no longer feel like you are navigating a high speed hunk of metal around tight corners, but a weightless bar of soap. Same thing goes for visuals and theming. People tend to notice the change, but cannot always put it into words, so they focus on the soundtrack, as that is the one thing which has obviously changed. I feel like the gap between racing simulators, and pure arcade affairs has widened, and not a lot of games go for that middleground, where you can still race just fine with a controller, but also have to understand a thing or two about shifting gears, breaking lines, and car handling.

[@murlik112]

bcs in Unbound we have like one music genre, i've had same problem with nfs heat soundtrack and spanic beats it's not like i hate hiphop/rap but the choice is poor imo

[@Sam36192]

The music selection on the Pulse playlist in Forza Horizons 1 and 3 were the two best in the series

[@TheJakeMG]

CORRECT!

[@shawklan27]

Horizon 1's own is king imo

[@Sam36192]

@@TheJakeMG Like seriously Walking On A Dream had no business fitting so well into an open world Codemasters game

[@TheJakeMG]

If you really look at it, DiRT 2's soundtrack sounds a LOT like Forza Horizon 1's.

[@Sam36192]

@@TheJakeMG And the fact that both games soundtracks share quite a few of the same artists like Friendly Fires and Santigold as two examples

[@sebastianzarek7056]

1:05 Most Wanted 2012 might have mixed opinions in the community, but GOD this game sounds amazing. Both soundtrack, cars and other minor sounds are so good. This game looks good too (at least for a 2012 game)

[@TheFakeMakotoYuki]

its just too much like a burnout game and not a need for speed games

[@sebastianzarek7056]

@@TheFakeMakotoYuki Ah yes, the burnout: fairhaven

[@dennisjungbauer4467]

Yeah, I remember some pretty cool songs from that game as well and it does indeed look really good, I was amazed when it came out IIRC. :D Unfortunately the driving wasn't that great (delay!) and all the crashing was a bit annoying I think.

[@scarystranger]

Unbound soundtrack doesn't really fit to racing. The reason why we love Most Wanted / Underground is not just "because it is rock/metal, etc", it is because this OST is energetic, it really fits to a mad racing. And always remember - MW or Underground has hip-hop and rap music that also hits hard. I personally love all the MW soundtrack except for a few tracks. Even non metal-rap-rock Carbon OST is really good because it's atmospheric, the night, lights, racing... And we have this Unbound sound that is cringe for me to race with

[@axl1632]

Despiste ironically Carbon's tracks they're also suffer the same issue as Unbound's soundtrack; the songs they're not translate with the adrenaline pump of the gameplay; specially when you do an Checkpoint Race in an Tuner Car or Exotic car. Because let's face it; the Muscle Cars it HAS the proper music & you cannot deny to me that are MILLIONS TIMES better than the corny-a$$ nu-metal or the Emo poop punk of the overrated Black Box titles...

[@Just_B0red]

I mean I am full on metal head, but some of my favourite songs from MW were the Rap/Hip-Hop songs, if anything MW got me into Rap/Hip-hop Stuff like : Set Go Up, Tilted, My Hood and Do Your Thing are all amazing songs, at least IMO.

[@kingtyty5]

Hip-hop/ Rap can be done well in racing games. It can disrupt the flow, and energy of the vibe of an race due to the slower nature of the genre. But works perfectly well free-roaming an open world. Thats why having an variety of music helps resolve that issue. Unbound tries to do this in the story mode with hip-hop beats and instrumentals while crusing arround. And then plays the actual music during races. Ultimately they fail at it because there is not enough divide in music genres in separate modes to make the feeling of being in a race uniques. I think that have an track select would remedy the issue slightly.

[@clarksonoceallachain8536]

Ralph - back seat

[@xt1988]

We're talking about NFS Heat which has a neon aspect, maybe a bit 80's too, but there's no synthwave music to be found? that game is an absolute waste

[@Pz_FrenchFryMan]

The music genre I wished EA took a gamble on for Unbound is phonk : "base" phonk would have been a great choice for garage or free roam (DJ Smokey, Soudiere, DJ Yung Vamp, Holy Mob, Always Proper, Positive Squad, etc...) while having drift phonk for races (KSLV, Kordhell, dxrk, SHADXWBXRN, Ghostface Playa, KXNVRA, etc...). Since it's still a niche genre, I can understand why they didn't do it but that would've given a "fresher" feel. I muted the in-game music as a whole and have my personal phonk playlist instead, it fits surprisingly well.

[@elaymm4]

There's a rumour that they wanted to include that music, but sample copyright problems with these tracks were too overwhelming.

[@Pz_FrenchFryMan]

@@elaymm4 you make a great point, forgot about that

[@mg9903]

My music taste varies a lot and I'm always listening to new artists including modern artists, I like hip hop and rap, my problem is when the entire soundtrack is filled with generic hip hop, nfs 2015 truly was the last good soundtrack, I tried to like Heat's but its just too annoying.

[@GTgaming98]

NFS Carbon and NFS Rivals Features 2 songs from Gary Numan which is singer from the late 70s and early 80s and still making music to this day

[@TheJakeMG]

Rivals had a newer track while Carbon had a much older track. Both excellent, I wish more games now were willing to span multiple decades of music.

[@ralphlorenzperolino3054]

To be fair, Rivals had returning artists from past NFS games such as Hyper from MW 2005, The Qemists from Undercover, Madeon in MW 2012, and X Ambassadors also in MW 2012. It had the debut of Linkin' Park and popular EDM DJ's around the world.

[@akaneccoo]

i'm serious for saying this, but unbound is the only racing game that i find the soundtrack to be bad, fr i played all of modern racing games. even hw unleashed or asphalt 9 had better ost than unbound..

[@NeedForSleep82]

Glad someone addressed this. I've seen countless threads and videos in the NFS community of people discussing the soundtrack of Unbound and it's seemingly impossible for people to not address the older titles in the series. Then they would place tracks from MW05 or Carbon into Unbound and say its "100X WAY BETTER" without considering how thematically detached that track may be the actual gameplay. Imagine if you could, any track from MW05 being played in Unbound and it being the first time you've ever heard the song. You would immediately be at odds with the design of the game but still no one wants to address this because they fail to admit that they just like the song and are riding that nostalgic high they had long ago. While I still have my gripes with the OST in Unbound, the songs themselves don't take me out of the world that I'm in. I'd argue that while a wider cast of higher tempo songs of all kinds would work to enhance the thrill of racing in Unbound, it would still fall a little flat because I believe that the core design doesn't properly grasp that excitement of racing that older titles may have. Unbound did quite a few things right that people don't give it enough credit for, but they don't discuss areas of the game that simply don't merge into a greater racing experience.

[@Mannimarco_King_of_Worms]

I am a metalhead, and i think Unbound and Heat missed on three genres: metalcore, phonk and synthwave. Especially dissapointed about synthwave not being featured in Heat - i mean, it's Miami, go for Tokyo Rose, Perturbator, Carpenter Brut, Miami Nights 1984, Daniel Deluxe... But no, they made 90% of the soundtrack to be a reggaeton. P.S. Imho, Heat soundtrack is way worse then unbound's. It's not only one very specific genre, but there are so few songs omfg

[@axl1632]

Or at least trying to bring it back some rap rock music such as this ones: -Chronic Future - Apology For Non-Symmentry -Skindred - It's A Crime -Skindred - GIMME THAT BOOM -ZillaKami - BADASS ft. Lil Uzi Vert Because they actually modern songs & it doesn't corrupt the Unbound's Graffittied-out aesthetic, unlike certain douchebags that just slaps decadence or shapeshifter, because they don't give up with the reality that we aren't in 2005 with mexico piss filter anymore...

[@SHIRAKOTEKUMOTO32909]

Heat Has 1 phonk music It's Mercedes by blocboy JB

[@myrmeko]

Yeah... No. People's inadaptability simply isn't the case here. I personally couldn't care less about rock songs in a racing game, i only care about having a GOOD soundtrack. I've listened to the whole soundtrack of Unbound, the way i could describe it would only be "disgusting". It's so unbelivably bad, repetitive and extremely commercial. Same popular beats, same mumbly incoherent "lyrics". We had good rap and hiphop in racing games before. The main problem with Unbound's soundtrack is just the lack of effort. Neither the "artists" (such an overused word, just because you pump out mindless garbage with no effort put into it, you aren't creating art, you're just milking trends and making shit that sells, that falls into obscurity right when the trend fades) nor the composer of the soundtrack spend enough time into making it actually sound good. Just going to ask a simple question... How many songs can you name from Unbound compared to the rest of the series? Or how many songs you can play inside your head at any time? All of that after not playing the game for a month. How samey and forgettable is the soundtrack?

[@iceclimberswereamistake]

Ugh. They couldn't just give us multiple different radio stations? I understand that Forza Horizon isn't perfect and I don't want to be sounding defensive of it right now, but at least PG knows that not every song will work for everyone..

[@vycanismelodis]

send me all the hate you want but i liked that avril lavigne's 'girlfriend' was on burnout paradise

[@TheJakeMG]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHa9Yml7qtqWrLM

[@JohnFromAccounting]

Great song

[@FaizKTG]

One other main problem is quantity, even if it seems redundant, I'd argue it's one of the main causes of people hating on the soundtracks of both heat and unbound. There is too few songs, almost all will become repetitive in your playthtrough. This made the terrible songs stand out most, in my case I haven't once skipped a song in my life till heat's "tu manera" plays, that shit gives me headaches.

[@makmakg242]

I still find Unbound soundtrack to be trash most of the time that I instead used Burnout 3's. Sorry man, Rock will live on forever, if a soundtrack's only full of Rock, I wouldn't complain either way.

[@damarviggen6152]

Same here

[@jammygamer8961]

Happy to see prostreet in your favourite racing game soundtracks. easily the best in the need for speed series in my opinion

[@TheJakeMG]

Most Wanted 2012 is my favorite, but ProStreet is a close second for me.

[@jammygamer8961]

@@TheJakeMG yea it is a good soundtrack too. Hated the game when it first came out but i was like twelve lol. But now i think its actually a fairly good game that simply shouldn't of been called most wanted

[@shawklan27]

I loved how every song in that game had a very loud and in your face attitude to them which fits perfectly with the party all day hypebeast themeing the game has in just about every aspect of its presentation. Heck even the rap songs where very invasive and heavy to the ears which showed how well the soundtrack works.

[@eye.mwatching]

This video is wrong about how i personally (and most other nfs fans) feel about how a racing game OST should be. Its not all about rock. Its not necessarily about diversity as much as it is about music that fits the action. Its about having fast music play when youre going fast, suspenseful/tension music when youre in trouble (cops), bouncy rap music for when im customizing cars etc. NFS Carbon also did something NFS only did once, atmospheric tribal music in the canyon duels, because as the name suggests, they are duels, and therefore the music fits perfectly. Rap, metal, dnb, fast dubstep and ambiental tracks is what nfs needs, because thats the type of music that fits the game. Its the goofy shit that new nfs be pulling that we are all shitting on collectively.

[@drifterz9186]

Best comment on the topic of music in recent NFS games. I would have said something similar but i ultimately gave up cause, who's gonna care about that wall of text anyway lol.

[@mr_satay]

I like the soundtracks from Underground to Most Wanted as there were a few bands there I ended up enjoying as a metalhead growing up, but overall I really prefer the Need For Speed 3 and 4 soundtracks. The 90s are not only nostalgic but those games had songs that were written for the game in mind, not just music that was around at the time. I miss that. I think it would be great for EA to hire Rom Di Prisco again to write say, the theme song and menu music for the next NFS.

[@jackedup447]

Rom di prisco did some fuckin bangers back then. Its funny to think he also did the old fortnite theme then was told by epic to fuck off though.

[@74810Eric]

Also Morphadron in need for speed porsche is pure gold

[@supertaba10]

90s NFS soundtrack is God tier, Rom di Prisco and Saki Kaskas (R.I.P) are geniuses especially the adaptive soundtrack of NFS 3, I would love that EA at some point gives those soundtracks some recognition or old NFS in general, because everyone acts like NFS started with Underground 1 and died with Carbon. But I'm not gonna lie it was cool they added the Jaguar XJ220 in Rivals, but I need more, I love the M3 GTR and all the heroe cars, but some classic NFS cars need some love, the Ford GT90,Indigo,Mercedes CLK GTR,Ferrari F50,and how we can forget the mighty Lamborghini Diablo SV (which to be fare was featured in HP2010 and MW2012).

[@mahiru20ten]

@@supertaba10 Any Porsche Unleashed love here?

[@supertaba10]

@@mahiru20ten Of course the eras mode was a masterpiece I really liked that as time passes the older cars become collector pieces and more expensive, the biggest tip is getting the Carrera RS in the 70s when it's new and sell it near the end of the game since it ends up being worth more than when it's new. And well I really love that it's an encyclopedia about Porsche, you had the showroom to look at the cars and hear about their specs, you had the story part which details all the history of Porsche up until 2000, and you could even see galleries with photos of the cars and even some promotional poster for each one, even single models like the 901 Targa or 901 base model.

[@Nitepinkeve22]

pretty interesting video. here my take: most of us racing fan like rock music because it fits in racing games like a glove with the high energy feels. and when unbound decided to try new thing with the different soundtrack, people didn't accept it because they prefer rock music. what if they decided to find other music genre that could fit on a racing game like eurobeat? would the rock enjoyers accept similar high energy vibe soundtrack/genre?

[@kamonek3825]

things I think need to be pointed out: 1: the theme has to fit and the adrenaline need to rush. 2: Old fans ( me too ) ust want old things because it is what made them come back for more. 3: Unbound decided to go mr.World wide literally and that is that I think made the hating on music. 4: unbound just makes it hard to appreciate what it has to offer because of language bariers 5: many people tend to like adrenaline shot songs, but dont thend to enjoy and they end up forget it instead of looking what else the band has to offer examples: avenged sevenfold with blind in chains, buried alive and hail to the king. starset with my demons, frequency, icarus and gravity of you. three days grace with I am a machine, villain Im not, car crash and pain killer bring me to the horizon with can you feel my hearth and 1x1

[@thientuongnguyen2564]

Then again, it showed the general problem of music devolving into bland snacks since 2012. I'd say, they should have changed settings to before 2000 for once instead of keep trying to chase that contemporary settings like most open-world games.

[@joy211191]

I'll disagree with you. No one is saying that the music is bad. It doesn't go with the game. With high speed cars, you need high octane music. It's a mismatch than a preference thing of one genre. You're missing the goddamn point.

[@wieldylattice3015]

1:03 FH3 radio set to Hospital Records Radio, that’s nostalgia. Used to fly down roads listening to tunes that got me lost in my own head

[@Abel_Unstable]

Remember that soundtracks (be it during Menu or during racing) is all about the atmosphere, the "feel" of the racing itself. Rock, Hip-Hop, Rap, Metal and more....it matters as long as it has the beats and the song that fits the gameplay. In my case, Im loving Grid and Project Cars soundtrack. It doesn't have music during gameplay(sometimes it did), but the build up and the atmosphere it gives the player of something glorious about Racing, sometimes its about the beauty of Motorsport itself. Wreckfest also had a tons of great soundtrack, the main menu in particular is really fitting the "Chaotic" feel of the races you'll get, the in-game music also quite fitting and some is actually really good. Older NFS era is always been a nostalgia for me, even the soundtracks. Got nothing to say about the current NFS since I lost interest to the series since Heat.

[@sup3rsn8ke]

Paybacks soundtrack was one of the most underrated soundtracks ever, fr love in a minor key is such a good song and there was a gorrilaz song in there, FUCKING GORILLAZ! That's a crossover I never thought I would see ever.

[@SpeedyManCharles]

the problem is not the lack of diversity or "hip hop" genre that makes Unbound's sound track bad. the problem is that 90% of the songs they chose for unbound are just garbage. they could have put SOO many better songs and still have the same hip hop vibe. the unfamiliarity with the artists isnt the problem, its that those artist just flat out suck. most of them use an excessive amount of autotune and beats that just are not pleasant to listen to. they could have put artists like Joyner Lucas, Logic, Tech N9ne, MGK, etc. and it would have been passable.

[@TheRambossss]

Hear me out. Yes i liked old need for speed soundtrack, this is true. However what i wanted from Unbound is variety of genre and not just rock, edm and metal, you could add: Phonk, Funk, Eurobeat, (for the love of god, can a racing game use eurobeat?!) Hardstyle, Hardcore, even K-pop. Also give us back the EA Jukebox so we can pick and choose what songs play and what does not.

[@siddheshpillai3807]

Excluding k-pop but yeah agree

[@saminates2002]

A racing game with euro beat would be FANTASTIC!!!!!

[@RedlineGTR]

iirc initial d games have eurobeat

[@ralphlorenzperolino3054]

Don't even include Uptempo Hardcore there.

[@yoshimario]

the inital d games use eurobeat, but i get your point, hell, in my opinion unbound literally just dropped the ball when it comes to picking songs (might also be a problem with criterion still thinking trap is related to rap or hip hop but idk i normally trust criterion with soundtracks)

[@drakvaclav826]

I think you're missing the point slightly in here - problem is not with variety, the problem is that these songs are unfit to race to. NFS:MW2012 (a game that had the best soundtrack of all time, you can't change my mind) had good variety with Electronica, Rock, Grime, Hip-Hop, etc... All of those songs, however, were energetic, fast, rythmic - there's a reason for why Blockbuster Night Pt. 1 works with racing, and Babushka Boy doesn't. There's a reason why can I listen to Horizon's Hospital Records for hours on end while racing, and not get bored (at least not of the soundtrack anyway).

[@TheJakeMG]

I agree with you, but that's not the point I wanted to cover in this video. Ironically, Blockbuster Night Pt. 1 was never a race song in NFS 2015. If you're thinking of NFSMW 2012 you might be thinking of the Flux Pavilion song.

[@drakvaclav826]

@@TheJakeMG Really? I could've sworn I've raced to that song - well, surely there's stuff like Bonkers - Grime fits racing better than hip-hop ☺️ Though that definetly depends on the song.

[@fizzisoda7113]

HEEEEEEY WE WANT SOME MONEY!!!!

[@mitchellhenning158]

Juiced (PS2), NFS Underground 1 & 2, Most Wanted (2005), Carbon, Pro Street, Gran Turismo 3, Midnight Club 3, L.A. Rush & Burnout Paradise

[@unfunnybrownman]

i would say nostalgia and your own taste in cultures is the two main things when it comes to someone prefering a group of songs over another back in the 2000s, emo and alternative rock and metal culture were the big things so thats what the aesthetic of all those games and its soundtracks came from, nowadays is more on the rap and trap aesthetic which comes with games and movies going for that style back then you would have been PILED ON for not listening to Disasterpiece by Slipknot, nowadays is if you not listen to SPEEDBOAT by Denzel Curry not only racing games but just, media in general honestly, thats just how trends work and thats always what most game devs will be chasing, whether it be to gain more public or just being the stuff theyre into

[@unfunnybrownman]

i might also like to add that context in X game is also pretty important to the music selection if youre being the equal to Osama in Burnout while causing 80 million dollars in damages, then maybe indie rock like Arctic Monkeys or some jazz lofi playlist wouldnt be the first choice to fit in

[@ralcolfwolfcoon8207]

It's not nostalgia. It's by choice modern games choose these shitty tracks.

[@SpoonR24]

@@unfunnybrownman the 2000s arctic monkeys actually might fit burnout, especially dominator.

[@WaifuWarsRacing]

You're the first person I see do this kind of video on Unbound's soundtrack contrary to the 400 other videos saying it sucks with a badly cropped gigachad png on the thumbnail and literally zero explanation. Some of your points are good but unfortunately knowing how stubborn NFS fans are, specially the ones targeted with this video, I doubt many will agree with you, which is a shame tbh. (I also kinda agree with your take on B3's soundtrack, Revenge is way better at it)

[@rightbehindyou9398]

No offense but those 400 other videos with the cropped gigachad png are making fun of people who share your opinion. Hey, it's free speech, if they want to then let them.

[@wildthunder02gaming37]

It would be interesting to see a Need For Speed to have Drift-Phonk as it's racing music, as it is pretty popular in the car community

[@siddheshpillai3807]

What a missed opportunity

[@kadeemcraigwell8375]

Plus you have to pay for the rights of popular music which cut into game cost

[@powerhourcollective]

My largest gripe with most racing soundtracks these days are they aren't as focused on building up the game's atmosphere anymore. Forza Horizon 1 and 2 did this the best, along with Burnout Takedown and the Underground games. Modern Horizon became the best example of a franchise dropping that skill, where the radio stations are simply there to appeal to as broad of an audience as possible, and using the crutch of classic songs of each genre instead of narrowing the genres and looking far and deep to find something that matches the game world and atmosphere perfectly.

[@silvy3047]

We don't like it because it's bad

[@donstrigger9930]

While I haven't played unbound yet I sank roughly 300 hours on Heat and from the moment I heard the song in the opening cinematic I went to the option menu and muted music audio, tabbed out and looked for a synthwave playlist

[@MrJr1976]

It's a whole era that I seem to vibe with. It's the late-90's-late-00's. The garage-rock era. I grew up on GT4's soundtrack nearly exclusively. But when I play FM2, Carbon, Takedown, etc I always start vibing HARD with the soundtrack. With a mix of garage-rock, alt-punk, edm, classic rock, etc those just seem to be the best all-around genres for racing games. Just like classical music is the best for open-world fantasy or swing for apocalypse-style games.

[@GeneralChrisGaming]

Older racing did really well to add atmosphere into their game using music which is important. New racing games fail to add music that would belong in a racing environment or cruise or even heck the garage. Today's racing games just take anything throw it anywhere and just leave, well at least it feels this way. I mean look a games like need for speed underground 2. The game has 2 playlist for when your in the overworld playing song like "The Celebration song" and when your in the garage you get songs like "Lean back" or "Thatz my name" imagine if "Thatz my name" was placed in a racing environment instead of the garage! the atmosphere will be completely different and need for speed in the past did so well at this and that's why many are mad. They want to feel like they're playing a racing game listening to songs picked for the game not like they turned on the radio listening to garbage like rico nasty money like bro why this trash.

[@TheLexa053]

My music taste was shaped by Gran Turismo PSP and... Need For Speed: Undercover - hearing Noisia in Gran Turismo PSP intro was just... HARD! And I like 90% of Pendulum's library (tracks like: Tarantula, 9000 Miles, Midnight Runner, Sounds of Life, Watercolour, Vulture, Tempest, Plasticworld and many more just are bangin'). Also I like The Prodigy, pretty present interpret in NFS (First Warning, You'll be Under My Wheels etc.)

[@Tales541]

The problem with newer racing games soundtracks is that they're just not "good" overall and/or memorable. Take Underground 2 for example, it has a lot of variety and it is executed very well, with songs that you probably will listen to on a daily basis. Music in games CAN fit the game's theme and also have listening value, and with racing games nowadays, it doesn't have that latter for the most part. My favorite examples of that are: Horizon 4 and 5, Heat and Unbound (although Horizon 4 and 5 have some good songs, overall the soundtrack isn't that good, I find myself a lot turning those games radios off completely because of how annoying some songs can be).

[@Chadison]

the WMMT series still has the best soundtracks of all time

[@L3oT1g3r-]

A soundtrack that barely gets mentioned, heck, I downloaded the whole playlist lmao. Trance4life.

[@TheMurphyCago]

The problem is not at all divercity but the quality of the songs.I am tired of this 'oh you just being nostalgic' mentality when all you get is these over sampled 2 note songs with choped up yappening as lyrics wich was made by a crackedhead in 5 minutes on Ableton.Especially the Black Box era songs were selected peretty tastefully so they helped building atmosphere and mood not just the rock/metal songs, all of it.The new soundtracks aren't all bad, fair enough, but far and few between, most of it just irritatingly overrepetitive commercial music.Not only these songs about a big fat nothing, not like you roaming around in Rockport banging a song about decadence, but they lack the energy, most of them just so tame and dull, sure there were some moody tracks, but than again they were a nice contrast when things are setled or what not, again, building atmosphere, building charachter.Who would forget in Pro Street ripping in Nevada with clenched teeth to an absolute banger of UNKLE called Restless!Quite fitting don't you think?Those games were made by creative, passionate people, now it's all commercialised for mess production, soulless and dull.

[@rightbehindyou9398]

oh you just being nostalgic

[@TheMurphyCago]

@@rightbehindyou9398 haha, good one :D

[@rightbehindyou9398]

@@TheMurphyCago No it was not a good one. Anyway thank you for your based comment i agree with it

[@iamtheacunit]

I haven’t watched a single second of this video yet but I’ll answer the question in the title. I don’t like need for speed unbounds soundtrack specifically because it is objectively fucking terrible

[@Dragosflash]

Is not fit for racing games adrenaline. It makes me smooke weed and bang my head

[@michaelhawke7689]

>haven't watched a single second of the video and claims his opinion being "the objective one" average need for speed fan lmao

[@raulcaubera2898]

NFS Unbound soundtrack doesn't have that adrenalin felling meanwhile u r driving, not like Burnout 3 that is the opposite and u can feel it

[@jerrious5955]

Most Wanted 2012 soundtracks are absolute bangers. I will forever be grateful for introducing me to Last Dinosaurs.

[@azizabdul8914]

Another thing that you probably noticed but didn't want to admit about Unbound is that Unbound's soundtrack, despite their attempt to diversify it, has little to no songs that keeps you sense up to speed. Think of famous video game OSTs that makes you really want to floor it to the max; Mute City from F-Zero, Escape From The City from Sonic Adventure 2, many iterations of Moon Over The Castle from Gran Turismo, many many Eurobeat songs you hear from various Initial D games, and so on. One of the best example in NFS history is got to be Barrier Break from MW2005, it just scream high octane speeding, encourages you to floor it, you know you're not going to abide the law, and the mix up used on Baron's first battle cutscene is just, perfect. With Unbound, most of the songs are either worldwide hip hop with a little bit of phonk remixes put in, which doesn't really convey high-octane speed chase that most NFS songs does before Heat. Sure there are examples where it does convey some semblance of speed, and a lot of the songs fit into slower and smaller events like drift events etc, but as Unbound becomes progressively faster and faster to the point it matches Criterion's own NFSMW 2012 portion, the soundtrack doesn't truly convey its speed and is unable to keep up with the andrenaline progression. The result? You'll be running in high power and speed racing where every single event is accompanied with mild-slow phonk remixes and occasional hip-hop that's just too slow for the high speed race itself, to the point of tedium. In fact, almost every single piece of these songs are best used for the menu/garage portion of the game where you don't get as much speed, and i still think it's inferior to the likes of "Riders of the Storm" or "Do Ya Thang". JakeMG, i'm sorry that i have to disagree with you with this one. Everyone dislikes Unbound soundtrack not because it lacks variety or just plain sucks, that's subjective, and i kinda understand the people who like listening to it. Everyone dislikes Unbound soundtrack because the music just too slow and can't keep up with the speed progression that the game slowly picks up at an alarming pace. If you've been playing a lot of racing games lately, you should probably consider the factor of speed for the soundtrack, because that's how most people decide whether the racing game soundtrack is good or not.

[@shadowlancerracing]

As someone extremely critical of NFS Unbound's soundtrack, it isn't the fact that it's rap. It's just that the rap in the game is really bad. It may not be my main genre but at least the rap from previous NFS was actually very good. I'd rather go 200mph listening to I am rock than listen to HEYYYYYY WE WANT SOME MONEYYYY whilst going 200mph, because if you're racing you'll need soundtrack that's fast, rock, EDM/DNB, rap even. It doesn't matter as long as it fits the game. I'm all for different genres being featured in soundtracks but you need it to be for everyone and more importantly to fit. Not expecting you to agree with me by any means but that's my take.

[@tristanheron4144]

It is sad there is no synthwave in NFS Heat. It fits the aesthetic so well.

[@TRRDroid]

The first time I saw Heat's artstyle I seriously expected synthwave to appear in it

[@snuron]

same. Such a missed opportunity.

[@rightbehindyou9398]

As much as I laugh at heat's soundtrack, I'm glad there's no synthwave because JESUS CHRIST is synthwave repetitive. I used to think soundcloud trap is repetitive but synthwave is on another level of repetitive. It's so repetitive that I'd rather listen to an old 70s vinyl on loop for an entire day and it would still be less repetitive. I can't stand how repetitive it is.

[@yoshimario]

true, i also expected to hear like some 80s movie music in freeroam like axel f or she's on fire

[@yoshimario]

@@rightbehindyou9398 im pretty sure you are exaggerating when you compare synthwave to goddamn soundcloud trap, the worst music platform mixed with the disgraced inbred child of rap and hip hop, unless i somehow mixed up synthwave with vaporwave or something but still, then give a better suggestion that isn't a full on joke

[@Joe_mama03]

idk, unbound it lacks of good songs no matter the genre honestly. but maybe 22 already kinda old for me for this tracks.

[@TheJakeMG]

What do you mean by "maybe 22 already kinda old for me" ?

[@heardofrvb]

Whatever happened to the techno soundtrack that was in games like High Stakes?