Gaming Need For Speed: Rivals Review

Rivals is a perfect game for speedy thrills, but it won't hold your attention for long.
http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2013/12/17/need-for-speed-rivals-review/1

 

I think that 80 is too high of a rating for this game. 70 would be more fitting imho.

Anyways. Still waiting for NFS:U3

 

No mention about the 30fps cap? Or has that been fixed (unlikely considering how the physics is linked to it)

See TotalBiscuit's video to see that nonsense in action.

I know it's a cross-platform game, but come on bit-tech/bitgamer... this is a PC-focused site!

 

80% for a game that's locked to 30fps, and breaks catastrophically if you defeat that lock? Are you mad? Also Frostbite 3 not Frostbyte 3.

 

I see we think the same.. Frankly, if this were a perfect game and was locked to 30fps, I'd give it 70, max. But given how underwhelming (it's a raacing game. How do you mess it up that badly?!) it is, 40 looks about right

 

I played it through the a week back its enjoyable enough. On a tv screen you rarely notice the 30fps cap which is how i play all racer games. Id never put one onto a monitor.

Id say its one of the better need for speed games and beats the reworked need for speed from last year.

If you remove the lock in the origin game ive not noticed any issues myself.

Dont think they have rights to underground anymore.

 

Try racing games on a triple-monitor or Oculus Rift setup with steering wheel + pedals... TVs suck in comparison.

EDIT: and 60fps vs 30fps is noticeable. Very noticeable on anything remotely fast (like racers!) with motion blur off (your brain does a good enough job, so stop hiding your shitty slow engine behind motion blur).

 

Oculus rift is not out yet last I checked.( did not donate a £1000 for a pre release version either) Tripple monitor works with some racers and not others. Looks good in grid / grid 2.

Motion blur off? Why its a arcade racer if you want a real racer theres other games out there. Shift 2 is one of the better racers out there in that regard. ( which also struggles with multi monitor unless you mod it.)

 

Does the PC version have a 30fps cap?

 

Oculus was only 300 USD for the pre-release backers, and while not that detailed in its current incarnation (holy pixel grid batman!), it has very definitely got me sold on the idea. I'm definitely buying the consumer/release version (and likely selling one of my monitors when that happens too).

On the subject of triple-screen, older games I care (Shift 2, DiRT) about support it well enough.

As for arcade racers, I enjoy those too. Sometimes all I want is to do some silly stuff. In any case, for me it boils down to Burnout Paradise having proper 60+FPS and a real options menu (really wish it had cockpit view though) that makes it unacceptable to me. A 4 year old game (and a console port at that!) can do better than your current game.. Go back to your damn drawing board and whip (or alternatively replace) your devs and testing teams into shape.

Hell, the best example is NFS:Underground 2 which support my G25 properly! Including the 6-speed shifter, 900 degree steering AND independent axes for brake/accelerator. That **** was good in 2004! No reason for it not to work at least as well in 2013!

EDIT:

Yes. And As I pointed out above, NOT mentioned or accounted for at ALL during the review.

 

Exactly why I'd love to see a properly done NFS:U3

 

Arguably NFS: Carbon is just that.. shame about the classes though... I should replay it (and the original Most Wanted for that matter) TBH, I've moved on to more sim-like racers in recent times...

In any case, NFS:U3 won't happen, not from EA at any rate... Not with all these shitty consoleports and targeting what TB calls the "dudebro" demographic.

These days the closest you'll get to NFS:U3 is GRID.. May they hopefully bring back cockpit view in GRID 3...

 

30fps and 60fps makes a lot of difference, especially in racing games, I wouldn't give it even 70% for that fps cap nowadays

 

This is as close to NFSU3 as I think we're going to get. At least there's some options and customisation there. The cars feel solid, as they did in Underground and the handling is miles better than the Burnout clone. It's quite pretty to look at too.

Now my complaint.

OK. So I look at my tasks. I set locations on the map and I carry them out for desperately needed SP. I win a race ! hurrah ! and get, say 20k SP. Then out of nowhere as I'm minding my own business the cops show up and I frantically try and find a safe house before all hell breaks loose. Sadly they're gonna catch me whether I like it or not, bang goes all my ****ing SP.

This has happened to me three times now, so I'm still stuck in the same car that desperately needs upgrading/swapping out and it's making the races close to impossible.

Money from your tasks should be immediately banked, not waved in front of you and then snatched from you. It's BS, and it's putting me right off what would otherwise be a highly enjoyable game. I ****ing hate the cop chases in NFS they should be shot in the bloody face. They're never going to be right as the AI is never going to be up to it so I just wish they'd piss off.

The 30 FPS cap is removable/switchable with this line

-GameTime.MaxSimFps 60 -GameTime.ForceSimRate 60+

Putting it at the end of your shortcut's link. However, once you hit 42 FPS or below the game runs at around 5 FPS.

Even at 30 FPS the game has its stuttery moments.

It's all such a terrible shame, because underneath there's a really solid racer

 

If that's as close as we'll ever get to NFS:U3 then I'll stick to GT6 until GT7 comes out I guess.

Seriously, this game is nowhere near as close to what alot of people liked about NFS:U and NFS:U2. We don't want to race against the police constantly like we do since NFS:MW, and we wan't more customization and better physics.

A mix of NFS:U(2), GT6 and GTR2... that's what we want Freeworld racing at night with customized cars for streetcred and money where the police might show up mixed with track-racing by day in "race-cars" where you can win trophies, money and sponsors.
And get the hell rid of the arcade-physics.

 

Mate I feel your pain, trust me on that. The Underground games were the most wonderful ever in the NFS series. But after numerous campaigns and petitions EA ain't going to budge. They're just not interested in what we want, only what they want.

Half of the problem is budget. The NFSU games bought in all sorts of actors and musicians. Now? fat chance of that.

 

I can live without the music... After the first 20 or so hours, you just mut in-game music and use your own tunes instead.

Nothing really beats some death metal as you drift down the mountains...

 

Yeah, I don't care about the music or the actors. Gran Tursismo has nothing of that either.

 

The "lose all your points if you get caught" is my biggest complaint, too.

I got NFS: Most Wanted (2013) via PlayStation Plus a while ago, and hated it. Rivals has it beaten by a country mile if it wasn't for the lost points thing. It's happened to me so easily half a dozen times now... last two times were right by my "Hideout" where the game wouldn't flash up the "Hit L1 to enter hideout" thing. (I picked this up on PS4... and on the PS4 I can't say I've noticed any framerate issues...)

 

GT6 is a sim game with AI added on and real world physics. NFS is a arcade racer that has no sim qualities and uses some physics built from the planet mars or sumit.

You can pretty much drift any bend at 150+ mph in NFS Rivals. Turbo on the p1 takes its speed above 250mph and it can still drift bends.

Underground 2 was good the orginal was not so great.

GT6 in a free drive world would be fun to see but only if they use the real physics engine for it would not want to see gt6 turned into NFS physics.