I probably won't get to finish this anytime soon since my EA Play 10 hour trial is going to run out and I bought more than enough games right now, but let me just say this: This is easily the best NFS game since 2012's Most Wanted (which is funny since Criterion made that one too), which is a game I immensely loved.

The progression system in this game is quite smart. It adds stakes by having a time limit of preparing your cars so they can be optimal in the main tournament, but it also lets you tackle this preparation stage to your liking. You can take risks by doing a lot of races in quick successions and attracting pigs to your tail, and the game does a good job of incentivizing it. Not to mention the game limiting the number of restarts you can do, and adding the ability to do side bets with other racers, making the core gameplay loop more dynamic and active.

Another well thought out aspect of the game is the boost mechanic. You'll get a normal nitrous thing that works like in pretty much almost every other arcade racing game, but there's another boost thingy that only adds up when you do certain actions like drafting, jumping off a ramp or doing near misses, and this bar will drop quickly if you don't keep doing those actions, so it rewards both smart and flashy plays, and at the same time adds a more aggressive touch to the overall gameplay.

Lastly, the style of the game is quite sublime. The graphics almost looks photorealistic at times, and yet there's the eyecatching cell shaded character models and cartoony visual effects that contrasts each other in a exciting way. I also like the soundtrack quite a bit, it certainly strengthens the vibes that the game is going for.

Unless the game takes a massive nose dive later on, I can't see this going lower than a 4 stars so that's what I'll give it for now.

Reviewed on Dec 25, 2022


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