Disappointed. After 3 years of development, I expected something better. The core of the story is not bad, and the soundtrack is enjoyable, immersing you well in the underground world that the game aims to portray. The depth of the tuning system is truly impressive. I appreciated the idea of combining realistic graphics for cars and the game world (which are well done) with cel-shaded characters and vibrant, colorful driving effects. However, I don't like the driving mechanics. A car with the handling set entirely for "grip" is difficult to control in tight corners with sudden drifts, whereas a car fully set for "drift" is nearly impossible to handle normally, with sudden loss of grip. Normal NOS is useless, as well as an off-road build 'cause there aren't races that need this type of setup like it was in Payback or Heat. The dialogues, especially the radio conversations, seem to be written by a 10-year-old. The traffic cars are incredibly heavy, unlike the police cars that feel weightless. I didn't like the checkpoint system, and despite the story being short, the game quickly becomes repetitive. In addition, I find it ridiculous that a game that heavily relies on aesthetics and visual impact has such a barebones photo mode: you can only adjust the depth of field and contrast without even being able to apply a filter, while in previous installments, there were perhaps too many image filters available. I haven't played online, so I can't comment on that. Overall, it's one of the worst Need For Speed games I've ever played, which is a shame.
Played on PS5