Need for Speed Rivals

Need for Speed: Rivals is an intense racing game that lets you play as street racers or the cops pursuing them.

Police chases have always been of the most exciting aspects of the Need for Speed series, and Rivals does more with it than ever before. Not only does it expand on these hot pursuits, but it gives you the chance to play the cop and take down the illegal street racers. This option also extends to the seamless multiplayer, and that really sets Rivals apart from most other racing games.

Need for Speed: Rivals doesn’t have tracks. Instead, you drive around a large open-world map. There are challenges littered across this map, and you’ll have to achieve a certain level of success before unlocking many of them. Along the way, you’ll earn credits, which you can use to purchase new vehicles as well as upgrades for your cars, including new weapons.

The racing is really intense, and the courses through the environment are usually well-designed. In addition, there’s no distinction between single-player and multiplayer by default. Other players will drop into and out of your game with very little fanfare. The cool thing is that you can race with or against other players at almost any time.

NFS does suffer from a lack of variety in some regards. The various race types will seem kind of same-y by the end. There’s also the issue with the weapons you use as the cops to take down the street racers or vice versa. They’re just not as interesting as they have been in past games.

Pros

• Plays as the cops or the street races
• Seamless multiplayer racing
• Intense racing across a diverse environment

Cons

• Weapon and race type variety