Right on schedule, it’s the weekly drip feed of EA and Criterion Games’ upcoming racer Need For Speed Unbound. For this week, a new gameplay trailer just dropped, showing off the many elements of the single-player mode.
In Need For Speed Unbound, the ultimate goal is to reach The Grand, but to get there you’ll need to enter the Weekly Qualifiers, and to enter that, you’ll need Bank (in-game money). There’s a buy-in to enter the Weekly Qualifiers at the end of the first three in-game weeks (the final Saturday of the month is for The Grand) so you’ll be spending the week prepping your ride and earning enough dough just so you can show up on Saturday.
However, the more you race, the more (not literal) heat you generate, and that will get the attention of the cops. Cops are present in Need For Speed Unbound and just like in the previous game, you can expect them to show up mid-race to spoil the party when it gets high enough.
Your bank is on the line when you’re in hot pursuit. Should you get busted, all the money you are holding will be lost. So you need to shake them off and find places to lay low in order to bank (literally) all the bank you’re carrying.
The cops in Unbound will be driving new cars, but there are also new “escape mechanics”, yet to be explained what it is, to deal with them.
If you need to make more cash quick, you can also place side bets against your opponents. Between this and the calendar, NFS Unbound has surprisingly taken notes from Juiced- a cult-hit racing game that competed against NFS Underground back in the 2000s.
While not explicitly mentioned, it looks like the cops can bust you both in the day and night this time around, but the way the in-game calendar is presented it’s still up in the air whether Need For Speed Unbound will have a dynamic day-night cycle or not.
Starting with the previous game, Need For Speed Heat, the day and night are two different phases of time that only change on your call for gameplay reasons (earn bank in the day, earn heat at night). Unbound is… unbound from this gameplay loop, but it’s still not made clear if the dynamic day-night cycle is still out or is back in.
Still, the good chunk of new gameplay footage, in glorious 60fps, gives a better look at the new art style. Now that it’s not the main central talking point, the street art driving effects and cel-shaded characters don’t look that gaudy or overwhelming- the effects on the HUD after a shunt or nitrous boost might be more offending here if you ask us. And the game gives more ways to see your customisable avatars with new win screens and the side betting menu.
Need For Speed Unbound was revealed not only with the trailer debuting A$AP Rocky’s new song, but also the full car list and the full map of the open world, Lakeshore City.
Need For Speed Unbound will be out on December 2 on the PS5, PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, EA App) and Xbox Series X|S.
Source: Need For Speed