I love the cop speech in NFSMW 2005 because the cops truly sounded professional and did everything they knew to stop us, even if they weren't the smartest cops in this franchise.
Unbound made cops sound too cheap and unprofessional in stark comparison, as though they wanted to play with us.
It would be so much fun. Imagine if they really put effort into making the cops serious like they used to be. Dont make them joke around like its a day at the office, people’s lives are in danger
Shit a difficulty setting where your car gets permanently impounded and removed from your garage if you're busted would add so much risk to the game even if the plot and vibe was identical.
Best storyline in the entire franchise, my hottest take is that it should've been in the mainline game because it's just that good compared to what we got in regular Carbon
I feel like it would have been censored, it only got away with it imo due to being on PSP so less eyes on it period.
But assuming it didn't get censored, ok so we get a new timeline in which the protagonist of carbon and mw are separate. That combined with the crew member backstories would have been a interesting, possibly dark story.
Does MW protagonist stay a 1 off, or does he appear in another installment?
PEGI and ESRB aren't exactly known for giving much of a damn, they probably wouldn't have played the game until the darker parts of the story were revealed. As an added bonus, the plot would provide the perfect setup for having the speedbreaker ability, I'm still kind of baffled that the one game where the protag wakes up from a coma after a near death experience doesn't get the reality bending superpowers, but the random undercover police guy in Undercover does.
Speaking of Undercover, the most elegant way to give the MW protag his second game in this hypothetical alternate timeline is to make him the protag of Undercover. He was on the national most wanted list so unless he were to get smuggled across a border or two he'd get caught eventually, and maybe Cross would honor the deal he presented during the final chase in MW, part of which would be the protag working as an Undercover wheelman. It's kind of an out there solution, but it could've worked, along with keeping the whole RPG inspired branching storyline Undercover was supposed to have.
Like some Brian O Connor going to Miami situation? But instead of max prison time you become the cops new lapdog before you ultimately betray em? I could see it working. During the career you build up ragtag band of street racers and other people that would help you in those activities.
Cops put you on a impossible task type shit with the hopes of you getting killed and thus wrapping up their operation and you neatly.
Your band of morally just street racers thwart this attempt and then y'all cruise into the sunset.
Add a betrayal from the team if you wanna make it darker, add a love interest on the cops team if you want more drama
Off the top of my head: You wake up from a coma to find out that your brother is dead after you both got into an accident during a street race. You don't remember everything that happened but you know you love your brother and with his girlfriend's help you'll find out who killed him. Then you race your way through the city to take it over and get answers. When you get them, you'll be hit with a pretty impressive twist.
The protagonist you're play is actually the real mastermind behind staging the accident.
The reason is dû to Mick's monstrious et asshole personality. He's treated you (his little brother) and Sarah (his girfriend) like crap and useless living being, showing any compent for everything and everyone, on plus being the boss of the Lucky's 7 and one of the best street racers of Coast city. The worse part is Mick become worse every time he race.
So to saving Sarah and him from Mick's abuse, the protagonist hire EX to kill is big brother, which this one hired Buddy to do his dirty work. That explain why Mick get wrecked and die on the race by Buddy's car but also how the protagonist ended on the coma catch on the crossfire.
This is one thing I appreciate with Unbound - it was solely focused on The Grand competition to get revenge on Yaz so it was just racing & perfecting your build - the flaw was that the plot and motivation wasn't that good and the characters think they're the good guys "street racing is good its how i express myself type bullshit". There's no gangs or corrupt cops to fight so that's good imo
Meanwhile Heat was all about some corrupt cops and Ana, The player and lucas need to be the heroes and save the day bullshit.
If we take Heat's gritty story vibe and throw it into Unbound's story, that would give us a solid story.
It's just like people have been saying nowadays, there's an incredible NFS game that lies between Heat & Unbound. Criterion just gotta find that and cook for the next game. Kaizen is a massive influence
Worst story moment in nfs unbound (so far, I haven't finished it), is when the protagonist hears a news report about the mayor speeding in a school zone. The protagonist gleefully reacts that "the mayor's a hypocrite!"
As if that's any justification for the protagonist consistently doing worse. But street racing is okay because it's just a form of "expressing yourself", right?
Yeah that's why I still like 2015 plot the most. Yeah it's a bit cringe but it's the least cringy ones out from all Ghost NFS games IMO. It feels like those 2000s street racing movies (not Fast and Furious)
It really feels like youre fucking around with the group, doing fun shit. No crazy revenge plot, no real plot in general other than racing, it was great.
I really like the corny elements of it, it really feels like a product of its time but thats what makes it fun for me even though the cop gameplay elements were not that good
That meme would have a point if it didn't compare 2 completely different racing game franchises.
It's like comparing Marvel and DC, they are the same genre but they have literally nothing to do with each other.
Personally, I feel like it's less an issue that the racers are "good guys", and more that you don't actually see the people you're up against really doing anything worse than you. You don't really see much of actual police corruption, they're just edgelords that also go fast, you can't really take them seriously because of how silly they are written. If EA went the [Watch_Dogs](https://watchdogs.fandom.com/wiki/$911) route and actually made the police genuinely threatening and criminal, if not outright horrifying to be up against, it would make a lot more sense why racers are good, and give real stakes to the story.
Although considering EA seems to be aiming for mass-appeal with NFS, they probably wouldn't actually do anything as political as, Ubisoft apparently?
I feel like it's to cater to newer gens. Which sucks, because we don't always need to be treated as the hero when breaking the law. It's like not telling your kid to stop or telling them no so they don't feel bad
Why would you say that? Don't you know that street racing is a completely legal activity that multiracial lgtbi people use to express themselves or something like that?
Although NFS Rivals didn't have much of a plot, it faced the same problem. That was before 2015.
The racer character just pretended to be better and be the hero among racers, claiming Police to be the villains. So yeah, EA had run out of ideas since a long time.
OG most wanted we weren’t really a hero, we’re just trying to get our car back after getting screwed, and we end up getting a bunch of people locked up, and just about killed racing in Rockport… So we were literally just a support character while the cops were cleaning up because we wanted the M3 back, and to beat that obnoxious Razor’s ass.
NFS 2015 is a good example for that, Most Wanted 2005 is too. In those games, you are a criminal, and you're framed like one, and that's what makes it cool.
I see it the same way. Let the player be a criminal again.
I understand this criticism, but the "we just want to express ourselves" bit in Unbound is clearly satire. If you pay attention to the dialogue when you are driving the other racers to their safehouses, they all come across as pretty self-centered and dumb.
Tbh I'm kind of in the mood for an NFS game in the perspective of the story "villain". Like for example I want to be the one taking down the hero player just with a lot more action and focus on being the villain. Imagine getting to play as Razor.
I'm currently replaying underground 2 and it is indeed the best I've every played. You don't even have a real character trying to achieve social media fame with cringe voice lines.
Just good cars, lots of tuning and plenty of racing types.
Last NFS I bought was heat and all this hero character shit really pissed me off meanwhile the cars, tuning and racing is also awful compared to older NFS games like underground or most wanted.
So just replay old titles and maybe use some graphic mods
The OP meant that in the 2 last modern NFS titles in terms of storyline, they try to justify street racing as legal and make the main protagonist appear as a hero when he's an anti-hero/villain doing illegal activities in the first place. And it's a monumental failure.
In old NFS like the NFS Hot Pursuit saga (the racers, not the cops of course), the NFS MW 2005/NFS Carbon duology or NFS The Run, this wasn't at all the case because the main protagonists of these games were perfectly aware of the illegality of their actions and didn't need to justify their deeds unlike in the story in NFS Unbound which does the opposite as well as being a [Butterfly Effect](https://www.reddit.com/r/needforspeed/s/0ieCMlToEP) nonsense.
In fact, NFS Payback and Unbound have the [same story](https://www.reddit.com/r/needforspeed/s/bqZe8ODsb2) [pattern](https://www.reddit.com/r/needforspeed/s/13LdSmsBM3) meaning they did it twice But with different characters.
Basically. Scenario writers are running out of ideas.
Okay yeah that sounds dumb. I've been playing Forza Horizon and the dialogue is literally written for 3 year olds. It's all positivity this and "you're a champion" that...
I guess every game or franchise has to be cringe nowadays for some reason.
I love so much about nfs 2015. I agree. I just wish they would remaster it for new gen consoles, create a larger map, make cops a little better and allow us to play OFFLINE.
I mean racing games don't really have a good story line. Just some mediocre story to have some play time longevity to have players grind for cars to unlock to use in MP to drive around
i feel Forza Horizon has ruined it for everybody
its all happy-go-lucky in that franchise, so nobody wants to do gritty stuff because that would potentially move players from this franchise to the more friendly/welcoming ones
Nope. Forza Horizon didn't ruin anything for anyone.
Forza Horizon and Need For Speed are diametrically opposite and both have different targeted audiences in the first place.
Plus, their respective gameplay experience aren't the same.
In Need For Speed, you have either to be the best Racer while customizing your car (either for styling purposes OR to reduce the Heat Level) OR arrest all Outlaw Racers as a Cop.
Meanwhile, Forza Horizon is more a sandbox driving game where you do everything you want by any means. At the same time, you collect many cars and tune them to reach their max potential.
It's just that competitors try to copy Forza Horizon (looking at you The Crew 2 and Motorfest) But it's a monumental failure every time.
Just give me a simple plot about how I'm trying to become the uncatchable, unbeatable king of the street racing scene in town. Maybe a plot about starting my own tuning garage and trying to grow it by racing and increasing rep. I get they don't want to rehash stories but how many racing games even have one to begin with?
And the folk hero anti-establishment shit just doesn't work if you don't embrace being the outlaws. In addition to that, add some missions that actually tie into the story. If the plot is that the racers are a sort of "resistance," have a mission where you have to drive around the city destroying billboards and campaign lawn signs. Maybe the corrupt mayor outlawed spray paint sales because of graffiti, now the mission is to smuggle in a crate of cans like moonshiners or something.
It'll never happen, but adding on foot gameplay, or mini games at least would open up a whole new world in regard to story possibilities. Now instead of racing one night, you drive to the police station and pour sugar in the tanks of the Street Racing Enforcement patrol cars. Or if we do the tuning garage plot, mini games where you add and remove engine parts, tune a car, remap its ECU, assemble multi piece wheels, etc.
Exactly. I'm breaking the law, treat me like I'm breaking the law.
I love the cop speech in NFSMW 2005 because the cops truly sounded professional and did everything they knew to stop us, even if they weren't the smartest cops in this franchise. Unbound made cops sound too cheap and unprofessional in stark comparison, as though they wanted to play with us.
It's okay the next and last update is all cops.
That’s because all the liberal anti cop propaganda today. All cops are now supposedly corrupt.
Wrong. It’s need for speed. That’s why. Nothing about that game is real in the slightest
It would be so much fun. Imagine if they really put effort into making the cops serious like they used to be. Dont make them joke around like its a day at the office, people’s lives are in danger
Shit a difficulty setting where your car gets permanently impounded and removed from your garage if you're busted would add so much risk to the game even if the plot and vibe was identical.
bReAkInG ThE lAw!!! BrEaKiNg THe WoRlD!! Oh sorry wrong game..
yakuza reference spotted
No because overcompensating cop badder than bad driver /s
Just wait till you learn about Own the City storyline
Best storyline in the entire franchise, my hottest take is that it should've been in the mainline game because it's just that good compared to what we got in regular Carbon
I feel like it would have been censored, it only got away with it imo due to being on PSP so less eyes on it period. But assuming it didn't get censored, ok so we get a new timeline in which the protagonist of carbon and mw are separate. That combined with the crew member backstories would have been a interesting, possibly dark story. Does MW protagonist stay a 1 off, or does he appear in another installment?
PEGI and ESRB aren't exactly known for giving much of a damn, they probably wouldn't have played the game until the darker parts of the story were revealed. As an added bonus, the plot would provide the perfect setup for having the speedbreaker ability, I'm still kind of baffled that the one game where the protag wakes up from a coma after a near death experience doesn't get the reality bending superpowers, but the random undercover police guy in Undercover does. Speaking of Undercover, the most elegant way to give the MW protag his second game in this hypothetical alternate timeline is to make him the protag of Undercover. He was on the national most wanted list so unless he were to get smuggled across a border or two he'd get caught eventually, and maybe Cross would honor the deal he presented during the final chase in MW, part of which would be the protag working as an Undercover wheelman. It's kind of an out there solution, but it could've worked, along with keeping the whole RPG inspired branching storyline Undercover was supposed to have.
I believe you are referring to Driver: San Francisco.
Yup, I was thinking about Driver: San Francisco while writing that, I should replay it again
You should! It still holds up all these years later, especially the population density in the game.
Like some Brian O Connor going to Miami situation? But instead of max prison time you become the cops new lapdog before you ultimately betray em? I could see it working. During the career you build up ragtag band of street racers and other people that would help you in those activities. Cops put you on a impossible task type shit with the hopes of you getting killed and thus wrapping up their operation and you neatly. Your band of morally just street racers thwart this attempt and then y'all cruise into the sunset. Add a betrayal from the team if you wanna make it darker, add a love interest on the cops team if you want more drama
Amazing how a PSP game seemed to deliver the best plot in the history of the franchise.
I dont know the plot of the psp game, can somebody recap?
Off the top of my head: You wake up from a coma to find out that your brother is dead after you both got into an accident during a street race. You don't remember everything that happened but you know you love your brother and with his girlfriend's help you'll find out who killed him. Then you race your way through the city to take it over and get answers. When you get them, you'll be hit with a pretty impressive twist.
It was his girlfriend? Lol, it is a good story though. Way better than some shit they put in mainline games in the past.
I think she was involved but she wasn't the mastermind behind staging the accident.
The protagonist you're play is actually the real mastermind behind staging the accident. The reason is dû to Mick's monstrious et asshole personality. He's treated you (his little brother) and Sarah (his girfriend) like crap and useless living being, showing any compent for everything and everyone, on plus being the boss of the Lucky's 7 and one of the best street racers of Coast city. The worse part is Mick become worse every time he race. So to saving Sarah and him from Mick's abuse, the protagonist hire EX to kill is big brother, which this one hired Buddy to do his dirty work. That explain why Mick get wrecked and die on the race by Buddy's car but also how the protagonist ended on the coma catch on the crossfire.
Right, that was the twist (I wanted to avoid giving it away)
This is one thing I appreciate with Unbound - it was solely focused on The Grand competition to get revenge on Yaz so it was just racing & perfecting your build - the flaw was that the plot and motivation wasn't that good and the characters think they're the good guys "street racing is good its how i express myself type bullshit". There's no gangs or corrupt cops to fight so that's good imo Meanwhile Heat was all about some corrupt cops and Ana, The player and lucas need to be the heroes and save the day bullshit. If we take Heat's gritty story vibe and throw it into Unbound's story, that would give us a solid story. It's just like people have been saying nowadays, there's an incredible NFS game that lies between Heat & Unbound. Criterion just gotta find that and cook for the next game. Kaizen is a massive influence
The story in NFS Payback doesn’t really paint the protagonists as heroes… it’s still corny as fuck tho.
Payback was shit regardless
So true
Exactly. NFS Payback sucks.
Yeah, but I would like to just race, not revenge
Worst story moment in nfs unbound (so far, I haven't finished it), is when the protagonist hears a news report about the mayor speeding in a school zone. The protagonist gleefully reacts that "the mayor's a hypocrite!" As if that's any justification for the protagonist consistently doing worse. But street racing is okay because it's just a form of "expressing yourself", right?
Yeah that's why I still like 2015 plot the most. Yeah it's a bit cringe but it's the least cringy ones out from all Ghost NFS games IMO. It feels like those 2000s street racing movies (not Fast and Furious)
It really feels like youre fucking around with the group, doing fun shit. No crazy revenge plot, no real plot in general other than racing, it was great. I really like the corny elements of it, it really feels like a product of its time but thats what makes it fun for me even though the cop gameplay elements were not that good
Yeah the cops needs to be more insane and the handling needs to be smoother. Other than that I love the vibe in that game.
The most upvoted post of all time in this subreddit is about this topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/needforspeed/s/zf32TwpZ7Y
Didn’t even see this when I made my comment, but based
That meme would have a point if it didn't compare 2 completely different racing game franchises. It's like comparing Marvel and DC, they are the same genre but they have literally nothing to do with each other.
Lmao I remember this post. Perfect then perfect now
Personally, I feel like it's less an issue that the racers are "good guys", and more that you don't actually see the people you're up against really doing anything worse than you. You don't really see much of actual police corruption, they're just edgelords that also go fast, you can't really take them seriously because of how silly they are written. If EA went the [Watch_Dogs](https://watchdogs.fandom.com/wiki/$911) route and actually made the police genuinely threatening and criminal, if not outright horrifying to be up against, it would make a lot more sense why racers are good, and give real stakes to the story. Although considering EA seems to be aiming for mass-appeal with NFS, they probably wouldn't actually do anything as political as, Ubisoft apparently?
If only Terrorfive survived 😔
what is terrorfive even about? i saw a picture of it and it just looks like Watch Dogs
It's basically nfs but you act as a terrorist in a post 9/11 setting.
Wow, that's wild. Wonder what the story would've been about as a terrorist
I want to embrace being the villain
Lets face it, i want to be the number 1 bad guy just like in mw05
Didn't Undercover make the player a hero?
Not really treated as such though, up until the very end of the game. Have you seen Undercover's busted cutscenes?
Yes. That's because the protag is an undercover cop.
Hence the name "Undercover"
Correct.
Was undercover the only game that the protagonist in story mode is a cop?
Nope. There's also the NFS Hot Pursuit saga and NFS Rivals where 1 of the protagonists is a cop.
I feel like it's to cater to newer gens. Which sucks, because we don't always need to be treated as the hero when breaking the law. It's like not telling your kid to stop or telling them no so they don't feel bad
Yes. We are meant to be outlaws.
Why would you say that? Don't you know that street racing is a completely legal activity that multiracial lgtbi people use to express themselves or something like that?
Tbh the only real heroes in these games are actually the police
Although NFS Rivals didn't have much of a plot, it faced the same problem. That was before 2015. The racer character just pretended to be better and be the hero among racers, claiming Police to be the villains. So yeah, EA had run out of ideas since a long time.
OG most wanted we weren’t really a hero, we’re just trying to get our car back after getting screwed, and we end up getting a bunch of people locked up, and just about killed racing in Rockport… So we were literally just a support character while the cops were cleaning up because we wanted the M3 back, and to beat that obnoxious Razor’s ass.
Yeah, I think that some kind of anti hero as a main protagonist would be awesome.
NFS 2015 is a good example for that, Most Wanted 2005 is too. In those games, you are a criminal, and you're framed like one, and that's what makes it cool. I see it the same way. Let the player be a criminal again.
I understand this criticism, but the "we just want to express ourselves" bit in Unbound is clearly satire. If you pay attention to the dialogue when you are driving the other racers to their safehouses, they all come across as pretty self-centered and dumb.
Tbh I'm kind of in the mood for an NFS game in the perspective of the story "villain". Like for example I want to be the one taking down the hero player just with a lot more action and focus on being the villain. Imagine getting to play as Razor.
Eh... I'm pretty sure u're the villain in Most Wanted.
I'm currently replaying underground 2 and it is indeed the best I've every played. You don't even have a real character trying to achieve social media fame with cringe voice lines. Just good cars, lots of tuning and plenty of racing types. Last NFS I bought was heat and all this hero character shit really pissed me off meanwhile the cars, tuning and racing is also awful compared to older NFS games like underground or most wanted. So just replay old titles and maybe use some graphic mods
A multiplayer cops vs racers would be p sweet
Wait till you see forza horizon...
I only played the oldschool ones up to and including Pro Street. What's happening out there now?
The OP meant that in the 2 last modern NFS titles in terms of storyline, they try to justify street racing as legal and make the main protagonist appear as a hero when he's an anti-hero/villain doing illegal activities in the first place. And it's a monumental failure. In old NFS like the NFS Hot Pursuit saga (the racers, not the cops of course), the NFS MW 2005/NFS Carbon duology or NFS The Run, this wasn't at all the case because the main protagonists of these games were perfectly aware of the illegality of their actions and didn't need to justify their deeds unlike in the story in NFS Unbound which does the opposite as well as being a [Butterfly Effect](https://www.reddit.com/r/needforspeed/s/0ieCMlToEP) nonsense. In fact, NFS Payback and Unbound have the [same story](https://www.reddit.com/r/needforspeed/s/bqZe8ODsb2) [pattern](https://www.reddit.com/r/needforspeed/s/13LdSmsBM3) meaning they did it twice But with different characters. Basically. Scenario writers are running out of ideas.
Okay yeah that sounds dumb. I've been playing Forza Horizon and the dialogue is literally written for 3 year olds. It's all positivity this and "you're a champion" that... I guess every game or franchise has to be cringe nowadays for some reason.
Yup. That's totally correct. Too much cringe kills the cringe.
That's why I loved 2015 the story felt realistic they were the ones scared of cops made it seem tense but the cops in the were just goofy
I love so much about nfs 2015. I agree. I just wish they would remaster it for new gen consoles, create a larger map, make cops a little better and allow us to play OFFLINE.
Felt that only in unbound I agree
I mean racing games don't really have a good story line. Just some mediocre story to have some play time longevity to have players grind for cars to unlock to use in MP to drive around
i feel Forza Horizon has ruined it for everybody its all happy-go-lucky in that franchise, so nobody wants to do gritty stuff because that would potentially move players from this franchise to the more friendly/welcoming ones
Nope. Forza Horizon didn't ruin anything for anyone. Forza Horizon and Need For Speed are diametrically opposite and both have different targeted audiences in the first place. Plus, their respective gameplay experience aren't the same. In Need For Speed, you have either to be the best Racer while customizing your car (either for styling purposes OR to reduce the Heat Level) OR arrest all Outlaw Racers as a Cop. Meanwhile, Forza Horizon is more a sandbox driving game where you do everything you want by any means. At the same time, you collect many cars and tune them to reach their max potential. It's just that competitors try to copy Forza Horizon (looking at you The Crew 2 and Motorfest) But it's a monumental failure every time.
Forza Horizon and NFS fill two different niches in the arcade racing community. It hasn't ruined anything, it just provides a different experience.
I Entirely Agree.
Just give me a simple plot about how I'm trying to become the uncatchable, unbeatable king of the street racing scene in town. Maybe a plot about starting my own tuning garage and trying to grow it by racing and increasing rep. I get they don't want to rehash stories but how many racing games even have one to begin with? And the folk hero anti-establishment shit just doesn't work if you don't embrace being the outlaws. In addition to that, add some missions that actually tie into the story. If the plot is that the racers are a sort of "resistance," have a mission where you have to drive around the city destroying billboards and campaign lawn signs. Maybe the corrupt mayor outlawed spray paint sales because of graffiti, now the mission is to smuggle in a crate of cans like moonshiners or something. It'll never happen, but adding on foot gameplay, or mini games at least would open up a whole new world in regard to story possibilities. Now instead of racing one night, you drive to the police station and pour sugar in the tanks of the Street Racing Enforcement patrol cars. Or if we do the tuning garage plot, mini games where you add and remove engine parts, tune a car, remap its ECU, assemble multi piece wheels, etc.