Yeah 100%
I don't get the hate. It sure as shit was corny, but it was fun and had a lovable goofiness to it. The rest just take themselves too seriously and it's super cringe.
Yea, 2015 was cringe in a cute dorky way. The characters were just trying to have fun. There was no grand plot. Or typical revenge plot, just a group of friends racing cars cuz it's fun
I have far more trust in the devs behind games like NFS to do corny and fun than an actually good story.
Especially when you consider that ultimately any of the conflict has to be resolved in races.
I remember how pressed people were that the story didn't have an antagonist or big conflict or anything. I fell into that trap myself when the game came out but looking back at it, it's the closest an NFS has gotten to IRL car culture since Underground.
Payback certainly did. It felt like an old F&F movie. But it's being dragged down by clunky writing and the characters. Compared to 2015, they are the wrong kind of cheesy.
Payback could have been so great, but they really seemed to rush the game and this resulted in many story beats either not hitting at all or not hitting right.
If they could revise the script, I'm sure Payback's plot would be the best in the series. I mean, the blueprint is there. Your childhood friend sells you out to this criminal organization who wants to rig gambling and street racing, and you and your ragtag crew do everything you can to foil their plans and get your payback.
For example, only Ty was affected by the House. It would have been more compelling if Mac and Jess were also targeted. Or Lina does almost jackshit when she finds out Tyler is out for blood. She doesn't do much to feel threatening, like sic a goon squad on you while in free-roam, or participate in the chases herself.
I could tell the ideas were there. There was only a bit over a year of dev time, which obviously wasn't enough time for them to do what they wanted to do
They had two years, the same amount that every game has had since Undercover. Nothing weird or unusual happened during the development of Payback, the game just sucked.
What I'm seeing says that development started January of 2016, for a November of 2017 release. That can't all be development time as they were probably "finished" several weeks before that so they could properly print discs and such, and they likely had breaks and days off for holidays as well. While I'm sure 2 years was enough time for games like hot pursuit and rivals, they didn't really have a story. Payback actually has really solid gameplay imo, but it's story just flopped entirely. You can tell that ghost learned from this as heat had a shorter, more barebones story
I'm not sure what your point is exactly. Just stating that both payback and crew 1 had something interesting drag you in. Get you connected to a character real quick and rip them from your hands.
I absolutely loved the cheesiness of Payback's characters. The protagonists falling for set ups from obvious villains got tiring after a while, but the rival gangs chewed it up and I loved it
Payback easily, it's the best story in the franchise (It's not good but it's still the best one we have).
Could have been Heat if they bothered to finish the story
Different people, different opinions. I would also say that MW and Carbon had a much better Story than Payback. Also MW didn't even need much cutscenes and storytelling because the story was really simple. The delivery was just really good, they did a great job with the intro of the game.
Are people on this subreddit actually being serious right now??? I'm in utter shock that a large amount of people have this opinion....
edit: IMO NFS Payback had character issues and much more forgettable and unremarkable characters and plots, and had a story that could've been done MUUCH better
Youāll never catch anyone saying that a driving game, even one that tries to tell some kind of story such as NFS or Driver, will ever stack up to a game (certainly an RPG) purpose built around its narrative such as Persona 3 in terms of writing, thatās fair.
Playing back through the Black Box era now that I can put my nostalgia goggles aside, itās clear that the most story we have is less anything official, more fans theorising what the timeline is if the faceless driver was all the same guy while the actual focus in the writing was on setting stakes and making sure you knew *who* was behind what wheel.
Thatās not to say thereās something thatās been lost since then and thatās mostly EAās doing. While Iām not the one you should ask for confirmation, Iāve heard that Black Box had some ideas of where the driver would go after Carbon, but EA wanted to explore what else NFS could be. The result was Prostreet and the only boss whose face you saw, let alone voice you heard was the Showdown Kingās.
Youād say that the car is far more the character than the driver since car based TV shows that arenāt about reviewing cars tend for their cars to be more remembered than the actors, at least by future generations and as a result, we only need to hear their voice. A fair point, but at that point why not just make a game based on Pixarās Cars movies? Rainbow Studios of MX vs ATV fame made a solid trilogy (none of which were directly adapted from any of the movies) and EAās still involved with Disney somewhat if Jedi: Survivor is any indication, so whatās stopping them?
Well, no doubt the same thing that bars the writing from reaching its full potential these days: EA is one of the pioneers of monetising games beyond the base purchase and they need to set up a way to incentivise engaging with that system. In their sports franchises (where they perfected the loot box system) itās easy to do because celebrity worship alone incentivises engaging with the Ultimate Team system, but when itās a car game not tied to a particular legit racing discipline?
The solution they came up with mustāve been to write uninteresting characters that donāt look that memorable on their own so the focus would shift from them to the cars. In Heat, this is obvious given that it was pretty much riding the coattails of Forza Horizon and Black Box nostalgia (if the M3 is any indication), but in Payback, they actually did something a little smart and masked it behind emphasis on Fast and Furious like set pieces
> Youāll never catch anyone saying that a driving game, even one that tries to tell some kind of story such as NFS or Driver, will ever stack up to a game (certainly an RPG) purpose built around its narrative such as Persona 3 in terms of writing, thatās fair.
You'll catch me saying that Driver: San Francisco absolutely does, but obviously that's an exception rather than the rule
> In their sports franchises (where they perfected the loot box system) itās easy to do because celebrity worship alone incentivises engaging with the Ultimate Team system, but when itās a car game not tied to a particular legit racing discipline?
You do it with cars rather than with people, which they're already doing. New cars are part of the speedpass and the M3 GTR bodykit is attached to EA play; and if we look at their mobile games all the gacha mechanics are focused on getting cars. None of it so far has been focused on characters, so I doubt it has anything to do with that.
> The solution they came up with mustāve been to write uninteresting characters that donāt look that memorable on their own so the focus would shift from them to the cars.
The focus has always been on the cars. When you think of Most Wanted you think of the GTR rather than Clarence "Razor" Callahan. Again the monetization doesn't really change that. The characters have received *more* focus in the recent games, to a middling/mixed result. MW's antagonists are as annoying as Tess, if not more, but they have much less screen time so you don't give a shit
Hate me for what I'm going to say, but the best one was, in my opinion, Heat. Especially the part about trying to take down the Frank Mercener. I haven't hated any antagonist so much in any NFS in a long time. He was the reason why I got heavily invested in the story of that game. Last antagonist, I disliked so much as Frank was Darius in Carbon.
I agree and tbh i'm kinda surprised mentions of Heat aren't higher up.
I mean I do wish Heat was longer and more fleshed out but I value characters alot and Heat might have some of my favourite characters in the series.
Paybacks characters might be the worst i've witnessed in the franchise. It's like they're doing serious stuff but talk in the most unbelievable, childish way possible. There's extreme dissonance there.
2015 was pretty dude-broey but it still felt believable for the most part.
Heat is the best here imo. People complain that Ana is annoying in Heat but that annoyingness is done in a way that feels grounded and real to me.
I agree with your opinion on Payback.
The basic idea of the story wasn't bad. But acting is what it is dragging down a lot. It was cringe. It was like modern Fast and Furious films, but for kids. Out of modern era, Payback was the most Holywood-like with overacting.
2015 wasn't all that bad, but it, in my eyes, was lacking some actual depth. But it was kinda believable.
Haven't played Unbound, so I can't comment on that.
yeah exactly, the story was a bit too short, what makes nfs games unique is that they have a story unlike most of other racing games, and if they make a good one it can benefit them a lot.
I loved Nfs heat and the driving stories, I liked all characters (except Ana, she kind of childish and annoying ) it's sad we haven't gotten anything about the League other than a few races with total race time of less than half an hour.
Best as in the most easy to understand or how much good is there compared to another game in this particular era. Example: Heat has more good compared to 2015.
2015 and Payback have it neck-and-neck even if the bar isn't high. 2015 has some of the best vibes in the entire franchise while Payback delivers some action movie simplicity in the plot while also keeping the eyes on the cars.
It ended in 2015.. I liked Heat for the vehicles and graphics but there was just something so refreshing about 2015 when it dropped. I still find myself re-downloading it and playing again every few years.. Unbound however is total garbage
I agree, I dislike a lot of things about unbound the goofy art styling, the cheesy effects how Asap Rocky is basically a robot, Yaz, that Asian girl the tiers, the cops arenāt as bad as heat but damn, I hate that you have to pay for cars to expand, thereās how many now? I still play 2015 and Heat , I have given up on Unbound.
Iāll be deadass, I used wemod, I own every car in the game, The game was just tedious and you could easily lose quickly, I remember getting knocked off course by the same cop section 9 times, Unbound was just not fun to me. They nerfed a lot of cars and the customization, just seemed to be a step backwards. I give 2015 a solid 8/10, Payback a 4/10, NFS Heat 7/10, unbound 3/10, I did not enjoy really anything about Unbound it to me was a really crappy game. Others like it and that is ok.
NFS 2015 and it's not even close. I think it's helped a lot by the fact that the stakes in the plot aren't very high, so the shoddy writing isn't as noticeable as the later entries. Whenever Ghost tried to get "serious" or "edgy" or whatever it instantly fell apart (see Payback, Heat, Unbound to a lesser extent) simply because the writing is too terrible to take seriously.
Oddly enough, I think Rivals actually executed an "edgy" storyline quite well. The writing is pretty verbose and exaggerated, but at least the characters have a defined personality, fairly great voice acting and aren't cracking unfunny jokes every single minute. Seriously, writing a funny joke/one liner is _hard_ and Ghost seemed to not grasp that concept. They didn't fare much better with Unbound either.
Imagine a third arc about Torres and all the other people in the intro scene. It would make the game feel finished. Right now, it just feels like there should be more.
Yes dude it would have been epic if we get a secondary storyline of becoming a league member and doing missions to boost their rank or like some other organisation is their rivals or something like that, I dislike how bad the polestar car of the cover car of heat was done dirty btw, It looks good it's a shame it's thrown away like some trash.
Yeah it's quite embarrassing, the M3 GTR is dope, I get it why NFS fans love it but it should have been swapped places mate, so not only the polestar getting as a reward for finishing the main campaign would made more sense, (it should have been the car which Mercer was driving to escape too) but when we collect the M3 GTR after finishing all story missions, we would have felt like we got a great reward.
It's Such a missed opportunity, the M3 GTR would have been more special and the pole star would get more recognition.
I think there are two ways to answer this:
As far as the campaing that works the best, 2015 is by far the best, it all makes sense (cause they didn't really try to do anything different either tbf, nor do they have to), people race cause they like racing and the point is to meet your heroes, that's it, no silly revenge plots, no cartoonish villains, by far the most realistic and down to earth story, therefore extremely immersive.
But, it doesn't really have much of a story as stated above, so the best one with an actual story is Heat, from all the over the top plots this one seems the most believable, pretty realistic corrupt cops, street racing isn't framed as just all fun and games unnecessarily, there's some gray areas, it's cool, unfortunaly it's very half-baked but it could've been really great.
NFS 2015 no doubt, was super corny and likeable like the old games. Sad that after Payback they tried to tell really bad and weirdly serious stories for no reason. Kinda defeats the whole purpose of the blind fun of the old NFS games.
If they made Heats story longer and added more too it, I would have said heat bc I enjoyed that game a lot. But Iāll have to say 2015 was the best story out of the recent games!
Probably 2015 because it was the only one that didnāt take itself too seriously. It leaned into it a bit with the corny dialogue and over the top acting, much like Underground and Most Wanted did. The rest of the stories ever since have all been awful because they took themselves way more seriously than they had any right to. 2015 had a level of self awareness that it was bad, whereas Payback, Heat, and Unbound all try to be deep, interesting, serious narratives, but donāt have nearly the quality writing, characters, or voice acting needed to support that notion.
NFS Heat. The only downside is the short main storyline.
Fortunately, there's side quests with car rewards.
My ranking of stories since 2015 is like this :
- 1st NFS Heat
- 2nd NFS 2015
- 3rd NFS Payback
- 4th NFS Unbound
I liked payback and heat both quality to me. But the shitty thing is they always have those little nods to the old games like they know they canāt beat them š
NFS 2015 had, similar to Underground, that down-to-earth chill vibe.
Just a bunch of cool cats just racing and building and having fun, in an exciting time when multiple car enthusiast legends have just crossed into town.
Also, Amy > Robyn
Payback. Yeah yeah *dialogue wack blah blah*, but the progression was amazing. The chapter finale missions were amazing. It was the only modern NFS that had a proper singleplayer story. We need that back.
The old Need for Speeds just had something amazing to them, I enjoy the hell out of it, if only Underground and Underground 2 had police it would have been amazing, I liked Carbon but the whole muscle, tuner, exotic with shoddy handling was bad and the tier system sucked, I loved Undercover but again tier system was bad, thatās why I really dislike Unbound I hate the dcbas b.s. I have been playing NFS MW 2005 for a month now Just getting chased and it is fun as hell, Heat is just annoying, 2015 was fun getting chased. Unbound is annoying too.
NFS 2015 felt down to earth, and it was centered around car culture. This is what a racing game needs as a story, in my opinion. So yeah, 2015's story is my favorite.
2015. What people don't understand when they say the characters act cringe or talk in a cringe way is that that is what car people are like, at least most of them are. If you knew enough "car guys", you'd know 2015 is pretty damn authentic.
Payback > 2015 >> Heat > Unbound
Payback is cheesy, but it's one of the few NFS games with a proper plot. They lost their touch with Heat and Unbound which are no longer story-driven like 2015 and Payback, and instead play like Forza Horizon with a few cutscenes. Heat only had half a story, and Unbound needs no further explanation.
Payback and Heat, but in Heat it was a little bit messy to understand and it doesn't got the impact that i was expecting with the police included. And 2015, well, just CRINGE AF but the icons theme can fix its dialogue so, meh.
Full disclosure, I haven't gotten that far in Unbound(picked it up a few months ago, put a few hours into it to get out of the prologue, but my ongoing list of games I rotate through is pretty long), but the best story is Payback and it's not even close. 2015 is near and dear to my heart, but "do races with your new friends to become the best in each of their fields" isn't much of a story, and Heat suffers from being too short and dropping every story thread it picks up in service of really focusing in on "cops bad racers good".
In Heat, why introduce a racing league if their only purpose is to distrust us at the drop of a hat the instant we get framed, like 30 seconds after we get in? Why aren't there any story/race sequences about trying to beat them to regain their trust? What is the point of us playing as someone completely different in the intro, letting us drive the Polestar, if it doesn't come back in any meaningful way in the finale? (We should have fished up the Polestar to race against Mercer, it would have made the car as iconic as they clearly wanted it to be)
There was a cliffhanger about some kind of conspiracy group (Arkwright) in Payback, and the only thing we get in Heat is that Arkwright is a... I think a gas station chain? (I distinctly remember there's an Arkwright cameo in the form of a company name or something in Heat, but I cannot for the life of me what it was, except that it doesn't do anything).
For all of Payback's flaws, it has a story. It has a beginning, a middle, an end. It has multiple distinct story missions. It wants so badly to be a Fast and Furious. Does it pull it off? Mostly. Does it have weak moments? Sure. Do I like the game? Yes! Would I recommend it to others? Not without any mods that rip out the randomness of the mtx-focused upgrade cards.
Now, I'm willing to put Unbound above Payback if the story is good, but I have a sneaking feeling that it's not going to be much better or more thought out than Heat. (Once again, I'm not that far into it)
Finally, I just want to say, I love this series very much. I have incredibly fond memories dating back to NFS3: Hot Pursuit. I love me my arcade racers, and they don't need stories. But if they do have a story, they need to actually try
2015 was corny but i kinda loved it all the old ones were corny as fuck too. Payback was pretty decent too. I did also really enjoy Unbounds story other than the awful choice to make characters look like they came out of the comics
I can't remember what nfs it was but i could've sworn one was done where the cut scenes were like comic book pages instead of the horrible live action or animated ones they did which was fine because the game itself looked normal.
RIP KB! Storyline on Unbound was OK but NOT great IMO. Payback, entertaining felt like a Fast and Furious, Carbon was cool as well...Most Wanted 2012 haha Cross was funny....ALL OF THEM!!! lol
I liked that the scene of hijacking the Koenigsegg Regera in Payback felt inspired by the Fast & Furious movies. Overall, it would have been better if they had actively utilized the direction of The Run.
NFS Heat has the best characters and story, the driving stories are also cool, but there aren't that many of them, sadly, if I remember right, like 5-6 events for each character
Ooh thatās tough. I think Iām going to have say NFS 2015 here. It was a good (albeit cheesy) story that actually focused on car culture. It was also a decent length. For these reasons it just edges out Heatās story which was good but way too short.
NFS Heat, I loved the more darker tone the game had, sure, some characters make me want to dig my ears out with a screwdriver but it was mostly good, but what upset me the most is how short it was for me specifically, most of my playthroughs are grinding RP to unlock the missions instead of y'know, playing the story, but aside from that, I would say NFS Heat was the peak of modern NFS story wise in my opinion.
I have to say 2015 story was good, sure the fist bump acting greet maybe cringe but I don't concerned that much often. Heat story was short, but also decent storyline, so 2015 is much enjoyable. I don't care what the fanboys said, any NFS storyline is good tbh.
NFS 2015 was great, I'd gone off NFS when they ditched the street racing aspect so I loved the return to its routes and I had a blast playing the story with my friend doing co op races. I liked that you could take any car and put your own personality onto it and upgrade it to be what ever you wanted it to be. NFS heat is the next best whilst payback and unbound absolutely suck
I think Heat could've been the best story but the way they did it (maybe rushed?) just wasn't good. But the idea and the characters, especially shaw, were really good.
But when it comes to the final product (means not saying "what could have been"), i'd say NFS 2015. Travis ftw
None. And amongst all of them 2015 is the most 'Need For Speed' this franchise is ever going to get...minus the trashy handling. The handling ruined everything and all the subsequent games were stuck trying to correct that while making forgettable stories.
NFS is it's own problem....and I will still try everyone they release until they call it quits or eventually make a great game.
For me m, it has to be Heat. Yea, your bestie thete is ennoying (less than Tess) and shit, but at least imo they had a cop who was a total dick and an asshole, i think Shaw was his name.
Sad that he got so little screen time. This guy gave me Cross vibes everytime he opens his mouth. But at the end, the story felt a bit more rushed, just like Payback.
It's not a reboot any more than Most Wanted 2012 was a remake of Most Wanted 2004. The series does not constitute a story or even stories taking place in the same universe, despite occasional references to previous game locales. It's just a game called Need For Speed.
I suppose it marked a return to NFS games being story driven as a rule. I mean The Run and Rivals did have stories, but Run wasn't open world and Rivals had no characters as I recall.
Heat probably had the best story. Good characters, nice conflict between the cops and racers. But honestly I never finished 2015. The game let me get my target car and upgrade it too quickly, so I lost interest. I may have had a better story. I don't know.
I did like the story in Unbound. Rydell was a great character. But you know by 2015 the basic plot of any game was too easily recognizable. Main character gets screwed and their car that is supposed to represent the ideal build is confiscated, usually by another racer. They get cheated out of their baby that they made. The same motivation every time.
At least Undercover broke the mold and went another way.
But this is Need For Speed. They should return to basics often, maybe even while trying new things. As long as the characters are good, that's fine. Some stories should be as old as time, yet keep happening. That's just human nature.
Post 2015 Iām a fan of nfs heat. If weāre talking all time Iāve actually yet to play both undergroundās so my top would go to most wanted 2005 hands down
Surprised to see a lot of 2015 and Payback vouchers. Iād personally say Heat, as I thought most others would. Closely followed by Payback which was my favorite story before Heat launched.
Easily Payback. Was like an F&F movie mixed with Oceans 11. The whole fight against the house and getting revenge on Navaro was good for remaining invested in the plot too
As far as story goes, I really like Payback. Felt like an old Fast and Furious movie. Plus, some of the banter between our main three characters is hysterical.
After reading through the comments and thinking I know what I miss in the "story" of NFS games. I miss it feeling personal. All the stories are corny and there's tons of cheezy acting/dialogue, but they executed in making you care. That feeling of wanting to get back at Razor. Downright hating Darius etc. It was beautifully simplistic
Heat was the only one without huge flaws.
2015 was cringe as shit and not in a good, MW05 or carbon way. Payback was a cheap bite at fnf movies, the house always wins my ass. Unbound had its moments but the ending scratched anything the story had going for it imo.
Unbound and i'm not even kidding. The dialogue can be cringe here and there but the sole premise of āHey you worked for your car and it got stolen, you gotta get it backā is just good cause it works with the similar story of MW(2005) but changes it.
Ngl for some reason I think the NFS MW 2005 did it better than unbound.
There were good cutscenes and memorable characters, and your car was actually important
The only reason I wanted to get my car back from Jasmine was not because I cared about that car, but because she turned it into a horrific monster that does not deserve the roads it travels on
NFS 2015
Yeah 100% I don't get the hate. It sure as shit was corny, but it was fun and had a lovable goofiness to it. The rest just take themselves too seriously and it's super cringe.
Yea, 2015 was cringe in a cute dorky way. The characters were just trying to have fun. There was no grand plot. Or typical revenge plot, just a group of friends racing cars cuz it's fun
That's all it needed. It kinda reminded me of Underground in that regard. It was cute and I actually wanted to watch the next cutscene lol
Plus, the fact that cutscenes seamlessly showcased your car šØāš³š
And tbh 99% of car guys like cars just because of this. It's fun
I have far more trust in the devs behind games like NFS to do corny and fun than an actually good story. Especially when you consider that ultimately any of the conflict has to be resolved in races.
Yeah exactly I don't expect to be blown away by the script and the writing, I just want simple fun stuff
It was garbage.
I remember how pressed people were that the story didn't have an antagonist or big conflict or anything. I fell into that trap myself when the game came out but looking back at it, it's the closest an NFS has gotten to IRL car culture since Underground.
Agree with you, I don't get the hate just because of the fist bump greet.
Over Payback?
Payback certainly did. It felt like an old F&F movie. But it's being dragged down by clunky writing and the characters. Compared to 2015, they are the wrong kind of cheesy.
Payback could have been so great, but they really seemed to rush the game and this resulted in many story beats either not hitting at all or not hitting right.
If they could revise the script, I'm sure Payback's plot would be the best in the series. I mean, the blueprint is there. Your childhood friend sells you out to this criminal organization who wants to rig gambling and street racing, and you and your ragtag crew do everything you can to foil their plans and get your payback. For example, only Ty was affected by the House. It would have been more compelling if Mac and Jess were also targeted. Or Lina does almost jackshit when she finds out Tyler is out for blood. She doesn't do much to feel threatening, like sic a goon squad on you while in free-roam, or participate in the chases herself.
Skyhammer has to be the coolest mission in racing game history tho.
Not everything is bad because it's rushed. Game devs can have bad ideas too, ya know.
I could tell the ideas were there. There was only a bit over a year of dev time, which obviously wasn't enough time for them to do what they wanted to do
They had two years, the same amount that every game has had since Undercover. Nothing weird or unusual happened during the development of Payback, the game just sucked.
What I'm seeing says that development started January of 2016, for a November of 2017 release. That can't all be development time as they were probably "finished" several weeks before that so they could properly print discs and such, and they likely had breaks and days off for holidays as well. While I'm sure 2 years was enough time for games like hot pursuit and rivals, they didn't really have a story. Payback actually has really solid gameplay imo, but it's story just flopped entirely. You can tell that ghost learned from this as heat had a shorter, more barebones story
In this same vein. That's why I loved the crew 1 so much. Murder mystery racers are surprisingly good.
Wouldn't driving over the crime scene be considered tampering?
I'm not sure what your point is exactly. Just stating that both payback and crew 1 had something interesting drag you in. Get you connected to a character real quick and rip them from your hands.
I absolutely loved the cheesiness of Payback's characters. The protagonists falling for set ups from obvious villains got tiring after a while, but the rival gangs chewed it up and I loved it
The dialogue needs work IMO
I always loved 2015 because it felt like the story centered more around car culture rather than a proper narrative
yeah, NFS 2015. I would say Payback if the characters weren't so annoying.
I like the simplicity of NFS2015. I liked the āGet Noticedā idea.
Payback easily, it's the best story in the franchise (It's not good but it's still the best one we have). Could have been Heat if they bothered to finish the story
Have you not played mw and carbon??? (you said payback is "the best story in the franchise")
Even then Most wanted is not a good story not one bit. Carbon at least has intrigue and a mystery to solve (although underwhelming)
Different people, different opinions. I would also say that MW and Carbon had a much better Story than Payback. Also MW didn't even need much cutscenes and storytelling because the story was really simple. The delivery was just really good, they did a great job with the intro of the game.
Are people on this subreddit actually being serious right now??? I'm in utter shock that a large amount of people have this opinion.... edit: IMO NFS Payback had character issues and much more forgettable and unremarkable characters and plots, and had a story that could've been done MUUCH better
Payback aināt a good story but itās the most fleshed out one in this franchise. Itās just that simple
"After reboot"
That is what the post says, but the original commenter said best in the franchise. I'm sure he was still referring to after the reboot ofc
Comment said "**in the franchise**" so I assumed the entirety of it
It's their opinion and that's your opinion. After all that is what I asked for, everyone's take on it.
Have *you* not played mw and carbon? MW's story is a wet fart. Carbon's has more intrigue but it then just kind of ends
Youāll never catch anyone saying that a driving game, even one that tries to tell some kind of story such as NFS or Driver, will ever stack up to a game (certainly an RPG) purpose built around its narrative such as Persona 3 in terms of writing, thatās fair. Playing back through the Black Box era now that I can put my nostalgia goggles aside, itās clear that the most story we have is less anything official, more fans theorising what the timeline is if the faceless driver was all the same guy while the actual focus in the writing was on setting stakes and making sure you knew *who* was behind what wheel. Thatās not to say thereās something thatās been lost since then and thatās mostly EAās doing. While Iām not the one you should ask for confirmation, Iāve heard that Black Box had some ideas of where the driver would go after Carbon, but EA wanted to explore what else NFS could be. The result was Prostreet and the only boss whose face you saw, let alone voice you heard was the Showdown Kingās. Youād say that the car is far more the character than the driver since car based TV shows that arenāt about reviewing cars tend for their cars to be more remembered than the actors, at least by future generations and as a result, we only need to hear their voice. A fair point, but at that point why not just make a game based on Pixarās Cars movies? Rainbow Studios of MX vs ATV fame made a solid trilogy (none of which were directly adapted from any of the movies) and EAās still involved with Disney somewhat if Jedi: Survivor is any indication, so whatās stopping them? Well, no doubt the same thing that bars the writing from reaching its full potential these days: EA is one of the pioneers of monetising games beyond the base purchase and they need to set up a way to incentivise engaging with that system. In their sports franchises (where they perfected the loot box system) itās easy to do because celebrity worship alone incentivises engaging with the Ultimate Team system, but when itās a car game not tied to a particular legit racing discipline? The solution they came up with mustāve been to write uninteresting characters that donāt look that memorable on their own so the focus would shift from them to the cars. In Heat, this is obvious given that it was pretty much riding the coattails of Forza Horizon and Black Box nostalgia (if the M3 is any indication), but in Payback, they actually did something a little smart and masked it behind emphasis on Fast and Furious like set pieces
> Youāll never catch anyone saying that a driving game, even one that tries to tell some kind of story such as NFS or Driver, will ever stack up to a game (certainly an RPG) purpose built around its narrative such as Persona 3 in terms of writing, thatās fair. You'll catch me saying that Driver: San Francisco absolutely does, but obviously that's an exception rather than the rule > In their sports franchises (where they perfected the loot box system) itās easy to do because celebrity worship alone incentivises engaging with the Ultimate Team system, but when itās a car game not tied to a particular legit racing discipline? You do it with cars rather than with people, which they're already doing. New cars are part of the speedpass and the M3 GTR bodykit is attached to EA play; and if we look at their mobile games all the gacha mechanics are focused on getting cars. None of it so far has been focused on characters, so I doubt it has anything to do with that. > The solution they came up with mustāve been to write uninteresting characters that donāt look that memorable on their own so the focus would shift from them to the cars. The focus has always been on the cars. When you think of Most Wanted you think of the GTR rather than Clarence "Razor" Callahan. Again the monetization doesn't really change that. The characters have received *more* focus in the recent games, to a middling/mixed result. MW's antagonists are as annoying as Tess, if not more, but they have much less screen time so you don't give a shit
Hate me for what I'm going to say, but the best one was, in my opinion, Heat. Especially the part about trying to take down the Frank Mercener. I haven't hated any antagonist so much in any NFS in a long time. He was the reason why I got heavily invested in the story of that game. Last antagonist, I disliked so much as Frank was Darius in Carbon.
The scene where Shawn tows Anna's car away is one of the best narrative scenes from any NFS IMO. The acting is almost too good to be in a NFS lol.
That was another great scene in the story of that game.
I agree and tbh i'm kinda surprised mentions of Heat aren't higher up. I mean I do wish Heat was longer and more fleshed out but I value characters alot and Heat might have some of my favourite characters in the series. Paybacks characters might be the worst i've witnessed in the franchise. It's like they're doing serious stuff but talk in the most unbelievable, childish way possible. There's extreme dissonance there. 2015 was pretty dude-broey but it still felt believable for the most part. Heat is the best here imo. People complain that Ana is annoying in Heat but that annoyingness is done in a way that feels grounded and real to me.
I agree with your opinion on Payback. The basic idea of the story wasn't bad. But acting is what it is dragging down a lot. It was cringe. It was like modern Fast and Furious films, but for kids. Out of modern era, Payback was the most Holywood-like with overacting. 2015 wasn't all that bad, but it, in my eyes, was lacking some actual depth. But it was kinda believable. Haven't played Unbound, so I can't comment on that.
Same I hated him
Fully agree, in my opinion Heat is the best modern NFS title. They should have continued updating it.
It is an good story idea done too short and IMO a bit boringly. (Love the game)
Heat in my opinion, the story was really interesting and I got addicted to it
Same. I am a little sad it didn't get a proper finish
yeah exactly, the story was a bit too short, what makes nfs games unique is that they have a story unlike most of other racing games, and if they make a good one it can benefit them a lot. I loved Nfs heat and the driving stories, I liked all characters (except Ana, she kind of childish and annoying ) it's sad we haven't gotten anything about the League other than a few races with total race time of less than half an hour.
2015
Define "best". None of them are particularly good, tbh. 2015 had the novelty of having live action cutscenes, though.
Best as in the most easy to understand or how much good is there compared to another game in this particular era. Example: Heat has more good compared to 2015.
2015 and Payback have it neck-and-neck even if the bar isn't high. 2015 has some of the best vibes in the entire franchise while Payback delivers some action movie simplicity in the plot while also keeping the eyes on the cars.
2015 to be honest.
I loved NFS 2015s story. Idc if it was cheesy, the irl acting was some cool shit
It ended in 2015.. I liked Heat for the vehicles and graphics but there was just something so refreshing about 2015 when it dropped. I still find myself re-downloading it and playing again every few years.. Unbound however is total garbage
I agree, I dislike a lot of things about unbound the goofy art styling, the cheesy effects how Asap Rocky is basically a robot, Yaz, that Asian girl the tiers, the cops arenāt as bad as heat but damn, I hate that you have to pay for cars to expand, thereās how many now? I still play 2015 and Heat , I have given up on Unbound.
I think I stopped right before the Grand Qualifier. I was out of money and didnāt want to go back.
Iāll be deadass, I used wemod, I own every car in the game, The game was just tedious and you could easily lose quickly, I remember getting knocked off course by the same cop section 9 times, Unbound was just not fun to me. They nerfed a lot of cars and the customization, just seemed to be a step backwards. I give 2015 a solid 8/10, Payback a 4/10, NFS Heat 7/10, unbound 3/10, I did not enjoy really anything about Unbound it to me was a really crappy game. Others like it and that is ok.
NFS 2015 and it's not even close. I think it's helped a lot by the fact that the stakes in the plot aren't very high, so the shoddy writing isn't as noticeable as the later entries. Whenever Ghost tried to get "serious" or "edgy" or whatever it instantly fell apart (see Payback, Heat, Unbound to a lesser extent) simply because the writing is too terrible to take seriously. Oddly enough, I think Rivals actually executed an "edgy" storyline quite well. The writing is pretty verbose and exaggerated, but at least the characters have a defined personality, fairly great voice acting and aren't cracking unfunny jokes every single minute. Seriously, writing a funny joke/one liner is _hard_ and Ghost seemed to not grasp that concept. They didn't fare much better with Unbound either.
For me it's heat, I wished the story was more longer, it was really good and serious, I wish they explored more about "The league"
Imagine a third arc about Torres and all the other people in the intro scene. It would make the game feel finished. Right now, it just feels like there should be more.
Yes dude it would have been epic if we get a secondary storyline of becoming a league member and doing missions to boost their rank or like some other organisation is their rivals or something like that, I dislike how bad the polestar car of the cover car of heat was done dirty btw, It looks good it's a shame it's thrown away like some trash.
That car had so much potential, My main problem is that you don't even get it for free at the end of the main story.
Yeah it's quite embarrassing, the M3 GTR is dope, I get it why NFS fans love it but it should have been swapped places mate, so not only the polestar getting as a reward for finishing the main campaign would made more sense, (it should have been the car which Mercer was driving to escape too) but when we collect the M3 GTR after finishing all story missions, we would have felt like we got a great reward. It's Such a missed opportunity, the M3 GTR would have been more special and the pole star would get more recognition.
2015 was corny but an endearing corny. It never was taking itself too seriously
I think there are two ways to answer this: As far as the campaing that works the best, 2015 is by far the best, it all makes sense (cause they didn't really try to do anything different either tbf, nor do they have to), people race cause they like racing and the point is to meet your heroes, that's it, no silly revenge plots, no cartoonish villains, by far the most realistic and down to earth story, therefore extremely immersive. But, it doesn't really have much of a story as stated above, so the best one with an actual story is Heat, from all the over the top plots this one seems the most believable, pretty realistic corrupt cops, street racing isn't framed as just all fun and games unnecessarily, there's some gray areas, it's cool, unfortunaly it's very half-baked but it could've been really great.
2015 easy
NFS 2015 no doubt, was super corny and likeable like the old games. Sad that after Payback they tried to tell really bad and weirdly serious stories for no reason. Kinda defeats the whole purpose of the blind fun of the old NFS games.
If they made Heats story longer and added more too it, I would have said heat bc I enjoyed that game a lot. But Iāll have to say 2015 was the best story out of the recent games!
None
Probably 2015 because it was the only one that didnāt take itself too seriously. It leaned into it a bit with the corny dialogue and over the top acting, much like Underground and Most Wanted did. The rest of the stories ever since have all been awful because they took themselves way more seriously than they had any right to. 2015 had a level of self awareness that it was bad, whereas Payback, Heat, and Unbound all try to be deep, interesting, serious narratives, but donāt have nearly the quality writing, characters, or voice acting needed to support that notion.
Each of em have their downfalls but looking back, I'd definitely say 2015 was the best story
Heat
NFS Heat. The only downside is the short main storyline. Fortunately, there's side quests with car rewards. My ranking of stories since 2015 is like this : - 1st NFS Heat - 2nd NFS 2015 - 3rd NFS Payback - 4th NFS Unbound
NFS 2015 through and through.
I liked payback and heat both quality to me. But the shitty thing is they always have those little nods to the old games like they know they canāt beat them š
Racing games don't need a story imo, so my vote goes to 2015. It was simple, unobstrusive, and just fun. The later games are all super cringe.
True, they don't. But if a racing game does attempt a story, it better be a good one. Unfortunately, that's seems to not be the case nowadays.
NFS 2015 had, similar to Underground, that down-to-earth chill vibe. Just a bunch of cool cats just racing and building and having fun, in an exciting time when multiple car enthusiast legends have just crossed into town. Also, Amy > Robyn
Most Wanted 2012 ^(thats a joke by the way)
FYI, Nfs 2015 isnāt a hard reboot since Cross somewhat makes an appearance and Ryan Cooper being mentioned in Payback
Noted!
Itās more like a Soft reboot to the series since Ghost was the lead developer from 2015-2019
Payback. Yeah yeah *dialogue wack blah blah*, but the progression was amazing. The chapter finale missions were amazing. It was the only modern NFS that had a proper singleplayer story. We need that back.
I still haven't finished it imo, but it definitely seems like an action-packed nfs, which I can not wait to endure.
None. They just felt too desperate and try hard story.
I won't give options only after 2015, I am covering as a whole. 1. NFS Mostwanted 2005 2. NFS Heat 3. NFS Run
The old Need for Speeds just had something amazing to them, I enjoy the hell out of it, if only Underground and Underground 2 had police it would have been amazing, I liked Carbon but the whole muscle, tuner, exotic with shoddy handling was bad and the tier system sucked, I loved Undercover but again tier system was bad, thatās why I really dislike Unbound I hate the dcbas b.s. I have been playing NFS MW 2005 for a month now Just getting chased and it is fun as hell, Heat is just annoying, 2015 was fun getting chased. Unbound is annoying too.
NFS 2015 felt down to earth, and it was centered around car culture. This is what a racing game needs as a story, in my opinion. So yeah, 2015's story is my favorite.
That one I can skip the cut sceances
None. Payback had something cooking with the fast and furious meme but didn't really hit the spot. And others are more forgettable than every cod game
2015. What people don't understand when they say the characters act cringe or talk in a cringe way is that that is what car people are like, at least most of them are. If you knew enough "car guys", you'd know 2015 is pretty damn authentic.
Heat cause it was short
2015 was solid Payback was the best Heat had the most potential (extra characters, mysteries, loose ends) Unbound was the most shallow.
Payback > 2015 >> Heat > Unbound Payback is cheesy, but it's one of the few NFS games with a proper plot. They lost their touch with Heat and Unbound which are no longer story-driven like 2015 and Payback, and instead play like Forza Horizon with a few cutscenes. Heat only had half a story, and Unbound needs no further explanation.
Payback. Heat a close second.
Payback and Heat, but in Heat it was a little bit messy to understand and it doesn't got the impact that i was expecting with the police included. And 2015, well, just CRINGE AF but the icons theme can fix its dialogue so, meh.
I dont know but I would love to play it, especially cause naki-san and Larry Chan are in the game and not to forget ken block (r.i.p)
Full disclosure, I haven't gotten that far in Unbound(picked it up a few months ago, put a few hours into it to get out of the prologue, but my ongoing list of games I rotate through is pretty long), but the best story is Payback and it's not even close. 2015 is near and dear to my heart, but "do races with your new friends to become the best in each of their fields" isn't much of a story, and Heat suffers from being too short and dropping every story thread it picks up in service of really focusing in on "cops bad racers good". In Heat, why introduce a racing league if their only purpose is to distrust us at the drop of a hat the instant we get framed, like 30 seconds after we get in? Why aren't there any story/race sequences about trying to beat them to regain their trust? What is the point of us playing as someone completely different in the intro, letting us drive the Polestar, if it doesn't come back in any meaningful way in the finale? (We should have fished up the Polestar to race against Mercer, it would have made the car as iconic as they clearly wanted it to be) There was a cliffhanger about some kind of conspiracy group (Arkwright) in Payback, and the only thing we get in Heat is that Arkwright is a... I think a gas station chain? (I distinctly remember there's an Arkwright cameo in the form of a company name or something in Heat, but I cannot for the life of me what it was, except that it doesn't do anything). For all of Payback's flaws, it has a story. It has a beginning, a middle, an end. It has multiple distinct story missions. It wants so badly to be a Fast and Furious. Does it pull it off? Mostly. Does it have weak moments? Sure. Do I like the game? Yes! Would I recommend it to others? Not without any mods that rip out the randomness of the mtx-focused upgrade cards. Now, I'm willing to put Unbound above Payback if the story is good, but I have a sneaking feeling that it's not going to be much better or more thought out than Heat. (Once again, I'm not that far into it) Finally, I just want to say, I love this series very much. I have incredibly fond memories dating back to NFS3: Hot Pursuit. I love me my arcade racers, and they don't need stories. But if they do have a story, they need to actually try
2015
2015 was corny but i kinda loved it all the old ones were corny as fuck too. Payback was pretty decent too. I did also really enjoy Unbounds story other than the awful choice to make characters look like they came out of the comics
I think if they were going to create characters in that animated spider-verse style, why not just make the entire game like that? Cars, trees, etc.
I can't remember what nfs it was but i could've sworn one was done where the cut scenes were like comic book pages instead of the horrible live action or animated ones they did which was fine because the game itself looked normal.
I think you're talking about Underground 2
Underground 2.
They can't be the best of anything if they're all hot garbage.
Payback for me. We're not misunderstood street races but full blown criminals against the corrupt government. Loved the heist style missions too.
RIP KB! Storyline on Unbound was OK but NOT great IMO. Payback, entertaining felt like a Fast and Furious, Carbon was cool as well...Most Wanted 2012 haha Cross was funny....ALL OF THEM!!! lol
2015 have the best vibes in terms of night racing
Payback
2015
The story for most wanted 2005 is not good but I like the cutscenes and the gameplay is still the best out of any other nfs game imo
I liked that the scene of hijacking the Koenigsegg Regera in Payback felt inspired by the Fast & Furious movies. Overall, it would have been better if they had actively utilized the direction of The Run.
NFS Heat has the best characters and story, the driving stories are also cool, but there aren't that many of them, sadly, if I remember right, like 5-6 events for each character
Payback
Ooh thatās tough. I think Iām going to have say NFS 2015 here. It was a good (albeit cheesy) story that actually focused on car culture. It was also a decent length. For these reasons it just edges out Heatās story which was good but way too short.
NFS 2015 is never replaceable.
Heat
The Run
2015 for vibes alone but im not a payback apologist but that campaign was def a highlight to me
NFS Heat, I loved the more darker tone the game had, sure, some characters make me want to dig my ears out with a screwdriver but it was mostly good, but what upset me the most is how short it was for me specifically, most of my playthroughs are grinding RP to unlock the missions instead of y'know, playing the story, but aside from that, I would say NFS Heat was the peak of modern NFS story wise in my opinion.
I have to say 2015 story was good, sure the fist bump acting greet maybe cringe but I don't concerned that much often. Heat story was short, but also decent storyline, so 2015 is much enjoyable. I don't care what the fanboys said, any NFS storyline is good tbh.
Love the corny street vibes and visuals, hated the driving.
The casino one
Heat had great story telling, but you can't say the story as a whole was good with how abruptly it ended.
Payback 100%.
None really. I think the right words are most tolerable story and it's 2015.
they have all been extremely cringe
NFS 2015 was great, I'd gone off NFS when they ditched the street racing aspect so I loved the return to its routes and I had a blast playing the story with my friend doing co op races. I liked that you could take any car and put your own personality onto it and upgrade it to be what ever you wanted it to be. NFS heat is the next best whilst payback and unbound absolutely suck
I think Heat could've been the best story but the way they did it (maybe rushed?) just wasn't good. But the idea and the characters, especially shaw, were really good. But when it comes to the final product (means not saying "what could have been"), i'd say NFS 2015. Travis ftw
None. And amongst all of them 2015 is the most 'Need For Speed' this franchise is ever going to get...minus the trashy handling. The handling ruined everything and all the subsequent games were stuck trying to correct that while making forgettable stories. NFS is it's own problem....and I will still try everyone they release until they call it quits or eventually make a great game.
Payback. It's not great, but probably the best out of the three.
Story? None they all suck but heat is my overall favourite
NFS Heat
Payback. Yeah, the story is cringe and stuff, but i love the characters. Mac is the goat.
story wise only Payback had the story.
For me m, it has to be Heat. Yea, your bestie thete is ennoying (less than Tess) and shit, but at least imo they had a cop who was a total dick and an asshole, i think Shaw was his name. Sad that he got so little screen time. This guy gave me Cross vibes everytime he opens his mouth. But at the end, the story felt a bit more rushed, just like Payback.
2015, absolutely. It actually shocked me by how wholesome it was, felt like a true Underground experience and a really enjoyable ride
Paybackā¦ā¦ā¦.
Payback. I FUCKING LOVE PAYBACK.
It's not a reboot any more than Most Wanted 2012 was a remake of Most Wanted 2004. The series does not constitute a story or even stories taking place in the same universe, despite occasional references to previous game locales. It's just a game called Need For Speed. I suppose it marked a return to NFS games being story driven as a rule. I mean The Run and Rivals did have stories, but Run wasn't open world and Rivals had no characters as I recall. Heat probably had the best story. Good characters, nice conflict between the cops and racers. But honestly I never finished 2015. The game let me get my target car and upgrade it too quickly, so I lost interest. I may have had a better story. I don't know. I did like the story in Unbound. Rydell was a great character. But you know by 2015 the basic plot of any game was too easily recognizable. Main character gets screwed and their car that is supposed to represent the ideal build is confiscated, usually by another racer. They get cheated out of their baby that they made. The same motivation every time. At least Undercover broke the mold and went another way. But this is Need For Speed. They should return to basics often, maybe even while trying new things. As long as the characters are good, that's fine. Some stories should be as old as time, yet keep happening. That's just human nature.
Post 2015 Iām a fan of nfs heat. If weāre talking all time Iāve actually yet to play both undergroundās so my top would go to most wanted 2005 hands down
None, they all suck... But I'll give 2015 some credit.
Heat and 2015, love them!
Surprised to see a lot of 2015 and Payback vouchers. Iād personally say Heat, as I thought most others would. Closely followed by Payback which was my favorite story before Heat launched.
Easily Payback. Was like an F&F movie mixed with Oceans 11. The whole fight against the house and getting revenge on Navaro was good for remaining invested in the plot too
There is no story in nfs
Onestly I liked also nfs heat, you know the street racing, the cops the ending. I really likes it
Heat. The only complain I have is it was short, which is because it was great and I wanted more.
Nfs hasn't had a good game since underground 2. ššš What a joke.
As far as story goes, I really like Payback. Felt like an old Fast and Furious movie. Plus, some of the banter between our main three characters is hysterical.
After reading through the comments and thinking I know what I miss in the "story" of NFS games. I miss it feeling personal. All the stories are corny and there's tons of cheezy acting/dialogue, but they executed in making you care. That feeling of wanting to get back at Razor. Downright hating Darius etc. It was beautifully simplistic
Heat was the only one without huge flaws. 2015 was cringe as shit and not in a good, MW05 or carbon way. Payback was a cheap bite at fnf movies, the house always wins my ass. Unbound had its moments but the ending scratched anything the story had going for it imo.
Payback for sure
NFS Unbound best part after Most Wanted and Carbon
Unbound and i'm not even kidding. The dialogue can be cringe here and there but the sole premise of āHey you worked for your car and it got stolen, you gotta get it backā is just good cause it works with the similar story of MW(2005) but changes it.
Ngl for some reason I think the NFS MW 2005 did it better than unbound. There were good cutscenes and memorable characters, and your car was actually important The only reason I wanted to get my car back from Jasmine was not because I cared about that car, but because she turned it into a horrific monster that does not deserve the roads it travels on
Oh it did do it better by a TON but it still tries to go that route which i can just appreciate alot