The fictional Redview County is a big area that both racers and cops can explore when driving around. As soon as you pick your objective, you will see how big Redview County is and it’s up to you where you would like to do your objectives. With a map so big, it’s impossible to get to events the fast way since they are so far apart from one another and to make it easier for racers or cops, there’s a quicker way to participate in events that helps you do objectives and that’s the Easy Drive. By pressing the right D-Pad, you will come across a list where the events are listed and you can choose from there on which one you want to do. Through that way, it will save you driving from one side of the area to the other side just to participate in the events.
Thanks to the beautiful Redview County that is featured in Need for Speed Rivals, you will be entertained to the beautiful landscape the game has to offer. Through the power of the Frostbite 3 Engine and the Xbox One, the visuals that you will see in this game will simply astound you as there will be weather effects that adds tone to the game when racing, impressive use of lighting and a well-polished textures that truly shows what next-generation of graphics can do. The lush trees, the mountains and the deserts that you get to see looks realistic enough to make you think that you’re there driving around. If you want to see some of the game’s endearing surprises when it comes to the visuals, I suggest explore Redview County and see it for yourself.
While the visuals are impressive in Need for Speed Rivals, the effects when colliding into a car or crashing into trees are weak. You will not see any explosions when you crash your car but instead, you will get this cartoon effect that will surely disappoint. I would appreciate at least if the effects will show the car getting destroyed in pieces when you come crashing into a car or trees but nope, they decided to make it simple. Just imagine how cool it would look if they have taken the effects from the Burnout games?
Aside from the single-player that the game offers, Rivals also has a multiplayer component for everyone to enjoy. As long as you are connected to the internet, the game will put you in a room where the AI and up to six real players will be playing with one another in one big Redview map. When you are playing with people, some of the people in your room will be cops and racers. Since sometimes playing with AI can get quite tedious, playing with real people adds some sort of a challenge to this game.
Need for Speed Rivals once again lives up to expectations for Need for Speed fans. Those that enjoyed Hot Pursuit several years ago will find Rivals a great incarnation that has new elements to make it fun. Visually, the game’s next-gen graphics truly deliver but the weak collision effects may disappoint some fans. Overall, Need for Speed fans will enjoy Rivals for hours, although expect to get bored at times when doing assignments, as it tends to get repetitive after playing for a while.
[Editor’s Note: Need for Speed Rivals was reviewed on on Xbox One platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]
