Well, its ok, I guess. Open world racers are in annoyingly short supply. Short enough that replaying a decidedly mid xbox 360 era one got my jollies off enough to get me to write this lukewarm endorsement. So maybe its better than just OK. Whatever. I want more open world racing games. Is that really so much to ask for?

Anyway, this ones ok. The handling model blows past arcade into full-on cartoon physics territory, so be ready for that if you want to enjoy this. Graphics have that olde timey charm distinct to the 7th gen that I personally still find pleasing. The game has a wonderful sense of speed, and even with the intensely exaggurated physics many different cars have distinct personalities to them.

I know that I spelled that wrong, but you know what? I'm so tired of constantly copying that word into google to get the correct spelling and then pasting it back in. It. Happens. Every. Time. Why do I never learn it? Its such a dumbass word, honestly.

The game lacks even the hint of a story, it doesn't even so much as provide a justification for racing. It literally goes 'here's the events, have at em'. After doing each of the handful of different event types a handful of times it feels like you've seen everything the game has to offer, and with the racing events not being particularly challenging it does drag its feet a little in the latter half.

Thankfully the AI is pretty good, not at racing per se, but rather being fun opponents to drive alongside of. Theres a lot of speed, a lot of chaos, and the soundtrack is totally bangin. The devs seem to have leaned into this direction heavily, with takedowns being such a huge part of the game that you could easily call this one combat racing. No guns or gadgets or other ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ like that thank god, but there's more ramming than Charlotte Sartre could even handle.

There isn't really any progression to speak of other than slowly unlocking marginally better cars as you clear events, the menus and overall the entire UI is pretty badly dated and customization is very limited and cumbersome. This is a pretty barebones racer, and mostly driven by the fun moment to moment gameplay rather than anything else.

Technical performance on my modern highend system was excellent, though loading times can often be longer than I'd like mostly on account of the EA's superfluous ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ app, and useless online connectivity features. It does work though, and requires no modding or other workarounds.

Credit where its due, the map design is pretty outstanding. A decent size and they've packed a lot of variety into it. All kinds of shortcuts, secrets, stunts, and it all looks sweet.
One of the coolest aspects to this game is that the events are totally open. You're never cordoned off into a specific route, as long as you're the first to cross the finish line you can get there in any way you see fit. I really wish more racers used this philosophy, because it adds a ton of extra excitement to the proceedings.

It's pretty good actually, for what it is, and it doesn't try to be anything much more than that. Don't expect it to be, and you'll prolly enjoy it.

this is a very cool & fun game, my son plays this non-stop

CTDs on boot. ♥♥♥♥ EA.

If you're looking to play this, download Bo98's BPR Mods and launch the game from EA's launcher.