The game is quite good, it deserves a fair amount of criticism but not blatant hate and full disregard. For the average player who likes customizing street racers, violently ramming other racers/cops off the road into traffic, fast and exciting races, etc. This game is worth it, especially on sale. Granted, I waited until it was 40% off to buy it but that was because I don't religiously play racing games, though if it were launch week and I paid full price, i would be very happy with my purchase.

The cartoon effects are fine, I like the wings when jumping but i only use the first effect in the list, a simple red one, the extravagant effects are too much for me but i don't really notice them all too much. They do make the car feel faster and the game more exciting though, I must admit that.

The game's focus on being woke and trendy does get annoying, the fact that the street art collectibles consist of like 90% black people makes me think whoever came up with that idea is a race-focused white person or an old CEO type trying to pander. Having spent many years enjoying local street art, I can attest that rarely do i see murals of two black babies fighting over a gold chain, or a high res old black man who looks grumpy, its quite racist and full of negative stereotypes imo but ehh, its to be expected.

Car customization is phenomenal, while some cars have less parts and you can't edit pointless things like a stereo system in NFS: U2, I still quite enjoy making a sexy 370z with a nice metallic eagle wrap. They added a lot more shapes and designs to the paint shop and while they aren't as deep as Forza, you can still easily make very cool cars and designs. Street racers usually have simpler wraps, the ability to make HD photorealistic anime isn't really needed in a game like this. Compare the paint shop to past games and it is a welcome addition, you can make the perfect car relatively easily without needing to find one that someone else made.

Handling and other physics are fine, I'm not a sweat lord who plays racing games every waking moment so to me, it is perfectly acceptable. Tuning works well though I must admit it is a bit complicated to learn if you know nothing about cars or past NFS games. Trying to get your car to accelerate faster while keeping your car class low is harder than you think, and there arent detailed stats that show what some parts do like brakes and the different turbos, but oh well.

I played and loved Heat for about 30 or so hours, beat the game, made my dream cars and got tired of it. Without the progression and the short story Heat had, I lost interest despite it being a very good game (I also got it for $3 so that mightve contributed). In Unbound, at the 30 hour mark I almost got through the campaign but I enjoyed taking my time, making my cars and grinding for things i didn't need which made some of the races difficult as i couldnt afford a usable S+ car...so i had to restart...heh...but having started over I can gladly say I'm still having lots of funs. 50 or so hours in and I still look forward to playing the game. I know online is a bit meh at the moment so hopefully it gets better, but for a single player only experience I easily got my $40 worth. I wish they allowed an easier way to restart the story though, having to delete and backup save files is annoying.

Overall, the game is fun. Its no Underground 3, but as a bird who loved that game to death, I can almost look at this game as a spinoff to the Underground series, like an Underground 2: Episode 1 sort of deal. They took pretty much everything in Heat and improved it, the game isn't perfect but no game really is. I quite enjoy it and if you get it on sale, I'm sure you will too, but even paying full price it is a decent purchase. ^v^

The game is quite good, it deserves a fair amount of criticism but not blatant hate and full disregard. For the average player who likes customizing street racers, violently ramming other racers/cops off the road into traffic, fast and exciting races, etc. This game is worth it, especially on sale. Granted, I waited until it was 40% off to buy it but that was because I don't religiously play racing games, though if it were launch week and I paid full price, i would be very happy with my purchase. The cartoon effects are fine, I like the wings when jumping but i only use the first effect in the list, a simple red one, the extravagant effects are too much for me but i don't really notice them all too much. They do make the car feel faster and the game more exciting though, I must admit that. The game's focus on being woke and trendy does get annoying, the fact that the street art collectibles consist of like 90% black people makes me think whoever came up with that idea is a race-focused white person or an old CEO type trying to pander. Having spent many years enjoying local street art, I can attest that rarely do i see murals of two black babies fighting over a gold chain, or a high res old black man who looks grumpy, its quite racist and full of negative stereotypes imo but ehh, its to be expected. Car customization is phenomenal, while some cars have less parts and you can't edit pointless things like a stereo system in NFS: U2, I still quite enjoy making a sexy 370z with a nice metallic eagle wrap. They added a lot more shapes and designs to the paint shop and while they aren't as deep as Forza, you can still easily make very cool cars and designs. Street racers usually have simpler wraps, the ability to make HD photorealistic anime isn't really needed in a game like this. Compare the paint shop to past games and it is a welcome addition, you can make the perfect car relatively easily without needing to find one that someone else made. Handling and other physics are fine, I'm not a sweat lord who plays racing games every waking moment so to me, it is perfectly acceptable. Tuning works well though I must admit it is a bit complicated to learn if you know nothing about cars or past NFS games. Trying to get your car to accelerate faster while keeping your car class low is harder than you think, and there arent detailed stats that show what some parts do like brakes and the different turbos, but oh well. I played and loved Heat for about 30 or so hours, beat the game, made my dream cars and got tired of it. Without the progression and the short story Heat had, I lost interest despite it being a very good game (I also got it for $3 so that mightve contributed). In Unbound, at the 30 hour mark I almost got through the campaign but I enjoyed taking my time, making my cars and grinding for things i didn't need which made some of the races difficult as i couldnt afford a usable S+ car...so i had to restart...heh...but having started over I can gladly say I'm still having lots of funs. 50 or so hours in and I still look forward to playing the game. I know online is a bit meh at the moment so hopefully it gets better, but for a single player only experience I easily got my $40 worth. I wish they allowed an easier way to restart the story though, having to delete and backup save files is annoying. Overall, the game is fun. Its no Underground 3, but as a bird who loved that game to death, I can almost look at this game as a spinoff to the Underground series, like an Underground 2: Episode 1 sort of deal. They took pretty much everything in Heat and improved it, the game isn't perfect but no game really is. I quite enjoy it and if you get it on sale, I'm sure you will too, but even paying full price it is a decent purchase. ^v^