Summary: 7/10
This game is Need for speed meets an MMO.Therefore, you need a constant internet connection to play this game...even in single player. If you like arcade racing games and are looking for a large world, this game may be for you. If you have 2 kids or multiple friends who like racing games, this would be fun with people. Some missions feel useless and the overall the graphics are not top tier (they are good, just won't require a top tier graphics card to hit max settings), but the game definitely is fun with friends. There are short comings (the User interface is annoying at times, my personal disappointment with the graphics, some useless missions) but most can be overlooked for really what this game does different. It brings you and your friends together to do missions (like any MMO) but with racing cars instead of wizards. Graphics: 8/10
for Console capability They are beautiful, but not as good as you expected if you watched the trailers. This is due to them using CGI for their ads. So take that into consideration. It is not as pretty as other racing games in terms of car detail, but 30fps and 1080p on both consoles will leave you in a good spot. The scenery is beautiful and exactly what was advertised from what I can see.
Physics: 6/10
until you disable the driver assist, then it becomes 8/10.
For arcade racing.
Not racing sim. Where to start...I would compare this to the older NFS Hot pursuit 2 or even midnight club. I had to immediately turn off the racing assist as with it, I just was all over the place. I would say that it takes some getting used to, but after awhile of driving around, it felt like a normal arcade game. They can still do improvement to reduce the over-steer and not make the cars so light.
Background/world size: 9/10
I have to say, they did an excellent job with the cities and scenery that they did produce in the game. I really enjoyed the feel of being in different parts of the US. It gave an authentic feel. The large landscapes give you the feel of how big the US is at times, but also how small cities can be. The one thing I hope they do, like other MMOs, is add more cities. There just are not as many as I wanted
Car Models: 7/10
The cars are fairly well done, not the best you will see when compared to sim games...but good for an arcade racing type game. I would like to see them tweak the game further to improve the models. I hope they do this in the future.
Mission quality: 7/10
This is a very subjective part of any review. I can say that I like burnout 2's overall attitude towards missions better, but this is different type of game then burnout. There are the speed missions, which is your classic race to the finish line and then their is slalom type missions as well for driver capability (hard for an arcade type game to achieve accuracy). There are plenty of missions that feel like grinding however, which is why I gave this a 7/10. I do like the ability to filter by mission type. That was a nice feature when looking at the world map.
User Interface: 5/10
They really need to let you turn things off I was really annoyed by the user interface and think most people will get annoyed. The game appears to always want to congratulate you, which makes me feel good and all the first few times...but I can only take so much before I want to just turn off the compliments.Most parts of the user interface work well, but they really need to make more customization and cut down on the mission reminders.
Overall game play: 8/10
I have to say I am fairly satisfied after tweaking my settings and disabling that driver assist on the feel. I have yet to run into major glitches or crashes. I had a lot of fun driving around and doing the different missions.
Economy in game: 7/10
They definitely are stingy on the cash sides of things. You need to treat each car as its own character. Upgrades are expensive, but I think that is done to encourage more playing and more interaction with others in the game.
Overall
I need to play more, but right now I am still able to afford upgrades and win races...and that is what matters.
Ending notes
The game is what you would expect from an arcade racing game that becomes MMO. I think some people will be disappointed because they were expecting a racing sim, but when you are trying to reach a broad audience and create a completely new genre...you can't go to the sim style of racing. The graphics may also disappoint some people, this is because they used extensive CG graphics in their ads that were no where close to in game performance. I think Ubisoft did that to get people excited about it, but they should have also ended their ads with some real life gameplay. I know the Mrs actually wants to play this game because of those ads, which is impressive that Ubisoft is able to reach even non-pc gamers to give it a try. That's where I think this game succeeds. It may not be exactly what the hardcore fans wanted, but this game will create the opportunity for non-hardcore gamers to get immersed into gaming by racing with friends. At the end of the day, that's what this game is about. Racing around with friends. Ubisoft really has something with this concept, I just hope they improve it enough over the next few months to fix the issues that are holding it back from being great. Concepts and talk are great, but execution is what matters. I hope they continue the development and improve this product, as they really could be onto something new and fun.
Trailer
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