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Need For Speed: Rivals | OT | In Theaters March 14

P

PHOENIXZERO

Member
On the racer side I completely gave up on doing anything about earning speed points because shit gets so cheap. If I need SP (which I kind of don't anymore) on the racer side I just do the Panic Attack Interceptor event that I've mentioned before. It only takes two or three runs to get a 10x multiplier and that takes, with level 4 Shockwave and ESF, about 30 seconds to complete each time and once you're level 10 you're earning over 100k SP every time, top it off you're right by a repair station and a hide out. You can easily bank a million SP in less than ten minutes. You can complete a lot of speed lists from just doing that event repeatedly.

They need to make the direction thing on the ground more visible because most the time it's a bitch to see for me and looking at the mini-map just plain sucks, especially when at least on the last gen consoles doesn't load smoothly and constantly has parts popping up. Oh and yes, remove all the absolutely pointless shit in the roads that has no reason being there other than being something to run over and pop up until you're on top of it.

Say what you want about Criterion's two Need For Speed games but their engine was leaps and bounds better for it than the shit that is Frostbite. It's ridiculous how poorly this thing runs on the last gen consoles while not looking all that much better if at all than Most Wanted. I'll even go as far as to say if it was on Criterion's engine it'd be 60FPS on PS4 and XBO and they wouldn't be spouting that Autodrive PR BS they tried with the PC version being locked. Okay probably not but it'd still run, maybe even look better while still possibly having more than six players max.

njean777 said:
This game really needs dedicated servers, really cannot stand being in the middle of a race, or getaway, and all of a sudden go into host migration. I know EA has the money to run those servers.
Click to expand...

I played a good amount of time online with both HP2010 and MW2012 and I don't recall having much in the way of issue with constant host migration or dropping. Maybe it was because everyone who was online actually wanted to be online unlike this game. I wonder who's stupid, incredibly poorly executed idea this was. Dedicated servers would have been a good idea.

leng jai said:
We need a pause button, stronger cars and an escape mechanic where you can't be randomly discovered by cop cars that just appear behind you from thin air.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's incredibly cheap even older GTA games weren't as bad with the random spawning BS at a max wanted level. Hell, I still think GTA V/Online is a better racing game than Rivals and that's messed up.
 
R

R_thanatos

Member
So i finally got my platinium trophy.

Last impressions before i either sell this game or exchange it

First i agree with what PHOENIXZERO said above.

The custom engine criterion had was much more adapted to racing games.. frostbite get the job done but something felt "off". I dunno how it is on PS3 or 360 but on ps4 ( and next-gen versions ) , the game is extra overcharged with effects. There are SO MANY NEXT-GEN effects that you can't actually enjoy racing .
For example, taking the forest area , at night while it rains with a cop with siren on... the same experience can be re-created as a racer if you're followed by the helicopter at night.

It's the perfect example of "too much". On the same vein , the horrible flashing effect when you gain a rank , is almost painfull to the eyes. Do i need to be blinded EACH TIME i gain something ?It wasn't this bad in most wanted 2012

Second , i must admit that Nfs rivals get one thing right if you compare it to NFS HP2010, it's that the stress-free aspect of the career is better , you don't need to get every event in gold , just a high amount , because i HATE the rapid response events i do not play those games for the time attacks. Don't get me wrong time attack challenges are fun , but not when there are so many , god so many random events that will destroy your search for the perfect "line". If you're doing a rapid response event , you WILL encounter a racer and a police car that you will NEED to evade even if you're a cop , you can't touch the racer car or else you'll get a penality ( WTF) , i'm not even counting the fact that the area might get mixed with another event by other human players making the rapid response event just a big chore.

So yeah , Rivals is at least much more forgiving in his trophy/Achievement list

However the career + mode is lazy as hell , each time i want to change the setlist i need to scroll down, couldn't you have made things easier for everyone ?

Third , the bugs
Thankfully the patches have solved most bugs but some still remain , some jumps don't register at all and require numerous retries.( WTF ).
At least 3 areas of the map are pathfinding buggued ( in head to head this is obvious on the GPS )
The rubberbanding is awefull in the most unexpected moments

Fourth The HUD

It took the advice of a Gaffer before i could find my life jauge, sorry Ghost games but your hud is not good enough. This thing should have been more obvious. On the same HUD problem, the jumps are not properly obvious on the mini map.The arrow should have been in the direction you need to take in order to do the jump , this is a glorious oversight , making you confused , while you're discovering the map.

Fifth Multiplayer

Multiplayer works fine , i must admit it does work well , but sometimes it doesn't work , The host migrations are horrible, especially since the AI aren't affected by the host change , meaning that Every human player starts at 0 speed , while the AI is at full speed. When this happen during a event , this is just painfull to have to restart an event because of this bullsh*t.

I had to turn Alldrive off and put in on single player mode , in order to be able to enjoy the events without being interrupted. Worse Even when you're the Host , you still have numerous connexion freezes and rollbacks ( WTF ) i actually put the all drive in "friends" mode and even when i had no friends online, i was having freezes for no reasons ( WTF )

Sixth Car selection
The car selection is disapointing. All the cars in cop mode are done by sets of 3 with slight changes ? WTF What a rip-off. Some of the stats are highly incorrect, this i obvious with the last cars you unlock.
As for the racer side , the bonuses you get in career + mode are disapointing too.
The car selection is bland and many of the cars are so useless.Why ? because when you're in a public lobby , there is no balance between someone who starts with a heat 1 or 2 and a cops with rank 3 or 4 . No balance, no fun for the newcomers.

Seventh Weapon utility
After need for speed hot pursuit, maybe i was spoiled , but everything rivals do seems off. Maybe they tried to make the game less arcade, some of the changes are uneven considering the weapons.
Why 2 weapons instead of 4 ? To force the players to choose ? A good idea on paper if the choices were pertinent.
But the weapons are not that great.

*Helicopter:
So now the helicopter doesn't automatically goes forward to force the player to stay in racer range , you need the racer to be in pursuit range before the helicopter decides to goes forward . This change is logical and i can accept it , but a racer can no longer counter an helicopter spikestrip drop with jamming ( if you can then i never managed) This one make no sense since you can still counter regular spikes with jamming .

*spikestrip
It's less usefull than before, the timing between the stripstrip launch has been upped too much , it's useless in too many situations now.

*Cop shockwave.
The shockwave works only in front .... this nerf should have been handled better. I understand that it loclaised because otherwise it would annoy other cop cars, but then the damage should have been bigger than the racer shockwave ...it's not.

*Racer shockwave.
Godly , the damage is sky high and you can throw other cars like nothing.if you aren't using this you're making your life harder than necessary.

*Emp
Way too much nerf, the lock-on is so much reduced and useless.in HP2010 , the emp was looking at Any car in front of you and locked on the closest.if something happenned with the locking was on , it would change target if there was another with a slight delay.
But here , NO. It choose a target ( the closest when activated ) and doesn't EVEN try to look elsewhere.This change is ridiculous, they removed the entire point of the weapon. There are just too many things that can happen in a race to force only one car to be the target.

*Turbo
A nice weapon that is only usefull in a couple of situations. but BECAUSE you're forced to choose 2 , you have like no reason to pick turbo , because in most cases it won't give you and advantage. Regular nitro is more efficient than turbo 90% of the time.

*Esf
Great weapon , one of the few that is easy to recommand , it blocks stun mines, emp and deal great damage..A must for any cop

*Stun mines
A good weapon that can bring great results when used right . but there just better choices when you're limited with only 2 weapons. At best it'll work as good as a Emp and that's it , better choose the emp then.

*Jamming
A must for any racer.I don't think you can survive properly as a racer without it.. actually you can but using jamming is easier way less trouble than other alternatives.

*blockades
Another weapon that was nerfed if you compare it to HP 2010.
Blockades are 95% of the time useless in hard events.it's not even working properly in easy events half the time.What a downgrade.

In conclusion
IF you look at your choices , there isn't much choice because there are great weapons and there are the rest. There is no reason to change unless the speedlist ask to. This making the weapon choice useless and poorly implemented.
As a racer , you pick jamming + (shockwave or esf ) there is no reason to change.

As a cop ( esf + shockwave ), there are the best 2 damage dealers.
No reason to change.

In the end Nfs rivals is NOT a bad game, it's just lacking in game design and polish. It's certainly NOT the best NFs , far from it.
My post is too long already , if you want my take on physics, campaign and other stuff look at my other post in this thread.

Ps:It's too bad the map feel smaller than Hp & most wanted. there is a lack of playground ( like both airfield in most wanted ) and the various place that are themed aren't even big.
 
B

BeekleMatter

Member
Any gaffers on down to add me and let me bust them (or work for it I guess) for the platinum? Getting randoms to add you on here is impossible and my two friends who had this game both sold it.

PSN ID: BeekleMatter
 
T

The Interrobanger

Member
Have been enjoying the game alot more now that I've got cars that make golding hard events realistic. The Aventador is such a beast. I'm on the last (I think?...there's 20, right?) cop event and then I'll start as a racer. Do SP points cross over?
 
N

NHale

Member
So is there a way to restart an event after you finish if you are involved in cop chase (which is 95% of the time...) or is this another "feature" in the long list of amateur "features" of this game?
 
R

R_thanatos

Member
NHale said:
So is there a way to restart an event after you finish if you are involved in cop chase (which is 95% of the time...) or is this another "feature" in the long list of amateur "features" of this game?
Click to expand...

When you're a racer you can only restart if you're in the clear ( not in a pursuit )
Only the cops can restart at any time.
 
Z

ZeroAKA

Member
Does anyone have any tips for slipstreaming? I always tend to go either past the car I'm slipstreaming or so slowly that the game doesn't even count my driving as slipstreaming anymore.
 
D

Dawg

Member
Not being able to pause is seriously pissing me off. I know you can just enter a HQ and be safe but that doesn't help if you have a 150k SP objective and need to go afk for a sec. Now this wouldn't be a problem if cops aren't chasing your ass 99% of the time. Can't even stand still somewhere quiet and enjoy the scenery because the police is insane and they'll always attack you. Can't really complain with that interceptor event SW of the map though. Easy SP.

I've also noticed the PS4 version still suffers from framedrops. It's butter smooth most of the time but I've still encountered significant drops when many cops are chasing you. Also seem to get an error that crashes the game sometimes. Is this normal? :/

Oh yeah, anyone from the EU willing to do the co op trophies tomorrow or so? PS4 version. PM me plox :D
 
N

NHale

Member
Dawg said:
Should I switch my lambo Veneno? Currently using ESF + shockwave so I guess Jammer > ESF? I enjoy using ESF though.
Click to expand...

I did it with the fully upgraded Ferrari Enzo which in my opinion is by far the best car in the game because it has speed, good cornering and durability. Other cars even when upgraded excel in 1 or 2 of those 3 components but are terrible in at least one of those and in the Grand Tour you need every help you can get.

As R_Thanatos said Jamming + Shockwaves are the best option. Some replace Jamming with ESF but it depends if you are good at dodging the EMP or not.

But the only thing that is required is to get through almost every repair shop in that event. Always be aware of where the next is, some of them are on the other side of the road and it's always worth it to lose time to go through to them even if your car is 100% "healthy" because you need that 6 Jamming + 6 shockwaves. I also found it useful to try to wreck other racers early because in the end of the race they all use their tech against you if they are alive.
 
D

Dawg

Member
NHale said:
I did it with the fully upgraded Ferrari Enzo which in my opinion is by far the best car in the game because it has speed, good cornering and durability. Other cars even when upgraded excel in 1 or 2 of those 3 components but are terrible in at least one of those and in the Grand Tour you need every help you can get.

As R_Thanatos said Jamming + Shockwaves are the best option. Some replace Jamming with ESF but it depends if you are good at dodging the EMP or not.

But the only thing that is required is to get through almost every repair shop in that event. Always be aware of where the next is, some of them are on the other side of the road and it's always worth it to lose time to go through to them even if your car is 100% "healthy" because you need that 6 Jamming + 6 shockwaves. I also found it useful to try to wreck other racers early because in the end of the race they all use their tech against you if they are alive.
Click to expand...

Am I right by saying it doesn't matter if you end up last even if you go for the platinum? As in, you just need to complete it? First place isn't required?
 
Raptomex

Raptomex

Member
Always been a fan of racing games with cops. Really enjoying this so far. I really wish they would choose more tropical locations. I'm tired of forests and mountains. Whenever NFS uses a city setting it always seems to be industrial or something is missing. There was a really cool volcano type map in Hot Pursuit 2. NFS 3 had some awesome tropical city maps (Atlantica I think). Good times.

I got this for the PS4 and it's gorgeous. It seems to throw every effect it can at you, though. I don't know if this is good or bad. It doesn't really bother me but it's noticable.
 
R

R_thanatos

Member
Dawg said:
Am I right by saying it doesn't matter if you end up last even if you go for the platinum? As in, you just need to complete it? First place isn't required?
Click to expand...

Race is so long that the police will probably bust everyone except you ... i've played this event 16 times and i always finish alone.

Key is to be fast stay in the first places and manage your weapons. If you're not alone with the policemens when you're in the last part of the race , ( near the coast ) you're doing it wrong.
Because this part of the race is the hardest ( not enough place to dodge , not many repair stations and the cops heat will be high )
 
O

OrangeOak

Member
I bought it yesterday for PC on Amazon(they have great promotion where it is only $18 and $13 with $5 holiday credit) and I must say that I really like this game.
Online integration in main campaign is really great IMO and there is always a lot to do on the map.
Visuals are imo outstanding,great variety of environments,nice weather effects,lighting and particles.Cars are looking great as well.
Driving model is more responsive than in MW and it's great fun overall.
 
B

Bebpo

Banned
So I think I'm over this game. In the racer campaign I have to accumulate a ton of SP as an objective to proceed. So I do a couple of events back to back flawlessly and get the SP, then every time I try to GPS the nearest hideout it's always miles away and by that point I'm being chased by a half dozen cops from the events. If I crash while following the GPS (which 90% of the time is telling me to make a U-turn which means getting broadsided by cops and busted the second I try to turn around), right when I recover from the crash I get slammed by one of the cops as I'm starting up again and instantly busted. I'm using the Porsche 911 with max upgrade to all the stats and strength is like an 8+ yet I die in 2 hits. Cop is less frustrating but cop career is a lot more boring to play.


Overall can't help but feel really disappointed by this game. The map is so bland and forgettable compared to Burnout Paradise's incredibly memorable city and Hot Pursuit 2010's locations. Most Wanted 2012 also suffered from a bland boring city but at least I can remember locations from that game like the center park area where everyone does jumps and the long bridges you climb on top of and the airport and that industrial area out of the city. In Rivals, you could easily think you're just playing an HD remake of Hot Pursuit 2010. You have snowy mountains, beach coasts, redwood forests with narrow roads, open desert; I get that there aren't that many scenery types for racers, but it's pretty much just every location that was in HP2010...again. There's nothing unique, nothing interesting. Is there even a waterfall somewhere? HP2010 had that. I wish they set it in some sort of "location" so the whole island/area could have a theme like Forza Horizon or Test Drive Unlimited instead of just "a generic area segmented by bits of all the areas you've seen before a few years ago by us"

Handling also doesn't seem as fun as HP2010, and the career mode kind of sucks. The poster above was talking about how it was less stressful because you don't need golds, but I actually find the SP collecting and storing a lot more stressful than just re-racing races until you get golds which is kind of what I'm used to in racing games!

The game mainly feels robotic. Like it doesn't know why it exists or what it wants to be. It feels like a soulless made by corporation game that has fills all the checkboxes (Desert, Snow, Forest! Cops and Racers! Turbos, Emps! Time Trials, Hot Pursuits, Speed Cameras, Multiplayer!) but doesn't feel like a fun, well designed game made for enjoyment by people who love arcade racers. Burnout Paradise felt like that. Hot Pursuit 2010 felt like that. MW2012 felt generic and so does this.

Feels like EA's desire and pushing for yearly NFS games from Criterion (and now ex-Criterion Ghost Games) is turning it into a joyless churn of a job where the devs just want to get it done on time and check the boxes and move on to the next project. Unless there's a big revival game by Criterion in the next few years, I can't help but feel they're another dead-on-the-inside studio because of EA like Bioware and others :(
 
D

DasRaven

Member
Bebpo said:
So I think I'm over this game. In the racer campaign I have to accumulate a ton of SP as an objective to proceed. So I do a couple of events back to back flawlessly and get the SP, then every time I try to GPS the nearest hideout it's always miles away and by that point I'm being chased by a half dozen cops from the events. If I crash while following the GPS (which 90% of the time is telling me to make a U-turn which means getting broadsided by cops and busted the second I try to turn around), right when I recover from the crash I get slammed by one of the cops as I'm starting up again and instantly busted. I'm using the Porsche 911 with max upgrade to all the stats and strength is like an 8+ yet I die in 2 hits. Cop is less frustrating but cop career is a lot more boring to play.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of places on the map where you can literally farm SP within the sight of a repair station AND a hideout.
Spoiler for the most obvious place --> [
Medium Interceptor - Panic Attack
]

And part of the racer career is predicated on you having some comfort with the map.
Knowing generally where repair shops and where tight hairpin turns are will be the difference between survival and failure.
Just as in the cop career, you need to get a feel for where a roadblock helps and where it is a waste.

If you still have problems, hack the game using Overwatch mode boosts.
I helped a buddy finish the Grand Tour using that recently.
 
P

Pimpwerx

Member
So I plat'd this last night. It was fun beating each mode the first time, but getting to level 60 in both was a bit of a bore, because it involves repeating lots of easy events to clear each speedlist.

I have major complaint with the draw distance and pop-in. I had a cop car pop in literally 50 30 yards from my car, on the highway. It's only a coincidence that I was changing lanes that I avoided a head-on. The draw distance is also pretty crummy. I like a good blind crest or turn, but this game is rife with them, and I feel most are to disguise draw distance.

The IQ also needs to be better to make it easier to discern intersections and GPS indicators. With the faster cars, you're closing so quickly that you have no chance to take an optimal line. I found myself looking at the map far too often. I'm so glad Grand Tour was mostly country roads, because it kept map-watching to a minimum, unless I was looking for a repair shop. You have to beat it at least twice for platinum, so that helped make the job easier.

That said, my suggestions for Grand Tour are Jammer + Shockwave, as you can snuff out the EMP spam at the end, and also give yourself spacing when they start gangbanging you near the finish. You only need to finish, so hit every repair shop you see, even if you have to u-turn to go use it. Like all Hot Pursuits, the game will have the AI cars wreck often, and they almost always slow near the end, to allow you to catch up. If you start crashing then, that's your fault. You can use your pursuit tech a lot early in the race, but when you're within the last 4 or 5 miles of the finish, you want to use it sparingly. You're going to want to save it for the last 1.5 miles when they kitchen sink you and I almost always get the critical damage warning. I don't think there's a repair shop within the last 3 or 4 miles of the finish, so your luck early in the race means nothing at the end. They will put a hurting on you no matter how good you are....so be prepared for that.

I used the Pagani Huayra both times. I love that car. It drifts easier than the McLaren. I found that car held speed better through turns, but it understeered far too much. It was really hard to flick into a drift. I'd have to jump hard on the binders to get the back end rotating.The Pagani is just god-tier. Well...second to the Red UC Ferrari you get temporarily. That's easily the best car in the game IMO. Not as fast as the Hennessy, but that thing was still really fast, handled awesome and was like a tank. PEACE.
 
G

Gr1mLock

Passing metallic gas
As a self professed complete most wanted (orignal) fanboy this is the first nfs i really like. The only thing i seriously hate is the rubberbanding ai. like..come on is this 94? Why am i both boosting and hitting turbo and dudes is just flying by me. Stuff like that is just gross.
 
D

DasRaven

Member
Indeed, DLC preparation/content update: Ferrari & Jaguar packs available.

Ferrari
____F40 & F50_____
(cop and racer versions available)
Jaguar
____C-X75 & XJ220__
(cop and racer versions available)

Nice additions, hopefully this means the chance of future packs for other makers.
Still missing some good cars from HP2010.
 
S

Stackboy

Member
Picking up a PS4 on the weekend (they are pretty available in Australia) and this NFS is the first game I'm going to play on it.
 
V

Vee_One

Member
Stackboy said:
Picking up a PS4 on the weekend (they are pretty available in Australia) and this NFS is the first game I'm going to play on it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my JB has about 50 of them on the shelves (small town). EB have none.

Just finished this game - it's great fun but by god is that story awful and cringeworthy. I enjoyed my time with it but I am not in a hurry to play it again.
 
J

julrik

Member
Is it safe to download the digital version on PS4 now? Read somewhere that the R2 button doesn't work when downloading the digital version.
 
F

Flarin

Member
Anyone here have the PS4 version? Looking to get the 2 multiplayer trophies for the platinum. Willing to trade so we can both get them.

Also, what's with the multiplayer? Keeps telling me to sign into PSN when I already am. Should it automatically sign into Origin? Has me super confused.
 
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