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[AeonGaidenRaiden]

I got this game day one, actually scratch that I got it 5 days before official release. I knew a guy that had no problem of breaking street date. Anyway, I loaded up the game and two hours later I put it up for sale. I was so...insulted by the handling of the game, I couldnt believe what I just bought. As a long time NFS fan, this was teh worst thing I ever witnessed. The handling was a disaster, hitting a wall was like getting stuck to a magnet, the rubber banding even in the first few races was so bad it made it difficult to win a beginners race. Oh and there was no restart of a race, you had to drive back to the mission area if you messed up. I had no clue what race was new and what race I just finished playing. If I had a fire place this would be the game Id want to watch and burn. The burn was so bad that when Payback came out, not only did I not care, I wasn't even going to bother looking at a trailer unless it was 9/10 review already. So years passed, I got an itch for an arcade racer, which you have to admit there aren't many at this point especially on the PS4 so I decided to bite the bullet and get Payback.

They said a lot of things got fixed, but the game overall felt like a grind. Not in a bad way but just the fact that I felt like Im doing races just to get to the ending credits. I didnt care for the characters, the story or its Vegas setting. Actually the story was terrible, being able to only see other peoples feet instead of their faces when meeting up with anyone in the game unless its the 4 main characters. But I prevailed and finished the game. It made me think, did I give enough chance to 2015? I went on reddit and people still shit on the game. So i was patiently waiting for a cheap used copy and I got it. I dont know if its the updates over the last 3 years or was it the Payback experience that changed things for me but as soon as I started up the game, I felt right at home. The handling was butter smooth or at least nothing that surprised me. The graphics looked amazing, especially with the added rainy effects compared to Payback. You could restart the race at any point and I knew exactly what race was next.

This game, the once most hated NFS title I ever played, I went completely 360* on it. Not only did I like it this time, its one of my top 5 NFS experiences and I got a Platinum trophy. Not only that Im on my way to prestige-ing this title. Yes, a game I hated the most I ended up loving and totally getting it, 3 years later though. People compare it to Underground. I wouldnt agree because to me UG was cheesy style just as the Fast and Furious movies were. NFS 2015 has grit all over it. Its a gritty setting, with gritty soundtrack and gritty graphics. The game has a soul, it has its own vibe. And those real life FMV that are considered cheesy? I came to appreciate them even more because I realized it was all one take. In reality the only people that sometimes felt off were the potrayed "icons", the real life celebrity drivers/racers. The actors though, they did an amazing job. This is a game that literally made me quit NFS for 3 years, it was that bad and I was there from NFS 2 Special Edition on the PS1, onwards. And somehow now in 2019 it ended up being one of my favourite NFS titles I ever played. As soon as I was done with payback, I deleted it. 2015 I finished and all I want to do is drive around, take screenshots and listen to the amazing soundtrack. I have never switched from one side to another on a game before.

If anyone had a similar experience as me, give it a try because at least I think, after all the updates they fixed so many things. The game is miles better than Payback. Yes it has its flaws like alway online and random glitches where I get teleported to a completely different map point that I didn't chose, the cops are useless and always online is absolute shit BUT this is Need For Speed at its finest. Once you "get" the handling, you get it, it's stuck forever. All I hope now is that NFS 2019 is as equally gritty and not filled with hipster bull crap OST or characters.

 

[Insane Metal]

Yuck.

 

[makaveli60]

I never understood the hate (besides it being an always online game, f that crap). It was a very good NfS for me, felt like Underground 3 with insane graphics.

 

[Larxia]

I don't understand how you can hate a game that much, and then love it that much later, and selling it after only 2 hours seems really extreme, especially since the controls are really tweakable to make them fit your preferences. Seems like you were just in a bad mood when you tried it.

Anyway, I really liked the atmosphere of the game, it looked amazing, I like the drifting mechanics and the car customization was great.
However it had some dumb issues that really made it less good than it could have been.

First, it's wayyyy too easy, like, shockingly easy. You can basically never loose, even the DLCs that are supposed to be more difficult are super easy, when you are first, you can stop your car and wait at least 30 seconds for the others cars to catch you back, I don't understand how you can ruin a difficulty like that, there's absolutely no challenge and it ruins a lot of the fun.

My other main complaints concerns the online, it could have been a lot better. The free-roam mode feels really dead, they really should have added a chat (I played it on PC), so people could chat with each others and stuff, but without chat it just felt dead. I also hate how modern games try to completely avoid menus, making that you can't browse online servers / matches and can just hope for random events here and there. They added a "real" racing mode later with a patch, it was a bit better, but it still lacked ergonomy and ease of use in my opinion.
I would really like for racing games to go back to some classic menus where you pick your mode, you track etc... It seems obvious but that's something that almost doesn't exist anymore.

I also think the city could have feel a bit more alive, the dead feeling is really something I felt a lot in this game, feeling dead and kinda empty.

I still liked the game, had some good fun with it because I really liked the gameplay, the drift and the overall atmosphere and visuals, but it really could have been something much greater and becoming a classic, a come back to underground, with some differences.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Well it obviously took me 3 years to like it again. It definitely wasnt as smooth on release day as it is now and I think that has to do a lot with the updates over time because I remember 90% were shitting on its handling. After 3 NFS in a row all of a sudden we get this "break to drift" style but it is way cranked up. It just felt completely off putting to me. You skid against a wall and your car comes to a complete stop almost. All this was fixed years later.

The always online im not a fan but dont really care but once my router messed up and I was kicked out in the middle of the race because my wifi stopped working. Thats pretty dumb considering now you can chose "play alone" yet your playtime still depends on a stable internet connection. But overall, game is boss. Maybe I like it so much because it just proves how bland and boring Payback was in comparison so all of a sudden this felt much better.

 

[Norse]

The NFS that launched with the Xbox 360 is my favorite NFS game.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

There was zero point of this game being online only. Well, apart from me not wanting to buy it anywhere near full price..