As to not require some word-eating in case this game is utter crap at launch, I'll make one very clear statement here:
This is an EA game.
EA games always look good on trailers; trailers however, might not be a realistic representation of the final product.
With that said...
At least with the radical tonal shift this game has taken from previous modern NFS titles such as Heat, I can truly see a lot of potential here.
It is of course obvious that many will be turned away by the different art-style, with it looking rather cell-shaded and cartoony, but that's subjective as all hell and I personally loved it.
However, with the choice of songs and general attitude, I can't help but be reminded of Underground, and if this game is anything like UG1 or 2, then we'll have a true gem on our hands.
The first thing I noticed in the trailer is that there's a very real contrast between the cars and the cartoony parts such as the characters. It's true that this doesn't look as realistic as other NFS titles (look at the tire smoke), but it's still totally... a car. A realistic car. More realistic than other great games we've gotten in the past that went for a cell-shaded look such as Auto-Modellista.
Scenes such as these really help sell the contrast and I'm a big fan. I think this looks great.
One part that did worry me was how the nitrous behaved in this section. The transfer of speed was a bit too abrupt. I don't even mind the dumb effects around the car, those are definitely post-production stuff put in the trailer, but I just the gameplay isn't so absurdly cartoony as this small segment made it look like.
I don't want a kart racer, but even then, I could and probably am exaggerating.
These parts... Just look cool. Not much to say about it. The game looks cool as shit. The trailer is trying to sell this to us, and it's definitely working for me. I'll call myself an idiot if this thing is a failure but every second I rewatch of this, I get more excited. I've been waiting for a decent NFS title for a long time now.
And while Heat did scratch that itch a little, I feel as if this could be a lot more of a classic feeling NFS title than that, and it's exactly the classic formula that worked so well.
By what the trailer says, this is probably some main character car, but if I can get my stuff looking like this, I'll be pretty happy. Customization was always a big highlight of NFS since the PS2 for me.
Again here we have more of that contrast I was talking about. The admittedly last-gen looking buildings and the very nice floor and ambient details such as the tires contrasting with the cartoony characters... It's odd, it's like mixing banana with peanut butter, but just like that example, I feel as if it works.
It's definitely not for everyone, but hey, not bad (imo).
Here we have some character variety, and when seeing these characters I can definitely see the art-style working really really well. One example isn't good enough, this really showcases what the art direction is going for, and it's muuah, absolutely beautiful.
Some waifu material there too (sorry).
Now here's some story preluding with the previously estabilished characters. I think we might be able to choose who we side with, or who we play as. That would definitely be cool - if it does happen, I wonder how much the story will be impacted by it because it could lead to a very good amount of replay value.
And also...
Cops!
Again, cars looking mad nice. But what excites me here is that they focused on cops. This trailer does give me Underground vibes, but if there are cops, this could be a great mix of cartoony Underground and Most Wanted.
It just seems damn nice.
Last thing we see is a cop chase, with some drift mechanics that look particularly juicy, very nice.
This is all very exciting for an old fool like me who loved the older titles on the PS2 and really likes this cartoony vibe mixed with the undegroundish pop culture stuff, it's really cool.
I'm pretty much a metalhead, but I can definitely appreciate stuff like these. These songs just go well with this general vibe and really do remind me of listening to the Snoop Dogg version of Riders on the Storm.
Overall, high hopes. I really really hope EA won't screw this up, but you never know.
Lots of comments in the trailer share this same sentiment, and it's hard not to think about it after seeing all the hype for BF2042 and its utter trashness at launch. However, I think this has good chances, as it feels like a smaller project for EA, and they're commiting Criterion to this, who tend to make good quality games. Now it's only a matter of time and how much publisher intervention goes on during dev time, but I think this might work well.
Expect micro-transactions and DLC, of course, but that's par for the course on EA titles and I just hope the standalone experience has enough substance to stand on its own.
Please EA, don't screw this one up. It looks so good.
