Game preview: Need For Speed Rivals

Yes there’s yet another Need For Speed game that could easily be written off as another grab for quick cash by publisher Electronic Arts.

However, this newest iteration of a franchise that has a couple of decades of history behind it looks like it will have some grunt under its virtual bonnet.

Need For Speed Rivals will show its face on all the major platforms, including new and very beautiful versions for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 later in the year, with PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 owners getting the game on November 21.

For the first time in seven years the Prancing Horse returns to a Need For Speed title. Players will be able to squeeze into the cockpit of an F12 Berlinetta and other desirable Ferraris.

“We are back in the Need For Speed franchise, starting with Need for Speed Rivals, as we want the fans of this world famous and award winning racing game saga to be able again to feel the excitement of the Ferrari brand and cars,” said Ferrari’s Head of Brand Operations, Stefano Saporetti.

In Need for Speed Rivals, gamers play as either a cop or racer. Each side of the law has its own set of high-stakes challenges, rewards and consequences.

As a racer, the goal is to become infamous for taking risks behind the wheel and capturing your most intense escapes on video for the world to see. The more cops that players evade, the more Speed Points they collect, enabling them to unlock new cars and items. Keep raising the stakes race after race to become an ever-more valuable target to the cops – but risk losing it all if busted.

As a cop, players work together as part of a team in pursuit of racers, earning prominence and rising in the ranks of the Police Force with every bust. Achieving higher ranks unlocks new police cars and more powerful pursuit tech.

Multiplayer in Rivals is promising to be a seamless transition between tootling around on your lonesome to checking the rear-view mirror for friends that can drop into your game at any time.

“The Need for Speed franchise has been an industry leader, bringing social competition to the forefront in games,” said Marcus Nilsson, Executive Producer at developer Ghost Games.

“For the first time, players will have the freedom to seamlessly go from single player to co-op to multiplayer. In Need for Speed Rivals we are creating one game experience with one progression, where the freedom to play with friends is more fluid and accessible than ever before.”

The game looks gorgeous and perhaps outshines even other new games such as Forza Motorsport 5, Gran Turismo 6 and DriveClub.

Perhaps it is these new visual levels that have inspired Dream Works Studios (creators of the Shrek and Madagascar animated movies, among others) to announce the theatrical release of a Need For Speed full-length movie next year.

Dubbed as an exciting return to the great car culture films of the 1960s and ’70s that tapped into the American myth of the open-road appeal, the story chronicles a near-impossible cross-country journey for our heroes -- one that begins as a mission for revenge but proves to be one of redemption.

Starring Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Imogen Poots (V for Vendetta) and Dominic Cooper (Captain America: The First Avenger), Need for Speed is penned by George Gatins with writing partner and brother John Gatins (Flight) and directed by Scott Waugh (Act of Valor). The film will open in theatres worldwide beginning March 14, 2014.

“The Need for Speed movie will embody everything that fans of action racing films want to see – hot cars, high-stakes street racing and mind-blowing stunts,” said Waugh. “The adrenaline-fuelled story across America will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.”