TESTED: Need for Speed PS4

Serious gamers eat your hearts out. Motoring.com.au has grabbed the chance to not only try out the latest Need For Speed: Rivals game, but also to do so on the yet to be released PlayStation 4 platform.

Indeed, this week we caused untold vehicular chaos on the PS4 and spoke about the game to Rivals lead designer, James Mouat.

And we can vouch, if there is one thing that will delight PlayStation 4 buyers, it is the new console’s ability to pump out the eye and ear candy. Playing through the first few hours of Cops versus Racers in Rivals is an adrenaline filled experience, with some fantastic visuals including lighting and particle effects and plenty of audio richness to boost the atmosphere of the onscreen mayhem.

With a Need For Speed game comes a great deal of expectation, this presented challenges for Mouat.

“There are a lot of established norms in this franchise that, for better or worse, have to be there. But, I think, the ones we have carried over are great, so we have AutoLog [NFS’s online friendly stats comparison system] but we have also innovated with AllDrive [The Rivals system allowing players of all game-ranks to play together],” he told motoring.com.au

“We have looked back at what the community is saying... ‘What about personalisation and customisation? We want it. It used to be there.’ So we are able to look back and look at what people expect, and what they want and see if we can deliver.”

“But... just delivering the same Need For Speed game again would be a failure. I’ve worked on a lot of other [non-driving] genres, so that is what I brought in the scoring mechanic styles, the tension and the split up of these two feelings [between Racer and Cop].

“[This is] to make sure when you pick this game up it is going to feel familiar, but you are going to realise that actually there is a bit of a hard-core edge to it that we haven’t seen before. If you get busted then there are consequences inside the game. br>
“If you don’t like that, the Cops have a more traditional feel; you can always switch back and forth and see what is right for you. If you beat me in a race then I can go over [to the Cop side] and chase you down [he jokes].”

The new NFS game enables players to switch sides at any time, and the dynamic changes with the switch. As a Cop it is all about earning Speed Points by patrolling the region and taking down racers in a dynamic open world -- usually violently.

Cops can also select specific challenges and goals that help boost Speed Points along the way.

As Cops it is also about team work -- either with the AI [artificial intelligence] or other players that can drop in and out of your game at any point. Completing challenges unlocks new exotic [police] cruisers and spending Speed Points means you can outfit your new black-and-white with ‘pursuit tech’ such as EMP blasts, spike strips and rams.

The focus on Cops and Racers is reminiscent of past NFS games such as Hot Pursuit.

“Yeah, we have definitely looked at Hot Pursuit, Most Wanted, the last few Need For Speed games,” explained Mouat

“In my opinion, Cops is a big part of what makes Need For Speed a stand-out product. It’s not simply driving around a track over and over -- it’s that conflict between the two sides.

“[So] I really wanted to make sure that players could get both sides of the experience... That was one of my experiences from Most Wanted... There was tons of fun there, but I wanted that other side. Hot Pursuit delivered on that really well -- we were able to look at how that worked and bring it over as a good reference point.”

The AI in the new NFS is advanced, faking one way at a road fork only to dart back the other way at the last moment. Refreshingly, it is also fallible. This unpredictability adds to the challenge and fun of the Rivals experience.

Another Need For Speed trope has always been exotic cars, and it is nice to see the Ferrari brand back in a NFS game.

“Yes!, that is awesome,” agrees Mouat.

“Every so often one will show up at our booth at a trade show. We had a [F12] Berlinetta in Germany. It was amazing -- people weren’t even paying attention to the game... It is fantastic to have those guys in there. We have been able to work out a deal with them so that they [Ferrari] are happy to be in the game.”

The cars we drove were not Ferrari’s but were all wonderfully fast. Whether it was a Mercedes-AMG Black Series cop car, Porsche, Dodge Challenger or an Aston Martin Racer, there were certainly handling characteristics that set each car apart.

“There are definite arcade moments but we try to walk that line between simulation [and arcade]. If you play the game you will realise the cars are actually simulated cars --they are not simply turning on a central pivot point, they are actually behaving like real cars and we can model those cars after their real world counterpart,” explained Mouat.

“If you are familiar with the [various model] cars, you will realise they are somewhat like the actual real thing... But we don’t have that punishing aspect of having to know gear ratios or tyre pressures... No, that’s too much, it should be pick up and play friendly.”

There is certainly a balance present here. Mouat and his team have created a game that is enjoyable for a range of players. There is plenty of high-speed chases and on-the-edge moments that just would not be possible in a full simulation game.

We played through a number of different game modes, all picked up dynamically. In fact, we could join in with other players connected in our open world as they worked through events or play ours out in parallel. Hot Pursuits cross over standard races, while the police radio requests other police to support other chases nearby.

Players can quickly select GPS locations and missions from the Easydrive quick select menu. For Racers this is particularly important in order to get to the nearest safe garage to ‘bank’ Speed Points and earn access to better cars.

“Its very story light,” explains Mouat.

“I don’t want the story to dictate what you do, rather [it should] flavour what’s happening in the progression, giving context to why things change.”