
It’s just hard to care for the story and characters in Unbound when everything feels so one-dimensional. The word “family” and “bro” pops up several times as well-easily ticking those boxes. That being said, the characters themselves fall into that Fast & Furious style of dialogue, where everyone beats their chest and thinks they’re Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Maybe it’s the lack of proper lip-syncing for the cutscenes. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something missing in the animation or rendering that just seems off. The customisable smoke and vehicular effects look slick combined with the realistic graphics, but the same cel-shaded style doesn’t exactly fit the cartoonish characters. Unbound’s new art design is a double-edged sword too. To add fuel to the fire (pun intended) the random NPC cars that litter the map appear at the worst possible times, making drivers swerve wildly out of control or straight-up crash, ultimately costing vital seconds on the clock. Even though the handling can be tuned, whenever I turned a corner correctly, it almost always felt like a fluke. The focus on tailing, drifting and near-misses to gain NOS is satisfying, but the turning controls just don’t feel right.


But since the spotlight is mainly on racing and qualifying for the Lakeshore Grand, how does it hold up? Well, it’s a mixed bag.Įven though the handling can be tuned, whenever I turned a corner correctly, it almost always felt like a fluke. Not that they’re much of a challenge, even on the higher difficulties. Sadly, Unbound doesn’t offer much outside of normal street racing and side bets, apart from running through speed gates, time trial deliveries and losing the cops.

When it comes to this style of game nowadays, variety should be the number one priority. Our mini VIDEO REVIEW of Need For Speed Unbound! Chugging Along
