graphics suck, driving mechanics are even worse
589454
What waa described in the description of this game drew me to it. Unfortunately its completely the opposite.. Frist mission your ever where, graphics suck, driving mechanics are even worse.
1193796
Not really worth 60 bucks just wait for the price to go down to at least $20 before buying this title. The physics are a slight improvement from GT5 the cars no longer spin while braking 90-100% with abs turned off. The AI is just too slow not even competitive, well maybe the only competitive ai I saw was the GTR at silverstone for the mission race. I don't like that out of the 1200 cars we get to drive most are GT4 port overs, I think I read somewhere that we only have about 300 or so "premium cars". I also don't understand why we can't make all our car settings predefined like all aids set to off or on for all cars, why make me turn off the aids for every single car its just dumb IMO. Now graphically this game is the same as GT5 but with better lighting you even get the same clouds!! The car models are really good though, I like that the wheels actually have offsets (a feature that Forza lacks). Overall this game is okay and just that not a game I'm enjoying at the moment.
912107
The commentary is embarrasing. Fortunately, you can turn it off in the options section.
Step 2. You must not be a graphics hound, parts of the game look like a N64 game. It has very poor texturing in some parts and yet other parts of the game look GREAT! What a mystery.
Step 3. You must like racing games that would be considered arcade. You must love power-ups and short cuts.
Step 4. If you don't like tough games, you won't like this game. The AI is determined to drive you off the road and also often speed by you and takes the power-up you were meant to have.
Step 5. You don't need a memory card, this game has that capability of coarse but also gives you PASSWORDS for progression.
Step 6. Since this is like SSX with cars, worse graphics and limited tricks, you'd be better off buying that game instead, unless you have it already.
3795314
Gameplay was mediocre, graphics are crap, story is alright. Another botched release by Ubisoft.
3607942
Much harder to play than i expected and the load screens are tortuously long.  Graphics are great but physics are definitely not realistic like forza.
2806017
not good graphics, it looks like a 90's first video game graphics
4280878
Grand Theft Auto Vice City is an okay game. The graphics are bad.
1260123
This has to be the most booooooring game ever for the PS2. The only good thing is the types of cars you can drool over but never can drive. I especially like the Subaru selection Like the Legacy Wagon and the VW Beetle which only goes 19 MPH. How lame do you have to be to include these cars in a racing game. The controls are stiffer than my mom's gin and tonics. The cars react like your driving them on an Atari 2600 joystick. What good is a car game if you can't do donuts in the parking lot?

The soundtrack has got to be the most uninspiring music I have ever heard on a video game. How can you race fast listening to Joe Satriani and Earth Wind and Fire? How gay is it to rock out to Papa Roach while replaying your race with a Volvo station wagon? Anyone who enjoys smoking bong loads of dope while the you constantly crash into invisible walls and roadblocks will love this game. Anyone who has actually taken a real driving lesson and has a real license and drives a real car will just be waisting there money on a pre-pubescent fantasy about driving Jay Lenos roadster. Stay away from this game.
76466
I've been a racing game fan for probably 30 years.  I've also been a fan of the NFS series from the beginning.  The only NFS games I haven't purchased are a couple of the ricer-oriented street racing games as I'm not at all interested in that genre.

First of all, the graphics are terrible.  It is so jaggy I think I'm playing Outrun on my C= 64.  Granted, I've been able to make small improvements via the Nvidia control panel, but graphics settings like antialiasing and anisotropic filtering should be available within the game. I have a capable CPU and a very capable GPU.  There should be no excuse for a modern game to look this bad on my setup.  All of my other recent games look stellar and I can max out their settings.  Cannot say the same for NFS:HP.

My other beef is with the obsession with drifting.  Drifting should not be encouraged nor should the car drift so easily.  Drifting is *not* the fastest way around a corner in real life!  Sure, this is an arcade racer, but I feel the drifting way too unrealistic, even for an arcade racer.

I'm hoping Shift 2 can redeem the franchise, otherwise I think I'm done with this series.
1290623
I really wanted to like this game...probably one of the games I have been looking forward to the most.  I have played every need for speed game in the franchise.  Like others have already said, this isn't just a remake of the old most wanted.  Yes, there are cops that chase you, and you do kind of get to customize your cars.  The real problem with this game is the most important aspect of any racing game, and that is the control of the cars.  This game is AWFUL with the control.  The best way I can explain it is when you try to steer left or right, there's like a lag or something.  It's just really not responsive.  I am using a 360 controller.

Also, I've seen other reviews on here saying that the frame rates are terrible.  Let me clear this up.  Yes, I have noticed some frame rate drops, but not terrible ones.  I haven't done actual testing, but I would guess going from a constant 50-60fps, and the drops go down to maybe 30 at the lowest.  Someone else said the graphics look old.  This is also untrue.  This game LOOKS fantastic!  I am running an AMD Phenom II x4 3.4ghz cpu, 8gb of ram, and a Sapphire Radeon 7950 graphics card.

I also read some other reviews that said the game sucks.  Again, I disagree.  I think they have done everything in a nice, new, refreshing style.  Let it be known, I loved the Hot Pursuit game by them, and also The Run.  Really, the only thing holding me back from this game receiving a 5 star rating is the poor handling of the cars, and just a little bit discouraged by the frame drop.  Not a huge thing, and I am serious about when games have frame rate drops.  It's really not that bad.

Oh, on a side note, I was thinking maybe the car was handling like crap at first because I was at the beginning of the game and it was just that car.  Turns out to not be true...I have like five or six cars now and you just can't help but to constantly smash into either other cars, walls, or every freaking light pole on the side of the street.
951703
Well, I made the mistake of purchasing this game without reading reviews first.  The ONLY good thing about this game is the ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS, all the rest is junk.
Why I say this? Well, some of the reasons are that even that it has ARCADE mode, you first have to complete a whole Championship (and school mode), if you don't, you CAN'T play ARCADE, neither the Argentina and other tracks, you are limited to play only in 3 tracks!! That's UK, France and Italy, that's it for single player mode.  The only multiplayer mode is VERSUS, the other option is also LOCKED.  The car options are OK, you can choose from several cool looking cars, but BEWARE, they are JUST GOOD LOOKING, <<they SOUND and PERFORM identical>>, yes, there are no different engine sounds or a sense of change on performance.  For example, if you drive a Subaru Impreza and then a Seat Ibiza, you will not notice ANY changes, just the color and the physical aspect of the cars.
So, the final ratings from me (1 - 5 scale, 1 = Worst, 5 = Best):
FUN = 2
GRAPHICS = 5
SOUND = 1
CAR SELECTION = 1
TRACK SELECTION = 2
PRICE VRS. FUN = 1
Rent it before you buy it, you'll se I'm not lying.
716407
As a lifelong Midnight Club fan, I was looking to fill the void of a PS4 racing game with the top notch graphics of today.  With a Black Friday sale, I took a gamble on Need For Speed having read about the open world format.  Sadly, even with the discounted Black Friday price, this game was not worth it.  Starts out with poor tutorial on how to play the game and gets worse from there.  Car handling is heavy and sluggish.  AI and routes are poor. I wish there was a difficulty level built in, but I guess being completely online (another annoying aspect) they decided not to do that.  As with every online game, it makes it really annoying if you want to or need to pause the game (an issue I have experienced with Steep as well) and doesn't allow you the opportunity to plan out your routes in advance.  The map is clearly based on Los Angeles, but doesn't really seem to have any interesting features to it.  While technically being called open world, it hardly feels that way.  I also wish there were different time and weather options, as it seems like it is always night and rainy.  Midnight Club never had a problem with this. I don't know why Need for Speed is so rigid with it.  My last gripe is with the cars themselves in the game.  I expected a lot of really cool cars, similar to Midnight Club, with some variety and cool stuff, like SUV's or true classics or something, but nope it's a pretty crappy, mod-heavy variety of cars.  Nothing really fun or interesting.  Story was also ridiculously cheesy and forced. Everyone in it seemed like a try-hard from a C-level teen movie.  After two hours, I wanted to give up on it.  Wouldn't even recommend paying $10 for it.  For a way better experience, just keep playing GTA V online.  The racing in that is just as good and there is a lot more customization and open-worldness about it.
3183316
I like cars.  I like video games.  So I decided to give this game a try.  Basically I just threw out $20.  This is the single worst video game experience I have ever had in my entire life.  This game is terrible on every level.  First, it took over an hour to install everything.  Then, it broke my internet somehow, and I had reset my modem before I could log into the network.  Once you log into the network, there's one pop up screen after another.  After several hours, I finally get to play the game.  And of course, this POS only has one generation 5 mustang-- not the shelby, not the boss, but a 2007 GT.  WTF.

Then i tried to play the game.  In real life, I can drive my car around a corner.  I can't drive around a corner in this game.  There's nothing fun or enjoyable about this game.  It's work.  It's boring.  It's stupid.  I'd rather drive my own car than play this game. I'd rather go to my job and work than play this game.  If somebody wanted to punish me, they could make me play this game.  If my boss wanted to discipline me, he could tell me that I couldn't come into work for a week, but I had to stay home and play this game.

I HATE this game.
3173070
The driving in the game is unrealistically difficult.  You crash into walls for seemingly no reason.  Poorly executed, good graphics
1208267
I liked NFS Most Wanted and Carbon, and this one is more or less in between. If you don't know anything about NFS you may find this game a lot of fun, but if you know the racing franchise then you may be disappointed.

I don't want to repeat all the things that other reviewers have written, but if I may, I'd like to cite at least THE MOST annoying things happening in the game on a PC.

- the story line kind of blows because you have the boss lady telling you what to do and when, and if it would make sense I would have no problems with that, but all of the sudden she tells you to infiltrate a new team of racers as an undercover cop but you don't even know why.

- the voice messages you get during game play may be totally inappropriate, as there is sometimes either a delay, or some comments are just plain not part of that mission (you can tell if you played several times)

- the game is ARCADE, yes, you got me: ARCADE. The car are seldom totaled, (besides in a highway battle) otherwise you do the craziest moves on your wheels and you're still going full speed ahead!

- cop cars, as well as other cars, sometimes drop on the street from the sky!!! Also, maybe to make the game more difficult, some random drivers change lane abruptly right in front of you, just to slow you down.

- even if you drive a super car, like a McLaren F1 or a Bugatti Veyron, and you're doing 250 MPH, you have stupid cop's SUV going FASTER than you! What the hell?

- The most annoying thing ever: CUT-SCENES! During cop chases, you can drop the cops by breaking stuff. The chase breakers are accompanied by a cutscene DURING WHICH YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER YOUR CAR, and if you're unlucky a road block with spikes is put right ahead of you and after the cut scene is over, you have no way to avoid the spikes!!!

- At the end of a long chase with the cops, as you're about to be done, a helicopter shows up right in front of your nose out of no where, forcing you to replay the mission if you want the 'domination' award

- sometimes, objects like concrete walls and fences THAT YOU CANNOT BREAK are not visible on the road but you will crash on them anyway

- While you are playing, especially when you get a really fast car, the scene is not drawn fast enough (even with a super fast computer or lowering game quality to medium) and the road ahead of you is not shown, when the game finally get its sh** together again you find yourself with a short time lag of no control and you may crash

- sometimes while you're customizing your car (aftermarket stuff) the game freezes for no reason!

If you think you can cope with all this, and the fact that EA has not yet released a patch to fix all these things, then go ahead and buy the game. Otherwise...

The Good things about it:
- The in game music is IMHO really good. That's just me.
- Cars are really well drawn, all details really well done.
- The Tri City is kind of cool, giving you a SoCal city kind of feeling.
- The open space is not so open, you can quickly get a hold of where you are and where to go.

-----------------
My setup: DELL 24" monitor, X-Telstar ATX case, Corsair 650W PSU, ASUS M3N72 Mobo, nVidia 750a SLI chipset, G-Skill 2x2Gb DDR2-1066, Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition, EVGA GTX260 core 216 superclocked and 2x500Gb WD 7200 rpm and Logitech Z5500 5.1 surround sound system
4263505
I just got this game today and I am taking it back after 15 minutes of playing.  the camera angles stink, the graphics aren't too bad but I just think the game is dumb in general
2738828
After waiting for four years this is a huge disappointment. The good: graphics, driving physics, and that's about it. I have played GT4 for years and I enjoyed it immensely. I can't say that about GT5. The frustration factor just obliterates any fun factor that may be there (I haven't found any yet). There are so many flaws I don't know where to begin. To start with - there is nothing intelligent about the AI in this game. There is no rhyme nor reason for some of the actions of the opponents. If I can't finish better than ninth driving a VW bus after three days of trying, but snag silver on all segments of the Nurburgring intermediate trial in supped up Mercedes on the first try (all driving aides off), then there is something seriously wrong with the design of the game. Sure, Grid doesn't have so many cars, nor do the graphics or physics compare, but it's intense, immersive, and lots of fun. None of this can be said about GT5. It feels more like work than play. It is no fun driving the same race that I won already five time, but have to race it again, so I can scrape up the money to purchase the required car for the next stage. I guess the biggest problem is that Polyphony forgot to do the "game" part of the game. Bye Polyphony, hello Codemasters. I'm going to leave GT5 behind, and I'm looking forward to Dirt 3.