Revving the engines to make a scene in typical ostentatious fashion, details surrounding Need For Speed Rivals – the next instalment in EA’s widely popular racing series – have recently meandered onto the internet. Co-developed by Ghost Games and series stalwart Criterion Games, the new title will straddle across two console generations after EA confirmed that Need For Speed Rivals will come to Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on November 19th, with an as-yet-unknown release for Xbox One and PS4 further down the race track.
Echoing the last two entries in the franchise, Need For Speed Rivals will set the gamer down in the open world of Redview County with an overarching goal to become the city’s most illustrious racer. Crucially, the game will also allow players to choose either side of the law, and, depending on their choice, build up an infamous reputation or bust the criminals during highway pursuits. With EA’s Frostbite 3 engine under the developing hood, Need For Speed Rivals is poised to have enough brake horsepower to turn your knuckles suitably white. And, speaking of visual fidelity, here’s what the executive producer of Ghost Games Marcus Nilsson had to say about the upcoming title.
“[it’s] very essential to having to build the high-quality games that people see [because] it takes less time to use this engine, for instance, than it took to use Frostbite 1 or Frostbite 2.” “It’s a mindset of how you think about how people will play these games. To me, visuals are great – absolutely – but unless you can use that power to play that game differently, then we failed.” To ensure success under this philosophy, Ghost and Criterion are “pushing” a feature called AllDrive, which allows friends to enter and exit each other’s worlds seamlessly and “on-the-fly.”
If Frostbite 3 provides the style, then the addition of the AllDrive feature will lend the game its substance. Hoping to seamlessly merge single, co-op and multiplayer, by allowing drop-in-drop-out-multiplayer – similarly to Journey’s version of online play – Need For Speed Rivals looks set to emulate the popular Autolog mechanic from previous instalments, which, in the words of the developer, will ‘destroy the line between playing alone and playing with friends.’ And hey, if that wasn’t enough, Ferrari has confirmed their return to the series for the first time in seven years. The only question now is will you race or chase?
Need For Speed Rivals will roar onto current-gen consoles and PC on November 19th. Though a release date for PS4 and Xbox One remains unconfirmed, the game will most likely be available in each console’s respective release window. For now, be sure to check out the gallery of images below and tell us if you’re excited for the game in the comments.
