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73 Metacritic score for NFS Unbound is ridiculous considering how awful this game is

Drizzlehell

Banned
At least the 5.3 user score reflects on this game's quality much more accurately and it restores some of my faith in humanity.

I just spent 15 minutes trying to shake the level 5 police pursuit but they're just retarded and the game compensates by cheating. Whenever you think you're close to shaking the cops, the game will simply materialize a magic helicopter or a new police vehicle right under your ass just to keep the chase going. But none of those idiots will ever come even close to busting you because the AI is just so shitty. Eventually, I got so bored that I just drove to the nearest safehouse and kept circling the building at a leisurly pace and waited for those morons to knock themselves out while the helicopter above us also got bored and flew away on its own for no reason. At that point I was finally able to enter the garage.

Amazing game design, really.

Now, there's been a lot of talk about the game's difficulty, and while it can be incredibly frustrating if you don't understand how the game works, I think it's simply because of two main reasons:
1. Worst rubberbanding since the original Motorstorm
2. Incredibly inconsistent car handling that leads to random spin-outs and crashes that are literally impossible to avoid

The difficulty in this game is just broken. Sometimes you'll be beating races like it's nothing while other times it'll be impossible to get anywhere near the top 3, and best I can tell, the only reliable factor that will determine the outcome of these races is the planetary alignment of our solar system, as well as butterfly wings flapping on the other side of the globe.

Although I think that what I hate more than this gameplay are the people who consistently respond to complaints about the difficulty with "git gud" comments. And just because stupid comments like these are so prevalent, I kinda feel like I need to preemptively say this anyway: this is not a skill issue. And I don't think it's ever a skill issue for any of the people who play this game and complain about the difficulty level. "Easy" mode shouldn't be putting you in the spot where you can barely scrape by the skin of your teeth in the earliest races of the game. A difficulty mode described in the game as "relaxed", by it's very definition should provide an easy experience for the players who aren't very skilled or maybe even have some kind of a disability. Not to mention that the difficulty settings in this game are just broken and straight up misleading.

Now, I've been playing racing games since the days of Commodore 64, which is probably a time from before many of you were even floating inside your dad's left nut. I've beaten so many racing games in my life that I couldn't even count them all, and if you still question my enthusiasm for the genre, know that I frequently use a dedicated gaming peripheral called a "racing wheel" to play stuff like Gran Turismo or Project Cars. I certainly don't claim to be the most skilled player ever, I'm not even that good at racing games, but I'd like to think that I'm at least above-average, as in most other games I can typically play on medium-to-hard difficulty without too much fuss, and I usually manage to complete all the gold medals and what have you.

And I'm saying all this because I can already picture all those shithead responding to this thread by insulting my gaming skills or whatever. If you're one of those people, you really need to lean forward and do a full speed Naruto run into a brick wall.

I can't comment objectively on the quality of this game's visual design or soundtrack because that may be just a matter of preference. Let's just say that this stuff is just not for me. I'm far from being a geezer yet, I enjoy a lot of contemporary music and entertainment without immediately clutching my hanky and shaking a walking stick in the air. But there's just something about the vibe of this series and the kind of culture that it's been attempting to represent with most recent installments that just makes me wanna turn the volume down and put on some podcasts in the background. This series is, for the most part, fun to play but everything else about it is just fucking cringe and the music is awful.

Thank you for listening to my TEDx talk.
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
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ANDS

King of Gaslighting
This is why OPENCRITIC is much better to use (though I don't like their inconsistent policy on what counts as a "Current Year" game): game has a similar score on OC, though it is a "Strong" there, but it is only recommended by 61% of reviewers, which is a GIANT red flag for me.

. . .that said, I kinda liked what I played (I wanted them to go crazier with the anime effects).
 

intbal

Member
Critics scores never mean anything because the population size is too small.

Why would you listen to opinion of 36 people rather than the opinion of 300,000?
See also: Getting review copies vs buying the game
 

anthony2690

Banned
I really enjoyed the game myself. (Probably in the minority)

What I personally felt really let it down is the frequency of the police chases.

& How annoying they became at later levels of wanted levels towards mid way through to the end of the game.

It became a chore to lose them on the world map, as you would end up far away from where you wanted to race or do a takeover event, the stuff I enjoyed doing.

& Then on your way back there you could end up in the same rodeo off trying to lose them again.

Just became annoying/repetitive and really detracted from the game imo.
 
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M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Don't care, buy it, due to the fact that there are Hory by Kalush, very happy about EA bringing that cultural diversity.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
I felt like the fact the game was released and so many people had no clue said quite a bit.

Metacritic has always been such a nuisance, especially since people treat review scores like they're prophets when they're nothing more than "professional" opinions. User reviews always sounded great on paper, until you saw that majority of the time they're used incorrectly and not the way it was intended.
 

hemo memo

Gold Member
68 MC for Nier is ridiculous considering how great it is. Fuck Metacritic. It's a joke and has been since it's inception. Same with RT.

https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/nier
Fetch quests, bland environments, mid-combat and repetitive enemies. Yes the story is great but that's it. Nier replicant at 83 which is accurate after they fixed some of the issues and the combat.
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
what kind of music is it and what's so bad about it?
It's like 99% rap over some generic electro beats. Some of it is alright I guess but it's not a racing music. I can listen to some Grebz when rolling a spliff on a couch but it doesn't work when it comes to pumping me up for a race.

Like, compare this shit to those old Underground games. The music in those games were one of the main hooks and even though those songs are like 20 years old, most of them still slap. Nobody ever talks or reminisces about Need For Speed Heat soundtrack, lol.
 

Umbasaborne

Banned
Its a great racing game, but yeah the absurd difficulty of the cops almost ruined it completley for me. I turned that shit down to casual and have had a much better time. Even on casual races are no cakewalk if your car isnt up to snuff
 

01011001

Banned
this is a case of "I suck at game, therefore game bad"

shaking level 5 police is no issue if you drive well,
and if there's rubberbanding then I don't know how weak it needs to be because I'm always miles ahead of the pack if I drive well

and we now know why every game these days gets dumbed down to the max
 
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Esca

Member
I enjoy the game over all but the difficulty is so out of whack. I'll go 5 races hitting first than the next 10 in struggling in the middle. If you don't get a good start or fuck up your chances are balls. The cops I haven't had much issue with but it sure as hell is annoying being chased so far away from where I was going.
 

Killer8

Member
It's the gaming equivalent of the latest Predator movie - people have been starved of good content for so long that they'll pounce on mediocrity.
 

JayK47

Member
Like dude, bro, you must be like, dude... playing it wrong bro.

Sounds like issues that could be patched. I kind of preferred the last few games that did not focus on police chases. I know a lot of people around here love the old Most Wanted game, but for me it is bogged down by police chases and progress is locked behind getting rep through more police chases. I just want to race bro.
 

Markio128

Member
I agree with some of your points, but I would give it a 7 Out of 10, so I think the MC score is relatively fair overall. I’m not sure about the rubber-banding because if I drive well I’ll likely win, but if I drive poorly, I won’t and the races themselves can be pretty intense. I think the visuals are pretty decent and the performance is close to flawless. The issue that bugs me the most is the open-world nature of the game, which I find a bit tedious and pointless at times - it’s the same thing that irks me with the FH games. And the police can be a pain in the arse at times, when you just want to get to your next race/event.
 
The gameplay in this game isn't bad at all though. Your post reads like an angry rant from the difficulty of the game. Handling inconsistent? That's definitely not true. The AI of the cops sure I guess its not great but the rubber banding isn't as bad as you say either.

The gameplay us solid in this game.
 

WitchHunter

Banned
Maybe time.to bring back TEST DRIVE wahahhhahaha and STREET ROD and MIDNIGHT CLUB and STUNT CAR RACER and maybe RACING DESTRUCTION SET. Or SCREAMER.

Fuck, I desperately want a good racing game with some badass story and tuning just like in street rod.

It's a no brainer, yet everyone does the same shit all over again.

Fuck, just remembered that there were other gems like Interstate 76, Quarantine and Carmageddon. I'm in all tears. 😁
 
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Dude how can I take your post seriously when you're giving more weight to USER scores? Don't take either professional scores or user scores as gospel but user scores?! Lol
Yea this is the worst generation for following user scores. People are so sports team-brained that most games will either have a ton of 10s or 1s with zero viable rationale as to why they scored it that way in the first place, other than being 'anti' other team.
 

Hollowpoint5557

A Fucking Idiot
I have REFUSED to play ANY racing games with rubber banding for years now. If I put in the time to earn the skills that allows me to earn a lead I do not think it's fair that the A.I. cheats just to catch up to make it "competitive ". For this I hope the franchise burns to the ground. The complaints you have stated remind me of NFS Underground series and it seems like nothing has changed since then except the graphics.
 
this is a case of "I suck at game, therefore game bad"

shaking level 5 police is no issue if you drive well,
and if there's rubberbanding then I don't know how weak it needs to be because I'm always miles ahead of the pack if I drive well

and we now know why every game these days gets dumbed down to the max

Agreed, OP just need to git gud.

But to be fair, the way the cops are in this game can be annoying. After you lose the cops there should be a cooldown or some way to reduce your heat.
 

fatmarco

Member
There's a strange gap between people who love this game and those who hate it. I was in the latter, but not because of difficulty, but because its just bad all around.

It's car physics system is bad, it controls like shit, it looks like shit, its music doesn't enhance racing as its clearly music for slow cruising and its completely inconsistent with the pace of the game, the cop chases are bad, and the city is poorly designed and bland, and the cartoon aesthetic adds literally zero to the game and simply doesnt "work". The game has zero style, edge or tone and it feels afraid to truly commit to an identity.

The only thing that was sort of alright was the story, but its so vanilla and flavourless its still bad, just not as bad as the rest of the game. I was playing Most Wanted 2005 again and its truly a bizarre experience to think how zero progress has been made, and only steps back have been taken.
 
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jaysius

Banned
The game is fucking awful, I tried the Gamepass Trial and I've got 8 hours left, it's almost like those idiot tests back in the early days of the internet, where the longer you try to make it work the dumber you are.

This game is BUDGET AAA it's done by a Q or Z team that have no right to touch the IP or make a game for the Developer but the Developer is fucking greedy so they think they can save a ton of money and fuck the gamers dumb enough to buy the product. This is a shitty new phenomenon that you shouldn't support.
 
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I was tasked with writing a review for this game and am a big NFS fan since I was playing them since NFS 2 days....not Underground 2.....NFS 2 1994 XD. Long story short, forget about the cringe writing and characters, the game is bland as fuck. It has just enough interest to get you to finish the game, but the city is boring, races are pointless as it just matters how fast you can get the cash, doesnt matter what race you chose or if you end up 5th...as long as you are making cash. NFS Undercover was considered one of the worst/least amount of effort put into it back in the day. At least that one I still played for some time. Unbound I got the trophy for finishing the last race and deleted the game. There is ZERO incentive to continue.
 

CZY

Member
Yea this is the worst generation for following user scores. People are so sports team-brained that most games will either have a ton of 10s or 1s with zero viable rationale as to why they scored it that way in the first place, other than being 'anti' other team.
Makes no difference. With a big enough sample size it boils down to like or dislike anyway and it produces a tangible median. No one cares about your “nuanced 6.7” opinion in terms of an aggregate review score. All the 1/10 hate-rates won’t mean shit if the 10/10’s ratio tf out of them, and vice versa. User scores on these sites are as “legit” as they ever were or ever could be. Whether you personally give them credence is a separate question. They just are what they are, and they wouldn’t be improved by having a bunch of wankers vote 5.6 instead of 1, or 8.7 instead of 10.
 
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