5 things we would like to see from a new Need for Speed

Need for Speed has been a popular racing franchise ever since its birth in 1994. The 2000s can be considered the golden age for this franchise as the games released during this decade hold a separate fanbase. However, over the years, the quality has deteriorated, and their most recent entry Need for Speed Unbound received mixed reactions from the players who have been a fan of the series since its inception.

Need for Speed games have been popular since the PlayStation 2 days for their heavy focus on storytelling through racing across a huge map. Over the years, plenty of games have been released, 25 to be precise, and while some have cemented themselves as the greatest, others have failed to meet the expectations of the players.

The Need for Speed franchise has been running for far too long and with so many entries, it is obvious that fatigue will set in. The next Need for Speed needs to be an epic comeback, and to make it the best game in the franchise, here are five things we expect to see in the next game.

Note: This article is subjective, reflects the writer's opinions, and is ranked in no particular order.

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Five things expected to be seen in the next Need for Speed game

1) Diverse open world

Need for Speed needs a diverse open world (Image via Electronic Arts)

The franchise has always featured large maps across its various entries. However, they seem to have lost that plot. While not all, this was evident in the most recent entry "Unbound", where the world felt empty for the most part. The next game needs to re-focus on the rich detailed environment for the players to explore in a crowded city with beautiful locations and side quests to take care of.

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2) Deep customization options

Need for Speed needs deeper car customization options (Image via Electronic Arts)

Customization of cars is a huge part of any racing game as it helps in making the car feel more personalized. This involves adding new parts to the vehicle, paint jobs, performance tuning, and more.

While Unbound already had this feature, the next game should build upon the community creations feature to allow for more custom creations and cars for other players to download and race with. There's always room for improvement!

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3) Engaging storyline

The next game needs relatable characters (Image via Electronic Arts)

This aspect can never be overstated, but the storyline of the earlier games in the franchise has been amazing to experience for the most part. However, the quality of storytelling has declined over the years, as the players can no longer connect with the story they are playing through. The next game should heavily prioritize storytelling by incorporating interesting characters that people can relate to and enjoy playing.

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4) Better AI behaviour

Need for Speed needs better AI competitors to make the gameplay feel real (Image via Electronic Arts)

Unbound had a problem with its AI which made races either too easy or too difficult. This problem made the gameplay inconsistent and resulted in players' frustration with how the game worked. While this might sound like a minor balancing issue, it heavily impacts the core experience which is why the next game should work on making the AI smarter to race with to incorporate more realism.

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5) Reduce repetitive gameplay

This franchise needs a new approach for its gameplay (Image via Electronic Arts)

The gameplay of early NFS games was always praised for its features that evolved with each entry. This made the games feel different from each other, but the evolution has been missing from the recent entries, making the gameplay feel repetitive after a while.

The developers can always go back to the early games, see what clicked there that has been absent in recent games, and implement features that can be added to make the gameplay unique.