Forza Horizon vs Need For Speed Most Wanted review

All

So yesterday I got NFS most wanted from Gamefly and wanted to give it a shot to compare it to Forza. Below is a brief review.

First off suffice to say they feel like two totally different games.

NFS is clearly an arcade game ported to the console with an arcade feel to the physics. As for the graphics in NFS, I really like the engine better than forza. The particle effects and overall environment feel more realistic. As for the gameplay well that is where NFS kinda lacks. The basic gist in single player is to race around and become most wanted. It really never creates a since of story or reason to care about being most wanted other than to just drive fast and hit things. The problem is that like in previous NFS games you spend a good part of the time just avoiding police and that gets to be a pain in the but. The care customization and upgrades are nice, but not as good as the fine tuining of forza. But on the other side of the coin the multiplayer is where NFS shines. You can drive around free roam and hop into any car and any race. Also NFS doesnt have as many complex difficulty levels so its much easier to get a good car and compete in multiplayer. I liked the ability to cruise around in multiplayer and get points for takedowns of other players. One of the big problems I found with NFS was the inability to switch views. Your stuck in a 3rd person view.

On to Forza. While I admit I am biased to forza and granted Horizon is more arcade style than Forza 4. In all its a better game. Competing for bracelets and against rivals, winning cars at different phases, and just roaming is fun. Also the multiplayer in Horizon is great with the different number of games. Horizon really should have just adopted the meetup/free roam style of multiplayer that NFS had to take advantage of its beautiful open world. Second I would have liked to have seen better graphics to compare to NFS with real particle effects and weather conditions like NFS. But In all Horizon single player is far more fun and compelling.

In all if you have to pick one go with Horizon

Good to see we picked the right game! I have a feeling I won't get bored of Horizon any time soon.

Internuncio

Agreed though there were certain features from NFS I would have liked in Forza Horizon

I understand. I used to be a huge fan of the NFS franchise, but nothing gold can stay... It's sad to say, but it's true. I've been waiting for a game like horizon since I played Midnight Club: LA, and am so glad that it came along, with the advanced Forza physics and whatnot to take the game over the top. I do agree with you, the graphics are kind of lacking, especially some of the particle effects, such as the sparks on collisions... But at least that can be patched.

Internuncio wrote:

Good to see we picked the right game! I have a feeling I won't get bored of Horizon any time soon.

oh It's too fun with Horizon, I honestly have been in single player for a week, needing some alone time, and well I will be back online soon, hehe

Single player is great too. Im really getting into it

Know what ya mean, hehe

NFS: MW2 is a pile of crap IMO. It's like going 10 steps backwards. The original MW was a blast. Pro Street, Carbon and Underground 2 were my favorite older NFS games.

Everthing after Carbon sucked abit...

o JDM Only wrote:

Everthing after Carbon sucked abit...

Shift was good. I enjoyed it. But it had a lack of everything. Loved the physics.

o JDM I agree shift series seems a little better.

But im talking about the street race NFS's

Rob wrote:

NFS: MW2 is a pile of crap IMO. It's like going 10 steps backwards. The original MW was a blast. Pro Street, Carbon and Underground 2 were my favorite older NFS games.

Underground 2 was my favourite and a few friends and myself used to have little comps seeing who can get the highest power numbers with the same parts on the Dyno! I just hated how you had to rice up your cars to progress in the single player!

NFS underground 2 and shift (1) are the only NFS games i like honestly. I played NFSMW, it really is disgraceful to be called NFS, its burnout 2 simply but in the last 10 years+ NFS has been all over the place and bad for the most part. EA just slaps NFS on any game a company makes that is car related lately, it should be similar to FH with cops, plane and simple, maybe a touch of arcade handles. The no MT, 2 camera views is like 10 steps backwards, unless thats what they are after. I think they saw how successful Burnout was and saw how bad the run was and said hey just use licensed cars on burnout and we will call it NFS, throw some cops in and you can use the MW part also.

NFS: World is a fun free game if you're on the go and don't have Onlive on your laptop.

So the moral of the story is... Go pick up burnout for $10 instead of NFS for $60?

Horizon remind me Need For Speed 5: Porsche Unleashed sometimes ..Colors ...drive..feeling... Great sign i think...

Internuncio wrote:

So the moral of the story is... Go pick up burnout for $10 instead of NFS for $60?

Thats my opinion, now I hated burnout, I had a little fun early on crashing with it but that was over fast. Personally I would have hated myself if I rented it, unless you loved burnout and spent endless hours playing it avoid it. Burnout wasn't for me, real cars or not, just to much arcade for me. You gain nitrous by doing jumps, seriously, you drive through gas station to magically make your damage go away and change the color to whatever its random. If you want police chases you can always get some friends, cars with police decals added and do it on FH online, not exactly as fun but its worth a shot. I will never play NFSMW again, they can have a free 50 car pack(which would only be 91 cars in the game then) and I wont play it again. Generic cars sounds that cross over into completely different cars, yes they sound good in tunnels but come on you give me 41 cars give me 41 different engine sounds. Anyways I am done, its burnout 2 with real cars.

Interesting.

I will say this. If you have a playstation Vita its pretty fun and a good port

Ok. I appropriated my buddies copy of NFS Most Wanted so that I could try it out. After about 30 minutes of gameplay, I can confirm what everyone on this forum at least already knows. NFS Most Wanted is shite when put side by side with Horizon. And if you have the choice between this and a used copy of Burnout Paradise, definitely pick up Paradise and spend the extra money on some microsoft points so you can buy some of the extras they put out for Paradise, like the Island expansion.

For starters, this whole find the car lying about the city then jack it to drive it is quite annoying. You don't get to know where any cars are until you come across them in game and then you don't even own it. You stole it. Kinda lame if you ask me. You also have to win upgrades for the cars, you can't just pop over to a garage and purchase them. Andyet more annoying-ness, each car has its own set of upgrades that you have to unlock. Just spent time getting that Porsche all kitted out and then found a different car that you'd like to drive? Well, you'll have to start all over again and build that one from the ground up as well. Also, there is no way to individualize your car. You can change its color when you drive through a fixer up station but you can't do vinyls and stuff.

The controls, as to be expected, are very arcade style (Just tap the break to drift is one of the hints they give you as you are starting and sure enough, you can tap the break and bust an awesome drift, no challenge to it at all.....blah) but I didn't realize just how arcadey they would be. I find it extremely difficult to drive cars in NFS Most Wanted, but that could have something to do with the fact that I actually have no control over what the car is truly doing. You can't change the shift style to manual, so its always on auto, all you have to do is tap on your brakes to initiate drift, no throttle control required, and the cars just feel wrong.

The only thing I am liking about the game is the fact that it integrates my music that is on my Xbox and lets me play it in the game instead of listening to its soundtrack. Listened to a couple songs form the games sound track before I had decided I wasn't going to like it at all and was pleased to see that I could choose to play my own music instead of just having to turn it all the way off. I haven't yet tried the multiplayer mode, as I am currently playing in an area where its not feasible to run an ethernet cable to the nearest outlet and my buddies xbox isn't the newer model so no built in wifi but since the cars are going to be the same I can bet I won't like it either.

Long story short, Horizon is the better of these two games by far but we knew that already. What makes it great is that it takes the open world concept and applies actual physics for its handling instead of just saying all cars move like this. Granted, Horizon's physics and handling are slightly simpler so that it can appeal to those players who might not like a true test of their driving skill but its still miles better than anything else. If you really want an open world arcade racer, go buy yourself Burnout Paradise. You'll thank yourself in the end and enjoy it much more.

Sadly the only benefit to NFS is on the PS Vita

Ok. I've now played long enough to beat and then become the tenth most wanted racer in Fairhaven. Still can't stand the arcade controls enough to like this game. Not to mention, the car I really wanted to drive in this game, the Caterham R500 is so light that you get tapped from an opponent or cop and taken out almost immediately.

Just based on the single player, I seriously wish EA had just let the NFS franchise go down on a high note with NFS Hot Pursuit. Of course then they did "The Run" which was just pure suck and now there is this Most Wanted. This game just feels very bland to me; and, even though I've been told that the multiplayer is better, I can't see it being good enough for me to actually enjoy the game enough for me to purchase it. I really wish that instead of pushing another NFS title, EA would let Criterion do Paradise 2. Cause while Burnout games are most definitely arcade racers, the fact that you are trying to crash into things and through things makes it fun to play. This NFS Most Wanted feels like it wants to be Paradise 2 but was then force fed street racing crap at some point.

To be completely honest, other than the fact that I can listen to my music via the in game menu, I think the only thing I like about NFS Most Wanted at this point is the fact that it has Porsches. Granted, they don't have the Porsche I would want to drive but they still have them in the game. I think I'll just hope that Playground, T10, and the donkey behinds (that would be my kid friendly way of reffering to EA incase any of y'alls little ones is looking at the screen too) come to some agreement and we get Porsches in Horizon like we did in FM4. For now, I am going to find something else to play on my buddies xbox before I decide I need to break his NFS disc because the game has started to annoy me!

I'll just wait until I can get it through gamefly and try it out. Honestly, if it's at least not on par with Burnout Paradise, that's a fail for me coming from Criterion.

I'd have to say its not on par with Burnout Paradise but then I really enjoy playing Paradise. Still play it every now and then with a couple buddies from college who don't buy many video games and aren't into the more simulation style of the Forza franchise!