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- Dec 2, 202225% CONFIDENCELow confidencefrom the source
Need For Speed Unbound Review
2022 was a stacked year that featured indie darlings (Immortality), blockbusters (God of War Ragnarok), and smaller, surprise hits (Marvel Snap), so it shouldn't be a shock that a game or two slipped under your radar. But the biggest blink-and-you-miss-it release might be late November's Need for Speed Unbound, the latest entry in EA’s long-running street racing series. With Criterion Games (of Burnout fame) at the helm, Unbound had the potential to be one of the best racing games of the year—or a return to series form after a few missteps. But while aesthetically pleasing and featuring cross-platform play with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, the $69.99 PC game lacks satisfactory car handling and a thriving, in-game world.
- EA and Criterion announced Need for Speed Unbound on 6 October 2022 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on 2 December 2022, with no PS4 or Xbox One version and a $69.99 price[3][4]
- PCMag's review (Zackery Cuevas, 10 January 2023) rates the PC version 3.0 (average): a beautiful racer with a cool soundtrack and crossplay, but "frustrating car physics and CPU drivers sully the experience"[1]
- Crossplay allows only cop chases and online and local progression are separate; the city feels somewhat empty[1]
- Polygon notes it was once planned for 2021 until Criterion was assigned to support EA DICE on Battlefield 2042; the $79.99 Palace Edition adds four custom cars[4]
Notable features
- Need for Speed Unbound is a racing game by Criterion Games on EA's Frostbite engine, with single-player and multiplayer modes; it is the 25th Need for Speed instalment and Criterion's first as main series developer since 2012's Most Wanted[2]
- It is the first series entry since 2019's Need for Speed Heat, set in the fictionalised Chicago of Lakeshore City, with cel-shaded graffiti effects on realistic cars[1][3][4]
- A$AP Rocky leads the Takeover Scene faction and the soundtrack; the police Heat system returns[1][3][4]
- Takeovers, a new event type, have the player beat three rivals' scores by chaining actions; a weekly cycle banks both day and night race earnings, replacing Heat's separate day/night cycles[2]
- A new handling slider tunes cars toward drift or grip, nitrous adds a Payback-style "burst", and performance splits into five classes from B to S; it launched with 143 cars from 32 manufacturers[2]
References 478% CONFIDENCE
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
- [1]25%pcmag.com/reviews/need-for-speed-unboundpcmag.com· Posted Apr 30, 2023· Starts Dec 2, 2022 ✓· 1% of score
Date has passed, but pcmag.com does not confirm it happened then; unverified.
- [2]78%Need for Speed Unbound - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org· Added Sep 22, 2026· 98% of score
Wikipedia's Need for Speed Unbound article gives the Criterion/Frostbite infobox and describes takeovers, the weekly cycle, the new handling slider and "143 different cars from 32 manufacturers" at launch.
- [3]80%'Need for Speed Unbound' revives the racing series on December 2ndengadget.com· Published Oct 6, 2022· 0% of score
Engadget's October 6, 2022 article confirms Need for Speed Unbound "revives the racing series on December 2nd," matching the pin's stored date about two months ahead of release.
- [4]78%Need for Speed Unbound leaves last-gen consoles behindpolygon.com· Published Oct 6, 2022· 0% of score
The page could not be fetched, but Polygon's own headline and October 6, 2022 publish date corroborate the same December 2 release-date announcement described by Engadget[3], matching the pin's stored date.
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