So I just got the PC version of this game and I really should have done more research before doing this. We all know the issues by now, FPS locked at 30--if you hack it to run at 60+ it completely breaks the game to a non functional level, and not to mention that terrible opening tutorial. If you feel like you don't understand why these are big issues just watch this video from TotalBiscuit:

So to get to the point of this thread; wasn't NFS suppose to be in the hands of Criterion and Criterion alone? I thought I read a press statement about this before Most Wanted came out. I am not starting a witch hunt here claiming that this game is total dog shit just because it wasn't made by Criterion. It isn't total dog shit, I actually do enjoy playing the game. But the choices they made with the locked frame rate of 30fps (which as TotalBiscuit said, shouldn't even be acceptable on this console generation let alone the PC) and the poor tutorial/introduction to the game are all decisions that I feel Criterion would not make. I believe they would hold themselves to a higher standard then that.

I was so hugely optimistic the direction NFS was heading towards when I thought Criterion was taking full control. This game is still pretty fun to play but the questionable design choices in Rivals are just frustrating. I was hoping Most Wanted would set up a standard for the NFS series that was sorely lacking in the previous editions, this game just feels like a step slightly backwards from that standard. I fear it is a trend will see continue to worsen with NFS but at the end of the day...it's just EA being EA ya know? guys?

/rant

They aren't the only developer. They just control the franchise direction now.

The company that made this game is almost all of Criterion. Criterion itself is like a 6 man team right now and the rest of these guys broke off to do NFS.

@artisanbreads: If that's true it's really disappointing :(

You're probably not going to see another Need For Speed game from Criterion, as they were split up with the majority of the team forming Ghost Games.

To quote from the wiki:

In September of 2013 Criterion creative director Alex Ward informed the world via twitter of major changes at Criterion. The majority of the studio was already working with Ghost Games on Need for Speed Rivals. At some point during this process those team members at Criterion working on Rivals formed a new company, Ghost UK. Alex Ward and about 14 others remain with Criterion and EA, have moved locations, and are continuing to work on something new.

So technically the people who would have made the game at Criterion are the same who made the game, but under the Ghost Games name.

I'm happy because everyone got to go do what they want. Now Criterion can do something besides make NFS, which is why this all happened. Seems like a good thing to me. I'd like to see what else Criterion can do.

Roughly 40 of formerly 50 core Criterion guys formed EA Ghost UK, which collaborates with the EA Ghost guys in Sweden on Rivals. Why? Because 10 of 50 Criterion guys are tired of making racing games (at least that's what I read between the lines), and are currently in pre-production of an all-new non-racing franchise. I'd say it's pretty much the same pool of talent that's been working on 2010's Hot Pursuit game and 2012's Most Wanted. Rivals looks super dope, I'm looking forward to playing it next week on my PS4 *knocks on wood*.

Might the 30 FPS thing be an artistic choice? Apparently it's easier to create a sense of speed with a 30 FPS framerate. And Total Biscuit is a total drama queen sometimes, as much as I like his videos. It's got a typical modern tutorial, play Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon and laugh it off.

Ok so now that I know Ghost is made up of EX-Criterion guys, the 30fps lock makes absolutely no sense to me. I understand completely why it's done that way on the consoles. Are we just getting a straight up port of console version with no alterations what so ever? That would explain why the game is locked at 30 and changing it completely breaks the game.

I don't know why it happened but someone will probably mod a fix soon for this.

@xanadu: I played through (most) of the PC version. It's deeply flawed, but I still had fun with it. It feels *rushed*, which makes some sense given what happened to the studio and the fact that they had to develop it for extra platforms. If they had another year, I bet the game would be amazing.

How does 30 frames per second break the game? I mean I like most people really enjoy a nice crisp 60 frames, but to say that it "breaks" the game is overblowing it in my opinion. Now I agree 100% that this game has issues and could have been way better, but the framerate lock is not one of those issues.

I would totally agree with that. I think there is a really great since of speed when you get going in NFS Rivals. The biggest issue for me is the same exact one Jeff mentioned on the Xbox stream. The world is too big and player count too small for the seamless multiplayer to work as intended. If I'm lucky I will run into one or two other players while Im doing my own thing. When it happens it is super cool and exciting. However, since you hardly run into people, this game feels more like a single player experience than anything else. Sadly there isn't a menu either that people could opt into doing a race or hot pursuit together. It is only by chance or lots of coordination that this would ever happen, and that is kind of a bummer.

He said hacking away the frame cap breaks it...

@alexw00d: ah you are right. Well my bad. Still, it sounds like he has some issue with the framerate which I don't entirely agree with.

Man, I can't believe notifications still don't work on this site. Can't wait for the next gen Giant Bomb site where they do work.

@sackmanjones: You have to turn your notifications to "On" in your account settings.

@awesomeusername: Apparently the next generation of Giant Bomb is here and I would also like to announce my retirement from the site because I am an idiot.

Thank you for the tip

@sackmanjones: No dude. I don't mind playing at 30fps. As I said I am having fun playing the game and it does feel good locked in at 30fps. I was just disappointed to learn that it is impossible to get it to run at 60fps without the game breaking completely. Also: DONT LEAVE US! :p

15/20 nfs games have sucked balls. I don't understand fears about a series like this being ruined when it's only actually good once every 5 years.

Good or bad nfs just exists continously. The last good one was the original most wanted.

Playing as a Racer in this game is fucking atrocious. =( Map also reminds me way way waaaaaaay too much of the Hot Pursuit city for some reason. Also fuck the popo.

@rowr: SHOTS FIRED! But what didn't you like about the new Most Wanted? Personally for me, I found the rubber banding catch up features with AI drivers to be to frustrating but I loved everything else. Still, that one complaint kept me from finishing the game.

I dunno, this game's still pretty awesome. I did the racer career and had a damn good time.

It's ex-Criterion guys and they did a solid job for technically being a new developer.

The games have only gotten worse with Criterion. Get EA canada/black box back on it. I loved burnout till paradise came out but the introduction of crash cams and AI take over's on spawn are a blight on the Need for Speed franchise. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit was meant to really focus back on the series origins but it turned out to be Blur 2.0. That's not what I wanted out of it personally.

So how many people have had a go to at the frame limits to see if it's really impossible? Just curious. I won't be surprised if someone figures something out, Dark Souls style.

@yadilie: I actually really liked the risk/reward element of the racer career. Banking a huge stash of SP feels really good (my highest is about 260k, lost a stash of 560k yesterday).

Burnout: Paradise was my favorite game ever (I sunk ~300h into that game), so I'll follow Criterion and Criterion-derived games as long as they're made. For all of the problems with this one, I still had a lot of fun. I've played this one for 17h, just finished the cop career after finishing the racer career last night.

And, for what it's worth, I loved Hot Pursuit, and the online of Most Wanted (because it scratched that Burnout itch).

Haha, you're welcome duder. I had the same problem to until a mod pointed it out. It should have been a pinned thread since it was a problem for everyone.

I know with L.A. Noire you can use cheat engine to bypass the 30fps limit. Maybe the same thing could be done with this game but I wouldn't have any idea how.

No opinion on the new one, haven't played it yet!

I'll probably wait for the 30 fps cap to be resolved and pick it up for PC at a later date. I'm sure some people think that's a fussy thing to skip out on a game for, but for a racing game on an expensive high end PC it's pretty hard to swallow, the more games i play between 45-60fps the more 30fps feels like how i once percieved sub 20fps. Even so, if this game was anything else but a racing game and i wanted to play it I could probably suck it up.

I'm still on board for the most wanted concept from the fun i had with the original on the 360. I found the last most wanted pretty damn disappointing despite the generally warm reception. The whole choosing cars by finding them on the map pretty much broke any feeling of progression and it just didn't have that intensity. It was basically a poor mans burnout paradise.

That rubber band stuff has been around in these games for a while and to be honest I don't mind it (unless it's totally broken in this game?). Getting in front early and then completing events/races solo kind of detracts from the whole point of an arcade racing game and that sort of competitive racing can be found in more serious titles. I can deal with replaying a few races to get 1st if I enjoy the ride.

You can unlock the framerate, the problem is is that the game then moves at twice the speed. If it goes lower the game slows down. They tied the speed of the world to the framerate so no matter how powerful your PC the game becomes unplayable if you unlock the framerate. Completely unacceptable in this day and age for a game to do that.

It was really bad in the Most Wanted remake. To the point where you didn't even bother actually trying in the race until the last few hundred feet or so.