After two years of development, the latest installment in the enduring Need For Speed video game franchise is almost here. A short video trailer for Need For Speed Unbound recently dropped, and the game looks unlike anything we've seen before in the world of digital racing.
The trailer shows a very artful game, combining sharp graphics with cell shading and comic-book-style effects that appear while driving. For example, neon-outlined wings show up when you punch the nitrous button. Colored streaks shoot from the wheels and lights while in motion. Tire smoke is depicted as billowing clouds of color. And the characters look like they jumped off the pages of a comic book. It's very different compared to pretty much every other racing game available now. Or anything in recent memory for that matter.
That's not a bad thing here. The racing genre is packed with all kinds of titles, and this first look suggests Need For Speed Unbound is striving to create something unique. According to IGN, the action takes place in the fictional town of Lakeshore and will focus heavily on street racing, returning to the franchise's roots. Criterion serves as the lead developer for the title, marking the company's return to Need For Speed for the first time in nearly a decade.
The visuals obviously aren't shooting for life-like realism, but it's still a high-performance game for current-generation consoles. The open-world environment will offer 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, which IGN says will offer better control for vehicles in the game. Speaking of vehicles, we don't have a list of cars that will appear in the NFS Unbound but the trailer reveals a few models. The Nissan 240SX is featured rather prominently, and we glimpse a Lamborghini Huracan, C8 Chevrolet Corvette, Nissan GT-R, Porsche 911, and there's no missing the classic Mercedes 190E.
We first reported on this game back in 2020, and now the wait is nearly over. It's slated to launch on December 2 for the Playstation 5, Microsoft Series X/S, and PC.
Looking for more gaming content in the automotive world? Check out the Rambling About Cars podcast, available below.
