Topic: Need for Speed Most Wanted U: It's deserves your purchase!

[Stratos]

Really? I assumed that all of the games Post-Underground had car mods. When did that change, with Carbon? That is a huge let down for me. Half of the appeal of those games is the customization for me. Knock one off of my purchase list.

[ShyGuy]

I don't know about that, I've noticed performance increases with the various upgrades in acceleration, tires, etc.

[Stratos]

I don't care about the performance enhancements as much as the body mods. It is the ability to live the life of a tuner street racer that is the appeal of this game for me. Granted, the point of the mods is to enhance performance but if there is no major tweaks to the look of the parts it looses for of the fun for me.

[Retro Deckades]

I recall finding the controls quite slippery when I first began playing the game, too. However, it didn't take too long to really get the hang of them. Once I did, it was great fun.


The cars do handle a little differently, and I found the customization options essential to employ to win certain races (specifically changing tires to increase speed/grip on different surfaces).

[Enner]

I don't care about the performance enhancements as much as the body mods. It is the ability to live the life of a tuner street racer that is the appeal of this game for me. Granted, the point of the mods is to enhance performance but if there is no major tweaks to the look of the parts it looses for of the fun for me.

I'm sorry to say that the theme of the tuner street racer in Need for Speed has been missing ever since EA had Criterion make the games since Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010). Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit didn't let you add a spoiler to a car and neither does Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012).

[Stratos]

So it sounds like I would have to go for Carbon, Undercover or Nitro to get the tuner culture I want. Though Undercover got poor reviews. And they are of the regular Wii. Maybe I should look at a 360 version since I don't care about the motion controls so much.

[Mop it up]

The game is $13, go buy your own copy cause it ain't even worth the shipping cost.

If someone is used to playing realistic racers then the controls probably won't feel off, but compared to the tight controls of Mario Kart and racers from 15 years ago, they're terrible.

[EasyCure]

They took some getting used to at the start, but I wouldn't say they are terrible.

Like you Mop it up, I hadn't really played many racing games outside of Mario Kart for many years (exception; Excite Truck/Bots!) until NSF:MW, especially on the realistic front of things. The last NFS game I owned was on Sega Saturn, just to give you a frame of reference.

In the beginning every single car I found felt slippery and it looked like a drunk was behind the wheel, I couldn't keep the damn cars straight! Eventually I found the Dodge Challenger which handled a little sluggish compared to the other vehicles I had tried, and this helped me get used to the controls. Before I knew it I was winning races left and right. In fact, I beat ALL of the Most Wanted cars with the Dodge Challenger; only realizing later that I'd gotten better at the controls and may of had an easier time using my new favorite, the Audi.

Months later and I'm ranked 2nd among my friends list, which includes many NWR users. I'd love to dethrone Caliban but geez, that dudes a beast!

I say give the game a try when the mood is right and test out the different cars to see which one handles best to you personally, and avoid races all together until you're a little more used to the handling. The game is just fun enough driving around exploring the scenery/locating other cars or evading the police. Once you're used to one car, take on the races and watch how you'll improve with every win. I couldn't drift to save my life when I started, now I'm taking the tightest turns as smooth as eggs.

Also, it might help to think of it this way; stop comparing it to Mario Kart. The sense of speed is much greater and as a more realistic game, it makes sense that over steering left or right at those speeds would lead to problems. Just be glad it isn't so realistic that you flip the car trying some of those turns. If you still don't like it, that's a shame because I would have liked to add you to my friends list for it.

[Apollo5]

Are people here still actively playing this.  If I pick it up will there be people here  up for some multiplayer?

[Mop it up]

They took some getting used to at the start, but I wouldn't say they are terrible... [buncha other stuff]

I think the controls are bad compared to other racers as well, like the Burnout games, they aren't like this. I just feel that a game's challenge should come from the track designs and the competing cares and the tasks at hand rather than simply getting a grip on the vehicle... but I may very well be missing the point. My opinion remains the same though.

I don't think I need to actually find other cars to try them out. It seems like you won't get the achievement for finding cars unless you locate them in the city, but they appear to all be selectable from the quick menu. This game has a pretty strange setup to it and that can be a little confusing at times also.

I still plan to play through the game at some point since I have it, gotta get my money's worth. It just haven't been a priority since I have other, better Wii U games to play like Super Mario 3D World, and I have also been playing less games lately due to outside factors that I won't get into here.

And yeah, Caliban is a beast! That guy's just plain nuts.

[EasyCure]

Hm well I won't argue your opinion because I've already stated the racers I've played in the last few years were all in the Mario Kart and Excite series, and the last NFS I played was in 1997 or so; I can't speak for how they control. What I do know is that I've given Gran Turismo a shot before and I thought that came played unwieldy, and was afraid NFS:MWU would control just as bad as I thought that game handled, but luckily it turned around for me and I can handle even the fastest cars.

I have to find your name in the Wii U friend code/network ID thread and add you; maybe we'll get to race in the future.

Yes, Caliban is crazy. I keep trying to beat his times but outside of a single Ambush event,  I got nothing.

[Mop it up]

My NNID is consistent. Well, it wouldn't let me add spaces so it has underscores, but otherwise it's the same.

[ShyGuy]

So Alex Ward, the head of Criterion, has left to form his own company along with the studio head Fiona Sperry.

Looks like EA is killing off another one, I guess we won't have to look forward to a new Burnout anymore.

https://twitter.com/AlexanderJWard/status/419136419316379648

[Sarail]

Hopefully they'll develop games for Nintendo platforms.

[BranDonk Kong]

This is pretty interesting and very telling...

http://www.maxconsole.com/news/WII/Criterion-co-founder-outlines-issues-with-Need-for-Speed-Wii-U-release-RKLS00000028540.html

[UncleBob]

"Nintendo didn't pay to market my game."

I'm sorry - but it *shouldn't* work that way.  Even more so at the point it's a port (even if it was a damn good port) of a multi-platform game that was released six months late.

[ejamer]

"Nintendo didn't pay to market my game."

I'm sorry - but it *shouldn't* work that way.  Even more so at the point it's a port (even if it was a damn good port) of a multi-platform game that was released six months late.

Mostly true. Nintendo has absolutely no responsibility to market a third party game. Maybe he's upset at Nintendo for some other reason and just venting here, maybe he looked at the overall marketing for the system and (like the rest of us) was sorely disappointed at how Nintendo handled Wii U sales from the start, maybe the anger is just misplaced. But I can understand them being upset when real effort was made, a solid game came out of that effort, and the team didn't get rewarded with sales/success.


EA doesn't seem to have offered much support for the game - whether that's due to EA's relationship with Nintendo or with the developers, I don't know - and that's worth getting upset about for the developers.

[ShyGuy]

I think Platform makers subsidizing publishers has heavily contributed to the poor state of the video game industry today.

[BranDonk Kong]

Nintendo has no problem pushing Bayonetta 2. SONY has no problem pushing Battlefield 4. Microsoft has no problem pushing Titanfall. Nintendo should have done everything they could have to promote 3rd party games on Wii U when it first launched, and even put money into them. They didn't, and the 3rd parties are mostly gone now.

He's mad at EA too, because they didn't market the game (or initially release it in Europe) either.

[UncleBob]

Nintendo has no problem pushing Bayonetta 2. SONY has no problem pushing Battlefield 4. Microsoft has no problem pushing Titanfall.

Bayonetta 2 will likely get minimal coverage - and even then, it's a Nintendo exclusive and Nintendo is the publisher.  Titanfall is a Microsoft exclusive.  And is Battlefield 4 did not release six months later on Playstation consoles than every other system.

Give me an example of a multi-platform title with a six month delayed port that one of the other major console manufactures gave a lot of marketing support to.  Now, give me about nine more, since a singular game does not set a precedence.  Then, we'll talk.

[Stratos]

The game and team were a casualty of the fallout between EA and Nintendo. Nintendo didn't want to touch it because of EA and EA just wanted to toss it out to recoup some of their losses and move on.


It is like two divorcing parents tossing their commitments to their kid between the two so Junior's school project never gets completed and so Junior get's a bad grade on his project. Neither parent wants to get too heavily involved because they know the other will jump in and cause yet another fight out of the matter.

But this isn't a helpless kid, it is a group of adults running a company. There are other options. So I side with UncleBob in this one. Developers tend to allow themselves to be backed into these corners. they shopped the title to Nintendo, but what about the Nintendo fans? I know if I ever were creating a game I would be trumpeting it to every media organization I could. Connect with Nintendo Life, NWR, GoNintendo, PixlBit or IGN's Nintendo team. Let the Nintendo fans know that, "yes, there is something going down with Momma EA and Papa Ninty, but we have an awesome title for the fans and we as a development studio want to give those Nintendo fans a quality title".

[UncleBob]

I will say, I do remember there being a couple of interviews around that time where Ward talked up how awesome Nintendo is(/was?).

There was so many things that went wrong with this release, I don't really think you can put any of the blame on the developers - they seemed to have done virtually everything they possibly could.  Hell, most retailers didn't even carry the title (which, really, why carry a full-price six month old game that you're already discounting on other systems?)

I just don't think it's fair to put any real blame on Nintendo.  EA was reportedly being dicks to Nintendo at the time.  Nintendo, like any other company, has a marketing budget.  If you're Nintendo, do you spend that budget on a game from one of the largest publishers (who are being dicks to you) or on smaller, indy titles that don't have the backing of one of the world's largest publishers?

[Retro Deckades]

Does anyone remember if this game was featured in a Nintendo Direct? It seems like that is something that Nintendo could have easily done to potentially increase the awareness of the game without incurring huge marketing costs.

[Kytim89]

If Nintendo included third party games in their directs then they might get better sales. Although there are not going to be enough of them to warrant their use in Nintendo Directs.

[Mop it up]

It's understandable the guy would be upset at the situation, it definitely sucks. But it should all be directed at EA in this case.