Publishing powerhouse EA is hoping to recapture old form with Need for Speed Unbound. Younger readers may not remember those glory days. But if you are a little bit older, odds are you have very fond memories of the Need for Speed games.

From Underground to Hot Pursuit, the series saw some cracking arcade-fuelled racers from EA. However, since then the series has been on the decline for, arguably, a decade.

Non-starters like The Run, Payback, Most Wanted and even a sort of soft reboot called simply Need for Speed all came up short as the glory days were retreated further in the rear-view mirror.

Restart

Need for Speed Unbound aims to capture elements of the series past while infusing it with a few new ideas. Some of these feel like brave moves, others feel like sober returns of appreciated features.

Need for Speed Unbound sees you dropped into a too-cool-for-school open world based on Chicago. The game aims for an urban feel and this bleeds into every area of the game, even the core racing.

The heavy reliance on drifting and the street-race style of the game’s events work to create that urban foundation.

The style and overall range of car customisation options adds a layer of the intended street-racing culture.

There are some striking urban art touches. When you that perfect apex, you’re greeted with flourishes of spray painted motifs. Other spray painted elements, like wings emerging from your car when you hit a flawless jump, only help sell a very ‘Jet Set Radio’ vibe.

Characters are then drawn in an anime style. This, the spray painted visual flourishes, and world and vehicle models are an interesting mix. Need for Speed Unbound‘s world and cars are almost photo realistic at times and the clash with the stylised rest was a bold move.

But a great one, Need for Speed Unbound‘s style cocktail works well on top of the feel they went for.

Rebuild

Unbound is a solid racer with a few unique features that will take time to get to grips with, especially if you’re jumping from other racers.

‘Burst Boost’ is a feature that feels like a hangover from the devs’ Burnout days. This isn’t a bad thing, though.

The more extreme you drive during the race, the more boost you bank. So hit jumps, drive into oncoming traffic or have a near miss or two and you’ll quickly gain a lot of these boosts. Also, you can fill a three segment bar offering a greater boost. The whole system adds quite a bit of risk/reward.

The game never expects you to win every race, outside of story-based one. The game tends to reward you well for even a third or fourth finish. Which is just as well as coin is king in faux Chicago.

Drift Racer

Drifting will be divisive as the system is somewhat unique and not particularly intuitive. You’ll need to brake, then accelerate hard when hitting the corner’s apex to let the rear wheels free.

While some may love the challenge, the mechanic takes time to really get to grips with. As a result, you’ll lose bags of speed as you begin to learn the trick and find your vehicles’ limits.

The game also has a day-night cycle which, like past games, changes how high the stakes are with each race. Drive in sunlight and it’s a cakewalk, though take to the streets at night and the cops will be hunting you down. It’s basically the same system that was used in Need for Speed: Heat.

There is a core tale to the game about being double-crossed and having to clear you name. But it never takes over the racing action.

Which is a plus as you’ll be focused on upgrading and customising your ride. And getting the key to every ride in its healthy 143-car garage. The 143 cars offer the full range of real dream machines rubbing tyres with more run of the mill runabouts. Variety isn’t lacking in the game.

Racing Drag

Need for Speed Unbound can be too great a grind to get cash in the bank at times. Everything requires in-game money and keeping enough to keep the game moving can be a struggle.

New cars, upgrades, custiomisations are all costly on their own but even entering races require some dough.

Also, the cops are over-aggressive in nature at times. This isn’t helped by the fact that they only come after you and not the AI racers. While some chaos is welcome, it takes too much from the rather enjoyable racing aspect too often.

Unbound Visual Style

As stated the visuals are striking and they are backed up with a cool soundtrack that feels the vibe with lots of urban tones and electronic beats, from a number of known and unknown artists.

Need for Speed Unbound came out of nowhere and is a real surprise as solid racer, that maybe favours glamour and style a little more than substance at times, but it puts the series back on the streets.

The game has a few issues but when the lights go green, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better arcade racer out there right now.