Racing fans are in luck: the Need for Speed Unbound trailer is finally out, along with details about the upcoming street racer.
Need for Speed Unbound will launch on December 2 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. While the trailer itself is pretty light on details, a press release (opens in a new tab) from EA reveals plenty of details about what to expect from the latest installment in the Need for Speed series.
In keeping with its new, more streamlined aesthetic, Need for Speed Unbound gives players the ability to make the world their own with a "high-energy sound and visual effects toolbox." In addition to the usual ability to outrun the police in frantic chases, you'll also be able to heavily customize your character and vehicle.
The game also features a specially curated soundtrack titled by A€AP Rocky. The rapper also appears in the new Takeover Scene, a "replayable precision driving mode" that "brings the community together to take control of parts of the city."
I have to go fast
While it may not be to everyone's taste, Unbound's bold new anime-adjacent aesthetic is refreshing to see. Given that the last few Need for Speed games have been somewhat disappointing, it's nice to see Criterion Games try a more innovative approach.
Although the good days of Need for Speed Underground are long gone, I've always been of the opinion that Need for Speed is more fun when it allows you to bend the rules a bit. Need for Speed is best when it takes place in a slightly stylized version of our own reality, where free police chases and unlimited street racing are fully and completely integrated into the setting.
While it's hard to tell which elements of the trailer are frills and which will be part of the game, the trailer's utter commitment to an unapologetic, over-the-top street racing vibe seems like a good sign. If you make your way around a sharp turn accompanied by stylized graffiti and neon smoke, while pulsating music plays in the background, that's wrong, I don't want to be right.
Perhaps with Unbound we'll see a more unrepentant and light-hearted take on the Need for Speed formula that harkens back to the fun of beloved Underground games. There has been a disturbing trend, embodied in the new Saints Row, of new titles undermining what makes them great in an attempt to apologize for their own deviations from reality.
If Need for Speed Unbound instead chooses to revel in the absurdity of its street racing-obsessed world, then we could expect a real treat and a long-awaited return to form for the series.