Electronic Arts (EA) has officially revealed the first trailer for the latest installment in one of the gaming industry's most well-known racing franchises, Need for Speed. Check it out below:
Videos by FanBuzz
There's no denying that there's something distinctly familiar about this trailer. With characters spouting out lines like, "There's something much bigger going on," and "We own these streets... the House always wins," it's clear that the developers at Ghost Games have taken inspiration from the highly successful Fast and Furious movies in the writing of the game's story.
The lines do feel unnecessarily grandiose and cheesy, like something that doesn't quite belong in a franchise that has always been about reckless youths racing their modified cars. There's also a definite emphasis on "the crew," which again reflects the themes of brotherhood and comradery so prevalent in that other big racing franchise.
Community reception so far has ranged from mild excitement to indifference. It's a common trend for video game developers to try their hand at creating an exciting story with an appealing cast of characters only for the whole experience to come off as quite ham-fisted. The tacky one-liners in the above trailer certainly leave little guesswork for the expected direction of this title's story.
As for gameplay, there's not much shown in the trailer. According to the video's description:
"Your car is at the center of everything you do. Craft unique rides with deeper performance and visual customization than ever before. From intense missions to high stakes car battles to jaw dropping set piece moments, Need for Speed: Payback delivers an edge-of-your-seat, action-driving fantasy."
At the very least, we can expect a deeper level of customization than what previous installments have provided, though as for the "edge-of-your-seat" experience... well, only time will tell.
Need for Speed: Payback will release over Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC via EA's Origin client on November 10, 2017.
Follow the series' Twitter account for future updates, or get more information on the game's official website.
