Need For Speed (2015) is Ghost Games's second entry in the NFS franchise, right after Rivals and before Payback. Commonly referred to as a reboot for the series and (kinda) considered a spiritual sucessor to games such as Carbon and Most Wanted, this entry was recently added to the Steam catalogue of Need For Speed games, and it usually drops to a price of around 10€ during sales. So - 5 years after its release, is it worth it?

Driving culture/Story Mode: Need For Speed 2015 is the top Need For Speed when it comes to a sorta down-to-earth, street racing car culture. Distanced from the "revenge against a villain" storyline (the likes of Payback, Most Wanted and Carbon) and from "zero to hero" (such as Underground 1 and 2, and Pro Street), NFS 2015 is actually connected to some of the car culture's famous artists, collectors, etc. From underground outlaws like Shinichi Morohoshi to a legendary car builder like Akira Nakai, the player will be in contact with some legendary figures.

Atmosphere: easily one of the prettiest Need For Speed in the series, followed with that typical night-time driving aesthetic. The lighting, reflections, the colouring, alongside a early-night to early-morning time, make up for a street racing vibe that few games achieve.

Map: Ventura Bay isn't an over the top map; it's not even one of the most iconic. But, in feeling, it's all there: the Jackson Heights feel from Underground 2, when you started from the top of the mountain drifting until the end; the Canyon races from Carbon, where there are tight corners in a mountain; the highway and tunnels from Underground 2. While it is on its own, Ventura Bay will make any true fan reminisce of older maps.

Cars: while not the biggest car roster in the series, it actually has some of the most iconic vehicles in the street racing scene. This is the last Need For Speed, to this date, that has the famous Toyota Supra, as well as the Toyota AE86. Alongside such vehicles are cars like the Volvo 242 and Honda Civic, to tune to your delight; or, if you're more of a supercar guy, hop on a beautiful Ferrari or Lamborghini and see what it's like - the choice is yours.

Events: while slightly focused on drift events, NFS 2015 actually has a strong variety of events and circuits, making up for a lot of hours of racing, but never of repetition.

Pursuits: Pursuit mode *isn't* the main focus of the game, at all. However, to pursuit chasers such as myself, you'll find yourself disappointed to see that cops are clearly sleep deprived in Ventura Bay: chases never amount to the epic Heat 4, 5 or 6 from older Need For Speed games, and even at such Heat levels, you're lucky if you have 3 police Chargers chasing you.

Drag Racing: Drag Racing was added as a posterior update from Need For Speed's launch. The events are pretty well done, and alongside the update, the game got 2 "hot-rods" added to the racing catalogue. However, I can't stop feeling that if they had added Drag Racing from the beginning, and happend alongside the main storyline, the game might have had other proportions when it comes to players and replayability.

Other playes: It's not exactly full lobbies every day of the week. However, you can usually find some other players who are frequently up for some challenges. Also - surprisingly - it's easier to find and race other players here than in Heat, that launched in 2019.

Bugs: *sigh* I might have had three or four crashes, sometimes related to using the Steam Overlay to see something. Races that sometime make the map disappear and you fall through the road, taking the game around 10-15 seconds to load back up - and as every racing player knows, 10-15 seconds is usually an eternity in races.

Always Online: the main problem since the game's release, and easily the issue that haunted this game. You can't play Need For Speed (2015) without an Internet connection - even if you're only there for the story.

As the text shows, I'm actually a big fan of this game! Superb atmosphere, racing variety and car feel - if you're a NFS or street racing fan, and if you can get past a bug or two, you'll enjoy the ride that is Need For Speed (2015)

10/10