There was once a time when "Need for Speed" was as guaranteed a Christmas number one spot as Simon Cowell's reality show winner, and before Forza Horizon came along, it was all festivities and physics. It was an analog version of "Wild Speed" with spoiler upon spoiler, the exact same every year, an ultra-accessible arcade racer about underground tuner culture and dirty cops. And we didn't care that it was as formulaic as the Leonard Cohen cover, handpicked by the aforementioned contest winner. Until one day, finally, we did.

Need For Speed was too big and too popular to sustain itself, too successful to allow EA to begin tinkering with the formula, but told only through the medium of the annual release of wide-body kit beemers and checkpoint racing We were saturated with tales of betrayal; the world in which Need For Speed Unbound appeared had changed; 2019's NFS Heat was the franchise's most compelling attempt at a revamp in years, but it couldn't push Forza Horizon off its throne. It failed to do so. So far, no one can make up the difference against the Playground Games behemoth, and if Need For Speed Unbound is to succeed, it will need to be something else entirely.

A new art style. This is an old franchise stepping out with its best Zoomer hair and North Face puffers in hopes that a dramatic change in visual direction will win over the TikTok generation. While it may seem like an incidental touch, the anime-inspired fumes and metaverse-enabled avatars in "Unbound" are a true statement of intent for such an established series. Drifting around a corner and lighting the tires on fire creates a cartoonish miasma, as if someone had released the ultimate smoke in a "Borderlands" game. In Burnout, picturesque neon lines spin around the side of the tire. Catch a lamp and turn on the air, and the car literally sprouts graffiti wings. This is from a game that has told the same plot, with the same faces, for 20 years: the backstabbing street racer and the psychopathic law enforcement officer.

For the first time, Need for Speed appears to run. Instead of washing its hands of reality altogether, it exaggerates and reinforces it. It's not a car that says this is what happens if you actually drive into a 90-degree curve at 120 mph without braking, it's what you want it to be: a cartoonishly compliant, twisted thing that doesn't utilize the skills of a sim racer any more than a 4X player does.

Unbound's tone-shifting finds cohesion between its presentation and gameplay, but the handling itself doesn't sing to you like a siren's call that pulls you away from the almighty Forza. like in Heat, the game is basically about It's hard to fathom the fact that you have to tap the throttle to brake, but that's not to say that the laissez-faire physics model didn't inspire you. Instead, "Unbound" often seems to cycle through microanimations without fine control. When entering a drift, there is no sense of the car's weight shifting from side to side, or of the tires reaching their grip limits and losing traction on the side where the load is applied. It feels as if the input to initiate the drift is recognized by the game.

Nevertheless, most of the time it is enjoyable enough. The corners and braking zones are light, and the emphasis is on hitting top speed and holding it for as long as possible while meandering through crowded city pavement. But when a low-speed corner appears in a tight race, you want to get out in front with excellent vehicle control, and Criterion's handling model lacks that kind of play and finesse.

It is not that there is no skill in driving fast. The difference between decent driving and excellent driving comes down to boost generation and management. The more dangerous the driver does, such as jumping into oncoming traffic, near misses, drifting, etc., the more the dual NOS boost system fills up. If used well, this mechanic can keep the boost on for more than half the race, which can make a big difference in time. However, this is a different discipline than many racers are looking for.

But what you really want to hear, of course, is the story. A group of kids from the foster care system begin to make waves in the Lakeshore street racing scene. Rydell, a gray-haired mechanic and mentor, keeps telling them to play it smart, but Yaz refuses to follow instructions. Before you can say "2005," there is a plot, a starter car is stolen, and a completed prologue that, while not particularly new, commits itself beautifully to storytelling.

But no one is here for Proust. This is a game of driving a car, tuning a car, and then buying a car to tune and drive even more. The desire to reveal truths about the human condition is rather hampered by these constraints. In other words, it is silly, vulgar, and endearing. The dialogue is music to my ears, but I am 36 years old. For all I know, it might still be genuinely acceptable to describe something as "straight fire, yo." Let's face it, even the great "Forza" is not famous for its human and thought-provoking writing. The story here is a means to an end, and that is enough to immerse one in the racing.

What seems far more immersive is the returning heat system. The previous "NFS" game introduced a bit of risk/reward with the day/night cycle. All the winnings earned during the day were put at risk at night when the wrongdoers were caught and arrested. The same system is still in place here, but the day/night cycle has been expanded to a full week of events, with a showcase race every Saturday with a large buy-in and vehicle prizes.

Lost from the previous system was the heat multiplier, which encouraged people to aggressively piss off cops in order to increase their heat level before the night was over. If the heat multiplier was increased by a factor of 5, huge amounts of XP were accumulated, unlocking new cars and parts that were previously unaffordable. That's gone now, and it feels like a step backwards. If anything, I would have liked to see the next installment of "NFS" expand on the excellent system of "Heat" and introduce something like the nemesis system of "Shadow of Mordor" into the racing game. You have to get revenge on certain cops. Beat them and get huge bonuses, or get arrested and lose your car. That kind of thing.

The alternative to that excellent idea is a simpler daily routine, where you do as many events as possible before your lip level makes it annoying to play the game and you spend the night resetting the heat and saving up cash. They are willing to risk their own lives and the lives of every other person in the neighborhood in order to apprehend drivers who ignore the speed limit. Then again, it is not clear how the tracking AI will actually work. Is it better to go maximum speed and keep it that way until they lose sight of you, or keep taking turns? ...... It's been over 20 years now.

By the way, a word of advice, if you are over 20, "NFS Unbound" will make you feel about 90 years old. It's not just the aforementioned zoomy dialogue; there's also a soundtrack consisting of a TikTok-like Pixies cover and a chorus of "Hey, asshole, I hate you." Cartoonish visuals and mission names like "Weeb in Need. Character customization screens filled with real brand-name clothing like Fila and Versace. A focus on youth, an incessant laser attack.

Perhaps pushing too hard to appeal to the young, "NFS Unbound" remains a loose, colorful racer that draws you into its likably nonsensical plot and keeps you hooked on your next car for its duration. An online multiplayer mode is also available, but it's already quiet as a ghost, despite a free 10-hour trial offered through the EA Access program. There's nothing wrong with a playlist of single-player events, access to PvP races for up to eight players, and generous prize money; NFS has always struggled in this regard, and sadly, "Unbound" is not the turning point.

It is far from a return to the glory and prestige that Need For Speed once enjoyed. It is more feature-rich and mechanically complex than any of its predecessors. The distinctive new look is a huge success, and while the handling is a bit quirky, the boost system is easy to grasp and engrossing to its full potential. A braver Criterion and EA might have made more use of the heat system and found a new identity in its brilliant risk-reward mechanism. But even without going that far, "Unbound" is a worthy addition to a genre that lacks the all-out arcade kick.