Cars look brilliant, near photorealistic. Rivals is fantastically pretty, making great use of your next-gen console or PC. Most Wanted encouraged you to explore its train tunnels and jump off rooftops, but Rivals keeps you firmly on track.

And while there are a few hidden pathways to be found and the possibility of going off-road occasionally, I also found myself more frequently attempting to head off the beaten path only to be put back into place by an officious barrier. There are no billboards bearing your friends’ faces to crash through, no super cars squirrelled away, and fewer jumps than previous games. But for all of its gorgeous scenery, I found Redview a slightly less fun and secret-filled place to explore. And very occasionally, I did find myself being spotted by the cops even though I’d seemingly given them the slip, which was slightly frustrating.Įach stretch of road is crammed with various challenges, including standard races and time trials, new cars to shut down, and records to smash. It’s a shame there wasn’t room in this world for both play styles, as it would’ve given us more variety to play with. They’re better suited for drifting and pushing fast cars to their limits, like Hot Pursuit, instead of outfoxing the cops and hiding like in Most Wanted. It’s all about the ballet of the chase. It provides a welcome change of pace after the urban sprawl of Most Wanted, though I came to really miss those concrete labyrinths when I was outrunning the cops.īut it’s ultimately a tradeoff, with Redview’s long, winding roads setting the stage for some truly operatic chases that go on for miles. Within the confines of its map you can take in parched deserts and lush vineyards, upmarket seaside promenades and snowy mountain passes.

Rivals takes place in the fictional Redview County, which has probably the most diverse geography imaginable. In many ways it’s the best of both, although if you’ve played either of those a great deal, as I have, you may get a feeling of déja vu from Rivals.

(Unsurprising really consider the majority of the staff went over to the new studio.) It combines Hot Pursuit’s cops-versus-racer dynamic with the freeform gameplay of Most Wanted’s open world. Developed by Ghost Games, Rivals feels like the natural successor to the work of previous NFS developer Criterion.

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