Need for Speed: Rivals

 Xbox 360
User Score
5.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 136 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 136
  2. Mixed: 34 out of 136
  3. Negative: 48 out of 136
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  1. thebigjman
    Jan 21, 2014
    3
    Ah, where shall I start..... Well, to begin with there's a mandatory 1.3 GB installation on your hard drive. Yes, it's bearable, but it's unwanted. The game opens up with literally half an hour of tutorials accompanied by a god-awful story line. Once I actually jumped into multiplayer I was disappointing further. When it comes to selecting a car, the game offers no comparisons so in orderAh, where shall I start..... Well, to begin with there's a mandatory 1.3 GB installation on your hard drive. Yes, it's bearable, but it's unwanted. The game opens up with literally half an hour of tutorials accompanied by a god-awful story line. Once I actually jumped into multiplayer I was disappointing further. When it comes to selecting a car, the game offers no comparisons so in order to see if the new car has better stats than the old, you have to flip back and forth 30 times just to get an idea of what to pick. The customization options are at least nice, with different paint jobs and decals available. The actual racing honestly begins to fall short for two reasons. 1) The multiplayer is terrible. The player-to-player interaction that EA showed off so much transforms into high-leveled racers rampaging around the map destroying you in two hits. If you go into the settings, you can play offline instead, which is somewhat better. However.... it completely removes the spontaneity that the multiplayer offers and instead you're left with the halfway-decent bots. Even then... 2) The regular missions and single player are dull. The game gives you boring objectives, such as "Bottom-ram a racer 10 times" . We've all seen these before and they get very old, very fast. On top of that are random encounters that typically see little variations and few epic moments.

    Even if you're alright with all of that, many of the other features are implemented poorly. The music can't be changed, so it's either pop in your earbuds or put up with whatever crap is on the radio. The graphics frequently suffer from pop-up and disappearing scenery. Online multiplayer lags, pedestrian cars randomly disappear, and the cars for the police force are mostly made up of stupid variations of the exact same cars.

    The only positives the game has is that 1) It looks pretty (when the trees and mountains don't magically evaporate) and 2) the customization is plentiful and impressive. Unless you're a die-hard racing fan, I would look at one of the other many racing games available. Perhaps one that doesn't rely on poor multiplayer to give you a good racing experience.    … Expand
  2. crossorphan
    May 2, 2014
    2
    Turn on Single Player and you have Hot Pursuit 2010 with everything being worse. With other people, this game is somehow even worse than before. This game includes a required (!) 1.6 gigabyte HD texture install that only works on some consoles (!!!) and far less options in the options menu than Hot Pursuit 2010. Hot Pursuit 2010 let you change controls to whatever you want, set how theTurn on Single Player and you have Hot Pursuit 2010 with everything being worse. With other people, this game is somehow even worse than before. This game includes a required (!) 1.6 gigabyte HD texture install that only works on some consoles (!!!) and far less options in the options menu than Hot Pursuit 2010. Hot Pursuit 2010 let you change controls to whatever you want, set how the music player does its thing, go from mission to mission instantly, and free roam was just a thing you could mess around with if you wanted to. This forces you to use the controls it gives you, the music player has NO options, you have to drive to every mission unless you want to wait for the unbearable loading times, and free roam is required no matter what. If you didn't turn on the ridiculously hidden single player setting, you have to deal with online players that destroy you constantly interfering with your stuff. The "missions" consist of the same 3 objectives done repeatedly, and you're given assignments to complete while doing the missions. These assignments are simply roadblocks put in your way to force you to free roam and only let you unlock one version of each cop car. The cop cars received, however are free. On the racers side, you unlock the same car no matter which version of the assignment you chose, and you have to spend money to unlock it. You won't have any money, however, because the "pursuit tech" (which, in HP2012, you had at all times and you had all of) is ridiculously expensive.

    If you're gonna buy a NFS game, buy any PS1 NFS, PS2 NFS, or Hot Pursuit 2012.    … Expand
  3. BelatedCaesar
    May 25, 2014
    2
    No. Just no. The need for speed franchise has deteriorated beyond what I remember. When I last played a need for speed game, it was a fun experience, but sadly the advent of online multiplayer has poisoned all racing games. I miss the good old days of split screen. With that little rant over with, on to the game itself. At the start you can choose to be a cop or racer. There is noNo. Just no. The need for speed franchise has deteriorated beyond what I remember. When I last played a need for speed game, it was a fun experience, but sadly the advent of online multiplayer has poisoned all racing games. I miss the good old days of split screen. With that little rant over with, on to the game itself. At the start you can choose to be a cop or racer. There is no quick race mode, which is why I buy racing games in the first place. You are forced to play the stupid story that nobody likes, and you are forced to do it online. I feel that they tried to make a dumb storyline around what is, at its heart, an excuse to drive fast cars and smash other people into walls. I returned this game within two hours of buying it. In my opinion, go buy need for speed shift, it is a better game for me. However, if you are interested in the online and stupid storylines, by all means, get rivals. This game just didn't do it for me.… Expand
  4. turbo_lag
    Dec 29, 2013
    0
    EA has elected to not allow installation on my son’s XBOX360, so this review covers only the portions of the game that I experienced. The request for 1.3 Gb of storage was prompt and polite. It was only after selection of a USB drive did the game become snarky, insisting it be loaded only on a harddrive. The only available responses are to not install or to try another drive. In theEA has elected to not allow installation on my son’s XBOX360, so this review covers only the portions of the game that I experienced. The request for 1.3 Gb of storage was prompt and polite. It was only after selection of a USB drive did the game become snarky, insisting it be loaded only on a harddrive. The only available responses are to not install or to try another drive. In the case of my son’s XBOX360 slim the 4 Gb internal storage, despite having enough space for the install, is not considered a harddive. There are other XBOX360 configurations with the same problem. You can consider these as non-gamer systems, but I never considered them non *game* systems. I don’t know what EA and Microsoft are trying to pull with this restriction, but the end result is that we have an unreturnable, unplayable game. Perhaps the goal is to force owners of these systems to buy official XBOX harddrives?… Expand
  5. SomeGuyYouDunno
    Mar 26, 2014
    3
    Why did this have to suck balls?

    The 360 version sucks. Why? Cuz EA just went "Okay **** this let's get to the XBOX One crap!" This is why the 8th gen versions are WAY better! Get this: when I loaded the game, it told me to donate 1.4 GB for mandatory HD content. Then, they got sneaky and forced me to used a hard drive, which was 110 dollars. WHAT THE H***!!! So I got it after    Why did this have to suck balls?

    The 360 version sucks. Why? Cuz EA just went "Okay **** this let's get to the XBOX One crap!" This is why the 8th gen versions are WAY better!

    Get this: when I loaded the game, it told me to donate 1.4 GB for mandatory HD content. Then, they got sneaky and forced me to used a hard drive, which was 110 dollars.

    WHAT THE H***!!!

    So I got it after New Year's Eve and it worked. AND IT SUCKS.

    The graphics look good up close, but objects randomly appear from a distance, which makes this feel like the first NFS. Plus, the AI is too smart and handling too stiff for anything to work. The drifting is a disaster!
    Plus, the only cars in this game are sports coupes! I want to be able to drive more than that, and Evoque and Raptor and BAC and Ariel Atom, but EA put (here I lose control) 1 PERCENT OF THEIR COMMON SENSE INTO THIS PIECE OF F****** SH**!!! WHY DID THIS HAPPEN!!!??? COULD IT BE LESS DISAPPOINTING! EA, WHAT'S HAPPENING!? OH, AND WHY IS THERE NO PAUSE BUTTON!?

    I don't use XBOX LIVE so I would probably get a better experience if I connected, but the single player is really that bad? Oh, and BTW, the game loads too long, not too frequently.

    Pros: Good graphics up close, more customization options than Most Wanted, sort of engaging, that's all folks.

    Oh, if you destroyed your USB to make it XBOX compatible, can you make it compatible with Windows again?    … Expand
  6. 2shoog
    Feb 12, 2014
    3
    READ THIS READ THIS READ THIS You can tell some of the people who gave this suck-a*s game a 10 are FAKE. There is no sense of speed; I thought I had the metric on. There is no feedback for turbo from controller. The game take forever to choose an on-line world and is CONSTANTLY stopping in middle of race to MIGRATE TO NEW HOST OR LOST CONNECTION etc, and forget about what YOU want toREAD THIS READ THIS READ THIS You can tell some of the people who gave this suck-a*s game a 10 are FAKE. There is no sense of speed; I thought I had the metric on. There is no feedback for turbo from controller. The game take forever to choose an on-line world and is CONSTANTLY stopping in middle of race to MIGRATE TO NEW HOST OR LOST CONNECTION etc, and forget about what YOU want to do because other racers and cops all want to smash your car up so it's totaled in the middle of your race or time-trial...start ALL OVER...AGAIN...AGAIN... and if you don't want to race someone watch out for retribution because they will smash you until your car blows up. This is the LEAST enjoyable game I've EVER played.… Expand
  7. voiders
    Mar 21, 2014
    0
    How can I buy a racing game that dont have 2 players split screen? I have to buy 2 consoles and 2 games to play with my brother?

    Is that it? REALLY? These developers, they've been much better, long time ago.

    Today we live on a very ironic time, you can use 4 joysticks, but even a racing game allows play with 2.

    EA GO HOME, YOU ARE DRUNK.
  8. projectahmed
    May 2, 2015
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is the worst Nfs game i ever played. i played this on xbox 360 and it sucks for its crappy dark graphics, rare crashes, frame rate drops and game being so harder then previous titles in the series. my car crashed thousands of times in this game, cops chase me for no reason, racers AI is so intellagent and everything is too expensive to purchase in game items like performance. If your a ps4/xbox one owner than this is the game for you, but if your a pc/ps3/x360 owner than stay away from this garbage and don't waste money on it. I have been playing nfs series since underground 2 and after many years, i got punished for buying a inferior port (x360) of nfs rivals and not for next gen. well done ea/ghost games for punishing your conusumers for not buying the game on ps4/xbox one, i will not buy any future nfs titles and i will not put a single hand in the franchise EVER again. used to be longtime nfs fan, but NOT anymore.… Expand
  9. Kriostyx
    Feb 7, 2015
    0
    Not only do the graphics suck big time on the 360.... every other NFS title before this has looked lightyears more advanced and appealing to the eye on the 360.... but this game is just plain terrible. This is "baffling design choices" - the game. Many game sites have reviewed this game positively but tey are very simply lying. The idiocy here can really be summed up in a couple ofNot only do the graphics suck big time on the 360.... every other NFS title before this has looked lightyears more advanced and appealing to the eye on the 360.... but this game is just plain terrible. This is "baffling design choices" - the game. Many game sites have reviewed this game positively but tey are very simply lying. The idiocy here can really be summed up in a couple of sentences. First of : There is no pause button. That's right. EA has innovated by making the astoundingly terrible design decision of not being able to pause the game. That sh*t was supposed have been ripped out of dev's heads back in the NES era. also the game tries to force you to play multiplayer instead of single player. You can fiddle around in the options to make this idiocy not happen, but there is still no pause. The only way to make the game not fu*k you in the a*s while you want to do something else is drive to the nearest hideout, which will for all intents and purposes "pause" the game. This will take easily a couple of minutes every time. A couple of minutes to "pause" the game. Really. That is what they did here. And if you're being pursuited by hard level cops that will never ever fall behind you and by helicopters that will see you at all times? Going to a hideout does not work then so you can never *ever* get the game to pause. You have to let them bust you or try to escape for the next 5-10 minutes unsuccessfully. In the words of the AVGN "What if you gotta take a sh*t? Well tough sh*t if you gotta take a sh*t". And what you're doing then is driving around, being constantly spotted by the psychic cops and being pursuited until they catch you. Unless you drive back to your hideout after every single pursuit, it gets impossible to escape these real fast. And that also get tedious real quickly. Also the cops know that even when you're not being pursuited, they will start pursuits for no reason before you get to your hideout and they actually also will deliberately ram your stationary car on the side of the road to *start* a pursuit. What in the actual fu*k. I've actually liked every single NFS title all the wau from NFS II in the 90's. This. This is a joke in gamers' faces. THis is like *wow* type of bad. Please, please do not buy this game and waste your money. Fu*k this game. Fu*k it to hell.… Expand
  10. ChocOrange
    Jul 16, 2014
    0
    One word...RIPOFF! Icant play this cos i dont have a hard drive! When i did at someone elses house i was appualled! The lighting was bad. The hit detecion was super off! I glitched when i was in a race so i flying in the air, the map disappered and when it did a load of cops smashed into be and i got busted! This game is terrible!
  11. Brightest-Light
    Jun 17, 2014
    3
    This game feels and looks HORRIBLY downscaled for the Xbox 360. The graphics are unacceptably pixellated for a game at this price point and supposed "quality" - have a look at Forza Horizon for amazing open world Xbox 360 racing grafx.
  12. Broyax
    Mar 14, 2017
    0
    Merde, encore un copié-collé du NFS Hot Pursuit de Criterion avec toujours cette bande de cons mais dont le gros du boulot de goret abattu tient d'une nouvelle équipe, "Ghost" en l'occurrence. Ceux-là faut les retenir, pas les retenir pour les inviter, non (sauf un mercredi soir à la limite) les retenir pour les épingler sur le mur des dév' les plus cons, mauvais, nuls et incapables.Merde, encore un copié-collé du NFS Hot Pursuit de Criterion avec toujours cette bande de cons mais dont le gros du boulot de goret abattu tient d'une nouvelle équipe, "Ghost" en l'occurrence. Ceux-là faut les retenir, pas les retenir pour les inviter, non (sauf un mercredi soir à la limite) les retenir pour les épingler sur le mur des dév' les plus cons, mauvais, nuls et incapables.

    Trois ans après on a donc le même jeu qu'en 2010 mais en pire et pourtant c'était difficile de faire pire. Mais ils l'ont fait avec la "conduite", la vue placée trop bas, les collisions encore plus simplistes et la technique qui pue vraiment de la gueule ici : aliasing de ouf, framerate souffreteux et temps de chargement très longs.

    L'environnement du jeu reste toujours aussi limité et répétitif avec des poursuites stériles qui lassent très rapidement, quel que soit le côté que l'on a choisi. Quant au multi-joueurs il est bordélique et foireux et sans serveur dédié évidemment.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

60
#60 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2013
49
#49 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2013
52
#52 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 12
  3. Negative: 1 out of 12
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Dec 28, 2013
    80
    If you tend to see the glass as half full, instead of half empty, you will see Rivals as a success. Gameplay innovations make up for the lack of technical fidelity present in the old gen versions. [Issue#237]
  2. GameCritics
    Dec 19, 2013
    70
    Arguably, the racing genre doesn't create classics anymore. Publishers merely try to make the least offensive version of their franchise for that year. Owing to this truth, NFSR succeeds at not being offensive. Sure, it's just bumper cars at its core. Just cats chasing mice. But sometimes that's enough.
    Read full review
  3. Gamers' Temple
    Dec 18, 2013
    80
    Need for Speed Rivals is a fun race and chase driving game.
    Read full review
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