Need for Speed: Rivals

 Xbox One
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
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  1. Gaming Age
    Dec 16, 2013
    58
    Rivals does a great job of proving its worth when all the gears are turning, but with the rate its gears fall out of sync, it's tough to call it a solid step forward for NFS.
  2. MondoXbox
    Dec 9, 2013
    70
    NFS Rivals presents some good ideas, with a good enemy AI and bright visuals, but it gets partially ruined by an unstable frame rate and a general sense of repetitiveness in the game structure.
  3. 4P.de
    Dec 6, 2013
    61
    I don’t know if this is the road that EA should follow when it comes to Need for Speed. An interesting concept suffers from technical faults like bad AI or abysmal online features. And of course the fact that other games like Forza Horizon or NfS Most Wanted are plain and simple more fun to play.
  5. VideoGamer
    Nov 25, 2013
    70
    I advise anybody picking the game up on Xbox One to turn Kinect off in settings before playing it. You can’t switch off Kinect commands in-game, and if you like to chat with friends while playing, you’re in trouble. Many times Rivals mistook my conversation for commands to change view, look behind and look around, leading me to scream obscenities and lose thousands of SP.
  6. Giant Bomb
    Nov 24, 2013
    60
    Unfortunately, the game doesn't do enough to bring players together, resulting in an online game that feels empty, cold, and lifeless.

Awards & Rankings

8
#8 Best Xbox One Game of 2013
11
#11 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2013
6
#6 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2013

User Reviews

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User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 210 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 85 out of 210
  2. Mixed: 61 out of 210
  3. Negative: 64 out of 210
  1. edstead
    Nov 25, 2013
    9
    Rivals has surprised me. I wasn't originally planning on getting it after being left hugely disappointed with most wanted but I am actuallyRivals has surprised me. I wasn't originally planning on getting it after being left hugely disappointed with most wanted but I am actually really enjoying it. To start with, upgrades are finally back, not to the extent of forza, not even to the extent of NFS Underground 2, but they are at least here. And progression is also back, no more of this if you find a car laying around you keep it nonsense. Now you start off in a rank 1 car and as you progress through the game you unlock ranks 2, 3 and 4 each with a few cars in each rank. Visuals are upgradeable with paint jobs and decals and performance upgrades come in 5 categories, strength, durability, control, acceleration and top speed, all with 5 levels of upgrades. You pay for upgrades with speed points earnt by playing races, or driving around causing havoc, however, get busted by the cops before you get back to a safehouse and you lose your speed points. The gameplay is very much arcade, don't expect realism, just expect high speed entertainment.

    The game however does have a few downfalls and here they are:
    Limited car roster. Only about 20-30 cars as a racer and the same again as a cop. Each set is of different cars too, why not have all cars in the game available to both?

    The game would a lot more viable if instead of calling the upgrades "top speed" they actually had it listed as engine, drivetrain etc. like they used to.

    Apart from that I am really genuinely enjoying this game. As I said, go into this looking to have some fun and not looking for realism and i'm sure you'll have a blast.    … Full Review »
  2. redmattuk
    Sep 23, 2014
    0
    A handful of very significant misgivings really ruin this game. Note: this is intended as both a counter and a supplement to critic's reviews.A handful of very significant misgivings really ruin this game. Note: this is intended as both a counter and a supplement to critic's reviews. I am writing this because I read and watched a number of reviews of this game, and found that I have not been told of a number things about the game, when I really should have been. I know negative user-reviews for critically praised games are often extremely harsh, uninformative and thus not worth reading, but from now on I will be giving them a bit more consideration - to find out the sort of things I've detailed below from my fellow gamer, and not just getting the opinion of some crony reviewer with his palms greased by the likes of EA. My problems are:

    1. The fact that you can't pause in offline mode/single player is a real game-breaker for me, especially in this kind of game.

    2. I also don't like having to drive to events.

    3. I don't like being told "Please turn around to start this event". Why is this necessary? To preserve realism? This is an arcade (not a simulation) style game

    4. I don't like not being told on the easy drive menu which events I've already finished, and with what medal. I had this in NFS most wanted, but not here.

    5. Losing all of my speed points trying to get "back to base" - Critics have praised this as an involving risk-reward mechanism, to me (especially in a game which I cannot pause when playing offline) it means I also can't finish a session when I'm done doing the things I actually wanted to do... What if I want to play a race and get the rewards? Can't simply do that. Also, if you want to keep playing races, you have to either risk your speed points and do a short "drive to event" and play it, or bank them by taking a detour to base, adding yet more filler between events.

    6. Not being clear of where to go in races... it's often unclear where you have to go at a fork or junction. This is down to both the open world style of the game, and the poor signalling. It's a sad day when in a racing game, focusing on the minimap (which they've stupidly decided to put in the bottom-left of the screen) is better for your game than looking at the road ahead.

    Honestly, I just had to get these points down to express my frustration with these aspects.

    I can see a good game underneath all of this - but I don't even feel like I've played it yet for the points above never cease to frustrate and distract me.

    My advice to EA would be to go back to NFS hot pursuit's style of choosing an event from a map - showing us clearly what we've achieved in the event so far. Either do away with the open world thing, or just have it as an optional way to play. Most Wanted got more frustrating, less playable and less fun than Hot Pursuit because of this kind of direction EA is taking (always online, always open world). Here, the problems are exponentially more bothersome.    … Full Review »
  3. Dnazz
    Jan 19, 2014
    9
    I honestly am enjoying this racer more than Forza 5. It is more fun to play with friends but is still great when racing solo. The is theI honestly am enjoying this racer more than Forza 5. It is more fun to play with friends but is still great when racing solo. The is the best Need For Speed since Hot Pursuit. Not to mention, the game was developed by the folks that brought us the Burnout series. Take what you loved about both games and you have NFS: Rivals.… Full Review »
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