Heat’s script wasn’t exactly in line to win itself an armful of Primetime Emmys, but it was a pleasing pivot away from the pish that was Payback. I was definitely a little surprised at how ruthless the so-called ‘Relaxed’ setting is watching my kids struggle to keep up at least, I was whenever I wasn’t too busy wincing at the dialogue. It’s extremely frustrating to lose to a racer who clearly cheated to place ahead of you – especially when I’d wagered extra in-game cash on beating them and I’m out of restarts.Įven on the tamest setting, Unbound’s AI racers can be unexpectedly competitive at times.
What’s more annoying, however, are the occasions where I’d blast past a crashed opponent only for them to supernaturally respawn well ahead of me on track. Having opponents able to more-or-less speed match you the millisecond you trigger a nitrous boost is not a problem unique to Unbound – it’s a common gripe in a variety of arcade racers – but it is a snag that tends to leave the boost system feeling flaccid and ineffectual. There are a couple of nice mountainside segments with multiple switchbacks for drifting, but overall there’s nothing particularly interesting to look at outside the city. It’s just freeways, backroads, and trees draped over some hills. Unbound’s countryside is also quite typical and unmemorable – which, to be fair, was also a criticism of Heat. Unbound’s new Chicago-inspired Lakeshore map has some nice, grid-like streets and tunnels for its urban racing, but the city itself is actually a bit vanilla compared to Heat’s neon-bathed, Miami-like Palm City. That said, it does make Unbound feel like an evolution of Ghost’s work rather than something Criterion has really put its own stamp on, like it did with its acclaimed 2010 reboot of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and its take on Need for Speed: Most Wanted from 2012. This isn’t exactly a bad thing – Heat was a very welcome course correction after Payback and I enjoyed it.
Performance Tooningīeneath the snazzy effects, Unbound sticks more closely to Heat’s gameplay format than I’d expected. But I think it would’ve looked better than this blended solution. Would that have been controversial? Probably.
But I can’t shake the feeling that it’s a compromise, accidental or otherwise, that Unbound’s vehicles and world haven’t been given the same treatment – like a modern-day Auto Modellista, or 2020’s Inertial Drift. It isn’t jarring, especially considering that there have been some big improvements with the lighting since Heat and, at its best, Unbound looks like a highly stylised, interactive trailer. However, the juxtaposition between Unbound’s cars (which continue to strive towards photorealism) and its cartoon characters and effects is a peculiar one.
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