Need for Speed 2022: The Key Elements Criterion Needs To Succeed
Its officially 2022! That means in roughly 10 months’ time, we’ll be playing the next Need for Speed game. That is, if EA doesn’t push back and delay the project again like they did in favour of Battlefield 2042 development last year.
Suffice to say there’s a lot of unknowns and uncertainties around this project, with former NFS developers Ghost Games shut down in February 2020 – only 3 months after the release of NFS Heat - and development of the franchise placed in the hands of Criterion, right before entering a global pandemic one month later. Need for Speed Heat received a cross-play update in June 2020, the title’s final update as the studio shifted gears to work on the next game, which was since delayed to “FY23” (aka November 2022) for the studio to work on Battlefield.
Fans and content creators have been in the dark regarding Need for Speed these last two years, with Criterion assuring us that Need for Speed Heat laid the foundation that the next game will build from. But with studio closures and a yearlong delay to work on Battlefield, on top of very poor communication and live service support from the past few entries, its fair to say expectations have been set very low amongst the community.
Criterion has a tough road ahead picking up the pieces and making a Need for Speed game that’s been worth the three-year wait, especially after the stellar reception Forza Horizon 5 has received and with other big racing titles launching next year as well including Gran Turismo 7, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown and GRID Legends.
While this isn’t exactly a wishlist per say, I wanted to detail the key areas Criterion I think needs to get right and focus on the most with NFS 2022 in order to win back the jaded fans and content creators who’ve grown frustrated with the franchise these last few years, but can also help get the series back into mass appeal and chart the right course of the franchise again.
Atmosphere
Atmosphere is one of the most important aspects for any game, it helps immerse you in what you’re playing and makes it feel more connected to you as a player, something Criterion absolutely need to get right. This comes down to a culmination of different aspects all working in conjunction to create atmosphere: visuals, lighting, sounds, world design, world density, soundtrack etc.
While Need for Speed Heat created a fun and believable world with sanctioned day racing and illegal night racing, its fair to say the atmosphere of Palm City lacked something that just made Need for Speed 2015 feel so right. The amazing modders behind UNITE helped give Heat a much grittier, darker tone that looks stunning to play, but at its core it’s still missing that something ‘extra’.
Need for Speed feels like its struggled to get its ‘gritty, illegal, street culture’ atmosphere right ever since 2015, and I’m hoping Criterion have learnt from both Ghost’s successes and failures with the franchise, what the community have been requesting and what other games in the genre are doing to help make this the Need for Speed we deserve.
For the world of Criterion’s Need for Speed game, I want to be able to notice a huge difference to the Ghost games right from the get-go. What I mean by this is I want to see a day and night time that looks visually different, more realistic and gritty (compared to the dull and lifeless look of Heat/Payback’s day time), stuff like more natural and realistic lighting, visual effects and reflections akin to what we see in Forza Horizon 5 and UNITE. Driving around, there should be much greater density to the world like increased traffic, roaming racers we can challenge, or even AI being chased by cops dynamically to give that world that sense of being alive – especially on new gen consoles.
Need for Speed Heat had a solid map with a good mix of city, outskirt towns and unique locales, and while I’m sure most of NFS 2022’s map is already finalized or even complete at this stage, more focus needs to be put on the city aspect this time around. Layered highways running through the city, underground parking lots for online car meets, differently designed city districts etc. of course with fun and unique “playground” locations all throughout the map like Docks, Airports, Race tracks, Stadiums, Construction sites, Canyon switchbacks and more are things I’m hoping to see.
Despite both Heat and Payback having soundtracks catered to the world they built, many will agree outside of a few bangers they didn’t quite fit the “illegal street racing” vibe all that well. Music from genres such as Drum and Bass, EDM and Dark Trap that featured in 2015 and Heat need more of a presence in 2022, in addition to ‘Phonk’ that’s made a huge surge on car/drifting related videos online. Music from these genres adds to the excitement and the atmosphere of illegal street racing and sells the modern underground car culture theme that people love about Need for Speed.
Endgame Content
Now this is a big topic, primarily because ever since Ghost took over the franchise, it never seems to be done properly. The thing is, I tend to come back to Need for Speed quite a lot compared to other racing games, but once you’ve beaten the story mode there’s not a lot that would bring the average player back outside of multiplayer.
One of the biggest things needs to be proper Online modes this time around. Online multiplayer is the crucial key to keep players playing long after release, and every iteration of multiplayer has been half assed from Ghost – from online only with few modes, to game modes with no free-roam, to free-roam with nothing to do.
Criterion made arguably the best multiplayer in the series with Most Wanted 2012 and its hard to deny a form of that multiplayer should return in 2022, with racing and challenge speedlists that players can jump into, compete, race to events and create rivalries. Not only that, expand on it with a car meet lobby system, separate online levelling system with prestiging, multiple game mode types (Drift, Elimination, Drag) and party modes like Cops and Robbers, Infected, King of the Hill etc. all things fans have been begging for since 2015.
Forza Horizon 5 featured a new system called Accolades, a system I couldn’t praise highly enough in my review, which restructures the entire progression system into challenges rewarding you for literally everything you do in game to make you constantly feel you’re achieving something, but also giving you something to grind for, similar to Destiny 2’s Triumphs. Having a challenge system like this would add huge replay value, especially incentivized with exclusive rewards and cars.
Over the years, many racing games like Forza Horizon, DIRT 5, Hot Wheels Unleashed and the upcoming GRID Legends have started to incorporate ways of building your own events and sharing them with the community. Need for Speed fans have been begging for a racer creator mode for years, and it would be an extremely huge, missed opportunity if Criterion aren’t thinking of adding something like this into 2022. Even a basic route creator would suffice and add tons of replayability, but in the face of the competition, it's not enough and I really hope Criterion has plans for something like this.
Post-Launch Content and Community Communication
In an era of games living and evolving long after their initial release, Need for Speed games have been very subpar in this area. 2015, Payback and Heat all had a form of post-launch support, however none of them did a particularly great job with it, considering that the post launch updates consisted mainly of features that should have been in the game at launch… three games in a row.
Compare this to what we’ve been seeing in games like Forza Horizon 4 (and now 5), The Crew 2, Gran Turismo Sport, DIRT 5 and Hot Wheels Unleashed, where these games have been consistently adding in new free and paid content on a regular basis even years after launch. While I don’t doubt Heat would have been supported further given Ghost wasn’t closed, its still an area that they felt behind the curve on, and Criterion needs to get ahead of it if it wants to keep bringing in players.
Most live service games use a “Battle Pass” style seasonal model (something that seemed to be planned for Heat before being scrapped) and I’d expect to see something like this in Need for Speed 2022. Themed seasons around certain aspects, perhaps a “Cops and Robbers” season that adds earnable police cars and cosmetics, or a “Blackbox” season with cars and cosmetics from old Blackbox games, alongside drops of new DLC cars, features and modes would make for a huge step up.
Personally, I’d also love to see a form of ‘Abandoned Cars’ return from Payback to 2022. Perhaps not in the same vein, but weekly limited time content that players come back to each week that could be limited time modes with exclusive prizes, hidden exclusives around the map or challenges.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m okay with paid content in Need for Speed – at least when it’s done right. I’d love to see the map receive at least one Map Expansion over its lifetime but only if the new playable area is free for all players, making the paid content the new cars and events that come with it, akin to Midnight Club LA’s South Central update. That way, nobody will feel left out seeing their friends enjoying the new map expansion while locked to the base map, and can upgrade to buy the cars/events/trophies and achievements etc. if they desire.
All of this would be useless however without communication. With previous Need for Speed releases, we’ve mostly been in the dark when it’s come to post-launch expectations, which the result has been nothing but frustration. Even with Need for Speed Heat, the game wasn’t revealed until mid August and launched 3 months later. While I’m sure EA calls this an ‘engagement tactic’, it just drives fans mad and starts spreading concerns of development issues – something that recently happened with Battlefield 2042.
From the reveal, to the launch, to post-launch – Criterion needs to be actively engaging with the community about NFS 2022 to keep fans consistently aware of their feedback and what they can expect in future updates, building a trust relationship with an already staggered and annoyed community. It would be nice to get a post-launch timeline of when to expect things too, or a commitment to know just how long the teams plan to support the game for as well.
Undoubtedly there are other aspects that Criterion needs to improve on as well. Things like improving vehicle handling models or more vehicle customization options for older cars, but fundamentally the basis for these are all there to be built off from Heat. Atmosphere is something Need for Speed 2022 needs to get right, especially when fans have been fearing the return of a more basic stripped down Most Wanted 2012 experience for the past 2 years as opposed to the street culture driven Ghost games.
I want to boot up Need for Speed 2022 in November and feel I’m playing the ultimate street racing game that I’ve wanted from the franchise for years, with a gritty and illicit yet fun tone, a map full of detail and character, and of course incredible street culture cars that look, sound and feel amazing. I don’t want to set my expectations too high, but if Criterion is focusing on these key elements designing Need for Speed 2022, it has a good chance of success.
Be sure to stay tuned to our socials throughout the year, as we’ll be covering literally anything and everything when it comes to Need for Speed 2022 related news and announcements to make sure you’re all in the loop for the best Need for Speed content on the internet.