Need For Speed- Unbound

Title: Need For Speed- Unbound

Developer: Criterion Games

Publishers/Distributors: Electronic Arts (EA)

Main Developer: Bill Lane

Rating: Teen

Release Date: December 2, 2022

Format of the item: Video Game

Game Type: Racing

Platform: PlayStation 5, XBox Series X/S, PC

Plot Summary: The game revolves around street racing. After an argument at a mechanics and detailing shop, the owner and workers split up. In the runup to game play the police raid the shop on a tip by one of the instigators of the argument. That character steals a car that the player had been working on. Gameplay consists of racing the streets of Lakeshore City (styled after Chicago, IL) delivering unknown objects. There are also nighttime street racing challenges. The player can rise through the ranks and levels of street racing in the game. The highest-level race is the end race where the player races the original car thief so they can get their car back (“Need for Speed Unbound,” 2022).

Author Background: Video games are not created by one person. They are created by teams of artists, computer programmers, and script writers. The head of the development team was Bill Lane (“Need for Speed Unbound,” 2022).

Critical Evaluation for Books and Non-Print Items: The artists who worked on this project did a great job. They used two different styles. The characters in the game are designed using a cel-shading style. Cel-shading is using less shading on a normally 3D object to make it look more cartoonish or 2D. For a recognizable example, A$AP Rocky is on the soundtrack to the game as well as being a character in the game. If you know who he is, you can tell the character is supposed to be A$AP Rocky, but the design is not photorealistic. The cars and backgrounds are designed in a photorealistic style. Photorealism is where an object is drawn or graphically designed in a way that the objects look like photographs or video of the physical objects (Electronics Arts, n.d.).

The storyline is entertaining, and gameplay is fun, but the most entertaining part of the game is detailing the cars in the shop. The cars are customizable, and the photorealism adds to the showiness of what is done to a car when it is being raced. The race courses are well done as well. The storyline is entertaining, but it suffers from feeling forced. The different elements don’t always come together like they could. The storyline does allow for plausible reasons for the game’s progression. However, even if they are all racing games, it feels like the game is trying to be Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Tourismo, and Cruisin’ USA all at once. Despite the game being fun, it tries to include too many elements. Early on, the game also had glitches that occurred in certain parts of the game. Luckily, most of these have been fixed.

Creative Use for a Library Program: Need for Speed- Unbound is a car racing game, but racing cars in real life is dangerous. It should only be done in special circumstances. Have a local car club bring vintage or souped-up hot rods to the library parking lot, or another area close by, for teens to come, see, and sit in the cars. The club members can show the attendees how engines work, how detailing is done, and give safe driving (at the speed limit) tips.

Speed-Round Game Talk or Short Game Trailer: Have you ever wanted to drive as fast as possible without getting a ticket? Have you ever looked at a sports car and wanted to fix it up, but you aren't a mechanic? Play Need for Speed- Unbound and do all these things and more.

Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation: Part of game play for Need for Speed- Unbound involves running from the police and driving stolen cars. However, studies show that minor to moderate game play will not result in violence or delinquency (Ferguson, 2017). If teens are encouraged to be careful about how much they play, negative impacts will be minimized.

Reason for Inclusion: Racing games are fun and can encourage hand-eye coordination. This game is part of a series that encourages players to learn about cars and different types of computer graphics.

References

Blender. (2022, October 28). The secrets of photorealism. [YouTube]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8AAX-ENWvQ.

DrivewithRoy. (2023, April 28). Supercars take over Strada car show. [YouTube]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkcZXlqaMRE.

Electronic Arts. (n.d.). NFS Unbound. Electronic Arts. Retrieved on March 11, 2023, on https://www.ea.com/games/need-for-speed.

Ferguson, C. J. (2017). Everything in Moderation: Moderate Use of Screens Unassociated with Child Behavior Problems. Psychiatric Quarterly, 88(4), 797–805. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-016-9486-3.

MiniQuest 64. (2022, June 19). Cel shading explained in 5 minutes! [YouTube]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaZej_Ra5AY.

Need for speed unbound. (2022, December 12). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Need_for_Speed_Unbound&action=history.

Shirrako. (2022, November 29). Need for speed unbound- final race and ending (4K 60FPS). [YouTube]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_DIT9h7hi8.

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