NFS Rivals is the next part of the legendary car simulator, which was released in 2013. You can play Need for Speed Rivals on Xbox 360, PS 3, PS 4 Xbox One and on personal computers running the Windows operating system. In recent years, NFS developers have been unable to decide on the game's motion vector. They either create something new in the series, making a story campaign, or return to the roots, making releases of the first parts.
System requirements
Need for Speed Rivals does not require any special performance from personal computers. And the recommended hardware requirements do not look exorbitant, even if you take into account the year the product was released. The Canadian company EA, which is the developer of the game, recommends installing Need for Speed Rivals on personal computers with 3 GB of video memory and 8 GB of RAM. The video card must support DirectX 11. As for free space, there must be at least 30 GB of free space on your hard drive.
The minimum requirements are even more hardware-friendly. You must have 4 GB of RAM and a 512 MB video card with support for DirectX 10.1. The minimum processor frequency must be at least 2.4 GHz. But even if your personal computer does not meet the minimum system requirements, Need for Speed Rivals can run without problems on medium or minimum graphics settings.
Game development
In 2012, EA Gothenburg announced that it had taken on the development of a new part of the NFS game. Almost all of the Canadian company's employees already had experience in creating arcade car simulators. At game exhibitions, the creators of the game decided to choose the main vehicle, which was to become the “king of the streets” in the new part of the legendary game. During the voting on social networks, which was carried out using a knockout system, the Aston Martin Vanquish won.
In May 2013, the company provided a sneak peek of Need for Speed Rivals to show that work was underway on the game. Three months later, the creators of NFS confirmed rumors that the races would run at 30 frames per second. This decision was due to the large number of players. The company also said that on game consoles the new part of “Need for Speed” will work in a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels.
170 people took part in the development of Rivals. The game's creation involved racing driver Ken Block, who was also an advisor and mastermind behind the popular Dirt rally racing series. At the end of autumn 2013, the Russian version of Need for Speed Rivals officially went on sale for consoles and desktop computers.
Ratings
Just a few days after the game appeared on store shelves and on Steam, the first reviews of Need for Speed Rivals came out. Almost all experts noted the high level of graphics in the game. The main disadvantages of the car simulator were the following points:
- lack of campaign;
- simplified tuning;
- simple gameplay.
After reviewing Need for Speed Rivals, the popular gaming magazine gave the game second place in the Race of the Year category. The average rating from foreign publications was 8 out of 10. All foreign language reviewers gave the highest scores to the version for PS 4. The version for Xbox took second place. And the desktop version of Need for Speed Rivals is only in fourth place. In our country, the game was treated differently. Russian publications, after reviewing Need for Speed Rivals, gave the highest ratings to the version for personal computers.
Game process
Just looking at the review of Need for Speed Rivals, you can see many similarities to the 2010 release Hot Pursuit. And after playing the game, you are completely convinced of this. Rivals also features exotic supercars and a chase mode, in which gamers can step into the shoes of a police officer chasing criminals. Opponents are not afraid to clash with the cops, which makes the game more difficult and interesting. As a police officer, the gamer can use shock waves and EMP, call helicopters and ask the department to set up a checkpoint on the highway. All this is done only to stop attackers. Speed traps, jumps and unlockable vehicles make the game similar to Most Wanted, released a year earlier.
The first Need for Speed Rivals video preview featured an in-game network that allows gamers to compete against each other. The system was first developed in 2010 for Hot Pursuit, and even then it received a lot of positive reviews. The developer also managed to successfully implement a social system, the purpose of which is to ensure a smooth transition between single player mode and multiplayer.
Cars and development
The simulator features 75 vehicles, which are divided into two categories. The first includes police cars, and the second - civilian ones. Customization in the game is very limited. The gamer is forced to be content with only changing textures. After the second part of Hot Pursuit, the developers decided for the first time to officially add Ferrari models to the game.
"Speed Lists" and "Assignments" are two tools that are used to progress in the game. The first applies to racers, and the second to law enforcement officers. To level up, the gamer must complete a series of tasks that include dangerous driving, racing and stunts.
Choosing a side
The open world and the presence of a large number of destructible elements make Rivals similar to another game - Burnout. The police are not saints either. They are ready to destroy everything themselves, just to prevent the racer from doing it.
A career in playing for law enforcement officers is not much different from playing as a racer. Before the start of the race, the gamer receives goals that must be achieved during the race. The main advantage of such a system is that the player receives freedom of action. The gamer can independently choose which races to start and which to skip. In addition, you can even choose a list of goals: some allow you to improve your level by fighting the police, while others allow you to improve your level by winning races.
Blurred edge
There is practically no boundary between single-player and multiplayer modes in the game. This is what the developers are striving for in the latest installments of the Need for Speed series. The creators of the game are trying to make the car simulator suitable for multiplayer, but at the same time they do not deprive the race of a single-player mode.
In Need for Speed Rivals, the gamer is forced to share the game world with other racers (if the corresponding option in the game menu is activated). Even in single-player adventure mode, when the player is fighting with artificial intelligence, a vehicle driven by a living person can drive towards him and confuse all the cards.
Confrontation
The element of the presence of another gamer makes the game more interesting. In Rivals, a living person can infiltrate anywhere: challenge you to a duel, take part in a race, or simply flash your headlights as you drive by. Even during a single race, when a gamer is racing at full speed to the finish line, another player can enter the track and prevent him from finishing first.
This feature gives particular interest to the game when two living people represent two warring factions. Reviews of Need for Speed Rivals have repeatedly focused on the brutal struggle between police and violators. But this conflict becomes much more serious when there are two real people in both the cop's car and the getaway vehicle.
Error correction
The developers have done a good job of solving the problems that arose in the 2012 game Most Wanted. In the new Rivals, it has become much more convenient to drive a car, and the outside world is not trying to prevent the driver from finishing the race. The creators of the game themselves admitted that the 2012 game was packed with a lot of obstacles.
In the game Need for Speed Rivals, one immediately notices the small number of sharp turns and the presence of wide roads. This forces the gamer to press even harder on the gas pedal or the W key. Along the way to the finish line, there are many shortcuts that allow you to turn a losing situation in your favor. It can show that after leaving the main highway the gamer got lost and lost all chances of winning, but after some time the number 1 will appear on the monitor, which displays the position occupied in the stages.
Smart bots
Many reviewers note the high level of artificial intelligence. The creators of the game really have reason to be proud. Representatives of the company have repeatedly noted in interviews that their main task is to create smart bots that will behave in the same way as real people. Of course, artificial intelligence is still far from human, but the enemy under computer control behaves smartly. He can ram a car, find a shortcut, and also change his behavior depending on the situation in the race.
What’s important is that bots can use weapons to give themselves an advantage on the track. This makes each race more dangerous and at the same time interesting. The racer can use turbo acceleration or drop a mine to escape pursuit, and the police can use electromagnetic pulses and call for reinforcements in order to detain the intruder. All these actions can be performed by artificial intelligence.
New engine
Frostbite is an engine that at the beginning of this decade brought many games to a whole new level, something that many unprepared video cards could not cope with. It was also used by the developers when creating Need for Speed Rivals. And introduced destructibility into the game, which can have a significant impact on the race. After leaving the track, the car will not hit an invisible wall, damaging its hood. The vehicle will continue moving, destroying a fence or driving through bushes. This is reflected when evading the police.
But this engine also has a minus. The creators of the car simulator have not fully mastered Frostbite. This manifests itself in the fact that cars may behave strangely after a collision. Sometimes a car flies several meters away after a small collision with an opponent. Another drawback is slowdowns on new generation consoles and slow loading of textures on older game consoles.
Need for Speed Rivals: cheats
On the Internet you can find a carriage and a small cart of cheats for the game. There are a large number of trainers - programs that use vulnerabilities in the game and provide an opportunity to gain an advantage. "Trainer +7" allows you to get unlimited hit points, SP, weapons and acceleration. It also allows you to control the game timer. To use the program, you must copy all its contents to the game folder. In the Need for Speed Rivals menu, you need to press the F1 key to activate. Then, using the F2-F7 keys, the gamer can get what he wants. Other trainers allow you to get unlimited money and avoid arrests.
There are no codes as such in Need for Speed Rivals. All manipulations are carried out using third-party programs. When using the Cheat Engine program, the gamer can set the number of points in the game to the maximum. To do this, you need to go to the vehicle modernization section and minimize the game. Then you should open the application and select the Need for Speed Rivals icon. In the hex field you need to enter the number of points and scan. After scanning, you need to select all received addresses and transfer them to the empty column. After that, you need to select all the addresses in the lower field, right-click on the “Value” field and set 9999999. Then you should return to the game.
Another way to make your life easier in the game is to download saves for Need for Speed Rivals. The essence of these actions is to obtain all the vehicles in the game. The downloaded file must be renamed save and copied to the Settings folder.
Even the most dedicated fans of the NFS series have most likely lost count by now - data has been coming out for many years. However, serial numbers were given to them only up to and including the fifth episode, then various mini-series, such as Underground, began to appear, so there are no more numberings, and only the most faithful fan can say exactly how many games in this series exist. But now we will not talk about the entire series as a whole, but about a specific episode - NFS Rivals. This game belongs to the second generation of the project, which began in 2010 along with the revival of this franchise. And here you can try yourself both as a street racer and as a police officer. However, the main distinguishing feature of this project is the fact that the game has a wide variety of online modes that you can enjoy with your friends. However, first you should take a look at the system requirements of NFS Rivals - whether your computer can afford to run this game at maximum requirements.
operating system
When you play racing simulators, it is very important to check the system requirements, as in such games, any slight stutter can cost you precious seconds and even fractions of seconds. Therefore, it is vital that your computer meets the requirements that the developer places on it. But what are they? The system requirements of NFS Rivals are not so high, so there is no point in being scared for most gamers - at minimum settings, almost all machines will be able to play this game. However, it is worth noting that to run at maximum settings you will already need to have powerful hardware. But before we start talking about components, you should take a look at the operating system. For this particular game, you will need at least Windows Vista to run successfully. Unfortunately, Windows XP owners will once again have to think about changing the operating system - modern games almost never support this version. Well, as for recommendations, it is best to run this game on Windows 8, and the 64-bit version - this is what the project was developed for, and the game will work best on this operating system. NFS Rivals system requirements, of course, are not limited solely to the OS - next you have to evaluate what state your computer is in compared to the requirements.
CPU
The processor requirements for running on minimum settings are quite adequate - 2.8 gigahertz with two cores. However, these are only the minimum system requirements for NFS Rivals and will not allow you to get the most out of the game. To achieve ideal results, you will need to have a processor with at least four cores, and according to some reports, you may need all six. As was said earlier, the minimum requirements are not particularly scary, but at first glance at the recommended ones it becomes bad - apparently, almost any gamer who has the makings of a perfectionist and likes to set all settings to maximum will have to seriously improve their computer, to get a good return on the game. That said, as for the NFS Rivals project itself, the review demonstrates that the project is not that great, so there may be no point in spending the extra money if you were not planning on upgrading in the near future - you can play without problems on lower settings, from it won't make you any worse.
RAM
The only point that may confuse the owner of an average computer is RAM. In the case of NFS Rivals, a review of the system requirements shows that below four gigabytes the indicator is not accepted by the project. Considering the fact that this is quite a large amount of memory these days, many gamers find themselves disappointed. They have to buy additional RAM or even improve the computer completely. Naturally, these are justified actions, because most modern games no longer run with RAM below four gigabytes, but this game is already more than two years old, so it’s difficult to call it new, so the requirements are not entirely justified. Well, if you look at the recommended ones, you might even feel worse - it doesn’t even say six gigabytes, but eight. So those who want to get the most out of the game will have to seriously fork out money to upgrade their computer for NFS Rivals. The system requirements of the PC version are shocking, and it is difficult to even imagine what requirements the next games in the series will have.
Video card
In the case of a video card, everything is not so bad - you only need one gigabyte of video memory for the game to function properly. Naturally, it is difficult to demand from a modern game that it shine with a variety of beauties, cool cars and picturesque landscapes on the highways and at the same time only need 512 megabytes of memory. Although the NFS Rivals game does not match the gameplay of the original projects in the series, it is really impressive in appearance. However, not so much that the recommended requirements include 3 gigabytes of video memory - and again, to run the game at maximum settings, the NFS Rivals developers have set requirements that are not the most justifiable.
HDD
To install this game you will need quite a lot of hard drive space. Thirty gigabytes is the value indicated in both the minimum and recommended requirements.
Steering wheel support
Unfortunately, this version of NFS does not support a steering wheel-shaped controller, which would be very convenient. You can only control it using the keyboard or using a gamepad.
In the Need for Speed series of car simulators, the theme of confrontation between street racers and police officers was often seen. A few episodes were even dedicated solely to him, with you taking on the role of both a racer and a cop. As for one of the latest episodes called Need for Speed: Rivals, this theme is also very noticeable here. You can take either side and complete the necessary tasks. But the biggest plus is the ability to conduct various competitions online, with real opponents, and not against artificial intelligence. However, the only thing that can stop you and prevent you from enjoying the game Need for Speed: Rivals is the system requirements. They are quite high, so owners of an average computer will have to think about upgrading.
operating system
This game is made in the spirit of modernity in terms of the operating system. The fact is that, as in most current projects, in Need for Speed: Rivals the system requirements are indicated quite clearly. If you have Windows XP operating system installed, you will not be able to play this game. You need a version from Windows Vista and higher, and it is desirable that it be really higher, since this project works best on Windows 7. Naturally, this upsets old-school XP owners, but they will have to come to terms with reality - unfortunately, there are already those games that do not support Vista, but only run on versions 7 or 8. Fortunately, Need for Speed: Rivals is not one of them - the system requirements of this game will allow you to run it if you have Vista installed.
CPU
As for the processor, in this case everything is not so bad. Need for Speed: Rivals' system requirements aren't too harsh, and you'll need a dual-core processor running at 2.8 gigahertz to run the game on minimum settings. If you want to enjoy the gameplay to its fullest, with all the effects, then you will need twice as many cores. Moreover, the system requirements indicate that AMD series processors must have not even four, but six cores. However, the game will most likely work if you have a quad-core processor, because this project does not have any of the graphical wonders that are characteristic of later products. Need for Speed: Rivals is a game that will please you and will not strain you too much in terms of system requirements.
RAM
As you may have already noticed, Need for Speed: Rivals is a game that has fairly low minimum requirements (relatively speaking, of course, because four gigabytes of RAM can hardly be called low requirements). The fact is that from a project that focuses on entertainment, it would be unreasonable to expect support for two gigabytes of RAM. However, it’s worth saying right away that in contrast to the minimum requirements, the recommended ones look simply prohibitive. You've already read that an AMD series processor requires six cores - unheard of requests even today. But if you want to run this game at maximum settings, then you will need to have as many as eight gigabytes of RAM - an amount that many gamers currently do not have. Therefore, you will have to upgrade your car to be able to safely play Need for Speed: Rivals. The PC version, of course, will delight you with magnificent landscapes, maximum detail of cars and many other striking effects, but eight gigabytes of RAM will still scare off a potential buyer.
Video card
Early observations continue, and again in the minimum system requirements you can see that you will only need 512 megabytes of video memory for your computer to have no problems running Need for Speed: Rivals. The requirements are actually very small, but this is not what is striking, but the fact that again, when looking at the recommended requirements, you can be speechless. Considering that the minimum for a video card is only 512 megabytes, the recommended ones surprise you with the number three. You will need exactly three gigabytes of video memory so that you do not experience any glitches, slowdowns, lags or other problems when playing Need for Speed: Rivals. Origin can add load to your processor, and then you will have a sad situation altogether, so 512 megabytes is just a way to lure the user. In fact, you will have to upgrade your computer to the maximum level, since otherwise you are unlikely to enjoy the gameplay.
Hard drive space
As for the free space on the hard drive that is required to install and then run this game, it, in principle, fits into the standards accepted today. It is worth noting that modern games already take up quite a lot of space - on average, more than 20 gigabytes. This is much more than it was before, but this is the price of progress, and nothing can be done about it. But some projects already weigh almost 60 gigabytes, so 30 gigabytes for Need for Speed: Rivals is not too much.
Release dates
Some computer games can be released on the same day on all platforms and in all countries. But this definitely does not apply to the Need for Speed: Rivals project, since there are almost ten separate dates that will now be analyzed. So, on November 15, 2013, the first release took place - the honor fell to the Play Station 4 console in America. On November 19, the game was released on other platforms in the same geographic region. There was a separate release on all platforms for Australia on November 21, and in Europe on November 22. It’s also worth noting that Xbox One joined all platforms on this day. Well, on November 29, the game was released on Play Station 4 in Europe - in the rest of the world it appeared until September 2014.
Unlike the console market, where the ability to run a particular game is determined by its belonging to a specific game console, the PC platform provides much greater freedom in all respects. But to take advantage of its benefits, you need to have a basic understanding of how a computer works.
The specifics of PC gaming are such that before you start playing, you must first familiarize yourself with the system requirements of Need for Speed: Rivals and compare them with the existing configuration.
To do this simple action, you do not need to know the exact technical characteristics of each model of processors, video cards, motherboards and other components of any personal computer. A simple comparison of the main lines of components will suffice.
For example, if a game's minimum system requirements include a processor of at least Intel Core i5, then you shouldn't expect it to run on i3. However, it is more difficult to compare processors from different manufacturers, which is why developers often indicate names from two main companies - Intel and AMD (processors), Nvidia and AMD (video cards).
Above are Need for Speed: Rivals system requirements. It is worth noting that the division into minimum and recommended configurations is done for a reason. It is believed that meeting the minimum requirements is enough to start the game and complete it from beginning to end. However, to achieve the best performance, you usually have to lower the graphics settings.
