nfs-world

Review by Eurogamer 6/10

If you were in the Headstart week of Need for Speed World, in which early birds could tour the world a week early, you’ll have experienced a discouraging sense of isolation. The first multiplayer race I tried to join was a matter of sitting in a lobby with a single, silent avatar chosen from the small and self-consciously macho collection available.

The minute-long lobby wait was so pregnant with tension that I typed an embarrassed “hi” into the chat window, with 30 seconds left to the race. Fifteen seconds later, I got the reply “bailing if only 2”. He proved himself no liar, and some seconds after I was kicked back into the world. Was he rude? Was I expecting too much? Is it mentally ill to fall in love so easily?

As the week dragged on, it became clear that I couldn’t honestly review the game as an MMO racing game on the basis of the races I was having. There simply weren’t enough people.

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Review by IGN

There have been a huge number of free-to-play games released in the last year, from small-time publishers right up to the big boys. The latest in this lineup is Need for Speed World, from EA Black Box and EA Singapore, which aims to take Need for Speed’s popular street-racing formula and add in thousands of players who can’t wait to call you a noob. Although it was released yesterday, those who bought the starter pack have had access to the streets for an extra week. We took the game for a spin with the rest of the early-starters so that we could give you our thoughts.

First off, we don’t normally review free-to-play games. When a game’s price is zero, the barrier for entry is simply how much time you are willing to spend downloading and playing. However, Need for Speed World is only free-to-play up to level 10. When you reach that level (which will only take most players a few hours), you stop leveling up and are stuck at level 10 until you purchase the US $20 Starter Pack.

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Need For Speed World Game-Play Video