


So, even though you are taking part in the same event, the two sides take on different roles, which makes for interesting and diverse gameplay within the same event. As a racer, you must evade and escape from the Cops. For instance, as a Cop, you can engage in pursuits of Racers, in which you have to wreck the Racer to bust them. The major differences are in how you play, not what you play. While there are differences in the gameplay of each side, the game feels largely the same as you play through either mode. As you would imagine, both paths tell different stories, but this doesn’t necessarily add up to two different experiences. Which one you choose is entirely up to you, but it will determine how you play the game, so choose wisely. This is the type of gameplay I want in a racing game.Īt the core of Need for Speed: Rivals, you have a choice–Cop or Racer. These racing games, such as Need for Speed: Rivals, let you loose on the roads of a dynamic map that leaves the decisions of what, when, and how you do something up to you. But, in recent years, a new racing game formula has emerged, one I find much more engaging–open-world racing. The typical circuit of race tracks that you blindly traverse to unlock new cars, modes, and other tracks holds little appeal for me, outside of the occasional living-room showdown with a buddy. Sure, they’re fun enough to play for a little while, but I have found myself getting bored of them pretty quickly in the past.
