Remember when Need for Speed was just about the driving? No? You're not alone. It's been over 20 years since the release of very first game on the 3DO (remember that?), and what better time for a reboot? EA just offered players their first peek at the shiny new installment of the long-running franchise in the form of a 30-second teaser trailer. No actual gameplay is shown, but the nighttime chase scene shows off the new game engine's graphics prowess, with detailed textures, complex geometry and light sources a-plenty on display. Details of the extensive automotive customization options are coming in the full trailer due on June 15 – the game itself is expected to launch in the second half of this year on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Perhaps most telling is the fine print at the end of the trailer: "All footage captured in-game. Game engine footage representative of all platforms." Platform parity is something that has dogged the last console generation. In the current generation, PC–console parity has become the major point of contention (Project CARS also took care to ensure feature parity for all platforms). That being said, there's a lot that isn't stated: refresh rate, resolution, number of cars in a race, for example. Of course, that's more detail than can be expected at this point: performance optimization is a process that often takes up to – and beyond – launch day to complete. We'll learn more with the full reveal next month.
