Criterion - NFS 'biggestracing series'

[skyward]

Not sure it's bigger than GT5 these days... maybe not Forza either.

Criterion: 'Need For Speed Is The Biggest Racing Series' - http://www.nowgamer.com/news/4304/criterion-nfs-biggest-racing-series

 

[Imari]

Depends entirely what they mean by biggest. From the article it sounds like they mean "most popular" or "most well known". Either of those could be true, especially when you throw in a dash of marketing hype. There are tons of NFS games, and while some of them suck, almost everyone has at least one that they enjoyed at some point.

Besides, is it really worth arguing over which racing series is biggest? It's one step away from arguing over the size of your weiner...

 

[McLaren]

Considering that they push a game out nearly every year & throw a ton of marketing towards it, I'd believe they were the biggest in terms of number & popularity.

 

[Lilday]

Considering that they push a game out nearly every year & throw a ton of marketing towards it, I'd believe they were the biggest in terms of number & popularity.

Exactly what I was thinking, though...Its no bad thing.

I mean GT5 is the top of its game for console sim racing, but I think that NFS are equally as high quality on the Arcade scale of things.

 

[AOS-]

what was the point of the article? it says they are the biggest, then point out that some people say GT is bigger, and then takes a step back from claiming to be the biggest.

 

[Golfman]

Biggest? No. That belongs to GT.
Longest running? Probably.
Best? No chance. Again, GT.
EA money spinner? Definitely.

Although I have to say I am wary that Criterion have taken over development duties for NFS. I wasn't a huge fan of the Burnout series.
Although it had some issues, I felt that NFS: Shift was a step in the right direction for the franchise, and the best NFS in a while.
I can see Criterion's next NFS game being too much like Burnout, which is not a good thing.

 

[Sharky.]

Criterion is easily the best game studio EA's had making a NFS game in a looooooooong time.

McLaren hit the nail on the head, in terms of the sheer amount of titles NFS takes the "biggest series" crown by a large margin. However, as Shift aptly demonstrated (still haven't sold my copy of that piece of trash... must get onto it), you can't produce quality games when you have the same developer trying to churn out two new games each year.

 

[McLaren]

Biggest? No. That belongs to GT.

In terms of what? NFS is advertised to a much larger level than GT has ever been & has a gigantic market in the racing genre.

Best? No chance. Again, GT.

That's an opinion.

 

[Golfman]

In terms of what? NFS is advertised to a much larger level than GT has ever been & has a gigantic market in the racing genre.

That's an opinion.

Put it this way, GT is only on game number 5. The first one on PS1 successfully buried every racing game on any console at the time. Quality-wise, it outshines everything. Each one has been brilliant.

NFS games' quality has been very inconsistent. A brief word on each NFS game (my opinion):
NFS1: Good
NFS2: Poor
NFS Hot pursuit: Good. Best one on PS1.
NFS4: Average, should have been better.
NFS Porsche Challenge: Average at best. Poor developer (Eden Studios)
NFS Hot Pursuit 2: Not bad, but I expected more for the series first PS2 outing.
NFS Underground/Underground 2: Both very poor. A wrong direction for the franchise.
NFS Most wanted: Entertaining for a short while, but average game overall.
NFS Carbon: Like Underground. ie terrible.
NFS Pro Street: Erm....the worst in the series. Again, a wrong direction.
NFS Undercover: Sequel to Most Wanted, so like that game it was fun for a while, then got boring. Only thing that held my attention was the fact that it had Maggie Cheung.....
NFS Shift: Had it's problems, but it was easily the best one on PS3, and the best NFS since Most Wanted.

So, 13 games, but only around 4 were any good. The biggest racing series? I don't think so. It may have bigger advertising etc, but that's driven by EA's money-men. Advertise a turkey properly and people will foolishly buy it. When I'm talking about the biggest racing series, I'm talking solid quality. Something the NFS series certainly hasn't been consitent with.
I would hope in this day and age, people will be smarter and not be fooled by multi-million pound advertising.
Only an idiot would buy a game without first renting it, playing a demo, or reading multiple reviews. I certainly don't buy a game that gets less than 8/10 or an 85-95% score.

 

[Northstar]

So, 13 games, but only around 4 were any good. The biggest racing series? I don't think so. It may have bigger advertising etc, but that's driven by EA's money-men. Advertise a turkey properly and people will foolishly buy it. When I'm talking about the biggest racing series, I'm talking solid quality. Something the NFS series certainly hasn't been consitent with.

Biggest doesn't equal best, there is a reason that most NFS games are "Greatest Hits" games, the name sells regardless of quality(kind of like another EA game, Madden).

I would hope in this day and age, people will be smarter and not be fooled by multi-million pound advertising.

You may not, but alot of people do or they wouldn't spend millions on advertising.

I don't get why this thread even exists, last I checked this was a forum about games, not "pre-teen girl" level gossip.

 

[LaBounti]

(my opinion):
NFS1: Was good, lots of memories playing with friends
NFS2: Was also good introducing the McLaren F1 to the game world. Much better PC version
NFS Hot pursuit: Good with its interesting track environments and cops . Much better PC version
NFS4: Very entertaining and well put together
NFS Porsche Challenge(PC): One of the best NFS games for Porsche fans.
NFS Hot Pursuit 2: Great racing game with good car list and sound track PS2 best version
NFS Underground: A good game in the Fast and Furious culture.
NFS Underground 2: Much improved UG2 was open world w/ deep customs.
NFS Most wanted: It was entertaining but focus on story was over mechanics
NFS Carbon: A hollow shell of a game worse than MW but a time killer for PS3's launch.
NFS Pro Street: Mediocre and missing some polish from being good. Great concept poor execution.
NFS Undercover: Never played
NFS Shift: Best NFS game in the franchise overall.

With that said yes NFS is the biggest multiplatform racing series in terms of quantity.

 

[Golfman]

I will agree with LaBounti in that if you were to name the biggest multiplatform racing series, NFS wins.

 

[McLaren]

Put it this way, GT is only on game number 5. The first one on PS1 successfully buried every racing game on any console at the time. Quality-wise, it outshines everything. Each one has been brilliant.

NFS games' quality has been very inconsistent. A brief word on each NFS game (my opinion):
NFS1: Good
NFS2: Poor
NFS Hot pursuit: Good. Best one on PS1.
NFS4: Average, should have been better.
NFS Porsche Challenge: Average at best. Poor developer (Eden Studios)
NFS Hot Pursuit 2: Not bad, but I expected more for the series first PS2 outing.
NFS Underground/Underground 2: Both very poor. A wrong direction for the franchise.
NFS Most wanted: Entertaining for a short while, but average game overall.
NFS Carbon: Like Underground. ie terrible.
NFS Pro Street: Erm....the worst in the series. Again, a wrong direction.
NFS Undercover: Sequel to Most Wanted, so like that game it was fun for a while, then got boring. Only thing that held my attention was the fact that it had Maggie Cheung.....
NFS Shift: Had it's problems, but it was easily the best one on PS3, and the best NFS since Most Wanted.

So, 13 games, but only around 4 were any good. The biggest racing series? I don't think so. It may have bigger advertising etc, but that's driven by EA's money-men. Advertise a turkey properly and people will foolishly buy it. When I'm talking about the biggest racing series, I'm talking solid quality. Something the NFS series certainly hasn't been consitent with.
I would hope in this day and age, people will be smarter and not be fooled by multi-million pound advertising.
Only an idiot would buy a game without first renting it, playing a demo, or reading multiple reviews. I certainly don't buy a game that gets less than 8/10 or an 85-95% score.

The issue with your argument is that it's nearly all opinion ranging only from average to poor & that most of your "average" scored games are actually the bigger sales-titles.

Quality has nothing to do with being the biggest racing title. NBA Live & Fifa are the biggest basketball & soccer games due to the sheer marketing behind each & every title. However, people will still argue that they're poor games & that NBA 2K or PES are much better.

In all reality, if a game from EA is claiming to be the biggest, it probably is. EA prides itself in marketing the hell out of its games at events.

 

[Golfman]

Yeah well, I will never be fooled again. I used to be a huge fan of the NFS series on PS1. I blindly bought each one the minute it hit the shelves because I loved the original so much, and you have to admit that the series' best years were on that console. Then the series came to PS2 and rapidly went downhill. Then it came to PS3 and went from going downhill to falling off a cliff.
After reading reviews of NFS:Shift, I went out and bought it(the first NFS I actually bought in a while - the last one I got was Most Wanted. Every other one I either played at a friends house or rented).
My initial impressions were positive. I thought this was finally going to be the NFS that not only gave the series a much needed boost, but also challenged GT. Then I realized just how unweildy the handling was - it wasn't complete sim(which I thought it would have been), and it wasn't total arcadey. It was a hybrid of both that simply didn't work.
My overall opinion of Shift was that it was a brilliant game in everything but the handling, but still the best NFS in a long time.

 

[Famine]

Nevertheless, it is the biggest.

16 years, fifteen different titles sold, four yet to release, 100 million copies sold and they've been playable on PS, PS2, PS3, PSP, XBox, 360, PC, GameCube, GBA, DS, 3DO, Sega Saturn, N-Gage, Mac, cell phones and Zeebo.

What's bigger?