Players start out with a Porsche and have to work up from there, saving up all of their coin to unlock their dream car. The collection of vehicles between racers and police cars is fairly extensive, though the racer collection does trump the police cars in terms of numbers. The challenge, of course, is not to completely wreck the vehicle or get busted by the police, or else those goals can be wiped out and the player has to go back and do them all over again. Of course, every car can be upgraded with money earned along the way by successfully achieving victories in races, time trials, and other goals that will be set by the game itself. The cars that players unlock along the way will vary in speed, acceleration, cornering, handling, and so on. Figuring this portion of the game out is really the first couple of hours after the tutorial. It becomes obvious quite quickly to players that certain tracks need cars that may not be as fast as others, but are better for tight cornering. The world itself is an island that is set up with plenty of tight turns, straightaways, and various areas to race through, giving players a wonderful change-up both in scenery and difficulty level. Hot Pursuit did a very good job of this, but Rivals has perfected the art, simply because this game does not let anyone rest while out in the open world. Players cycle back and forth between being a racer or a cop, with each trip out having different sets of goals. The premises are very similar and the goals are straightforward: Race with your collection of vehicles and achieve various goals and unlockables along the way, finding the right vehicle for all of your speeding needs, but the beauty of this game is taking the premise from Hot Pursuit and cranking it far past '11' on the meter. Need for Speed Rivals isn't anything massively groundbreaking in the franchise's history, considering that this game is quite similar to its predecessor, Hot Pursuit.

There is a lot to cover, so buckle up and try not to have your face come off during the review. While I'm not a hardcore follower of the Need for Speed franchise, it was not difficult to get into the latest installment of the franchise from Ghost Games and Electronic Arts. There is no question which one of the three that Need for Speed Rivals falls under. There are many different forms, from open-world racing, realistic racing, and adrenaline junkies seeking a rush. Racing games generally aren't a one size fits all genre.

When did need for speed rivals come out