The video description says “To get to the top, you gotta take risks. Choose how and when to put it all on the line, pulling huge drifts on the street, outdriving the cops, or placing side bets with your own earnings against rival racers. " The video does seem to place a lot of emphasis on the street racing scene, which will definitely appeal to the fans of the much lauded Underground series. Racers compete in the streets of the new Lakeshore City which is reported to be modeled after Chicago. Most races shown in the video are interrupted by cops trying to break up these illegal races. Players need to not only race their rivals but also evade capture by the police. Winning races earn you cash rewards to unlock other races. The gameplay trailer also mentions “Time is money, so find the fastest way to earn enough cash to enter the weekly qualifiers and make it to Lakeshore’s ultimate race, The Grand.” There will be a playlist of races that players can do for the week in order to qualify for the challenge race. Joining weekly races requires a buy-in amount and rewards racers with new vehicles when they win. We assume that the weekly challenge races will be the post-campaign content for NFS Unbound. The trailer also shows off an impressive city environment filled with objects where players can perform stunts. When performing drifts and jumps, the anime-style graphics appear alongside the hyper-realistic car models. This is a new and interesting addition to the game which is normally just heavy on the motion blur. The gameplay footage also reveals how players can take out the police cars chasing them. Racers can push cop cars onto oncoming traffic or maneuver around them and find ways to make them collide. The police will drive squad cars and SUVs, but can also break out some high speed pursuit vehicles. Drivers also have the ability to place side bets and challenge other racers to earn extra cash. The betting system was briefly shown in the trailer. It would be interesting to see the extent of the betting system in NFS Unbound. Overall, the new trailer does well to increase interest in NFS Unbound. We should hopefully get more content revealed as we near the launch. Need For Speed Unbound is coming to the PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on December 2, 2022.
