As part of the Year 2 Pass, The Crew Motorfest recently introduced police pursuits in the new Chase Squad game mode, drawing comparisons with Need for Speed Unbound’s Hot Pursuit mode added in the Vol.8 update.
After completing the Chase Squad playlist, open-world chase scenarios are unlocked in The Crew Motorfest, allowing you to chase down rivals in randomly generated routes across the map.
With pursuits restricted to online playlist events, free-roam chases are highly requested in Need for Speed Unbound. Despite this, Criterion has no plans to let players experience the thrill of the chase in free roam.
Free roam cop chases “isn’t something we are going to be able to do for Unbound”
“We hear how players would appreciate being able to drive the Police cars in Free Roam and that it’s disappointing that they’re limited to the Hot Pursuit playlists and that there is a desire for more cop-focused modes,” Criterion wrote in a blog post responding to community feedback about the Vol.8 update.
“Quite simply, this isn’t something we are going to be able to do for Unbound. We had to take into consideration how the systems worked and not get into a situation in Free Roam where people who don’t want to be targeted, get targeted.”
“We would have loved to put more time and consideration for how something like Cops in Free Roam would affect the game, but to have the experience to the quality we expect, it wasn’t possible in the time we had.”
However, Criterion added that feedback relating to cop cars being drivable in free roam and “more places in general rather than just a mode” is “loud and clear.”
Criterion has “many plans” to “take pursuit tech further”
When playing as cops, players can use a range of ‘pursuit tech’ gadgets such as spike strips, EMPS and an ESF battering ram. According to the blog, Criterion found that spike strips are “universally the most used tool, as it trips racers up the most.”
While it’s “universally agreed” that pursuit tech should stay in Hot Pursuit mode, players feel that racers should have access to similar tech to balance the experience. This was the case in Criterion’s 2010 Hot Pursuit game, with racers having access to jammers that disable police equipment, EMPs, spike strips and turbo boosts.
Although these changes won’t be implemented into Unbound, Criterion has “many plans” on how to “take pursuit tech further” in the future.
“We hear that some improvements and balancing would make the experience better overall, we have (as with everything!) many plans on how we could take Pursuit Tech further but these would be things we would take into account for the future of NFS,” the Guildford-based studio wrote.
With the Most Wanted-inspired Vol.9 update expected to be Unbound’s last major live service update, Criterion says the majority of feedback for the Hot Pursuit mode “won’t be addressed during this year of live service” but will “inform how we approach things in the future.”
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