New Need for Speed Game Will Reportedly Have "Anime Elements"

By Cade Onder

We're starting to get some more concrete details on the next Need for Speed game and it sounds like it will be one of the more unique entries. The next Need for Speed will be the first entry in the series for Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 and it's coming off the back of numerous bad to mediocre predecessors. Since the rise of games like Forza Horizon, the Need for Speed series has struggled to sustain itself, but EA clearly sees the value in the racing franchise as it routinely releases every few years. With a new Need for Speed expected later this year, many are wondering what direction developer Criterion will take it in.

According to Jeff Grubb on his GiantBomb show Grubsnaxx, the new Need for Speed will be a photo-realistic, yet very stylized game set in a fictionalized version of Chicago. Grubb noted that Criterion hopes to make it feel like a real city, despite the fact it's clearly not. On top of that, the game will have a sense of photorealism, but still inject some personality with "anime elements". "It's going to be photo-realistic, but it's going to have on top of that, anime elements," Grubb said. "You know when you see a car commercial or something like that and the car's driving around, but then cartoons flames and stuff are flying off it? That's the kind of the aesthetic that they seem to be going for."

There's no word on what the game will be called, what it will be about, or if it will have any other unique mechanics surrounding it. The Need for Speed series has been known to try a variety of different things to keep it fresh, such as Need for Speed: The Run which was a cinematic action game that featured sections where the player got out of the car. There was also Need for Speed: Payback which wasn't too dissimilar from the Fast and Furious franchise. Whether there will be anything like that in this new game remains to be seen.

What do you want to see from the new Need for Speed? Let me know in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

[H/T VGC]

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