Need for Speed: Rivals loopt op 30 fps

Need for Speed: Rivals zal op 30 frames per seconde lopen op alle platforms, zo bevestigt ontwikkelaar Ghost. Volgens Ghost was de keuze voor AllDrive de reden dat men voor 30 fps koos.

AllDrive is het systeem wat wordt gebruikt om spelers naadloos te kunnen matchmaken. In het spel kunnen spelers elkaar tegenkomen als politieagent of als straatracer, terwijl ze bijvoorbeeld de stad aan het verkennen zijn.

"It is a choice we made to be able to push what we believe is really important for our typical gamer: get a lot of things happening on the screen at the same time," zo vertelt executive producer Marcus Nilsson.

"Anything can happen in AllDrive. That's the key innovation with this game. You don't have single-player, co-op or multiplayer. It just happens seamlessly."

"I could be playing the game, setting a time, and all of a sudden you could come into that world, and you could be carrying AI, I could be carrying AI, and all of a sudden, on that screen, there are a lot of cars. We always have to budget for the worst case scenario."

"So in this case we've prioritised the gameplay, because we think 30fps is giving a satisfactory experience."

Het maximale aantal spelers die tegelijkertijd in dezelfde stad kunnen rijden is momenteel zes, voor Xbox 360 en PlayStation 3. Nilsson zegt dat dit aantal nog niet definitief is en dat het op pc, PlayStation 4 en Xbox One wellicht een hoger aantal zal worden.

"I honestly think the most enjoyable version of this will be around a few friends."

"Since we discovered AllDrive, we've never gone for 24 or 36 players, because it doesn't make sense. It just becomes chaos. You've seen how online racing games behave, right? Unless you're number one, it's boring. This way you can all have fun playing together but fulfilling your own objectives."

"It is a choice we made to be able to push what we believe is really important for our typical gamer: get a lot of things happening on the screen at the same time."

Rivals zal een hoop multiplayermogelijkheden kennen, zowel ingame als via het tweede scherm. Singleplayer, co-op en multiplayer zijn eigenlijk samengevoegd. Via het tweede scherm kunnen spelers hun tablet gebruiken om de gamewereld te beïnvloeden, bijvoorbeeld door het plaatsen van roadblocks. Ook kun je via AutoLog constant zien wie de beste tijden neerzet.

Developer Ghost wordt veel gevraagd of deze mogelijkheden ook uitgezet kunnen worden, zodat een speler solo kan spelen, zonder alle interactie.

"People have always been afraid of the new," aldus Nilsson. "When you do quite brave advancements, a natural feeling is, 'I know what this is, but I don't know what that is. And, I really like this, actually, so I'm not sure that can be better. I like my BigMac. Why would I go for the burger they change to every week? Sometimes I might be lucky and it's as good as, or better, but sometimes it will be worse.'

"That's the mechanic all human beings carry. It's especially vocal around internet gaming audiences. They are really verbal. Look what happened to Microsoft."

Nilsson zegt dat het uitzetten van de multiplayerfuncties niet het spel verpesten. "This game is perfectly well designed to be played totally alone. We know the Need for Speed consumer, in the majority, is playing through it alone. But we also know this game is more fun with friends, to the majority of people."

"So what I want to do with this game is entice more people to come into a multiplayer experience and feel how great it is to play a game where the unexpected can happen. That's what goes on when we get people together, with three or four people in the same world, all playing single-player. But then people are prone to meet or help each other, or go from single-player to roll together as cops and take someone out together and share the points."

"It's fascinating how all that changes, and it feels really natural when you're playing it. It's not alienating when you play it. It's like, why isn't every game like this? It's where I believe the future is, especially with racing games."

Need for Speed: Rivals komt uit op pc, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 en Xbox One.