


You get called up on the phone to run a few errands in-between, and the story progresses a little every day. It's clearly trying to look as grown-up as possible, in an effort to appeal to a wider audience without going over a PEGI 12-rating, but parents should be warned: Unbound is very sweary.Īfter the prologue has played out for the first couple of hours, you settle into the main bulk of the campaign, which involves earning money over four in-game weeks, with the aim of qualifying for the ultimate showdown. F-Bombs and mother******s are at least bleeped, but people are dubbed 'sons of b****s' constantly. Speaking of which, Need for Speed Unbound loves to swear. And hearing the cops say "They're a s*** driver, they're hitting everything!" is pretty damning. You can hear the other characters and police radio while you race, which is a welcome throwback to classics like Dirt 2 and even Destruction Derby. It's a logical solution, but it's a pity it doesn't throw you one last bone before making you replay several story scenes. It is still entirely possible to mess up and get to the weekend Qualifier without enough money (or a good enough car) to enter it, at which point the game allows you to keep your progress and simply play the Friday again. On normal difficulty, you get four restarts to use each day, which is a good, challenging number to keep you honest. Though it has to be said there really isn't that much tight cornering to deal with, so if you get left behind, you might as well reach for the restart. Keeping your boosts coming is the hook here, and it's enjoyable. Following closely behind other cars fills your boost gauge, as does drifting and performing near-misses with civilian road users. You have to be absolutely on point to keep up with the leader of the pack, and Need for Speed Unbound is beautifully balanced when you're gunning for the win. The racing itself, however, is surprisingly challenging. "When the police presence ramps up, you end up essentially playing a micro game of Metal Gear Solid on your GPS map"
