Need for Speed™ Rivals

Post Shutdown Review, 10/24/2025
I have been playing Need for Speed Rivals on and off since 2013, starting on the Xbox 360 and later moving to PC. I have completed and replayed it more times than I can count, and every time I return, it still amazes me how special this game is.
For a game from 2013, Rivals still looks stunning. The graphics were far ahead of their time, with beautiful lighting, reflections, and weather effects that made Redview County feel alive. Driving through rainstorms, sunsets, and long stretches of highway still feels cinematic even today. The art direction and sense of speed have aged incredibly well.
The gameplay was equally ambitious. Rivals perfectly captured that mix of chaos, tension, and adrenaline that defines Need for Speed. The rivalry between cops and racers never got old, and every pursuit felt personal. One of the best features was the Pursuit Tech system, which made every encounter unpredictable. Launching EMPs, shockwaves, and spike strips turned every chase into a high-tech duel. It was creative, satisfying, and added a layer of strategy that made each side feel powerful.
It is unfortunate that the game was locked to 30 FPS because it clearly deserved better. The Frostbite engine at the time simply could not handle higher frame rates without breaking the physics and AI. Many players tried to push it beyond that limit, but the game just was not built for it. It is a shame, because if Rivals could run at 60 FPS or more, it would still rival many modern racers in smoothness and feel. Even so, the experience remains incredible despite that limitation.
Although Rivals was never a fan favorite, it has always felt like a diamond in the rough. It took risks with its always-online world and bold ideas that were ahead of its time. When everything worked, it delivered pure, chaotic fun that few games have ever matched.
Now that the servers are gone, Redview County feels empty, but the game’s spirit still holds up. Even without the online chaos, it remains one of the most unique and enjoyable racers ever made.
Thank you, Rivals, for being ambitious, beautiful, and unforgettable.
10/10 — A diamond in the rough that still shines bright, even at 30 frames per second.

I loved this game since I was teenager. Although the PC port is pretty bad (30 FPS and clipping issues), it's still a fun game.
Seeing the news about the shutdown of online servers on next October makes me sad.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☑ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☑ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☑ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

Get the game before October 7 2025 in case not just online features will be disabled, but the whole game might end up getting delisted.
What a shame.

RIP to Rivals online... unless the community restores its own servers someday.

Anyway great game, got all of the achievements back on Xbox. It's the old Hot Pursuit style of NFS but with a open world and gameplay more built around it vs HP2010, it's fun, also more chaotic but fun anyway. It still works fully offline so go get it whenever EA gives it a discount, who knows how long it has left before delisting.

The fact that the game is shutting down in a few months truly makes me sad. I frequently revisit older racing games, and Need for Speed Rivals was always one I kept coming back to. Growing up, being able to switch between a racer or a cop. Constantly getting chased, spammed with EMPs, barley escaping or crashing out somehow never got old.
I always found it incredibly fun, especially with the the constant spinouts and chaos during high-speed chases. And honestly, for how old the game is, the graphics still hold up amazingly well.
Sure, there’s going to be an offline mode… but personally, I don’t think it’ll have the same feeling without real players.

If, like me, you’re still in love with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and enjoy its cops-and-outlaw features, but you’ve also noticed some of its shortcomings — such as the lack of car customization and the absence of an open world — then you’ll be happy to know that Need for Speed: Rivals basically adds exactly those things to Hot Pursuit. It feels like Hot Pursuit plus an open-world map and car customization like NFS Heat.

And to top it off, if you just copy and paste this single line into the game’s Launch Options in Steam (under “Properties”), you can unlock 60 FPS and enjoy the game:

-GameTime.MaxSimFps 60 -GameTime.ForceSimRate 60