Need for Speed Challenge Series Revealed
"Since the last interview with the Undercover development team, we have received many letters from people who want to learn more about the new game modes planned for Need for Speed Undercover. Since these modes will soon be available to the public, I read all the letters and turned to the Undercover producer — former racer Mark DeVellis — to answer the questions sent in.
-Tell us about Challenge Series.
Challenge Series brings together 10 game modes (Sprint, Checkpoint, Outrun, Circuit, Highway Battle, Cost to State, Escape, Takedown, Highway Wars and Highway Checkpoint). There will also be two difficulty levels (Street and Pro), with gold, silver and bronze events for each level; in total there will be 60 unique events. Players will be able to earn up to three free prize cars. One — after completing the Street level (Battle Machine from Pro Street), one — after completing the Pro level (Speed Machine), and the last — after winning 31 events (Dominator). Players will be able to use these cars in local or online career mode. We have also created a completely new custom menu system for Challenge Series, which players should enjoy. Players will also appreciate that each event can be played in a special mode, with all cars equipped with NOS. To advance to the Pro level, a player will need to complete the first 30 races. We have also introduced a Summary Screen into the game, with which players can find out which race is next, as well as view a list of all the events they have won.
-What is behind the creation of Challenge mode?
We wanted to thank the fans of the game. A dedicated development team had to work hard to create 60 unique races and 3 prize cars. The best part is that all of this is free. We have been putting the final touches on Challenge Series for some time, so I was able to take the build home and test it. Fans of the game will be very pleased that it took me almost seven hours to complete all the races. Keep in mind that I have already played all these races hundreds of times and therefore could minimize the number of times I had to start over or repeat some events. When it comes to computer racing, I rate my abilities very highly, so I was very glad that completing it takes so much time. Circuit races have more laps, police chases have more opponents, Cost to State mode has a higher total. The list goes on. We wanted to make sure that it did not take players too long to earn maximum experience, so balance was very important. I look forward to seeing the new cars appear in online mode and reach the top of the leaderboards.
-What can you say about the new modes — Highway Wars and Highway Checkpoint?
When developing the new modes, we mainly listened to the fans' opinions in order to choose the right direction. Given that Highway Battle was one of the most popular modes in Undercover, we decided to develop it further and created Highway Wars. In this mode, the player will face three AI-controlled opponents. The event is a sprint race and no longer requires pulling away from rivals. We wanted to remove the possibility of an easy win. So we added far more cars to the highway, and now the player, in battling the AI, must be very precise and careful. The event system is built around increasing difficulty from bronze to gold, so the player will have to race cleanly and almost perfectly to win the gold events. The participant who crosses the finish line first wins. With three AI-controlled opponents chasing the player, the race takes on a crazy pace.
In the second new mode, the race also takes place on the highway, but now time and precision decide everything. Players must pass checkpoints at maximum speed while dodging other cars. When moving up to Gold events, traffic becomes very dense, requiring full concentration and forgiving almost no mistakes. There is almost no time margin between checkpoints, so players need to maintain a high pace throughout the race to win. In Challenge Series we used only the best cars: the player will be able to use all class 1 cars, most class 2 cars and some class 3 cars. In Highway Checkpoint mode, the player will be able to truly take advantage of the power of these cars and get into the race. Thanks to the increasing difficulty, even a clean run will make it hard to reach the next checkpoint in time. This heightens the tension as time goes on and keeps the player fully focused on a flawless run.
-Members of the game community constantly ask about the online Highway Battle mode. Could you explain why this mode was not included in the update package?
All Challenge Series events take place in local mode. This allows us to clearly see the perspective and add as much balanced content to the game as possible. Boss cars and prize cars can be used later in online mode. We recommend this strategy, since they have amazing performance. That is why the online Highway Battle mode looks quite attractive and ranks high on our priority list.
-How much did the game community help you?
Everyone who works on NFS is in love with our game. We closely followed the reaction that Undercover received, especially among fans. The latest update is aimed at improving performance and increasing difficulty. We assessed which modes are the most popular and decided to expand them. We also constantly monitored the winners' lists to find out which cars most often win in particular races. After following the community's reaction, we created something that fans should enjoy.
-In this update you changed the difficulty; the Challenge has several genuinely hard races. Has the difficulty changed anywhere else?
We carefully worked through the game's difficulty. Each race at each tier was finely hand-tuned so that every race demands the player's full commitment. Starting with the bronze races, the difficulty steadily rises, peaking at the Pro Gold tier. The speed of the cars used in each race also keeps increasing. In addition, to raise the difficulty, the player starts each race in a new car. The player will have to adapt to different sets of cars and master different driving styles. When moving up to the Pro tier, the difficulty becomes maximal. The player will have to run each race cleanly and almost perfectly, otherwise they will most likely have to restart the race. The Dominator results were another part of the game that fans considered too easy. Now let them try to dominate 31 races.
-What can you say about the cars that can be won? How did you decide which cars to offer as rewards?
We considered every possible option. The choice of cars was based on what fans would like most. We started with the Battle Machine, which is a symbol of Pro Street (Link) . This car was unavailable to players, so we decided to bring it back into the game and let players sit behind the wheel. It is a very light car with a huge twin-turbo engine. It handles superbly. Then we turned our attention to the 911 GT2 Hero car and used its smooth lines as the basis for a new car. We added a new rear wing, a paint scheme and increased engine power. This car can only be obtained through hard, persistent effort. We even hung a huge poster in the office with the dominator's motto, "It's not enough just to win." That's true, since this car can only be obtained after a dominant victory in 31 races. Because we set the bar for dominance very high, this car can only be obtained with great skill and persistence. The Dominator is a Corvette Z06 with a special paint scheme and the number 1 on its side. Online players will surely fight over this car in local mode so they can then use it in online mode and show off the number 1.
-What is special about these cars? Can they be used in other modes?
These cars are beautiful, fast and, most importantly, free! They can be used in both local and online modes. I think the leaderboards will change a lot with the arrival of these cars. They are not as fast as the BOSS cars, but they can hold their own. Need For Speed fans will definitely want to add them to their collection — after all, these are special cars, because they cannot be obtained in any other way than by winning races."
Source: www.needforspeed.com