Why don't other studios copy the 'BioWare formula'?

Miscellaneous Mind wrote...

Need for Speed sucked well before Criterion got their hands on it. That franchise has been going downhill for several years.

I think it's biggest problem is that Need for Speed doesn't have an identity. EA doesn't know if they want it to be an arcade racing game or a racing simulation.

It's never been a racing simulation. Even Porsche Unleashed, which was pretty serious (damage was very real, and if you crashed at speed you were absolutely boned and it would cost an arm and a leg), still was mildly arcady--especially the cops. And it had the commercial driver thing that was all about doing silly tricks like a 360 or a J-turn.

It's always been arcady, just it's varied on how much.

My problem with Criterion is that they took NFS and pushed out two Burnout games--then had the audacity to call them "reboots" of two popular games.

Volus Warlord wrote...

ThisOnesUsername wrote...

Carbon was the last great NFS imo.

Carbon was atrocious. The conquest mechanic was completely nonsensical and felt painfully forced in.

I would say Carbon was a definite step down from Most Wanted, but hardly atrocious. I'm not sure how the conquest mechanism felt "forced in" when it was integrated into the game world and the plot.

The problem I had with Carbon was the basic driving gameplay: felt very poor compared to Most Wanted, and the cops. gosh, the cops. How terrible. They could never catch you--and you could never lose them. It was a terrible catch-22.