The cool:

• the soundtrack whips. there's not a single track i dislike.
• the driving physics are the best they've been in the Frostbite engine
• the livery editor has way more decals to choose from
• the characters are charming as fuck
• THE FUCKING LEGENDARY BODY KITS ARE BLOWING MY MIND
• you can actually fuck the cops up again

The not so cool:

• the driving physics are still pretty shit compared to other racing games
• engine parts are too expensive
• this game is SO quiet. it's hard to hear the engine, especially in hood and bumper cams
• THE COP SPAWN RATE AT HIGH HEAT LEVELS IS TOO MUCH
• speakin of cops, you get a flat rate cash reward for escaping from certain heat levels - no bonus for ending a very long pursuit. at high heat it can be extremely tedious because you're just trying to get the fuck away but they keep finding you, and getting $2500 after a twenty minute pursuit is frustrating.
• roadblocks never spawn in the right place
• burst boost gauge doesn't hold boost for long enough before draining.
• i've been getting quite a few unique visual glitches here and there. (minimap will lose image data and return as if it was refreshing, certain 2D elements like segments of the map overview or character icons will become corrupted temporarily, the skybox loads in after the loading screen and im pretty sure that's not intentional)

those are a lot of Not So Cool things. so do i still recommend NFS: Unbound?

ABSOLUTELY.

Just like NFS: Prostreet, this game is leaking out of its eyeballs with personality. This is by far the most stylish game you could play this year, and it doesn't even feel like it's trying to be stylish. The characters in the story mode are endearing and charismatic. There's pride flags and trans representation in it. The livery editor is versatile. Character customization is pretty great. A$AP Rocky is in it, hosting special driving events called Takeovers.

This is genuinely a really, really cool game. It's the polar opposite of NFS 2015; where the older game tried to be hip but came off like the How Do You Do Fellow Kids meme, this game feels like it's got its finger on the pulse of the culture literally right now. Best of all, I don't think this game will age poorly like NFS: MW and other NFS games have. It feels timeless.

No game will be perfect, and I've come to expect the NFS franchise to take a really good idea and turn it into a loud fart. Unbound is a really great idea that was carefully crafted into a really good, if a little flawed jewel. I can imagine the devs wanted to address the issues I have with the game, but just ran out of time since making adjustments will create bugs that need to be tended to.

Maybe with a little more time in the oven this game could have been The Best NFS Of All Time, but it'll have to settle for One Of The Greatest instead lmao