Need for Speed: No Limits is the twenty-first game in the Need for Speed series and a non-canon entry outside of the series' continuity.
It is a free-to-play[1] mobile game development by Firemonkeys; the studio behind Real Racing 3 and other Electronic Arts handheld releases.
It was released for Android and iOS devices on September 30, 2015, following a soft launch in early February 2015.
Development[]
The title was initially revealed following a decal advertising the game being sighted on Ken Block's Gymkhana 7 Ford Mustang Hoonicorn RTR[2], and was later confirmed to be a title in development by an EA spokesperson.
“ | We're proud and excited to be given the opportunity to partner with Ken Block on an upcoming mobile game project," said an EA spokesperson. "We've been anticipating seeing this car in action for Gymkhana 7 and sharing more. Details are coming soon. | ” |
— EA Spokesperson[3]
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The domain name for Need for Speed: No Limits was registered by Electronic Arts in 2010 as well as various other domains with The Run being among the 13 listed names.[4]
The title was officially announced on November 20th, 2014 with the release of a reveal trailer featuring Ken Block. The trailer portrayed him playing the title on a handheld device that showed footage including various cars.
A press release was also issued by the title's Executive Producer - Robert Huebner - with regards to upcoming cars, customisation, and characters alongside teasing additional content.
“ | We’ve built No Limits from the ground up to deliver the insanely-fast driving and incredible graphics that fans have come to expect from Need for Speed – all in the palm of your hand. We’ll be back soon in the weeks and months ahead with more details about the cars, characters, customization, and more in Need for Speed No Limits. |
” |
— Robert Huebner[5]
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On January 5, 2015, EA released a gameplay teaser trailer showing various short clips of gameplay footage. The teaser introduced several new cars and revealed the location of the game's fictional setting to be a city called Blackridge, although the environment is not an open world.
The teaser also featured the song Castellated Nut by Junkie XL which was previously featured as part of Need for Speed: ProStreet's original score soundtrack.
Campaign[]
Plot[]
The game opens with the player in Blackridge amidst a race against Marcus King - the leader of the Blackridge Royals street racing crew. The player shows up in an SRT Viper GTS.
The player joins Marcus at the start line to a race. He's seen driving a Koenigsegg CCX alongside two other members of his racing crew driving a BMW M4 "Razor" and a Subaru BRZ.
Beating Marcus to the finish line, the player is told by Marcus to earn a name on the streets before racing him. A police helicopter soon hovers overhead and the sound of police sirens draws ever closer. The player is intercepted by various police vehicles as Marcus confesses to the player that he doesn't want them or the Viper on the streets.
Marcus leaves with his crew members, leaving the player with the Viper to attempt and evade the increasing police presence.
Kim informs the player about the cops approaching before the player drives off while being chased by the police.
The player evades the pursuit and returns to the garage the car came from, where Kim tells the player that she is the owner of the Viper. She knew Marcus was trying to eliminate her from the street racing scene in Blackridge, and is grateful that the player was able to return her car as well as escaping the police.
She offers them to come drive for her with blueprints to a Subaru BRZ, with the condition that they must first prove themselves before they can take on the Royals. She sponsors the player with entry to events in exchange for her using the player's reputation to expand her car enhancement business.
Stages[]
The campaign is split into five separate stages with each containing various events. Completing the first stage will progress players from Kim's events to those against other street racing crews in Blackridge. Completing events progresses the player through the career.
Class | Series | Rival |
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Tutorial | Gatekeepers | Darius |
Street | Joy Riders | Dwayne |
Classic Sport | Renegades | Jaxon |
Muscle | Flaming Skulls | Ivy |
Super | Powerhaus | Blake |
Hyper | Blackridge Royals | Marcus King |
All | Bloodfangs | Darius |
Cars[]
Cars are made available through the car dealership, blueprints from crates, store bungles, and completing special events.
Performance[]
Cars are made up of six parts that can be upgraded: Engine, Turbo, Gearbox, Wheels, ECU, and Nitro. Parts contain two or more material slots that can be used to improve their individual PR, and increase the car stat affected by that part. Once a part has achieved its maximum rating, it can be converted to the next higher rarity through the use of conversion kits. Parts can also be directly upgraded with new parts when obtained.
Parts, Materials, and Blueprints can be obtained as rewards from events, crates from the Loading Docks, and purchased from the Black Market.
Events[]
Each event is shown along a road map within each stage. Completing an event will unlock the next event along the roadmap with it eventually leading to a rival race against a specific character or crew member. Each event has an accompanying rating of either easy, average or hard.
Illegal Challenges are bonus events that appear along a stage roadmap. Winning these events offer illegal bonus items from one of three bonus cards.
Entering an event requires the usage of one, two or three Fuel points.
There are several different event types;
- Rush Hour - Cross the finish line in first place.
- Time Trial - Cross the finish line quicker than the highlighted target time.
- Delivery - Deliver the car without damaging it. Colliding with anything adds a time penalty.
- Team Battle - Race against rival crew members.
- Hunter - Catch your opponent and beat them to the finish line.
- Nitro Rush - Cross the finish line before time runs out with the aid of nitro charge-up zones.
- Blockade - Win the race with heavy police.
- Airborne - Cross the finish line first with added jumps.
Car Series[]
Car Series are a selection of events that require a specific set of cars, and is unlocked upon the player reaching reputation level 5.
Tuner Trials[]
Tuner Trials is a daily challenge game mode and players can win performance parts or materials for the available event selection.
Underground Rivals[]
Underground Rivals is an asynchronous players versus player game mode introduced with the "Underground Rivals" update (3.0.1) on September 11, 2018 and replaced the Blackridge Rivals game mode.
Currencies[]
Cash[]
Cash is earned in-game by completing an event with the amount based on the player's driver skill during that event. It can be used to performance parts, and Black Market crates. It is shown as a dollar sign inside a circle.
Fuel[]
Fuel is used as a player energy system and is required for various aspects of the game. Additional fuel has to be purchased using Gold if the tank is emptied.
Kim will refill the player's Fuel tank for free, but only once when the tank is first emptied. Refilling a Fuel tank costs 30 Gold.
- Enter an event - 1-3 Fuel
- Restart a failed event - 1-3 Fuel
Blueprints[]
Blueprints are obtained as rewards for specific events, from loading dock crates, the Chop Shop or purchased from the Black Market.
Collecting a certain number of Blueprints will allow for a car from the showroom to be built. They can also be used to upgrade a vehicle's performance level. They are shown as a blue square reminiscent of a blueprint.
Gold[]
Gold is awarded in-game upon reaching a new player reputation level, finishing a chapter in certain Car Series, and daily challenges. It can be used to purchase Fuel refills, Premium Black Market crates, Tuner Trial All Access Passes, event replays, Special Event ticket refills, and to flip another reward card at the end of an event. It is shown as a gold brick or pile of gold bricks.
Scraps[]
Added in update 1.3.2, Scraps are earned by salvaging materials or parts in storage or by acquiring excess blueprints for vehicles that are already at max star ranking. The Scraps can be redeemed at Kelly's Chop Shop for any vehicle blueprints or any performance parts.
Tournament Credit[]
Tournament Credit is a discontinued currency that was awarded for competing in Tournaments before they were replaced with the Blackridge Rivals. It could be used to purchase blueprints from the Tournament Store, and was shown as a gold trophy.
Visual Points[]
Visual Points are a discontinued currency. Visual Points were receiver as a reward for completing an event. They could be used to purchase customisation options from the Modshop. They were shown as a flame symbol.
Visual Points were removed with an update released on March 10, 2017. Any Visual Points players had left were be reimbursed with the in-game currency and wraps. Players were also allowed to keep any customization items they had purchased with Visual Points.
Rewards[]
Cards[]
Winning an event results in either one or three cards. Non-replayable events provide a specific reward shown to the player before starting the event, and is revealed when tapping the card after completing the event. Replayable events give the player a choice of three random cards from a pool shown on the event selection screen[Notes 1], and can include Blueprints, Cash, Materials, and Parts. A second card can be turned over by spending 30 gold, and the third card can be turned over by spending an additional 90 gold.
Reputation[]
Reputation is earned by successfully completing a new event in either the Underground or Car Series. Reputation is the measure for the player's current driver level.
VIP Program[]
Introduced with the 1.1.5 update, the VIP program rewards players for making in app purchases with points towards tiered levels with exclusive perks.
Shops[]
Black Market[]
The Black Market is an in-game store that allows players to buy car parts, blueprints, or materials for either in-game cash or gold.
Store[]
The Store is an in-game store that allows players to buy gold for real money. With each purchase players also receive VIP points. The Store also has occasional campaigns where car parts and blueprints are sold for real money.
Loading Docks[]
The Loading Docks is an in-game store that allows players to buy Crates which can contain blueprints, parts or materials.
Crates[]
Crates are containers that have various items of differing quality. The items available in a crate are dependent on the player's reputation level.
- Classic Crate - $5,000 or 5 for $20,000 (5 free available daily, with a 10 minute cooldown timer between crates.)
- Premium Crate - 100 or 5 for 500 [Notes 2] (One free available every two days.)
- Legendary Crate - 1 for 180 or 5 for 900 .[Notes 3] It contains Legendary and Epic blueprints for Campaign vehicles.
Modshop[]
The Modshop allows players to modify the appearance of their cars. This does not change the performance of the car in any way. The Modshop is broken into two areas: Bodyshop and Colour.
Bodyshop[]
Visual modification components are unlocked when new stages of cars are unlocked. These components include: Bodykits, Mirrors, Headlights, Roof Scoops, Wheels, Spoilers, Exhaust, tail lights, Roof Spoilers, and Hoods. Not all of these components are available for every car, and frequently a Bodykit will also include a Hood, Spoiler, and Exhaust modification. Some Bodykits, when equipped, will also prevent further modifications to other components like the Exhaust.
Most Bodyshop items are only available to the specific car they are purchased for, with one notable exception. Wheels are a shared resource, and when purchased are available for all cars.
Paint[]
Paint colours are earned separately for all cars by unlocking higher stages of them. For example, a car with just 1-star rating will have less available colors than a car with 5-star rating. Separately colourable components include Body, Rims, Brake Calipers, and Window Tint.
In the colour menu one can also apply Wraps onto one's cars. Wraps are various stripes, ornaments, and patterns that one can use to customise the appearance of the cars beyond just their colour. Wraps are earned by completing various tasks related to quantities or amounts of perfect launches, airtime, and drift distance.
Controls[]
- Steering is controlled by tapping either the left or right side of the screen, by tilting the device, or through using a virtual analog stick by swiping on the left-hand side of the screen.
- Nitrous is activated by swiping a finger across the screen from the bottom to the top.
- Nitrous will regenerate through performing various driving skills.
- Drifting is performed by swiping down on the screen and steering.
- Drifting through corners helps sustain the vehicle's entry speed and gain nitrous along with cash.
Soundtrack[]
The soundtrack includes various licenced songs that play during events. "Mosh Pit" by Flosstradamus feat. Casino was included at an early point of the game's release, but has since been removed.
Song | Artist |
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"Murdaaa" | 12th Planet & Mayhem |
"Reptile" | Calling All Cars |
"Crucial Velocity" | Clutch |
"Live Fast" | J.Nitrous |
"Raise The Dead" | Le Castle Vania feat. Cory Brandon |
"Rage The Night Away" | Steve Aoki feat. Waka Flocka Flame |
"Push Em" | Travis Barker & Yelawolf |
Release[]
The game was released on Android and iOS devices September 30, 2015 with some territories being granted earlier access through a soft launch.
Minimum Specifications[]
Android | iOS |
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Updates[]
Multiple updates have been released for Need for Speed: No Limits across both Android and iOS platforms.
Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
Trailers[]
Spoiler Alert Series[]
Development[]
App Icons[]
References[]
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/notes/need-for-speed-no-limits/frequently-asked-questions/1508946919369542
- ↑ http://jalopnik.com/ken-blocks-gymkhana-7-car-is-a-monstrous-845-hp-awd-196-1654509975
- ↑ http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/11/04/new-need-for-speed-game-title-no-limits-possibly-leaked
- ↑ http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/17/we-should-be-set-on-need-for-speed-subtitles-for-a-while/
- ↑ http://www.ea.com/news/hit-the-road-with-ken-block-and-need-for-speed-no-limits
Notes[]
- ↑ Some events have additional unlisted rewards not shown on the event selection screen. Ex: 14-2 (Redline) only shows cash and Driveshafts, but can also reward Solenoids.
- ↑ As an incentive to purchase the 10 pack, at least one item is guaranteed to be of rare or higher quality.
- ↑ Every 5 crates purchased has a guaranteed Koenigsegg CCX blueprint in it