Need for Speed: World (formerly known as Need for Speed: World Online) is the 15th installment in the Need for Speed franchise, and was a free-to-play massively multiplayer online racing game that officially launched on July 27, 2010.[1]
The title's servers were shut down at 16:00 (UTC) on July 14th, 2015 following an official announcement on April 15th, 2015. The purchase of Speedboost and registration of new accounts were disabled following the announcement[2], and a special End of the World event began soon after for the loyal fan base of the title to celebrate its five year long run.
It was the first MMORPG in the Need for Speed series since Motor City Online to be released exclusively for Windows-based PCs.
Players that purchased the starter pack before the game's full launch got to play the game a week before launch, received $20 worth of SpeedBoost and an exclusive style Mazda Mazdaspeed3.[3]
Gameplay
Need for Speed: World is set within the fictional Tri-City. The location is a mixture of Rockport from Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Palmont City from Need for Speed: Carbon.
Players progress through the game by participating in race events and engaging in police pursuits. Player's progress is measured by their current Driver Level with a cap upon reaching level 60.
Players are offered a Lucky Draw Card Pack after completing an event or finishing a police pursuit.
Free Roam
Players are allowed to drive around both Palmont City and Rockport within free roam. Players can see other players driving around in free roam but are unable to collide with them in any manner.
Police vehicles were removed from free roam on November 16th, 2011 resulting in players no longer being able to initiate pursuits by ramming police vehicles. Police chases are only possible by joining Pursuit Outrun events.
Event Types
Need for Speed: World features a variety of gamemodes:
- Drag - Multiplayer Only
- Circuit
- Meeting Place
- Pursuit Outrun - Singleplayer Only
- Sprint
- Team Escape - Multiplayer Only
Driver Profile
The Driver Profile keeps a running tally of how many events a player has participated in, won and lost as well as their average finishing position in both. Players can find details of their Driver Profile in the Safehouse section of the game.
Achievements
Achievements were added to Need for Speed: World alongside the application of a patch on April 10th, 2013.
Reputation
Reputation - also known as Rep - is the amount of experience a player has earned in Need for Speed: World.
The amount of reputation a player has is indicated by a large blue bar along the top of their screen. A player will increase their Driver Level by earning a certain amount of reputation.
Players can earn reputation by completing Circuit, Drag, Sprint, Pursuit Outrun, Team Escape and Treasure Hunt events. The amount of reputation a player earns differs depending on the specifics of each event type.
- Circuit, Sprint & Drag - Players earn more reputation by; completing the race in a high finishing position and successful use of power-ups.
- Pursuit Outrun - Players earn more reputation based upon; the total amount of disabled police vehicles, cost to state, pursuit length and infractions when they evade. Players will only earn a small amount of bounty if they're busted.
- Team Escape - Players earn more reputation depending on how many players cross the finish line and how many team power-ups are used. Players will earn the maximum amount of reputation if all four players cross the finish line.
- Treasure Hunt - Players earn reputation by collecting all 15 gems that have been hidden at specific locations shown on the minimap.
Vehicles
There is a great variety of vehicles available including concept cars, convertibles, fictional cars, grand tourers, hatchbacks, hypercars, muscle cars, race cars, saloons, sports cars, super cars, SUVs, tuners and vintage cars.
Cars made available through the Car Dealer can be redeemed with either Cash (
) or SpeedBoost (
).
Damage
Damage is shown for aesthetic purposes but can affect performance if a vehicle's damage bar is depleted. Visual damage is shown in the form of scratches, dents, cracked windows and paint loss but it can be turned on or off in the options menu.
A vehicle will always sustain a small amount of damage upon the player's completion of an event with that vehicle. With each event done, car durability is decreased by 5%. A vehicle's performance will be reduced if its damage bar is depleted. A drained damage bar will denounce the increased vehicle performance given by all equipped performance parts.
The amount of damage a vehicle can sustain is shown in the form of a blue bar next to the vehicle's current Heat Level. It is also shown on the bottom left of the screen when the player is in the Safehouse.
Players can use Cash to perform maintenance on a vehicle and refill its damage meter. The amount required for a full restoration depends on the vehicle's Tier and damage amount. Players can also purchase "Insurance" for a vehicle at the cost of 350 SpeedBoost. Insurance will prevent a vehicle from incurring any damage for a one week after initial purchase.
Customisation
Performance
Performance Parts can be equipped to all purchased vehicles from the Performance section of the Aftermarket Store. All SpeedBoost redeemable vehicles are offered with a varying selection of performance parts depending on their style. Cash redeemable vehicles are not offered with performance parts equipped.
Skill Mods
Skill mods replaced the driver skills system on May 30th, 2012. They allow the player to customise individual capabilities of their vehicle for races or police pursuits. Each skill mod has a different effect, which is rated by a number of stars. One star rated mods can be purchased for Cash although mods with higher ratings are only obtainable by purchasing card packs and winning game mode events.
Drag, Juggernaut and Treasure Hunter style vehicles are offered with a special skill mod that can not be removed or purchased from the Aftermarket Store.
Vinyls
All purchased cars except rented cars can be altered with a selection of vinyl packages within the Vinyl section of the Aftermarket Store. Some styles of cars available for purchase are equipped with exclusive or style defining vinyls such as Juggernauts and Treasure Hunters. The number of appliable vinyls in a single vehicle is limited to 31.
Visual
All purchased cars can be customised with a selection of license plates, lowering kits, neons and wheels from within the Aftermarket Store. The available selection of body kits, hoods and spoilers differs between each vehicle model.
Power-Ups
There is an overall of twelve power-ups that can aid players in events and pursuits. Each has a specific effect and are designed to be utilised under a differing set of circumstances.
System Requirements
| Component | Minimum Specifications | Recommended Specifications |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows XP (Service Pack 3) 32-bit | Windows Vista (SP2)/Windows 7/Windows 8 |
| Processor | Intel Pentium 4(HT) @ 2.4GHz | Intel Core 2 Duo @ 1.8GHz |
| RAM | 1GB | 2GB |
| Hard Drive | 2GB | |
| Graphics Card | ATI Radeon X1300 Intel GMA 950 NVIDIA GeForce 6800 |
ATI Radeon HD 2000 Intel GMA 950 NVIDIA GeForce 7600 |
| DirectX | Version 9.0c | |
| Sound | DirectX 8.1 compatable | |
| Input | Keyboard and Mouse Xbox 360 Controller Other | |
| Internet | 512 Kbps Cable/DSL connection | |
Soundtrack
Community Events
Ask Marc Episodes
A question and answer video each week on NeedforSpeed.com featuring Drew Hahn (Need for Speed Community Manager) asking Marc De Vellis (World Production Team member).
Patch History
The game was regularly updated with new game content and fixes. Patch 5.00 was the largest update so far and added numerous new features including performance customisation.
Development Differences
- The Police Civic Cruiser only appears in pre-production builds and was replaced by the Dodge Charger SRT-8 Super Bee in the beta as well as the final release.
- The police vehicle sirens changed multiple times before release.
- Early closed beta testing sessions were limited to small portion of the environment compared to the final release. The available environment was expanded in later closed beta testing sessions.
- The Police Pontiac GTO vehicles appeared at Heat Level 3 during the beta but were replaced by the Police State Muscle Cruiser in the final release although they appear in some Team Escape events.
- Power-ups were free in early closed beta testing sessions.
- The Undercover Dodge Charger SRT-8 Super Bee police units had no light bars in early closed beta testing sessions but were added to the vehicle in later beta sessions.
- The Heavy Rhino SUV and Supercharged Rhino SUV featured the same livery as they did in Need for Speed: Carbon in early closed beta testing sessions.
- The loading screen featured a Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4.
- Car statistics were not portrayed by numbers.
- The Asian beta was only playable in Chinese.
- Player avatars consisted of human faces.
- Police vehicles were depicted on the minimap as blinking arrows.
- Traffic vehicles were only white and beeped at the player more frequently.
Trailers
