Step on the gas, it's the fuzz!
I haven’t been into racing games the last few years, but instead focusing on first person shooters with emergent, interacting systems and hard core dungeon crawlers. Strangely, Need for Speed Rivals falls right in line with my current preferences and ties them together with gorgeous races and thrilling police pursuits. Set in an open world filled with unexpected events, using a system that makes you weigh the risk of each additional mile you drive, and teasing you with a massive list of vehicles and modifications to play with, Need for Speed Rivals is an arcade racer that will satisfy almost any sort of gamer out there.
Crazy Taxi and Need For Speed's illegitimate, violent son.
Whether due to hardware limitations or a reputation for simpler fare, the Wii hasn't seen much of the sandbox/open world genre. Considering the drop in horsepower and the inability to implement the “switch to any car, any time” gameplay, I'm surprised Ubisoft bothered making this Wii version at all. Still, effort was clearly spent in building this version from the ground up -- it uses the pointer controls for shooting (which is very handy), and it's got DS connectivity (remember this feature, Nintendo?). It does a decent job creating a large San Francisco-looking city to drive around in, free of load times. However, too many bad ideas and cut corners make it all seem pretty average.
This new game will be released in Spring 2012.