Play as both cop and racer
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“for the first time you can play as a Cop as well and can feel the frustration firsthand hence EMPATHY”
Steam review · 60.2 h played ↗
Need for Speed™ Rivals
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Mostly Positive · 77%Mostly Positive · 77%Criterion Games2020Racing · Driving · Action
$19.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 5 h ago
The verdict
A brutal, adrenaline-heavy cops-vs-racers arcade game that still looks great. Online is dead, DLC is locked and it's capped at 30 FPS, so skip it if you want multiplayer or smooth PC performance.
Great for
Fans of Hot Pursuit-style arcade chases who want a cheap single-player game and don't mind modding
Main risk
Servers are shut down, DLC is locked and the 30 FPS cap breaks things when unlocked
What players love
Graphics still hold up
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“13 years old, and still looks great and plays well!”
Steam review · 10.5 h played ↗
Intense, aggressive cop chases
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews
“the cops in Rivals are BRUTAL as hell.”
Steam review · 13 h played ↗
Pursuit tech adds variety
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 positive reviews
“One of the best features was the Pursuit Tech system, which made every encounter unpredictable.”
Steam review · 74.8 h played ↗
Runs well on low-end PCs
Mentioned in ~1 in 19 positive reviews
“It runs very well on my potato, and even at low graphics, it still looks great, and I had fun playing it”
Steam review · 18.5 h played ↗
Cheap and good value on sale
Mentioned in ~1 in 19 positive reviews
“Which person decided in their right mind to make this 3 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dollars?”
Steam review · 9.8 h played ↗
What players complain about
30 FPS lock; unlocking breaks game
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews
“30 fps cap, physics tied to frame rate so you can't change it without introducing bugs total joke”
Steam review · 0.1 h played ↗
Online servers shut down
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“Need for Speed Rivals' main selling point was multiplayer.”
Steam review · 36.2 h played ↗
Bugs, abandoned events and crashes
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“all the events and time trials just automatically abandon as soon as you go through a speed trap or get a cop chasing you”
Steam review · 2.6 h played ↗
Unskippable tutorial and cutscenes
Mentioned in ~1 in 11 negative reviews
“Unskippable INTROs, unskippable retarded tutorial.”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗
Cops spawn from nowhere and are punishing
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 negative reviews
“another police car magically appears right behind you out of nowhere”
Steam review · 5.6 h played ↗
DLC no longer works
Mentioned in ~1 in 25 negative reviews
“THE DLCS NO LONGER WORK.”
Steam review · 1.3 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: PlayableController support30 GB
Minimum
OSWindows 7 (Service Pack 2) 32-Bit
ProcessorIntel 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo or AMD 2.8 GHz Athlon X2
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsAMD Radeon 3870 512 MB or higher performance; NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or higher performance; Intel HD 4000 Integrated 512 MB or higher performance
Storage30 GB available space
Recommended
OSWindows 7 (Service Pack 2)
ProcessorIntel Quad-Core CPU or AMD Six Core CPU
Memory8 GB RAM
GraphicsAMD Radeon 7870 3GB or higher performance; NVIDIA GeForce GT660 3GB or higher performance
Storage30 GB available space
OSWindows 7 (Service Pack 2) 32-Bit
ProcessorIntel 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo or AMD 2.8 GHz Athlon X2
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsAMD Radeon 3870 512 MB or higher performance; NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or higher performance; Intel HD 4000 Integrated 512 MB or higher performance
Storage30 GB available space
More games to check
Other games we’ve read the reviews for
The Crew™
Mixed · 62%
+ Huge, varied open-world USA map
− Servers shut down, game unplayable
analyzed 3 d ago
Liftoff®: FPV Drone Racing
Overwhelmingly Positive
+ Great for learning FPV and saving money
− Controller setup and compatibility problems
analyzed 4 d ago
−20%
over the hill
Very Positive · 93%
+ Relaxing, cozy atmosphere
− Too shallow and repetitive for the price
analyzed 4 d ago
−70%
Automobilista 2
Very Positive · 92%
+ Huge variety of cars and tracks
− Wheel and controller setup problems
analyzed 4 d ago
Weekly digest
Fresh games worth a look, in your inbox
The most interesting games we’ve just analyzed, once a week.Once a week we send the most interesting games we’ve just analyzed: the verdict, top pros and cons, and what changed. No spam.
One email a week · unsubscribe in one click