#and the chase music is just batshit insane orchestral action tracks on crack

[kerri-the-skunk]

Rockport as a setting is just so interesting to me, and I don't know why. It's not because it feels lived-in because it's the map to an open-world racing game. Of course, it isn't. Streets are just a little too wide. Even for a major American city, all of the alleyways and shifty side streets are wide enough to fit a super wide sportscar. But there's something about the vibe of Rockport that's Pacific Northwestern as fuck, in a way that no other PNW-inspired Need for Speed locale hasn't ever been able to replicate. And there have been at least three others. Seacrest County and, to a lesser extent, Redview County from Hot Pursuit (2010) and Rivals, respectively, as well as the city of Fairhaven from Most Wanted (2012). Maybe it's because I'm an Oregonian from Portland, but the vibe of Rockport just speaks to me. It's a city plagued by endemic corruption, economic decline, and a militarized police force. It gets the broad strokes of Portland's situation right, both at the time of release and as of me writing this, and it feels like, to me at least, that just offscreen, there's a homeless camp that's just been shut down by the city, a peaceful protest being broken up by RPD pigs, and this city's sleazebag shithead of a mayor is gonna win reelection because even though things have gotten bad, they're still better than a Republican. I don't know where I'm going with this anymore, it's like 11:30 my time and I'm feeling a little eepy from taking my sertraline, but what I'm trying to say with this wall of text is that Rockport as a setting is Portland as fuck, and by extension Northwestern as fuck. All to serve as set dressing for a cheesy funny-bad revenge plot serving as motivation for racing that sucks because everyone else cheats, and cop chases that fuck because the music and vocal performances in that one specific area are really good.

#video games #gaming #need for speed #need for speed most wanted #game design #??? i think #map design #??? maybe #art direction #like seriously #the va work for the cops is way too good for a game like this #and the chase music is just batshit insane orchestral action tracks on crack