Need For Speed Games Ranked From Worst To Best

Summary

• Need For Speed shines with exceptional racing titles, offering immersive gameplay loops and iconic experiences.
• Need For Speed: Payback’s grindy progression system led to one of the worst entries in the franchise.
• Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 elevated the series with improved gameplay and exotic vehicles, setting a high standard.

So many things have to happen for a racing game to stand out. It has to have advanced driving mechanics, car customization with depth, deeply engaging tracks, and more. The wish list for video game racers is so long, which is why a game can fail for not having it all. Need For Speed has proven time and time again that it is a phenomenal gaming franchise with exceptional racing titles. Games such as Need For Speed: Underground have tremendous nostalgic value, and understandably so.

There’s no denying that the franchise has been through its fair share of ups and downs, but NFS fans will swear by the fact that most games in the series are worth checking out, including ones that don’t have the greatest critical reception. The breakneck racing and the hunt to seek out better cars to leave the opposition in the dust is a gameplay loop that this franchise nails in almost every entry, making it clear why the legacy of Need for Speed will persist no matter what.

Updated on December 15, 2024, by Mehrdad Khayyat: The Need For Speed franchise is one of the most beloved racing series for any old-school gamer, regardless of its underwhelming entries in recent years.

Some of the games in this franchise are so innovative that there is no replacement for them even after all these years. Need For Speed is still the best series to depict illegal racing in video games, and fans hope it finally returns to its glorious days sometime in the future.

26 Need For Speed: Payback

An All-Time Shame In The Series’ History

Unfortunately, it has not been long enough since the release of Need For Speed: Payback to forget about it. The game was by far the worst-ever entry in the Need For Speed franchise, thanks to a grindy progression system that was designed to force players to buy XP boosters to level up faster.

Even when putting the progression system aside, Payback was still a bad game in gameplay mechanics like car handling and customization options. The game was trying to tell a compelling story about a criminal cartel, but the narrative was heavily rushed.

25 The Need For Speed

A Promising Start

• Released: December 1994
• Developer: EA
• Platforms: PC, Saturn, PlayStation, 3DO, MS-DOS

It’s hard to leave the original Need for Speed off a best-of-the-best list, considering the franchise wouldn’t be anywhere near as popular as it is today had its 1994 darling not set the stage for the future. The title that started it all was considered quite the leap forward for its time, offering players some amazingly entertaining arcade-style racing, with interesting tracks, and great visuals (from a 1994 standpoint).

By today’s standards, Need for Speed seems like an incredibly lackluster release that features a handful of cars and tracks. Its spot on this list isn’t a dig at the title in any way, it’s simply an acknowledgment that NFS has evolved by leaps and bounds in the modern age. These impressive titles should definitely be thankful for their origins, which helped elevate them into a series that’s still ongoing almost 30 years later.

24 Need For Speed: Undercover

An Unexpected Downfall

Although police chases are still a significant part of this Need For Speed Installment, players play the part of an undercover police officer. To infiltrate a crime syndicate, players compete in street races and drive stolen cars. The speeds players can reach in this game are absurd. This heart-pounding adventure is a ton of fun, and it’s why Need For Speed: Undercover is considered one of the best Need For Speed games to date.

The game even has role-playing game elements that allow players to improve their licensed real-world cars. However, the fact that this game was viewed to be too easy in the eyes of many fans hurt this title’s reputation, with the somewhat repetitive nature of this title and the lack of racing variety making it hard for even the most ardent NFS fan to defend a title that should’ve had more time in the oven.

23 Need For Speed (2015)

A Major Visual Achievement

As one of the most anticipated Need For Speed games to be released, Need For Speed (2015) brought back the underground feel but added updated graphics and a more immersive open world. However, it failed to deliver on many of Need For Speed‘s most renowned qualities like car customization and race variation.

The game didn’t contain drag races as it should have. The concept should have worked, but the execution was poor. Despite its flaws, Need For Speed (2015) is one of the best games of the Need For Speed franchise. The fact that this entire game takes place at night makes for a beautiful sight, with 2015’s Need for Speed reboot featuring a lot of style and character in its visuals that make it worth checking out in the eyes of many fans.

22 Need For Speed: The Run

Trying New, Wild Ideas

In 2011, the Need for Speed franchise took a stab at creating a story-based adventure, unlike anything they’d created in the past. Most traditional NFS titles saw players starting out as newbie racers and had them competing to gain “respect” in order to rise through the ranks and become the best of the best. Need for Speed: The Run, tosses this premise in favor of something far more compelling; a literal race across the country with the player character’s very life at stake.

The Run spans the countryside and forces players to outrun opponents, police, and even the mob, all for a taste of freedom. It’s an experience that fans are not used to seeing from the series, and the overall story and gameplay mechanics work extremely well. It’s a cult classic for many but, unfortunately, it’s incredibly short and doesn’t offer much in terms of replayability.

21 Need For Speed: Nitro

An Exclusive Experiment For Nintendo Players

• Released: November 3, 2009
• Developer: Firebrand Games, EA
• Platforms: Wii, Nintendo DS

Need For Speed: Nitro was a bit of an experiment for the franchise. The title was released exclusively on Nintendo consoles (the Wii and DS specifically) in 2009 and aimed to make the Need for Speed brand “even more exciting” by elevating the racing experience and cutting out unnecessary fluff. The end result was supposed to be a game that played and felt better for younger audiences while still appealing to longtime fans of the series.

Unfortunately, developers missed the mark when it came to the overall vision for Nitro. The gameplay was solid but many of the features that fans had come to know and love felt “forced” or were straight-up missing. It also felt “watered-down” compared to the rest of the franchise, with fewer cars and tracks than its predecessors.

20 Need For Speed 2

Ramping Up A Solid Foundation

• Released: March 31, 1997
• Developer: EA
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation

Back in the day, there could be no cooler game than Need for Speed 2. The title didn’t have a great campaign mode or the most creative flair, but it made up for all that with flash and style. That’s not even mentioning the abundance of cars and tracks to race on. Unfortunately, the biggest problem with the title was its buggy nature, as glitches were common to find and interfered more than a few times with gameplay.

Its sleek nature still deserves praise, as the game was lauded for making the cars look extra realistic. In the context of a sequel, this game did just enough to improve upon the mechanics of the first time, but it would still take some time for the franchise to really reach the legendary heights that fans still look back on to this day.

19 Need For Speed: Heat

A Small Step Forward After Multiple Failures

Need For Speed: Heat marks the latest entry in the franchise, bringing the total number of games to an impressive 24. At first glance, Heat seems like a formula for absolute success, with incredible visuals, tight driving mechanics, and the iconic gameplay elements that fans of the series crave. There’s an open world to explore, car customization, sim-style upgrading, arcade racing action, and even intense police chases.

Heat has all the elements of an iconic title, but it’s been met with mixed reviews, with players either loving the installment or lambasting it. It’s definitely not the greatest NFS experience players have seen, but it’s still a blast for anyone looking for a modern racer. The abrupt ending to the story mode was certainly a source of great pain for fans, but the Day & Night switch made things pretty interesting and let players immerse themselves in a title that had both legal and street races. To make things even better, cops are ferocious in this title, making a player’s excursions at Night pretty harrowing every time.

18 Need For Speed: ProStreet

Taking Series In A Direction That It Wasn’t Made For

• Released: November 14, 2007
• Developer: EA Black Box
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 2, PSP, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Wii, mobile devices

The series tried to go for both an arcade-style and a simulation for this ProStreet, resulting in a bit of a mess in the final product. Things are tighter in the game, as the focus is more on the legal side of racing, which doesn’t exactly translate into the “fun” side of things. Still, ProStreet can be considered underrated since it brings in a sense of realism that the Need for Speed series didn’t feature before.

It’s certainly not the best in the series but is still worth checking out. As long as players don’t mind messing around with legal racing and and a focus on simulation over arcade gameplay, they’ll find ProStreet to be a decent if somewhat unremarkable title.

17 Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2012)

A Flawed Reimagination Of One Of The Best Entries

Set in an open world, 2012’s Need for Speed: Most Wanted aimed to please long-time fans by bringing back the plus points of the original and combining them with elements from other games. More than anything else, exploring the city is the main selling point. The one negative point is the lack of appeal in single-player mode, as there just isn’t as much quality in races here.

The game does its best job of pushing the boundary of multiplayer racing, with competitions carrying the sense of thrill the fans love. A lot of people may argue that this modern title doesn’t hold a candle to the original, but that doesn’t take away from the amazing racing mechanics featured in this title that players can’t get enough of.

16 Need For Speed World

The First-Ever MMO Entry In The Series

Need For Speed World no longer exists as Electronic Arts decided to shut it down back in 2015, however, it was a hotly anticipated game for racing enthusiasts back in 2010. It was the first-ever Need For Speed game with an MMO premise, where players could compete with each other and AI-driven rivals in a shared universe.

The gameplay of Need For Speed World was quite close to that of Most Wanted, where players would mainly take the role of illegal street racers, but they also had to run away from law enforcement units. The idea behind World was quite ahead of its time, and the game managed to reach 1 million players only a few months after its release, but the lack of content support in the following years forced players to leave World.

15 Need For Speed: No Limits

Bringing The Series To Mobile

Electronic Arts has tried its luck with a mobile version of Need For Speed a few times, and none of them has been as successful as No Limits! Released back in 2015, No Limits has been around for a long time now, and with over 100 million installations on Google Play, it seems to be quite popular among mobile gamers.

No Limits is all about illegal racers taking over the city while having a clash with the police units. The game features high-level visuals and receives constant content updates as new mainline entries of Need For Speed are released on the consoles. It has easy-to-learn control and it delivers a wide variety of licensed cars that can be deeply customized.

14 Need For Speed: High Stakes

A Big Step Forward In Delivering Realistic Gameplay Mechanics

• Released: March 24, 1999
• Developer: EA Canada/EA Seattle
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation

After releasing Need For Speed 3: Hot Pursuit, which delivered a brand-new experience to the series, High Stakes shifted the focus on pure racing again and removed cops. Instead, the game introduced a series of new gameplay mechanics to make it feel more realistic.

High Stakes was the first game in the series where a damage system was implemented, affecting the physics and performance of the car after each big collision. Maintaining the cars was a big part of the gameplay, as players needed to spend some of the earned rewards on repairing the car to keep it ready for the upcoming tournaments.

13 Need For Speed: Carbon

A Brief But Exciting Experience

Need For Speed: Carbon is a lot like Need For Speed: Underground, but it had a shorter, albeit still enjoyable single-player campaign in comparison. It also has less car customization than Need For Speed Underground. It’s worthy of being included in the best games for street races and has genuinely fun gameplay that surprises at every turn.

For a game that was released more than ten years ago, it holds up well. Driving mechanics are exceptional, and the game has high replay value. Nostalgic players can go back to Need For Speed: Carbon without thinking twice. There’s a huge reason why so many players are clamoring for a remake of this title. The racing influence makes the canyon drive some of the best moments in any NFS game that keeps things fresh and engaging.

12 Need For Speed Unbound

A Step In The Right Direction To Bring The Series Back To Its Peak

Need for Speed Unbound decided to switch up the NFS formula in a major way. The biggest way they did this was by switching up the art style, opting for a cel-shaded look with stylistic visuals. These changes made the racing action look quite different and unique from the other titles in the series, which blended into each other from a visual standpoint.

Of course, Unbound also had its fair share of issues, with the progression of this game crawling at a snail’s pace. Unless players were happy with getting whatever car they saw fit instead of targeting a specific vehicle, they wouldn’t have to deal with the repetition in this game all that much. Despite having some missteps, Unbound is still a step in the right direction for the series and a game that is promising for Need for Speed fans who wanted the franchise to shake things up in a palpable manner.

11 Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed

A Game For Porsche Lovers

• Released: March 29, 2000
• Developer: Eden Studios, EA
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance

Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed is a decent if somewhat unremarkable video game. The game’s expertise in bringing Porsche cars to the forefront can also be considered its negative point. It brings in a narrow point of view in the racing world, as Porsche is the only brand featured. That’s not to say the game isn’t enjoyable, as this might be the classiest entry to date.

There’s also the fact that Porsche Unleashed is the first game to bring an actual story, as players can engage in this plot in addition to their racing exploits. The focus on completing stunts is another aspect with a certain charm. For all its limitations, long-time NFS fans have a soft spot for Porsche Unleashed, which says a lot.

10 Need for Speed: Rivals

A Spiritual Successor For Hot Pursuit With Incredible Visuals

It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to compare Need For Speed: Rivals to Burnout Paradise. Both games have cinematic crashes, and both games are open-world. Unfortunately, Need For Speed: Rivals has its fair share of bugs and glitches. Had the game been more polished, it could have been an exceptional launch game for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The concept of the game looks good on paper, but it had poor execution. Still, Need For Speed: Rivals is one of the best Need For Speed games thus far. With all the bug fixes and updates that have helped iron out most of the issues in the game, it’s easy to see why most players can have a great time zooming through the picturesque world of Rivals.

9 Need For Speed: Shift 2 – Unleashed

Evolution Of The Legal Racing In The Series

The career mode of Need For Speed: Shift 2 – Unleashed is its highlight. Its races feature a wide range of tracks against top-tier drivers. Need For Speed: Shift 2 – Unleashed is a huge improvement over its predecessor. For a game that was released in 2011, the graphics don’t look that dated, which is a major achievement.

It’s a shame that more people don’t talk about this fun video game, with many people considering this title to be one of the most underrated NFS games around. Each and every race feels meaningful, contributing to the player’s progression and helping them tackle tougher tracks with more confidence.

8 Need For Speed: Underground 2

A Genre-Defining Racing Experience

Need For Speed: Underground 2 had enough car variety and customization to make the game stand on that alone. The career mode is the high point of Need For Speed Underground 2, but the online and local multiplayer weren’t bad either. The soundtrack could have had more variety, but that’s a small complaint in the grand scheme of things.

Sure, listening to the same songs playing over and over was frustrating, but the game has the most customization of any game in the series, and it’s why it’s considered the best Need For Speed game of all time. Of course, it would be impossible to praise Underground 2 without giving it the credit it deserves for being the first Need for Speed game to integrate an open world, which set the foundation that future games in the series would build upon.

7 Need For Speed: Shift

Adding More Simulation Flavor To The Series

It was with this entry that the series completely dived into the simulation aspect of things. Need for Speed: Shift is akin to games like Gran Turismo and Forza in that learning how to drive is the heart of the matter and excelling here is the key to victory. It has no story, which can be a turn-off for long-time fans, but the shift toward simulation means a level of originality can be found in this game.

Highly detailed cars and points of view are perfect for fans to get their racing dreams on. As long as players accept the title’s focus on simcade racing, they’ll have a great time blasting through the many amazing tracks present in a title that NFS players appreciate for its breathtaking racing gameplay.