Need for Speed Unbound Online Won't Have Cops at Launch

Just like in the single-player mode, you will progress by winning all sorts of race events to get the fanciest cars and best tuning parts. Also, you'll be able to customize your character and car to your heart's content. It's safe to say that you won't be running out of things to do in the online mode any time soon.

One of the main activities is "Freeroam," where you... freely roam the streets of Lakeshore (d'oh) in search of some high-octane action. If you have ever played GTA online, you'll already be familiarized with the shared-world design of the multiplayer. In the Freeroam mode, you'll encounter Drift Zones, Speedruns, Speed Traps, Speed Jumps, and Collectables. Furthermore, you can repair your car at the Gas Stations, or buy, sell, upgrade, and customize your car at the Safe House.

Meetups are activities where you are presented with race playlists. While some are single-tier races and require just one-tier cars, others will require different car tiers to compete. That's why it's important to have different-grade vehicles in your garage. If you don't have what it takes to get into a race, you can always loan a car if you can stomach driving someone else's, that is.

When you drive to a Meetup point, you can invite everyone from the server or just the people from your party. Just remember that there are only eight spots in total for a race playlist. The cash prize is linked to the participating number of players, meaning that the more people join in, the bigger the reward. That's why it's important for you to respond to invites as well.

Cross-play made it into the game, which is important if you want to find a server quickly. You turn on the option when you first start the game, but if you want to disable it later for some reason, you'll always find it in the settings menu before you enter the Lakeshore Online mode.

I'd recommend having cross-play enabled because there's no real advantage for a gaming platform in this case. PC and consoles can have driving wheels, so unless people are using cheats on PC, you'll be right as rain. And at the end of the day, it's an arcade-style racing game, not a driving simulator.

Other important features, or better said, lack thereof, are cops. But according to EA's blog post, the "5-0" won't be on your tail when the game launches on December 2. Other things that won't make it upon release are Takeovers, Pinkslip bets, and Sidebets. I have to say, it's a bit disappointing because they are fun activities. However, let's hope they'll update the multiplayer sooner than we'll manage to finish the single-player.

Progression in the online mode, as I said, is simple enough. But it's different than the one from the Campaign. However, there are some shared features between the two of them, like cash and collectibles. Just be thoughtful of how you spend  money in the game. Don't waste it on frivolous stuff in the single-player if you're about to finish it, and then switch to the online mode.

Other things that crossover are Delivery mission rewards, where you get to buy unique builds at the online dealership if you complete these missions during the Campaign. There will also be many other activities that will reward you with more unique builds, Driving Effect Tags, poses, horns "underglows," legendary custom builds, and so on.