The Crew may have taken the MMORPG-racer spotlight at this year’s E3, but it wasn’t the only one at the show by any means. Away from the bright lights and booming noise of the expo floor, Slightly Mad Studios – the developer behind Need for Speed: Shift and this fall’s Project CARS – showed off its own entry, the free-to-play, high-velocity MMO World of Speed. Like The Crew, World of Speed puts a big emphasis on team dynamics and forming your own racing club – but its version of teamwork is designed to push players to not just work together, but actually take complementary party roles. And customization plays a big part in that.
"If it’s a racing MMO, and it’s team-based, then performance upgrades are the equivalent of your swords and shield and helmets and things like that in a fantasy RPG," says World of Speed’s creative director, Andy Tudor. "You research the parts you want and install the ones that are specific to the kinIf you want to do a lot of drifting, for example, you'd switch to a car with rear-wheel drive, and maybe add some handling upgrades and drift-specific tires. If you want to take advantage of another car's slipstream, you'd need to swap out your heavier ride for a lighter, more nimble one. The upgrade paths aren't linear, Tudor says, something he hopes will keep everyone from simply grinding for cash, buying the most expensive thing, and then driving around with identical loadouts.
All of this is important largely because of the handful of "side quests" that pop up during each race. Despite their name, World of Speed's side quests are actually secondary challenges that face teams during races, like drifting for a set amount of time. They're also mandatory; if you don't complete them and your opponents do, the points they earn may push them to victory even if you crossed the finish line first.
It's an unusual twist on traditional racing, and what makes it potentially interesting is that side quests are sometimes contradictory; your car might not be suited for completing all of them, but so long as someone on your team does, it counts for all of you. You can therefore decide before a given race who's going to pursue which objectives, and those players can modify their rides accordingly. Or your team can trick out beefier cars to run interference on opponents, while someone in a lighter car drafts behind a leader, only to slingshot out when nearing the finish line.
Unfortunately, the E3 demo didn't include any of World of Speed's ambitious team dynamics. Instead, it offered a taste of what solo racing is like, with a pair of one-on-one races meant to highlight the differences performance upgrades can make. The first time around, I drove a stock Mitsubishi Lancer through a twisting city track, slamming into my opponent (and, more often than not, the walls on turns) at every opportunity. World of Speed may be free to play, but its actual racing doesn't feel cheap; in fact, it's robust and fun, with beautifully rendered real-world tracks (complete with shortcuts, for those who know where to look) and a nice sense of speed, and the Lancer handled reasonably well even though it hadn't been upgraded.
The second time around, I tried driving a tricked-out version of the same car, and noticed the difference immediately. Not only was it faster, but the steering was much more responsive (and ironically required a defter touch to keep from crashing), and the addition of nitro let me blast ahead of my opponent on straightaways and boost myself out of tight turns a little more quickly.
Aside from performance upgrades, there'll be plenty of other, more cosmetic alterations you'll be able to make to your cars, from new paint jobs and clan emblems to spoilers, skirts, headlights, and rims. And while World of Speed's "open world" aspect is limited to an airfield where you can drive around before picking your next race from a menu, there already appear to be a ton of tracks (based on real-world circuits and street locations) where you'll be able to show off your custom ride. If its freemium aspects don't turn out to be irritating or onerous, World of Speed looks like a strong proposition for racing fans out for cheap (or free) thrills.
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