I haven't played all the NFS games, but I do have fond memories of the original NFS in the 90's, the Porsche story game NFS, the Hot Pursuit and Most wanted. I was quite disappointed by the NFS Heat however.
This lead to quite a lot of skepticism on my side, I felt like the series is dead meat, so I haven't started the Unbound until very recently. Obviously the reviews were not stellar either.
Finally I'm glad I started this game.
Story (4/5) - the story is cheesy, but still above average for a racing game. It's set in a male fantasy town where you can earn money AND fight for social justice by participating in mad destructive street races. If you accept this paradigm, it's a nice story of betrayal and retribution.
Graphics (5/5) - the art style is original, makes it obvious where to take turn for next checkpoint. The open world is nice looking, I haven't noticed any issues.
Driving (3.5/5) - fairly typical arcade racer with catch-up AI and nitro boost that's recharged by performing drifts and stunts. It's not as good as FH, but far from being garbage.
Music (1/5) - I don't know what's the music style in the game called. It's sort of like hip-hop for edgy little children. It's the worst part of the package. There are also only handful of tracks.
Achievements (3/5) - You earn little over half the achievements by natural story progression, some are for online play and I'm afraid the collectibles are going to be pain. Get 3 stars in every drift zone, speed camera and jump, collect toys and stickers. Unimaginative collection, copy-paste from FH games.
Don't worry about not winning every race in the beginning. It's going to improve after half of the story, when you get Porsche 911 for S-tier races. Focus on overtake events, that's easy win every time.
4.0