LeGeNd-1
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Just an idea that popped into my head while cruising around Palm City 
We've had polls about favourite NFS games and most famous cover car, but not locations. We've raced across many cities throughout NFS' history. The first few games on PS1 doesn't have open world, but starting from the PS2 era most NFS have had an open world map. From the neon lit urban core of Underground and Carbon to the wide majestic sweeping landscapes of Hot Pursuit and Rivals, to the desert heat of Payback and most recently the rain beaten streets of Palm City. Which are your favourites? Taking aside obvious graphical limitations of the older games, car count and other features and purely looking at map design from a driving/exploration point of view, which would you call home? 
The NFS historians will notice that two maps I included aren't strictly drivable in free roam mode (at least not without cheats): Olympic City and Blackridge. However almost all of the tracks in this game do fit together to form one giant map and I think you can easily imagine how it feels to cruise the full city without barriers, so I've taken liberties with these two. I was also debating whether to include World's map as separate to MW/Carbon, but I think the combined map and its new roads to combine the two warrants a separate selection. I never personally played World, so if someone has objections I'm happy to hear it. I'm also debating to include The Run's coast to coast routes, but unlike Olympic/Blackridge it's not continuous so I don't really count it as open world to be honest.
For me, the best of all time would be Fairhaven. The world just clicks from the very first minute I drove that Vantage in the intro. Gorgeous scenery, good balance of city and suburbs. Not too big and not too small with lots of fun jumps and playground areas. Also the only NFS map to receive a significant expansion with the airport area. Full day/night cycle and doesn't overuse rain (looking at you 2015 and Heat). I knew every nook and cranny of the city and would gladly live there if it's a real place
Second would be Palm City. Beyond all expectations Heat is one of the best NFS games of modern era, and certainly Ghost's best attempt so far. Very similar feel and size to Fairhaven, but there are a few sparse areas in the middle of the map which doesn't really leave any mark. Fairhaven has no such padding. Also boo for the day/night divide and not allowing a natural cycle. And rain. Too much rain.
My third but not least is Bayview. Probably my first open world driving game and the feeling of freedom as a kid was amazing. It may be a simplistic and small map by today standards but it also has a well balanced distribution of city/mountain/docks area. Many hours were spent cruising the streets just because I could, not to escape cops or find collectibles, and that's not something I can say about a lot of modern games. Nostalgia at its best and I still boot up UG2 from time to time.
What's your favourite cities? Up to 3 choices allowed and I'll update the poll with future cities so you can also change your choice.
We've had polls about favourite NFS games and most famous cover car, but not locations. We've raced across many cities throughout NFS' history. The first few games on PS1 doesn't have open world, but starting from the PS2 era most NFS have had an open world map. From the neon lit urban core of Underground and Carbon to the wide majestic sweeping landscapes of Hot Pursuit and Rivals, to the desert heat of Payback and most recently the rain beaten streets of Palm City. Which are your favourites? Taking aside obvious graphical limitations of the older games, car count and other features and purely looking at map design from a driving/exploration point of view, which would you call home? The NFS historians will notice that two maps I included aren't strictly drivable in free roam mode (at least not without cheats): Olympic City and Blackridge. However almost all of the tracks in this game do fit together to form one giant map and I think you can easily imagine how it feels to cruise the full city without barriers, so I've taken liberties with these two. I was also debating whether to include World's map as separate to MW/Carbon, but I think the combined map and its new roads to combine the two warrants a separate selection. I never personally played World, so if someone has objections I'm happy to hear it. I'm also debating to include The Run's coast to coast routes, but unlike Olympic/Blackridge it's not continuous so I don't really count it as open world to be honest.
For me, the best of all time would be Fairhaven. The world just clicks from the very first minute I drove that Vantage in the intro. Gorgeous scenery, good balance of city and suburbs. Not too big and not too small with lots of fun jumps and playground areas. Also the only NFS map to receive a significant expansion with the airport area. Full day/night cycle and doesn't overuse rain (looking at you 2015 and Heat). I knew every nook and cranny of the city and would gladly live there if it's a real place
Second would be Palm City. Beyond all expectations Heat is one of the best NFS games of modern era, and certainly Ghost's best attempt so far. Very similar feel and size to Fairhaven, but there are a few sparse areas in the middle of the map which doesn't really leave any mark. Fairhaven has no such padding. Also boo for the day/night divide and not allowing a natural cycle. And rain. Too much rain.
My third but not least is Bayview. Probably my first open world driving game and the feeling of freedom as a kid was amazing. It may be a simplistic and small map by today standards but it also has a well balanced distribution of city/mountain/docks area. Many hours were spent cruising the streets just because I could, not to escape cops or find collectibles, and that's not something I can say about a lot of modern games. Nostalgia at its best and I still boot up UG2 from time to time.
What's your favourite cities?
Up to 3 choices allowed and I'll update the poll with future cities so you can also change your choice.
