Our review of Need for Speed Unbound was created under time pressure. Of course it wasn’t the first time.
Because Electronic Arts couldn’t (or didn’t want to) provide us with a test version of Need for Speed Unbound before the release, our test of the racing game was created under severe time pressure. Because every day that goes by from the release of a game, the interest in a test article decreases and decreases. So the faster we test, the more people we can help.
But does it work? Is it even possible to test games properly under time pressure?
That’s a very good question – asked by you in the comments when Peter presented our testing procedure for Need for Speed. 24 hours after the engines first roared, he then published a first impression including a rating forecast, after six days the rating was fixed.
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In the podcast, Micha and Peter talk about how we deal with it. Of course, we perceive games differently in a tight, stressful test period than when we are relaxed after work.
And yes, time pressure can also lead to mistakes, as we have seen several times in GameStar history. Especially with two prominent examples – from which we (hopefully) learned.
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