EA: Rivals is this year’s Need For Speed

Electronic Arts showed off the first footage of the latest Need For Speed at tonight’s E3 press conference.

As announced last month, NFS Rivals is being developed by new studio Ghost Games in partnership with Criterion. It is built on the Frostbite 3 engine, and is due on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on November 19th. Xbox One and PS4 versions will follow later in the year.

As the name suggests, rivalry is at the heart of this year’s Need For Speed with players behind the wheel of either street racing cars or police vehicles. The former explore the open world in search of races to participate in, while the latter patrol the world and attempt to stop them.

From what we can tell by the on-stage demo, a third player can get in on the action as a police helicopter, supporting other player-controlled cops by tracking the race and attempting to intercept it via tablets.

EA also made a big deal about the new All Drive mechanic, which lets gamers switch seamlessly from single to multiplayer, and the return of Ferrari to the series. Autolog will also return.

The publisher also brought out Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul to offer a sneak peek at the upcoming Need For Speed movie.