The best since NFS 3.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted offers lots of different styles of racing. Here is a break down of the different types:
Sprint - one, long lap where you and 1 to 3 opponents dash it out til the finish.
Circuit - obviously, laps. Usually 3.
Lap Knockout - 4 laps, person in last place at the end of each lap gets eliminated.
Speed Trap - at certain points on the course, there are radars. Hit these radars at top speed. Each spot will be added to an overall speed. Person with the highest accumulated speed wins.
Drag - you have to manually shift, dodge traffic, and beat the opponents.
Toll Booth - get from booth to booth in the allowed time.
Each is a nice variety, but when it all boils down to it, they are all racing. The variety is nice and helps with not getting bored. Plus, to get to each race, there is a free roam mode where you can just travel the cities to each point where the races start. There is also a challenge mode that offers 60+ challenges. One problem with it though is that there are only like 4-5 varities of challenges, so it seems to repeat itself a lot.
Graphics:
Easily better than the PS2/Xbox/GC counterparts. The textures are really smooth, and the sense of speed is great. The only graphical issues the game has are some the clucky physics when running through spots to tear stuff down, and the shadows of the cars are really bad. But other than that, the game is beautiful.
Sound:
The music is a god-awful selection of songs. I think the only one I could take was the Static-X song. However, with a click of the off button, that was not a problem anymore. The SFX of the cars and voices of the police are great though.
Replay:
Tons. This racer has a lot of variety packed into it.
Overall:
This has been the first great NFS game, to me, since NFS3 for the PSOne. I would recommend it to anyone, especially racing fans.