NFS: Most Wanted is one of the best things of 2005. It brought dream cars, police chases and fun back into the series.
The game begins with an amazingly stunning presentation with a some very well crafted cutscenes. Too bad that they're aren't so much frequent as you advance over the game, but they're are enough to deliver you the history and feeling of the game.
Here's a sinopse: Razor, the #15 of the blacklist, a top of the pops for the illegal streetracers in the game, frames you and steal your car. After you get out of the jail, you discover that Razor is now #1 in the list, and Mia, a deadly hot chick, will help you climb your way to the top and get your vengeance over that guy.
So now, you're out to buy a new ride. As soon as you look through the cars that will be available along the game, I bet that a smile will open in your face... Porsche, Lamborguini, Lotus, Dodge, Mustang, Corvette, hell yeah, the giants are back, and there's also the amazing, the gorgeus Ford GT. And the roar of their engines are in the game as well, and they're really LOUD. If you've been playing NFS since it's first installment, I'm sure that you've missed those brands and cars too for a longggg time. Of course, there are also Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Renault, Fiat, and as well some japanese cars from Mazda and Mitsubishi. Since the first NFS: Underground, all we had were japanese cars, and they're were as well in all the racing games of the genre, like Street Racing Syndicate, Tokyo Extreme Racer, Juiced and others. And to speak the truth, japanese cars are quite boring in my opinion, so this revisit to the big brands is more than welcome to the NFS series.
The carrer mode is great. There's a cool presentation to each blacklist rival that get in your way, and you have to beat challenges in different game modes to get a chance to beat them. And also, you can choose some prizes from you rivals after a duel. If you get lucky, you can win his pink slip and enjoy a free new semi-tuned ride...
Some of the challenges are well known for those who played the NFS: Undeground series: There are circuits, sprints and drags. Also, some of the modes are new, like Toolbooth, that's like a time trial; Speedbraker, where you have to run over the speed limit in the radars; and the main one in this game: The Police Chases. They are fun and daring as hell: you smash units, destroy the road signs, make traffic infractions, and as you get more bounty points, more strategy the police will use against you. At first, they'll only chase you with some regular units, then your wanted rate jumps to 2 or more, and they start to use faster cars, do barricades, attack you with rhino units that'll try to take you out of the road and corner you, or even helicopters and all of this together. It's a really neat scheme, all of this hide and seek with the police. When they're on your track, you can cause a havoc exploding gas stations, demolishing constructions, making them crash or stop to help the injuried. As soon as you evade or overun them, you enter in a cooldown state, where you can hide in specific spots in your map to escape and earn your well deserved points. It's is the highligh of the game, really. Also, it brings some nice elements that EA incorporated from some other racers in the market, like the free roam mode, that were originally seem in Street Racing Syndicate and Tokyo Extreme Racing, and there are some totally original and neat addictions, like the capability to use slowmotion to get through messy situations. These guys really know what they're doing.
The customization is more free than in the NFS: Underground series this time. As before, new parts, upgrades, paintings, vynils, will all be unlocked as you progress through the carrer mode, as well as vehicles. Cosmetic changes can be matched to your taste. There's no best or worse part or paint in this category, what is a relief in many ways than one. So you can still just pass a simple two stripes vynil through your ride, and if it's enough for you, it's enough. Body kits are no longer available separetely as before: sideskirts, frontal and rear bumpers are altogether now in one piece. But they're really well crafted and work really great in the way they are presented in the game. They really fit the car... The performance upgrades are quite intuitive, and it's sold in kits. In the description, you'll be able to see a list of the parts contained in each kit and theyr brands. No complication, easy enough. I'm confess that this system made me very happy. Maybe a custom paint system would be a cool thing to see ingame, like we're available in other games, but that's no sin to forget it.
There's only three downpoints in NFS: Underground, and they are:
1) A guy reach #1 in the blacklist using a BMW, while having Ford GT, Porsche Carrera and many more available??... I don't think so.
2) There's no Ferrari.
3) Rap music... Only one kinda of music fits racing games, and that is ROCK, heavy and loud. There's only about 6 songs that I've left on in my EAtrax list.
Taking that aside, Kudos for EA. This game is great and is a really worthy addiction to your library. If you've played NFS 3 back in the PSX days, and liked it... If you have passion for Porsche, Lamborguini, Lotus, Mustang, Corvette, Ford GT, Pontiac, Mercedes, BWM or Audi... or even Mazda and Mitsubshi...
Grab it.
Cheers!
Cap'n Daccat