An in-depth review on one of the hottest racing games to land the PC - Need for Speed: Most Wanted.
The racing genre has leaped from just your typical afternoon-with-the-buds sort of game to a more competitive, more engaging and not to mention, a prettier sight to look at compared with previous racing games. With the release of Midnight Club, Juiced and the Gran Turismo series, the competition has been quite tight in deciding which games win and which ones get totalled. Nearing the end of the year, EA brought us to the edge of our seats at breakneck speeds with the release of Need for Speed: Most Wanted. A more than welcome addition to the NFS series, Most Wanted picks up from its both its predecessors, NFS Underground and NFS Underground 2, and what they did wrong in both previous franchises of the game, I'm happy to say, was ammended in this one - and then some.
Gameplaywise, this game has quite a few interesting modes that definitely caught my attention. Not to spoil any excitement for the plotline, Most Wanted deviates away from the 'Underground' scene onto a more exposed situation: think in the lines of Hot Pursuit. Ring any bells? The original idea in NFS Hot Pursuit was brought back to life. Squads of police cars swarm over you each one wanting to pin you down, and rumor has it that if you go against it long enough, a police CHOPPER might even take notice. The fun factor is, you can now get them out of commission permanently (or at least for the duration of the pursuit) and in ways you always dreamed of. Underline World's Scariest Police Chases, that's probably the closest description. You would need to get out of your way to topple water towers, explode gas stations, or crash billboards to name a few just to get them off your tail. This game introduces 'bounty' in career mode (also part of the reason it was titled 'Most Wanted'). Bounty is how much your head's worth in police HQ. To be able to proceed with the game's story mode, you have to accumulate a certain amount of bounty - which means, you have to simply get wild and let the police do their jobs, which is try to catch you. The more bounty on your head, the more police out to get you.
Most Wanted also introduces for the first time the 'Blacklist' system in which you challenge a heirarchy of racers from the lowest rank 15 to number 1. Each racer in the food chain has a set of requirements you have to meet: number of races to win, Milestones achieved, and bounty set. A Milestone is an achievement you have to meet in a pursuit - like how much property damages you accumulate or how fast your car must be in passing a camera. And there are a couple of other modes like an arcade type of race mode wherein you have to cut through a timed course from checkpoint to checkpoint and another type wherein the race is between how fast you can go throughout the course and not who finishes first.
Most Wanted features amazing graphics, totally drool-and-drop-dead type from the cars to the environments. I think NFSMW has one of the best visuals in a racing game at present - if not the best. The cars look astoundingly real, that if you saw someone playing it, you would think he's watching a movie (save for the gauges and other in-game markers). And what's better is that players can now 'see' actual damage being done. Player cars this time around don't get the special treatment. Well at least not too much of it, as you don't really do 'damage' - just a visual representation. Most Wanted didn't focus too much on the car's visual upgrading and made the selection quite simpler - which is actually good on my side, because although it tore away some of the fun in designing your car's look, on the lighter side, who would want to mess around with the look of the already great lineup of cars? NFSMW made sure that you don't need to beef up a civic or pimp up a lancer to look cool. Most Wanted now features some of the tastiest brands in car manufacturing available. Imagine driving a pursuit in a Porsche or in a Maranello? Now you can experience it. The light bloom, textures and the overall environmental detail really show off the game's visual splendor, giving each turn a more realistic appeal. And wow, oncoming traffic never looked this good! Have you ever seen a lamp post hurtle past you whenever struck by a speeding car? Now you will, just be sure to duck.
Most Wanted's audio is quite immersive, giving you a sense of urgency in pursuits, pumping in adrenaline in races and just chilling in city driving. I guess the people at EA really worked on the sound this time around. Everytime I enter pursuit it feels like a movie chase from the strong orchestral strings and orch hits to the overheard 'radio-ing in' from other police officers. You can actually 'hear' clues from where everyone is showing up and where you could go and hide your ride. Sound effects is also a beauty. Ambient noise of the engine is tuned just right and the particle sounds of ripping wood and falling water tanks are simply real.
What I feel has really improved the game a lot is the fact that you don't have to search the map for the shops (plus there is only one shop this time around mind you!), your garage or any other remaining races. If you're in the explorer mood, you can always look at the map (the GPS is still there) and drive around for the races, or you can just go to the menu (for lazier people like me) and just pick out your race requirments from there (I know I felt like a raving idiot the last time around looking for that performance shop just over the ridge, so this is a very welcome addition). Plus they made the performance tuning simpler which also has its advantages and disadvantages. It's a minus if you really enjoy tweaking around in car tuning, then getting to test run it in the track. A big plus if you didn't bother to look at the gauges and graphs and just wished you knew what error you actually did to make your car suddenly loose torque. In any case, I think this system kinda meets everyone halfway.
All in all, the package of plusses: to-die-for visuals, great sound, the opportunity to have the pursuit of your life and getting to drive a Lamborghini (yes you read it right!) home to mommy, I give Need for Speed Most Wanted a 8.5/10.