If your going to get a NFS game, it might as well be this one.
And I haven't played a NFS game since then until I played Most Wanted. Ironically, it takes the idea of NFS 3: Hot Pursuit the last NFS game I played and I must say it has come a long way since then.
The game has a lot more in depth than NFS 3 and it works really well. It's not a simulation but it's not a complete arcade like Mario Kart. It fits this type of game perfectly and different cars drive differently. They all have good engine sounds, different styles of handling, different weight, and the start of the race with revving the engine to get a perfect launch. All of this works really well in Most Wanted.
You can also tweak the performance of your car. Such as ride height etc, however I found that a lot of the tweaks make some cars unbearable to drive. I found this odd because in other racing games like Colin Mcrae's Rally 2005 tweaking the car is essential. You can also upgrade your car with looks, parts and performance upgrades (such as engines). This is just one of the many other things that add more depth to the game. Then, like the name of the game hints; there's the police. I find while racing and running into the police half way through a race is quite fun. It adds something a bit extra to the game. However, in the career mode you will also have to achieve a certain amount of bounty, achievements, and races. The races are good; there are several types and you can choose which ones you can do. I mostly enjoyed tollbooths and sprint.
Then you have the bounty. You're forced to get the police on you and while doing so you will receive bounty for being in a chase. The longer the chase, the more damaging the chase and the more you get the cops ticked off, will get you more bounty and achievements. This is pretty good in the beginning of the game but later on this actually gets tedious. It's my main beef with the career mode; with the last 5 blacklist guys, bounty just becomes a chore. Getting rid of the cops can sometimes take way too long if you get unlucky although getting busted is normally not an issue.
The graphics look great in NFS: Most Wanted and there are a lot of visual effects (the over-bright bloom can sometimes get annoying but it's semi-realistic) and the game has its own visual style. Overall, I like this game. It's just got a really good feel to it, it's an arcade racer but it's still got some depth to it. The maps are one of the key things that make this game so great because they're really well done. This is probably the best that has been in the NFS series for a long time.