Need for Speed: Most Wanted Review
Game Emblems
The Good
A great combination of burnout paradise and need for speed, worth buying
It's not quite the smooth, finely tuned speed machine it could have been, but Need for Speed: Most Wanted is still an exciting racer.
The Good
- Terrific handling makes driving a pleasure
- Police chases are usually intense and enjoyable
- Billboards make for satisfying asynchronous competition
- Online multiplayer races are fast and exciting
- Beautiful and varied city.
The Bad
- In slower cars, police chases can be a frustrating ordeal
- Repetitive police chatter
- Lacks any sense of narrative motivation
- Building up a car collection is unfulfilling
- Inconsistent, sometimes dull online challenges.
Vehicles glide along invisible roads in the sky. Cars are borne out of twitchy, twisty clouds of darkness. Groups of police cruisers perform coordinated donuts, twirling about like dancers in a Busby Berkeley musical. In the creative and unusual pre-race sequences throughout Need for Speed: Most Wanted, you get the sense that the city of Fairhaven is a surreal land with dreamlike logic that might allow anything to happen at any moment. It's striking, then, that the actual game here is so typical and unsurprising, and that although it delivers plenty of the hard-hitting, white-knuckle racing Criterion is known for, it doesn't do so quite as well as some of the studio's earlier games.
The first game Need for Speed: Most Wanted may make you think of isn't a Criterion game at all; it's Need for Speed Most Wanted, the 2005 game with almost the same name. But while both games take place in open-world cities and involve plenty of police chases, the similarities aren't as significant as you might expect. One of the earlier game's most memorable elements was its hilariously over-the-top tale, told using some cheesy cutscenes, of a newcomer to the city of Rockport who has a personal vendetta against local street racer Razor Callahan. The premise gave you a terrific motivation for rising through the ranks of Rockport's street racing scene and taking Razor down.
Here, you also have the goal of defeating a number of street racers, but there's no narrative to back it up. The 10 racers on your list are identified only by their cars--they don't have names or faces or personalities--and without a personal investment in defeating them, doing so isn't nearly as satisfying here as it was in the 2005 game. It is merely a structural hoop to jump through; you do it simply because the game tells you that this is what you are supposed to do.
Well, that and the fact that driving, racing, and eluding the police are really enjoyable, for the most part. If you've played Criterion's earlier Need for Speed game, 2010's Hot Pursuit, the handling here will feel immediately familiar. Despite the stable of real-world cars, the driving isn't realistic. Cars have a great sense of weight and momentum to them, while still being extremely responsive, and as you'd expect from a Criterion racer, judicious use of the brakes and a bit of practice will have you blissfully drifting through corners at high speed.
Unexpectedly, cars don't start out with boost, but fear not; boosting is a big part of racing in Most Wanted. Each vehicle has five events associated with it, and by taking first place in the easiest of these, you unlock the burn nitrous mod for that car. This enables you to boost after you build up your nitrous bar by doing things like drifting, taking down cops and rivals, and driving in oncoming traffic. Victory in each of a vehicle's events nets you speed points, which you need to earn a set number of before you can challenge each of the most wanted racers. Winning events also gives you access to other mods, including chassis that make you more resistant to impacts, gears that increase your acceleration or top speed, and tires that reinflate if popped by spike strips.
Winning events and making a good car better is rewarding; curiously unrewarding is the process of building up your car collection. In Most Wanted, you don't buy cars, and with the exception of the 10 cars driven by the 10 most wanted racers, you don't earn cars by winning events or doing anything else of significance to advance through the game. You simply find them all over Fairhaven. They're easily spotted thanks to the illuminated headlights and the manufacturer logos that hover in the air above them; you just pull up to a drivable vehicle, and it's instantly added to your collection. After that, you can warp to its spawn point and get behind the wheel, no matter where you are. The fact that you can and will so easily find yourself with a sizable stable of cars simply by cruising around Fairhaven, without having to do anything to earn some of the game's fastest rides, means that car collecting in Most Wanted lacks the sense of accomplishment so many racing games instill by letting you gradually gain access to better vehicles.
The upside of having cars waiting at set points (called jack spots) across Fairhaven is that if you get the cops on your tail as you're roaming about the city, you can pull up on a car's jack spot and, provided that you've got a bit of distance between you and your police pursuers, hop into the other car, reducing your heat level a bit. Your heat level determines just how much effort the police are putting into bringing you down. At the lowest level, you might have a few cop cruisers on your tail. As it increases, the police start setting up roadblocks in your path, and more and better law enforcement vehicles join the fray. Heavy SUVs might try to ram you head-on, and Corvette Interceptors speed along in front of you, deploying spike strips that, if hit, can seriously diminish your car's handling.
All is not lost, however; repair shops are all over the city, and driving through one instantly fixes up your car and gives you a fresh coat of paint to boot. Like using jack spots, speeding through these repair shops reduces your heat level. Your heat level increases automatically as a pursuit goes on, and taking down police cars with a satisfying shunt into oncoming traffic, a swift T-bone collision, or whatever aggressive, effective option presents itself, makes it go up significantly faster. If you get enough distance between you and your pursuers, you enter cooldown, during which your heat level declines. Stay in cooldown long enough, and the police call off the pursuit.
You earn speed points during police pursuits, but you get to keep them only if you eventually escape; if you get busted, you earn nothing, so the stakes can get quite high. Escape from the cops, and you feel great; see the speed points you earned over the course of several risky minutes disappear as you get busted, and you may be crestfallen. It's a good risk-vs.-reward system that leads to some extremely tense moments. Unfortunately, shaking off your pursuers can often feel as much a matter of luck as of skill. Police are tenacious in their pursuit of you--maybe a little too tenacious, because it sometimes seems as if no amount of changing direction, catching big air, going off-road, or anything else is enough to lose the cops. In the game's faster cars, speed can often be your savior, but in the more everyday models, it often feels like you don't have a fighting chance.
By
Carolyn Petit, Editor
Carolyn Petit has been reading GameSpot since 2000 and writing for it since 2008. She has a particular fondness for games of the 1980s, and intends to leave the field of games journalism as soon as she hears that her local Ghostbusters franchise is hiring.
59 comments
I have been playing NFS since 1994. I have all NFS games up to 2008 + shift 2 unleahed. Before anyone comments about my experience.
Going by the sounds of the reviews and what people are saying one here Most wanted ( by Criterion)sounds like a bad burnout game with police and licensed cars added.
I know MW wasn't any good because I was playing burnout paradise when it came out and noticed the sudden drop in people on BP. Then a gradule rise about 2-3 weeks later.
I have never played the new MW but if BP is anything to go by then there are probably plenty of bugs in it,
EA do you realy listen nfs MW fans.....if you guys can?t do better just admit it and realize that the original MW was the best you had to offer, here some advice give us a PS3 version of the original MW I?m sure the fans would love that. (bossman001 u rule dude!!)
i never liked how the cops would only chase you and not the other racers in the race.
I've played the original 2005 NFS Most Wanted on PS2 which is really excting and fun for me. When I read this review and listen to a story review about this game from my friend, I think this new NFS Most Wanted is really dissapointing because there are no modifications, the story is unclear, and lack of variaties. Even though game play is good, but I think it's not worthed to buy this game especially for NFS fans. I hope they want to make a better NFS Games next time like for instance the NFS Underground 3 or something like that which still have a modification features.
2 Like Excellent review, I just do not get it why Criterion want to build a Burnout game on whatever they do. The first Most wanted is still one of my best driving game
4 Like Where is Cross! , Where is the Top ten most wanted characters, where is the theater and drama that conceptualize the original MW, where is the accomplishments, there is no feeling of accomplishments in this game, yes it?s a good racer and the police chase can be intense sometimes which is fun but that?s it
It starting to look like they will never be able to improve on the original most wanted and as much as I love the series I am not buying another NFS MW until they can significantly improve the game.
EA if you guys can?t do better just admit it and realize that the original MW was the best you had to offer, here some advice give us a PS3 version of the original MW I?m sure the fans would love that.
@Bossman001 The NFS production team are really dumb these days, they don't know how to make the real NFS game like the NFS Underground and Carbon
2 Like This games Sucks . I'm so happy i have game fly, even tho i have to pay extra for an online pass for multiplayer games. but it save me 60-65 dollars on waste less spending per game , graph was good , but this is suppose to be an arcade racing game? please , go pick up midnight club .Or better yet, get gta 4 , I'm no fan of burnout , ridge racer is arcade game with better content . need for speed shift is also an arcade game , need for speed games focus on making racing games for everyone(sad) ill be dame, no skill needed . One of the elite arcade racing games was Project Gotham Racing , that was on Xbox first system 2001 shit Sega Saturn started it all , oh food for thought why the fuck you need a steering wheel for an arcade racing when you have no cockpit view! this is y EA puts out shit games . 60 bucks lmao ,well if you bought this game and enjoyed it ,well another group ill stay away from!
Yo I played most wanted three times. Once on the ps2 and pc and once on the psp . I know the game stayed most wanted just looked like burout
.This review is totally wrong I know your a great writer but maybe you got bias here I am not a big fan of racing games But I must say NSF stood out and you just shut it down
3 Like @RealitycheckXyz dude...r u new to the nfs series or what...have u played the original nfs mostwanted...the game it is named after..if u havent..go and play it first..i hate these new gamers..who dont have no idea what a nfs game is supposed to be like...and they say its awsum..we r ot critcizing the game..its a great burnout game.but it should ave been a sequel to burnout paradise..not most wanted..thats why we mostwanted fans..give it a 4 or less...try to understand the reason..and please..if u are new..please go and play burnout paradise and original mostwanted and then comment..then u will knw y criterion is ruining the title..:)
Need for Speed Most Wanted is my favourite racing game of all time. Since this came came out, I started replaying it. Carbon was a good followup. But after Hot Pursuit came out, I'm wary of buying another NFS game ever again. No cash, you just get a car! Come on, that's the whole point of these games!
I really have to disagree with the review. Been playing this the last five days. But, that is your opinion.
It plays a lot more like Burnout than Hot Pursuit, which is good. The getting away from cops may seem hard, because it is. It isn't supposed to be easy, but you can mostly just get Busted and let it end there after a race where you are chased by cops. The all or nothing with a general pursuit only applies to that pursuit, if it wasn't done that way then you have nothing to gain by getting away? So, you would just take out cops forever?
However, that was an awfully short and weird review to me. Just very little info for one of the bigger games this year. Just because the game doesn't do Halo traffic doesn't mean it isn't important or worth a lengthy talk.
the game is total crap. No story, no motivation for winning the races or finding new cars or mess with the cops.the older version is 10 times better than this one. I wonder when they will finally make an NFS game that is actually worth buying/playing...
They still have a chance of getting a good NFS, just get Criterion and Blackbox out of the picture!!!
@muzza93 lol..they would name it underground 3..but just to make mostwanted player buy the crap...they will make a underground game with no mdification,no street racing,cash,motivation..all they will do is make a sequel to this crap...so best of luck with undergound 3 as long as criterion fuckers are making it...
1 Like i know this isnt a vita review but im 40% through the main game on vita and im absolutely lovin it.... its pretty much the same as the console....so stoked i got it! make sure you download the 1st patch though. Vitas game of the year easy !
1 Like I can't get the game until tomorrow ( damn the UK for releasing games on Fridays instead of Tuesdays! ) but it sounds great. I am looking forward to it even more now than I was before. Even if I don't always agree I find Carolyn's reviews to be well written!
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@saosebastiao Chill, it's just a video game.
..and if Dark Souls is too difficult for you, maybe it is you that should stick to the party games, work out that frustration with Raving Rabbids or something.
@ojplay Dark Souls deserves the 9,5 rating on consoles, but the Pc port, I'm really sorry, it was poorly made. Just try both versions (console port and pc port), and you'll know what I mean.
Yes, it's hard as nails, but oh so rewarding. Really an amazing game.
@ojplay The PC port of Dark Souls is Games for Windows Live infested crap. The console versions are amazing though.
@saosebastiao I agree with you on this. It's a Criterion game so it is bound to be different. They are not making sequels for NFS. They now own the rights so they can make their game however they want. Criterion just made 'their' NFS Most Wanted.
3 Like @saosebastiao Why do you end most of your sentences with "woman" and "lady"? If the reviewer were a man, would you go to great lengths to point out his sex in your rambling posts? It's a well-written, informative review which acknowledges the game is good. Go cry somewhere else.
2 Like @Narc23 @saosebastiao Dude, just don't write the "If the reviewer were a man" on a Carolyn Petit review, just trust me on that one lol.
2 Like you failed me. and again you ignore what nfs fans want not criterion decide. is plain stupid. and i rated ya'all 5.0. this game is plain garbage now, sorry i m old school fans not fucktard new school shit. next installment, no more criterion cuz it look burnout platform is plain shit. get real developer not wackass criterion. sorry that i offensive ea and you, ea need to wake the fuck up and once u hear this game will rated ya 6.0 or below for blowout or your business sink in somewhere in the middle of ocean.
2 Like the views are really bad 1st view feels like your on the road not in the car for it.
car handling is a joke. shall i go on?
1 Like this game is pile of dung it is not Need for speed. and if you loved need for speed most want the better verson dont buy this it will make you wanna vomit
A majority of the reviews so far have given this game a 90% or higher. Personally, I'd say it's like an 8.5. This review seems nit picky. And complaining about the story... really?
@Lost-to-Apathy dude..answer one thing have u played the original most wanted and how often and how long have you been playing mostwanted games..if u did play the original nfs games like underground 2 or mostwanted..u would knw why it deserves a 5..
@Lost-to-Apathy The lack of story stopped me from purchasing this game. So at least for me it is a valid complaint. From watching and reading reviews I have decided that if I want to play a racing game I'll reinstall any number of the ones I already have. I do not see a good reason to "upgrade" to either this or the also recently released Forza Horizon.
@Lost-to-Apathy believe me, of course they just gave this rate because is not more NFS, loooks like Burnout p.s agree with then, but the rate they gave is really generous. Like, isn't like Most Wanted, doens't bring nothing new to franchise
Just another meh NFS, i haven't really enjoyed any racing game since burnoutakedown... sure hope criterion makes another burnout similar to that one.
Don't get the same opinion as those video game critics, they're stupid on the noob gaming level. Pick up Forza Horizon because the single player is better. This one should belong in the Briton Bargain Bin.
Generally whenever I read these reviews, I first look over the summary points in "The Good" and "The Bad"... but with this review, it feels a little contradictory...(or is it just me?)...
Anyway...if this game doesn't really offer anything significant that improves the level of quality in 2010's NFS: Hot Pursuit....then I really don't see any benefit in purchasing this game...(Especially when considering that PS3 games in my country are sold at a premium!)
@jack00 seriously? that's like giving pong a crap score because it doesn't have an immersive, quick time event based story.
1 Like Lacks: missing; narrative: story; motivation: purpose. Form these words into a sentence for a complete thought: the game doesn't have enough of a well-developed story to help make you want to play it. It's just driving for driving's sake. Which is fine, but if you're looking for more, you won't find it here. Big words make head hurt! Hulk SMASH!
When has one played a racing games for its story? Is there even such a thing as a racing game with a good story?
@Lost-to-Apathy Do you people even read the reviews before commenting? Taken from her review:
"Here, you also have the goal of defeating a number of street racers, but there's no narrative to back it up. The 10 racers on your list are identified only by their cars--they don't have names or faces or personalities--and without a personal investment in defeating them, doing so isn't nearly as satisfying here as it was in the 2005 game. It is merely a structural hoop to jump through; you do it simply because the game tells you that this is what you are supposed to do.
Well, that and the fact that driving, racing, and eluding the police are really enjoyable, for the most part."
So she's saying that no, story isn't a huge part of most racing games, and it's a pretty enjoyable game anyway. But that the level of story they had in 2005's Most Wanted, the predecessor to this game, is part of what made that game experience so much more enjoyable. The fact that they seemed to have taken a step backwards is what made her list it as a criticism and helped keep a good game from being great.
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Need for Speed: Most Wanted - A Criterion Game
Not Following
- Publisher(s): Electronic Arts
- Developer(s): Criterion Games
- Genre: Driving
- Release:
- ESRB: E10+
NFS Most Wanted Navigation
