Need for Speed has been a popular franchise series for EA. The game started on the PC and then ended up on the home gaming systems. Being a fan of the long time series and owning every version made, I had some expectations for the newest game. After all, not only is this the tenth anniversary of the Need For Speed series but EA made the last two games based in the underground world of illegal street racing. While this was a nice idea, it seemed to take the series away from the exotic cars and police chases. I went to EA studios in Vancouver, Canada and had a chance to play both the Xbox and the 360 versions. Due to the NDA I had to sign, my hands-on preview did not let everything out of the bag. It’s a good thing too since the final build that was released is slightly different than the builds I had a chance to play. Jason will be adding in comments and parts to the review as well, since he managed to tackle the top spot on the Blacklist before I could, and is a huge fan of the series.

I enjoyed the last two Undergrounds, but what I did not like was the fact the last one had a disappointing online mode and it just seemed that you were racing the events to unlock new parts and vinyls. Since it seemed to need another angle, EA must have listened. The new Need For Speed Most Wanted has a mix of the underground gameplay style with a return of the roots of the original games for the PC. By adding a decent story and premise, the game finally has something that gives gamers a feeling of accomplishment including the chance to out-run the cops in their cruisers and even their helicopters. The mix of the two makes this one the best Need For Speed game since Hot Pursuit even though it was missing a few elements. Read the full Need for Speed Most Wanted for more details.

Gameplay

The game opens with several cut-scenes that are just like watching a major Hollywood movie. A young hotshot starts taking down the Blacklist racers and earns his reputation fast. He also attracts the attention of the lead young lady named Mia (a girl with a mysterious past) and a hot-headed racer named Razor. The story shows that Razor tampers with your car and since pink slips are on the line, he gets your priceless ride. The game sort of does a double take on players by shooting back in time from the first event and then back to that day. I understand why they did this, but I think showing the major event twice could confuse some players.

The fact you actually race the events while it tells the story also makes this a little confusing, but then again the quality of the movie and the mix of jumping in the action was a great idea. You return and meet up with the same girl who seems to know right when you are released from jail. She tells you Razor tampered with your ride and fixed the race. To make things worse by using your ride, he is now number one on the blacklist. She sets you up with some connections and a safe house. She is pretty and bright but seems too eager to help out.

The overall gameplay is not like the last two underground games but will have some similarities. The best way to describe it is a mix of the underground games and the other NFS games. You buy a ride and start off in an okay car, but to beat the blacklist racers, you need to upgrade it while racking up your rep by out running the cops and building up your rap sheet. It sounds easy for the first few races on the list. The A.I. seems a bit stupid at first but no matter how far ahead you are, they seem to find away to be right on your heels. In the same boat you can screw up and catch up a bit too easy at the onset. Then again most racing games have the same issue and you won’t mind it until the A.I. gets very hard and seems to know every shortcut and rarely screws up. For the real deal racers out there, rest assured there is an option to disable the ‘catch-up’ effects during races.

In order to get a crack at Razor, you will need cash, cars and help. Oh yea, the cop that busted you seems to have another motive and is out to get you at any cost. Officer Cross is a tough guy who seems to know something about you. Only you don’t know exactly what. Let me explain, using a story as a backdrop is part of the main focus of the game but you only learn things by getting up the blacklist. Details and tips are passed on to you by three ways: text messages, phone calls on your cell and secret meetings. Every now and then some new detail or twist will be thrown at you and is made to keep you guessing to the very end of the game.

The neat part of the gameplay is after beating a blacklist racer; you get to pick two markers from the list. They appear on the screen and the first three are unknown. These include unique performance parts, other upgrades, a pink slip for the rivals ride, money, bonuses and out of jail cards, or one that prevents the cops from impounding your ride. The mistake most will make is going early for the performance markers and then having to earn enough cash to buy another car that can beat the next racer on the list. The races vary and will include times runs, knockout races and drags. At times you will race against three A.I racers. To make the races more realistic and challenging, the cops can spot you at any given time and start chasing you.

While the racing A.I is easier at the start, the A.I. system learns from you and will predict your moves. They keep a database on every car you have raced, been seen in, and all the outstanding infractions or warrants served or not served. It’s all pretty impressive! You will also need to race milestone events against the police. A goal is given and includes smashing through a number of roadblocks, tagging police cars, going through speed tracks above a target speed, and destroying property. During these events, you will need to be heavy on the gas but know the area. You will look at the map for hiding spots and certain landmarks, when you hit these spots, certain events will be triggered such as boats will fall off there dockings, water towers will crash and even a huge doughnut can be rolled out into the path of the cop cars.

The problem is while you build up your rap sheet and bounty, it also raises the level of your car’s heat level (an indicator of how bad the cops want to bust you). Starting out at one and going up to three or higher at level three, any cop that even gets near you will trigger a chase and you need to get the level down by going to the safe house, switching cars or going to the parts shop and buying a new paint job and body kit to lower the level of your car. The whole point of the level system is if you get busted three times and have no markers, a strike will appear. After the third time, say good bye to that ride and if it’s your only car, a game over screen will appear! That’s right you can spend hours even days getting to the top five and one wrong turn and you will need to restart the game all over. The first major tip is you need to have more than one ride and keep the safe house location known. For those who love racing games and being chased, this is the best part of the game. This is the first game to have a game over screen in ages.

>> Incoming transmission from Jason: The whole point of the heat level on your ride is a major factor in the game, determining what actions the police will take to put you in jail. Simple concept, the higher the heat level, the more tactics they will deploy. At first the police cruisers are simple to evade while at heat level 1, ramping up to level 2 doesn’t do a whole lot more, but they do appear to be more aggressive. At level 3 you will start to see road blocks, spike strips, and SUV cruisers which can stop you in your tracks. Once you hit level four, look for a spot to hide cause the helicopters are on the way. The helicopters make it impossible to get out of sight, unless they need to stop to refuel or you lose them by ducking under a building. Finally, later in the game, after beating blacklist racer #3 you’ll encounter heat level 5, where all the previous tactics are deployed as well as super fast, super aggressive federal agents in Corvettes. You may even see Sgt. Cross chasing you at this level, if you do, take him out, it’s worth $100,000 in bounty. There is actually one more heat level, but I’ll let you experience that for yourself! – Transmission ends.

Most Wanted is an arcade racer plain and simple. The parts you add really only affect the speed and the performance of the car. Some may need to get used to the physics of the cars since they are a bit loose and still skate a bit. After a few races or the other events, you will get used to the way they handle, but if you are playing PGR 3 let’s say, and then switch over to NFS MW, you will have to readjust the way you handle turns and your overall driving style. There are some very cool cars to unlock or get by picking the pink slip icons and range from tricked out Supra’s, Corvettes and even Lamborghini’s. This is an impressive list of cars and the only thing that some fans will notice is the new way of buying the custom parts like front ends, rear ends and sides. These are now all included in a body kit limiting the amount of looks and overall parts but the hoods, spoilers and other items are pretty impressive.

The paint shop is cool and you can change the look really easily. The trick is to have enough cash when you need to buy those parts. Upgrades are impressive but to add more of a challenge most of the better performance items won’t be available until you bet the 8th ranked blacklist racer, and the better gear and cars after beating #3. This is where you need to decide when to go for a unique performance marker and when to add it. Overall, the game is impressive. The cop chases at times will have 12 cruisers all of different makes on the screen. They can call in for the chopper, road blocks and spike strips, so you need to listen to the police scanner and watch the map and hopefully stay one step ahead of them. This may be the hardest cop chase system I have ever seen in any racing game. EA really did a top-notch job in this area.

Control / Playability

Gamers will have the choice of either automatic or manual settings. Each set of controls are well explained and laid out perfectly and responds well. There is no delay, however, a few of the more advanced controls like the nitro meter and boost will take some time to learn how fast it recharges. The trickiest control feature is using the Speed breaker hitting. This slows down time and allows you to make hair pin moves without slowing down. It looks neat and comes in handy but can also screw you up. You need to know when to use it and is never recommended during a police chase where it looks like you will get busted. It is meant to get around turns and other obstacles.

The learning curve is about 10 minutes for those who have played any of the other NFS games and about 20 minutes for others. The 360 controller reacts well and they really made use of the new layout. Overall, nothing to complain about here, but you will need to spend time learning the way the cars handle. You will also want to hit the D pad to bring up the map and selecting events or locations and then knowing when to engage the GPS system which can save your butt. Note that the GPS system will not always connect and if you’re spotted and the chase mode kicks in, expect the GPS to disconnect. The only other thing to remember is when reaching a location or event, enter the lighted area and press in on the D pad to activate it.

>> Incoming transmission from Jason: The controls for Need For Speed Most Wanted are done extremely well, but simply mastering the controller layout won’t get you anywhere fast in the game. You’ll need to become familiar with the area, especially for the police chases, and learn to take turns at break-neck speeds to evade the level 5 chases successfully. While the Speed Breaker is a nifty feature, I rarely used it throughout the game. It can be useful during police chases, but only when approaching a road block with spike strips, so you can ram the block in just the right spot to get through. Performance tuning can also be valuable and have a major impact on the handling of your ride and is a great option to make even lower rated cars out-perform the competition. In addition to knowing the tracks and beefing the car up, the single most important thing to master is cornering. Even corners sharper than 90 degrees can be tackled using bursted acceleration, throttled braking, and nitro boost. Cornering, learn it and hit the top of the Blacklist! – Transmission ends.

Xbox Live

While I enjoyed the last underground, the online mode lacked anything to really hold my interest. You could use your tricked out cars but there was no traffic and it basically boiled down to who knew the tracks better and could make the run with the least mistakes. It was fun for a while, but it got a bit old and that was the major complaint from almost everyone who played it. I thought that this one would have a better online mode and the book even says take on the online blacklists racers. I already knew that they would not be adding a pursuit mode due to having to make choices on a having a better offline career mode or adding a pursuit mode. EA explained this while I was in Vancouver.

I hopped online and it just seemed like the same online mode as NFS Underground 2. It is fun for a bit but no traffic and the cars seemed to handle and even look different online. I was disappointed and know that EA wanted to create a great game and succeeded, but the online mode is nothing new. EA should have added something here to enhance the great solo mode and while it is easy to join or create a room, it just seems not all together again. Hopefully the next NFS game will offer players a great and intense online mode.

>> Incoming transmission from Jason: Need For Speed Most Wanted would without a doubt be the best racer in the Xbox 360 launch lineup if EA had put more time into adding features and gameplay modes to the on-line modes. It’s hard to expect everything from one game, but it is a bit dissapointing to see such a lackluster on-line game in stark contrast to the great off-line experience. When it comes to on-line play, Need For Speed Most Wanted is just another racer, nothing more. – Transmission ends.

Graphics / Presentation

Graphically the game is great and the movie cut-scenes and slow motion action adds to the overall feeling of really being an illegal street racer. The video feeds, the times when you go airborne, and the slow motion effects are great and not overdone. The racing cars, police cars, and helicopters all look realistic. Each area looks different and the lighting and shading effects really show that EA took time on the game to make it look great. The rain hitting the windshield is something you really need to see to believe how real it looks. The special areas that can be used to trigger events are also well done. They managed to capture the look of the high speed racing.

The amount of details even on simple things like a building or dock is great. When you change a paint job or a certain details, the next time the game kicks into the slow motion scenes will show exactly the changes you made. Each rival has their own look and the opening movie that introduces them is slick. Of course Habib Zargarpour can be credited to most of the cinematic effects including the green screen footage shot. He has worked with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas which gives him the experience to give this game a Hollywood look and feel which really helps showcase the game.

Audio

Josie Maran does a great job as the girl who is helping you and really seemed into the role. Razor and Rog are great and really help set the story; in fact all of the voice talents both when seen or just hearing them do an excellent job, right down to the stuttering dispatcher. They stay in character and make the story more interesting. The amount of voices is simply incredible. Every car sounds different and they managed to capture every sound perfectly. The soundtrack fits for racing and is good, mostly rap and funk music. At times there are a few songs that can get a bit on your nerves depending on your personal tastes, but I was so into the chases and the races that I did not even hear the music after awhile. During the game you get voice messages or calls that are saved. You need to be careful which ones you decide to delete. Certain ones may come in handy later and you can replay them at any time. I would not recommend streaming music while in the regular career mode. There are other races that you can stream music while completing without the risk of missing a key piece to the story. Overall, they really did a great job in the audio area.

Replay Value

The game will take even those who think they rule in racing games a long time to complete everything. Even after beating Razor, there is more to do and you can always try and beat your rap sheet records and times. It’s a game worth replaying since chances are you will want to try other cars at certain races. The amount of time put into making the game paid off and fans of the series will be happy to go back and replay it. If the online mode had a pursuit mode, this would have greatly raised the replay value. Of course the online mode has a blacklist and some will want to try and reach the top of that as well.

Overall Score

Overall Score: 9.1/10 [not an average]

Additional Comments

Most Wanted is a blast with the mix of a story that could lead to other games and add to the series. It’s something any fan of the series should own. In the final verdict, the solid story, the twists, the great graphics and excellent audio make this still a solid game and one that will remain in my 360 collection forever. It has things never before attempted and shows just what EA can do with the series. It’s addictive and visually stunning. Any fan of Need for Speed should play it and it does the tenth anniversary of the NFS franchise proud!

>> Incoming transmission from Jason: The tenth anniversary of the Need For Speed series is celebrated by the best Need For Speed game to date, Need For Speed Most Wanted. Any fan of the series really needs to pick this game up, the story is good, the presentation is excellent, and the gameplay rocks! With celebration comes cleanup, so I ask that EA clean up the on-line mode and make the next Need For Speed game for the Xbox 360 be as versatile and exciting on-line as it is off-line. One more note in regards to the Xbox 360; the achievements. Many games are being released with outragious achievement goals, Need For Speed Most Wanted gives achievements for beating the Blacklist racers, the main objective of the game. Beat the Blacklist, the rest of the games goals simply fall into place. Great job giving gamers a sense of accomplishment. Are you still reading? Go grab a copy of Most Wanted! Over. – Transmission ends.

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