Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Criterion
System requirements: Windows Vista SP2/Win 7, 2.4 GHz Core2Duo/2.7 GHz Athlon X2 or better CPU, 2 GB RAM, 512 MB DirectX 10-compatible graphics card, DirectX-compatible sound device, 20 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Racing
ESRB rating: Everyone 10+
Release date: Available now
Review by Christopher Lazenby

Need for Speed: Most Wanted is the 19th entry in the popular racing franchise, and Criterion’s second foray into the series. Gone are the cheesy plotlines, bad acting and cringe-worthy cutscenes. Most Wanted is just pure racing and chasing, and I actually think it’s a better step for the franchise.

Developer Criterion’s intention with Most Wanted was to remove menus from the game. Instead, we get EasyDrive, an in-game utility that allows you to modify or change your car, set waypoints and join multiplayer games, all while never leaving the game screen. It’s functionally perfect, and it’s easy to use. The main issue is, when you try to navigate this utility while being chased by rival racers or the ruthless police force that patrols the city, your map and speedometer vanish. So not only are you trying to drive, but you also lose two visual indicators. This can lead to some serious road rage, especially when you’ve racked up a nice score in a chase and lose it, all while trying to change to road tires.

Fairhaven is your new home. It’s a decent size and features a varied layout of roads. Whether you’re speeding along the highway or tackling the rough trainyard, Fairhaven manages to mix it up nicely and offers multiple routes to race on or avoid the police. Unlike many other racing games, progression in Most Wanted is fairly open. Most of the cars are scattered around the city, in secret and not-so-secret places. Once you find a car, it’s yours to use as you wish. Each car can participate in five races, and has around 25 challenges to complete. The overall selection of cars is rather lacking, with just 44 to choose from (including 10 locked cars that need to be beaten to use them).

Driving the Caterham R500 is very different from the SVT Raptor. Each vehicle has its uses and weaknesses. The R500 ducks and weaves neatly through cop cars, while the Raptor is more at home driving through roadblocks and ramming cars off the road. Finding each car’s niche is part of the charm that attracts me to the game. Handling is slightly heavy, but the cars provide a lot of feedback, and drifting is pretty easy to master. Race types include sprint, circuit races, ambushes and speed runs. Sprint and circuit races are self-explanatory. Ambushes pit you against a sizable police force and give you a time limit to escape, while speed runs challenge you to reach the highest average speed on the set course. With just four modes, things can get a little bit stale, but the varied environments of Fairhaven keep things fresh.

Each car can be modified by winning races and unlocking the appropriate mods. Don’t expect any crazy spoilers or body kits. These mods are based on changing the performance abilities of your car, such as off-road tires, reinforced chassis or aero body packs. Using these correctly can easily turn the tide of a race or a cop chase. All of your currently unlocked mods can be accessed on the fly using the EasyDrive menu.

The Multiplayer features and the inclusion of the well known AutoLog system really bring Most Wanted into it’s own. Fairhaven is filled with jumps, gates and billboards to destroy. These are all calculated in real time. Showing how well your friends did can be infuriating and addictive. You can repeat each jump over and over to try and grab a couple of extra yards so that you can take the glorious top spot on the leaderboards. If you have active friends on this game and are competitive, I’d strongly suggest canceling all future social events, family gatherings and funerals. Multiplayer is a free-roam affair. Joining a game is relatively easy, and you can compete in varied races and challenges. Multiplayer also supports up to 12 players on PC. It’s just a lot of fun.

The graphics in Need for Speed: Most Wanted are also worth mentioning. Built on the Frostbite 2 engine, this game simply looks beautiful. Daytime fills the screen with bright, rich colours, while night offers a dark, moody landscape. Sunrise and sunset offer the best views. The lighting at sunrise is a little over the top; I once crashed because sunlight obscured my view of the road. Cars are nicely detailed and deform when damaged, but don’t expect horrible, twisted wrecks after crashes. The cars hold their basic shape and drivability after crashes, but you can still dent the panels and lose the odd bumper or two.

While Need for Speed: Most Wanted doesn’t make major changes in the series, it’s fun, loud, obnoxious and enjoyable. What more could you want from it?

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