Need for Speed: Most Wanted Review

The temperature has taken a sudden plunge, the turkeys are getting fat, another Need for Speed is here; it can only mean one thing Christmas is just around the corner.

Taking a break from the Underground series, Need for Speed: Most Wanted finds EA for the most part successfully managing to integrate the popular aspects of the Underground brand with the series origins in police pursuits. In customary Need for Speed tradition Most Wanted puts you as the new guy in town with a nice set of wheels to show off, only to unceremoniously ditch you at the bottom a short while later. An early encounter with â??Razorâ?, a fiddled engine and a confrontation with the local police force acts as a prologue to the main story, in a world of street-racers who live and die by the blacklist. Most Wanted utilises actors across pre-rendered backdrops, which as stated in the past comes across as terrible as â??interactive moviesâ? at times with the woeful display of mediocrity in the acting on display. Despite the build up the game quickly boils down to a routine structure with very little in the shape of narrative â?“ perhaps a missed opportunity given the rivalry pushed across during the start.

Fundamentally the structure, design and racing gameplay borrow heavily from the Underground series, as such youâ??ll find the game taking place in a free-roaming city with safe-houses replacing the garages and bounty missions swapping place with some of the more conventional race events. Rising ranks through the blacklist requires a certain number of racing events to be won in addition to milestones completed and bounty collected.

Race events include the typical selection of circuit, hot laps and those that have become standard fare for any worthy racer; however Most Wanted shakes things up a little by placing the focus on the police chases and the events linked to these. Milestones revolve around playersâ?? confrontation with the local police constabulary and take place across a wide range of challenges, such as sustaining a chase for a set amount of time or knocking a certain number of squad cars out of action.

Hot Pursuit remains a highlight of the Need for Speed series so itâ??s good to see some of that come across in Most Wanted. Conflicts with the police bring a sense of variety to the traditional racing action and thankfully they prove to be pretty intense experiences, escalating as the chase goes on to 20 car convoys and choppers in the skies above - although thankfully never coming close to dropping toxic waste! The illusion is fully realised thanks to the painstaking radio banter between the station and those on patrol, detailing the playerâ??s movements, likely positions and violations. The sense of immersion created however is lessened somewhat by the comical nature of the pace-breakers, certain locations such as fuel stations which kick off an explosion to derail the pursuing cops.

During the chase infringements to the law such as speeding or hit-and-runs will earn bounty, which in turn opens up a wealth of tuner upgrades and customisation options â?“ not that EA condones illegal street racing and â??remember to buckle upâ?. Much like Underground before it Most Wanted does ensure the wealth of upgrades are accessible to everyone, and the use of different body parts actually has an impact on the gameplay helping to loose some of the heat that youâ??ve acquired.

Successfully completing a certain number of events opens up the opportunity to challenge the next person on the blacklist. Challenges often include multiple events which the player must win to move up a rank, which bring reward in the shape of markerâ??s granting player upgrade parts, get out of jail cards and the chance to win your opponentâ??s pink slip for his motor.

The similarities to Underground continue onto the actual road where Most Wanted follows its arcade style. Critics of the elastic-band AI will quickly find cause to complain whilst the distinctive lack of subtlety or refinement to the overall handling will put off racing purists; however the focus on speed is exciting and thereâ??s a good sense of variety to the various cars youâ??ll get your hands upon. The city of Rockport provides many varying opportunities from dense city blocks to rolling hills; thereâ??s a good sense of transgression to the various different areas (particularly so on 360) whilst the environments lends itself well to varying track and circuit designs.

Running on the Xbox 360 itâ??s good to see EA have at least kept the system to mind instead of releasing a narrowly enhanced Xbox port (take note Activision), although itâ??s questionable as to whether it can compete with the likes of Project Gotham Racing 3 and further titles down the line. As youâ??d expect car models are simply beautiful and sport a fantastic level of detail to the finest level, particularly if youâ??re fortunate enough to have a HD setup. Perhaps the most impressive aspect is the weather conditions such as the hanging fog as sun dawns, or the HDR lighting that accurately captures the blinding white blur of light as you travel from dark to light, or the flicker of sun rays through the trees. Speaking of trees Most Wanted features a significant amount of insanely detailed variations which help to create the autumnal style running throughout the game. Although Most Wanted doesnâ??t provide a full representation of the 360 visual horsepower it does provide a satisfactory next-gen offering and is one of the more impressive titles at launch.

Despite its next-gen outing Most Wanted also maintains the series visual quality on the current-gen consoles, admittedly it lacks the crispness and detail of its next-gen sibling however the motion blur and visual style have been maintained to ensure Most Wanted is one of the better offerings available. Naturally the game looks to be the most impressive on the Xbox, however both PS2 and GameCube versions arenâ??t too far behind whilst the PC adaptation comes pretty close to the Xbox 360 but without all the bells and whistles.

Online play is sadly functional at best within Most Wanted, focussing entirely around racing without any nod towards the police chases. This does come as a disappointment given the possibilities provided, although hopefully EA can make amends within Most Wanted 2.