Need for Speed Most Wanted

"A great concotion of old and new"

Need for Speed Most Wanted does a terrific job in combining what was once loved in the series with some of the newer details found in recently released games that allow for a most enjoyable racing experience.

Story (10/10):
For a racing game, this is as good as it gets. The story starts with you as a driver rolling into the city of Rockport in your BMW M3 GTR. You begin to look for races and build your rep when all of a sudden this guy named Razor comes out and tries to run you out of Rockport. A series of events happen and your on the bottom and need to start winning races (I won't tell you why). You've got to work your way onto the Blacklist, a list of superior racers who are not only good at driving, but also know how to avoid the cops. From there, there is a lot of good story material for a racing game.

Graphics (8/10):
These graphics look really good for the most part, especially for being one of the last games released for Xbox. All the racing cars look terrific, showing shadows and paint scratches. The environments also look half way decent, with trees that actually sway in the wind. Unfortunately, I wish that EA would have spent more time working on the traffic cars, which look bland and nondescript, and I wish that would have allowed damages for the cars instead of just paint scratches. I do welcome however the daylight instead of nighttime. Classic NFS.

Sound (8/10):
Some people don't like this soundtrack, and some do. I'm one of those who do. I feel as if there is a good mix of music on here. Rap in the menus isn't in your face, but when your racing, blaring guitars really add a nice touch to the sense of speed. Also, I love the NFSMW Original Soundtrack music: makes for good suspense.

Gameplay (8/10):
The gameplay in this game is great. Lots of racing to be done, but with the introduction of the police, there is a lot more to do here than in previous games. They are an included part of the game in which you have to get involved with them to beat the game while at the same time are extremely fun to just mess with. Free roam is also a great feature to just let you cruise, but there is a Blacklist menu in which you can jump around the city to races if you do not feel like driving all the way across the city. There is also a great selection of cars, including previously excluded exotics that go along with a lot of customization. Not quite as much as in Underground, but it's still pretty extensive. My only qualm is that sometimes the racing can become heavy to trudge through to point of it being repetitive. Also the AI are dumb and still have an unbelievably high catch up rate, which kind of ticks me off. Aside from that, there's still a lot of stuff here.

Replay (9/10):
This game is easily re-playable. There are so many car choices and customization options in which you could be at it for a while. You can also go through the career multiple times and still enjoy the game.

Rent/Buy: Probably buy. You really can't complete this game unless you have a ton of time on your hands if you rent it. Plus, it's so good that you'd want to buy it anyway.

So there it is. NFSMW combines some old school NFS details with some new elements that will leave you playing on for hours.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/20/07

Game Release: Need for Speed Most Wanted (US, 11/15/05)