Need For Speed Most Wanted (2012) : Race Because We Said So

The second Need For Speed Most Wanted took some warming up to. I had bought this the same day as Forza Horizon last year, and found myself playing Forza Horizon more than this NFS sequel. It wasn’t because the game was bad, but there was something about it that just didn’t feel as fun as the open world Forza title. Maybe it’s because this version of Most Wanted ditches any sort of storyline for moving up on the Most Wanted list. If you remember the 2005 installment, there was a storyline with cheesy live action cut scenes that tied the game together. Even the previous installment, NFS: The Run, had a bad plot that moved the game forward. It just seemed like this game needed at least a little bit of reason to move up on the Most Wanted list other than just because.

Once I got over that issue, and started playing the game more, it did feel as much of a spiritual successor to Burnout Paradise as we could get out of EA these days. Then that’s where another issue about the game crops up: I would rather have a full-fledged Burnout Paradise sequel than just elements of the game in a NFS shell. Sure, things like billboard smashes and takedowns are present here, but you’re never going to see a crash mode involving million-dollar cars here. Maybe my expectations were a bit high for this one, but considering that Criterion was the developer, expectations should be high.

Now, it would seem like I didn’t like this game, and that’s far from the truth. It took some time to settle into the new Most Wanted, but after 5 or 6 hours of play, the game is actually pretty fun to blast through. The single player experience is all about moving up on the Most Wanted list, where you compete against 10 different racers, and try to takedown the opponent after winning the race to unlock the car for use. Earning cars in this game is one of the better concepts to be implemented in any racing game. You don’t need cash, and you really never have to level up (other than beating Most Wanted opponents). Instead, you just need to find the cars parked in the open world, approach them, and press a button to switch cars. This element really eliminates the grinding that some racing games put you through just to get a car you want to drive. Each car has five different races built-in to unlock parts, so no car repeats the same race twice. It’s a nice incentive to try every car, but you really don’t have to go through those measures to progress in the game. In fact, I think I managed to get #1 on the list with driving only 40% or so of the cars in the game, and I only drove every car in the game to earn an achievement later on.

Playing the game online is a chaotic affair. Not because there are issues with connectivity, it’s just the nature of the gameplay. People in the group will be given a handful of objectives to complete, but half the time players are more interested in taking each other down than just accomplishing those goals. It’s very similar to Burnout Paradise’s online play, but it’s a little more stripped down. It’s fun if all you want to do is be a jerk the whole time, just don’t expect to get much done.

The game handles very tight, and this may be the tightest feeling NFS game in recent memory. Again, this NFS feels a lot more like a Burnout title, so if you’re familiar with how those games played, you have a good idea how NFSMW plays out. The visuals are nice for the most part, with a lot of detail in the city, but like Burnout Paradise, the streets aren’t populated with people. If an older game like Midnight Club Los Angeles can have pedestrians on the streets, there’s no reason why that couldn’t be pulled off here. The sense of speed is great, but it seems like there are moments where the framerate bogs a bit and momentarily pauses, maybe to load some of the upcoming environment. Criterion is definitely pushing the aging Xbox 360 and PS3 hardware as much as they can (and without a mandatory install to boot). The audio portion suffers, at least in the 360 version. While the sound effects are fine, the music is obviously compressed, which is probably due to the 360’s limitations on disc space.

The second installment of Most Wanted is a fun game, but it took me some time to fully warm up to the game. It is as close to a sequel to Burnout Paradise as were going to see, but the more I played through Most Wanted, the more I wished Criterion and EA would have just done an actual sequel with a crash mode and everything. The biggest problem with Most Wanted is that there is just no purpose or justification to be taking down everyone on the list. Everyone is a faceless rival without personalities, and you have to beat these people because that’s what the game tells you to do. Usually racing games don’t need a narrative to move things ahead, but considering that’s what the original Most Wanted did, that was something to be expected here. But if that sort of thing doesn’t bother you, and you’re just looking for a decent arcade racing experience, then this game is worth trying out.

Xbox 360 and PS3 versions played