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The Need for Speed series has gained quite a faithful following and since I've never played any of the games in the franchise, I was looking forward to being able to "burn some rubber" as the kids say and see what all the fuss is about.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted puts you in the role of Racer Nobody out to work your way up the Blacklist -- a ranked list of 15 street racers.  The catch is, of course in this free-roaming racer, is that a specific list of objectives must be completed before being able to challenge the next racer on the Blacklist, which makes for plenty of side races and much, much evasion of law enforcement (sometimes during races).  It's a tried a true method of "forced progression" but the story, although told via some interestingly mixed live action and semi-cel shaded actors feels a bit tacky, and what humor it shoots for falls flat. (It's almost enough to make me re-think my own desire to have another installment of the Red Alert series.)  Racing fans like racing in a racing game and this is where a game like Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition muscles out Most Wanted.

 

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Most Wanted's racing is good, don't get me wrong, but the story started to grate on me after beating the first few Blacklist opponents.  The races can be extremely tight and more than a few of the improvised street courses show off a great-looking game engine with plenty of sweet detail (but not much in the way of realistic body damage); however, that story mode... it forces you to roam around the city 

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before the next opponent can be raced against.  For instance, one of the criteria might be to earn a $50,000 bounty.  This means driving recklessly until the cops five chase.  Avoiding capture increases the bounty on your head -- this is how you "earn" a bounty.  The side benefit of having to bomb around town with a bunch of flashing lights chasing you (and a helicopter spotting you from the sky) is that you'll get to know the shortcuts for each area and the layout of interchanges.

Something Most Wanted does very well is create a feeling of speed.  Sharp turns at 110mph feel like you're going through a tight turn at excessive speed.  And road conditions do change and this is reflected in a change in car handling.  The basic mechanics of the control are good, but it just begs for a proper steering wheel because sometimes a thumbstick just doesn't cut it.

Although your car doesn't receive any (noticeable) speed or acceleration bonuses with the many body options and paint applications available, it's still nice to have them available to trick out your rides.  (You'll earn an assortment of licensed vehicles.)  What will make your ride go faster and handle better is a visit to one of the many performance garages scattered around the map.  Money is important in this regard, which reinforces the need to win any available races to work your way up the Blacklist.

Aside from the fairly robust single-player, Most Wanted also includes a fairly basic multiplayer mode over Xbox Live.  It's easy to find races and I didn't experience any problems with lag.

Enjoyment from Need for Speed: Most Wanted depends on your level of fanaticism for racing games.  There's enough technical stuff included for "hardcore" racers like the customization options, but casual gamers that really like the eggshell, balls-to-the-wall speed and explosions that accompanies the Burnout series might feel a little let down by the experience.  Still, that doesn't detract from the outright appeal of going real fast, painting flames on your car, and not having to cope with any real life mayhem usually associated with street racing.

- Omni

(December 5, 2005)

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