Need for Speed: Most Wanted - A Criterion Game PC
User Score
4.4 out of 10

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 469 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 146 out of 469
  2. Mixed: 63 out of 469
  3. Negative: 260 out of 469

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  1. BadAssBoss
    Nov 8, 2012
    1
    this massage to all "critics"
    u don't understand what u doing. this is NOT an AAA game! this is usless trash. it's not even the game!
    - controls not responsive, - 2 stupid cameras, physics? there is no NOTHING in this trash to call it even simple arcade. games for ipad in our days have more deep gameplay and setting... than this.
    this is pathetic parody on NFS. critics give this trash 8    !!!! U encourage EA and Criterion make this trash NEXT YEAR? or u just sellouts?… Expand
  2. shArk87
    Feb 5, 2013
    0
    Criterion, Go yourself, you're screwing all NFS games!!!
    When does the mercenary *EA* learns what we really want... Criterion, your only good game release was Burnout, and it stayed there.. Stop before u screw Need for speed
  3. Liquidlizard
    Nov 26, 2012
    4
    What the hell Criterion? Burnout Paradise was what? 4 years ago? and it still has better graphics and is more realistic than this crap. EA too - Prostreet is more fun. Coulda been alot better if you took another year to work on it. Plus, you cannot unlock/purchase cars. You have to find them around the city... That's no fun. This series is turning into Call of Duty. No one should get it. Good for $10. Great for $5.… Expand
  4. polko-m
    Oct 30, 2012
    0
    this is half done game without any story and challenge, where every car is avaliable from the begining without any motivation to play and unlock anything. As criterion said for people which does not have time to play few hours to unlock something, with forced multiplayer against signgleplayer where is nothing to do... If they can imagine there are player which want to play singleplayer and I don't want to put my face to each banner in the game… Expand
  5. baddeadtaste
    Nov 7, 2012
    4
    This game has no soul at all. Taking down the most wanted rivals is completely boring. There is no character associated with a vehicle, no story at all. It's simply unlock a most wanted challenge and then beat it, get car, rinse, repeat. Customization is gone completely as all mods are the same for each vehicle and you unlock them in the same generic races over and over again. The online is kind of hit or miss for me...they reward crashing WAY too much. Nobody races with any finesse they just fly around slamming into you all the time. And WTF is up with the speed trials and challenge events!?! This is supposed to be a racing game!! In some events you actually have to try and PARK your car longer than anyone else in a specific spot!! That's right...the object is to PARK your car?!?! What the heck is Criterion thinking!?!?! After the awesomeness that was NFS: The Run, I had high hopes for this game but if you ask me Criterion screwed up just about every single aspect of this game and sucked all the fun right out of the online game. This is definitely one to avoid for sure.… Expand
  6. kryator
    Oct 30, 2012
    4
    This game is poorly optimized for PC, a straight port, constant fps drops make the game unplayable. The car handling is too "heavy", the camera choices are horrible.
    All in all, wasted money.
  7. WarEnsemble
    Nov 2, 2012
    0
    This is not Most Wanted, It's really like Need for Speed: Burnout. Really, feels like playing Burnout games with Need for Speed brand on it.

    And its poorly optimized for PC.
  8. garion1
    Nov 5, 2012
    3
    This should have remained "A Criterion Game" (no Electronic Arts involvement) and should have been called Burnout Paradise 2. Besides absolutely stunning graphics, the game lacks everything a true NFS fan got excited about when they saw that NFS Most Wanted was coming. It is downright misleading and dishonest. The NFS franchise has just got worse by the title. Most of my gripes have been mentioned in other reviews already. I'm so disappointed!… Expand
  9. rentbox
    Nov 2, 2012
    2
    New NFS! GREAT! Right? Typically when you see a massive number of negative user reviews, people are just complaining to complain right?

    So lets break this latest NFS down. It runs - check. You can drive different cars - check. There are cops, races, and other side mission like things to do - check. The graphics are decent (more on this later) and you have teh dubstep soundtrack!     If you've played NFS before EA turned into a completely soulless company, there were some fun moments. You could get past the small flaws and cheater AI that were part of the experience because the core game was fun. Now looking back at every NFS since PU, we have a complete and total failure to produce a game that is even worth playing. This latest entry is full of the same crap and somehow, people keep buying it. Do you want to dominate a race and then lose in the last tenth of a second because the AI magically caught back up? Do you want to drive cars that handle without a bit consistently? Do you think a sandbox racing game should just be a check list of races? After an hour of attempting not to be infuriated by this game, I lost, and decided that I would rather stab myself repeatedly rather than carry on. The PC version is an obvious port, and poorly optimized. You want particle effects? WE'LL GIVE YOU SO MANY EFFECTS THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE THE RACE! You want to complete that billboard challenge? We'll make sure a the "randomly" generated traffic t-bones you. So what does this boil down to? EA Games beating a long dead series because for some reason, people keep buying these steaming piles of crap games. Save your money, or better yet, find a copy of the first NFS : Hot Pursuit and Porsche Unleashed.… Expand
  10. StrikerFIN
    Nov 6, 2012
    1
    Loved the original Most Wanted (not because of the plot, but because of gameplay), came in with high hopes, but left unsatisfied. I would agree on the comments about bad optimization and low frame rates. I have a high end PC, and games like Battlefield 3 work without any problems on max settings. NFS: Most Wanted however, doesn't. There is constant frame rate issues. Also I can't drive with manual gears, only automatic. The cool slow motion replays during jumps and roadblocks, which I loved in the original Most Wanted, are gone. No police helicopter anymore even on highest heat level, don't know why they left that out. As everyone knows by now, all of the cars are unlocked right away. This doesn't bother me, but the "Easydrive" system in which you can upgrade your car while driving isn't that functional. You can't really steer and navigate the menus in the same time, so you're gonna have to stop the car anyway. All in all, I'm pretty disappointed.… Expand
  11. ss4real
    Nov 1, 2012
    3
    This is more a Burnout game than a Need for Speed game. Bad vehicle handling. A terrible upgrade system. New cars are just given to you yet there's only 5 races per car...that you can only attempt with THAT car! The crash cam is annoying and ruins the intense chases that made the original Most Wanted so fun. Don't buy this game.
  12. Avadon
    Feb 20, 2013
    2
    I hadn't played a NFS game in years and had really missed it, so I got this with very minimal expectations. I just wanted the usual post-Underground NFS game, with silly storyline and enjoyable driving. Even with non existent expectations however, this game is bad. When I can run Far Cry 3 on high and I need to turn this down to low details, you know there's a problem. Also, the handling is so terrible that I couldn't stand it for more than an hour. You press the stick to turn and at first the car doesn't respond and then it immediately takes a 90 degree turn straight into the nearest wall. I can't believe Criterion made this game, wtf happened to them? I don't think I need to add anything else, when you've got a sluggish racing game that handles terribly, it's done, nothing else matters. Huge disappointment.… Expand
  13. hapklaar
    Nov 4, 2012
    3
    Another one of these 13 in a dozen racegames. Multiplayer is nothing more than a frenzy where everybody tries to hit eachother. No nice ladder system which could at least keep you occupied for some hours. If you buy this game, be prepared to be bored after one day of playing. Too bad most developers seem to be going for the easy console money and stop developing games which really bring something new (or even old and proven!) to tyhe table to make a game interesting.… Expand
  14. mrkartofel1
    Nov 17, 2012
    3
    One of the worst high-budget game I've ever played.The races are totally frustrating, the cars don't want to turn (or turn only slightly). The graphic and audio is fine, but the soundtrack doesn't. In Burnout Paradise soundtrack was great (rock/metal), in this Need for Speed is **** (only 'cool DJ's', Skrillex). I don't play multiplayer, because I don't like play online, so I can't review it.
  15. H1TMAN930927
    Nov 2, 2012
    3
    When ii hear that need for speed was going to be redone, i was excited and hoped the game was amazing. After Pirating the game out of fear that it would be a money waister, my fears were proven correct. This game is note a successful redo of the last most wanted, getting new cars are as easy as driving around and saying "oh look a bugatti veyron......MINE!" no financial buy car trade car system, all these retarded points things, i mean you start off in a porche 911. theres no progression like the classic need for speed games when u have a **** car and progress to a nicer one threw wining pink slips or buying new cars, theres only 2 camera views(no in-car view) and the handling is just terrible, if you want to know what its like, duct tape a hippo to your roof and try drive, as well as there is no Manual transmission, need for speed franchise is on a downhill, and they are become the same as the Call of duty franchise in this regard, they need to pull something out of there asses to make this franchise a gem as it once was. I feel sorry for people who actually went out and bought the game, and ill say this again.... THIS IS WHY WE PIRATE, TO COMPENSATE FOR GAME DEVELOPERS TRYING TO SELL US ****TY WORTHLESS GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!… Expand
  16. RECON-UK
    Dec 23, 2012
    2
    For those of you wanting my opinion, see my video over on YouTube.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJnK52lom_E&feature=youtu.be

    My review is in the description, with video proof.
  17. GPReS
    Oct 31, 2012
    0
    I always hated trolling, and this game is nothing but trolling from Criterion...
    1) Most Wanted? Seriously??? Do they ever played MW by BlackBox? Obviously not, otherwise the game would not be such facepalm...
    2) NFS??? Seriously? I see nothing but very bad replica of Burnout: Paradise City...
    3) Graphics sucks on HD screens as NFS:HP2010 earlier, seems that Criterion is still has no ar    ms to develop smth worthful
    4) Controls - fuuuuuuuu!!!!
    This is the the 1st game I give such a low score. The way not to go Criterion... But better - get your arms off NFS title, go develop next BRNT...    … Expand
  18. v00d00m4n
    Dec 26, 2012
    4
    This game should be called "Burnout Paradise 2 - No Need for Speed: Least Wanted" becaus its not that awesome NFS Most Wanted game remake we wanted and expected, its not NFS at all!
    - What made original Most Wanted 2005 a great game? Story - with underground street racing atmosphere, its was intriguing blockbusters where you had clear goal, good characters and felt yourself a real st    reet racer a pain in cop's ass! Style - awesome moody "golden" lighting, real autumn, road with orange leafs, cool graffiti, awesome customized cars with all sorts of variety! Challenging races- against cop of regular NPC or both, it was not easy it was breathtaking in terms of tension they gave us, final race against cop was totally awesome experience i still cant forget. And getting new cars or customization as price in race was a real treasure that allowed to progress and match your rivals that progressed as well, to get a new car you need to win a lot of races and you need to choose wisely! Customization and tuning - well comparing to previous NFS Underground 2 or next NFS Carbon it was simplified here and there, but it still was good, stylish and allowed to make a lot of various rides, and i heard you all like pimping your rides and they put a "pimp your ride" in your "NFS" so everyone could spent half of gameplay time pimping ride like some Xzibit while playing NFS. Physics - well it was not realistic, it was arcadish, but it was adequate and balanced and kept everyone entertained. Various race modes - i cant remember them all, i think drag and drift racing was missing (well NFS UG 2 and Carbon was still better) but it was enough and all was challenging. Variety of gameplay features - you was able to not just use nitro, but a slow mo as well, was able to hide from cops, if you change cars or colors the heat was going down, you was able to brake parts of levels to make a traps for cops and rivals, there was SMS, car shops, customs shops, safehouses and count of damage you dealt to city, and more gameplay features. Cutscenes - well this goes to story department of game, but even if there was no good story, scenes was very-well directed and quite impressive, people really loved how they mixed real actors and in-game environment and cars, in game real-time cut-scenes that showed cars before and after races was impressive as well and was making all car lovers horny, it was a real vehicle-porn in good meaning. Controls - they was different for every car, they was good, they was optimized well for gamepad, keyboard and wheels. Sound track - i guess everyone remembed awesome tracks since NFS Underground famous "Eron-don-don" and up to Carbon dark grime. There was more good things about original MW, but i need to finally start talking about MW 2012, however there is not too much to talk about.
    So if you played original MW, once you hear about new MW, you expect all the good things from original to appear in new game and evolve to next level.. to make this game even greater than original was...
    And the biggest problem of NFS Most Wanted 2012 that this freaking game HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OF WHAT I JUST LISTED AND WHAT MADE ORIGINAL MOST WANTED 2005 such a good game!
    Im freaking serious! Almost Absolutely nothing except for cop and free roaming city... game is just empty and boring, you have one big (great however) city where you have nothing to do except for changing cars and driving simple circuit races against dumbest boring cops and nameless NPCs... Yo Dawg! Criterion heard you like driving, so they put only a driving in your driving NFS game so you can drive while you drive and do nothing else! No story! No cut-scenes! No style! No customization and tuning! No challenging races! No tension! No adequate physics! No different good controls for different cars! ! No memorable soundtrack! No rich gameplay features! No goals! No sense of wining the race! No awards for winning! No motivation to play! Only a pure empty city where you have nothing to do except for driving through billboards with EA, DICE, Bioware, Visceral game and Criterion logos, and changing cars that have only a cosmetic difference.
    Despite this game feels like a Burnout Paradise 2, it missing a lot of Paradise features and insane speeds, so its not even good as Burnout! Pure marketing FAIL! This game have nothing to be called MOST WANTED, its a LEAST WANTED NFS game (just like recent Hot Pursuit remake)! After playing i realized that crappy Undercover (which was initially called Most Wanted 2) was not so crappy and was actually better than this Most Wanted 3 aka 2012 (or actually MW 4, because Carbon was real MW2 and Undercover was actually MW3). Damn it, half of cars dont even have NITRO! Can you imagine it? Gameplay is somehow close to level of rusty NFS 1-3 which is very simple and empty comparing to what we saw in NFS and Midnight Club and Test drive in recent years.
    Dont buy this game and ask for refund if you did!
    4 of 10 only!    … Expand
  19. MadButter
    Oct 30, 2012
    3
    Poorly optimized and boring unless you want to play multi player which is fun. Just like Giant Bomb said in their review, it's like a Burnout Paradise 2. I always liked the idea of unlocking new cars by winning races or achieving something and I'm really disappointed that they took it away. You won't fell connected to any of those cars that you can drive. Also, getting that crash cam every time you even scratch a vehicle from traffic is really annoying (also being unable to skip it).

    If you want to buy this game and play with your friends on multi player - wait for it to get optimized. If you're looking for a single player experience - don't touch it    … Expand
  20. suthnara
    Mar 21, 2013
    3
    What can I sat that hasn't been already said. Worst Need For Speed game? Yep it wins that title quiet easily. All cars handle like buses, sloshing left and right and NO MANUAL transmission!! The multiplayer is useless. I never had any clue as to what I was supposed to do. To improve this game some should make a patch or mod to improve the handling of the car and please include manual transmission. Only good thing about the game is the beautiful graphics.… Expand
  21. nafalem
    Oct 31, 2012
    4
    This game should be called BURNOUT MOST WANTED. Yes! This is all same like in Burnout Paradise. The only difference is the police, and nice graphics..
  22. arthur666
    Nov 17, 2012
    0
    i dont understand this game. i cant control car and hitting every other cars and that annoying CRASH word come up. its makes me mad. its makes me crazy. there is NO possible way the play this game. miss old nfs games...
  23. Bloodthirsty
    Nov 3, 2012
    4
    Not great but average NFS.....i was expecting more than dis.....the gameplay sucked especially with the cops... imean what the hell i am at 240km/h and the cops still can keep up with me...dis iz not compared to even real life.......and the cop evading system WOW...i cant xplain how much worse it is no persuit breaker no hide spots,no way to shake the cops of any way......Only thing i like about dis game iz the graphics nothing else.....and i also wished there was a story line....at least i think NFS hot persuit 2010 was better.... oops srry best than all.....NFS most wanted 2005 iz the second best for me.....… Expand
  24. Thingriz
    Jan 26, 2013
    0
    Not worth the time to even think about it! Baby game written for babies with six axis controllers stuck to their hands and mommy and daddies money in their wallets. Console crap all the way- just like everything from criterion. The user reviews are very kind and the game reviewer's have been paid handsomely to lie! EA has failed on this series for 8 years now. I hated Black Box but Criterion? They can't even make a game that runs on PC or uses PC hardware. They aren't alone though- so they think that makes it alright to steal our money. Not mine! Need for Speed has been dead to me for 7 years. Sorry Sucker's.… Expand
  25. Shrutesh
    Nov 9, 2012
    4
    Ok so I have genuinely tried to like this game... but cant play more now (3 hours in total).. summarizing

    THE GOOD: A big world, decent graphics, high poly cars, clearly some effort made for the PC version (AO, HD textures, etc)

    THE BAD: HANDLING: Its totally not fun, you will be ramming into stuff every 30 sec or so; and unlike other arcade racers, here every ram is a 3 second crash     cam; feels like the game is constantly penalizing you for traffic/obstacles you just can't avoid.

    NO CUSTOMIZATION: No need to buy cars or customize them, basically means there isn't a purpose to your racing, in fact you cant even choose the color of your car. RACE STRUCTURE: You can only play 5 races with each car. You like the Ford GT? Well you can free roam in it, or replay those 5 races, gawd so many options!

    NOT A SINGLE PLAYER GAME: Bottomline, this is not a single player game; just the fact that the game can be played in SP doesn't make it one. It should have been advertised as such.

    CONCLUSION: This is neither Burnout nor NFS, something in between that just doesn't make the grade. Buy only if you are a MP player and don't care about SP.

    Sadly for me this is the death of a beloved series, its been all downhill from U2/Most Wanted; and NFS just doesn't have a soul left anymore.    … Expand
  26. emperorkibbles
    Jan 25, 2013
    2
    It feels like a horribly watered down version of Burnout Paradise in almost every aspect. Hell, even the COLOURS look watered down compared to Burnout Paradise.

    The slow-mo crash thing is horribly disappointing compared to the exact same system in Burnout Paradise.
  27. smarteck
    Oct 31, 2012
    4
    ///
    I really loved the original Most Wanted, I tried this and it was a "huge" disappointment. Is terrible, it should not be called Most Wanted, has nothing to Most Wanted, is terrible, all is a business maneuver to fool the people, someone should prohibit this kind of practice.
    In summary:
    - If you like Burnout Paradise, buy this.
    - If you liked the "original" Most Want    ed, DO NOT BUY THIS,You will see it as a fraud

    :/
    //////    … Expand
  28. ancientgamer2k
    Oct 31, 2012
    2
    As others said, it's very sad how far the Need for speed series has fallen. Kudos to Criterion for trying to showcase frostbite 2, but a giant minus for killing another NFS title. To summarize: The good: nice graphics, good sense of speed, burnout-type sense of speed/action, free roaming
    The bad: the handling model is very poor since for some reason, they made all the cars handle the sam    e (very minor variations between RWD, AWD and FWD); all cars feel like they weigh way too much, AI super speed-banding (ie. AI gets accelerated so that they can keep up with you) in both police chases as well as races, useless progression model (got bored within 30 minutes tbh), useless unlock model (again, no real feeling of progression) and absolutely pointless single-player. I`m sorry, but with such poor design choices, this is ``just another failed NFS title`` in my book. Sorry Criterion, I`ll give you a 2 for the graphics and because you made the original Burnout series, otherwise 0 for EA.… Expand
  29. czaczaczar
    Nov 5, 2012
    0
    I personally prefer the NFS: Most Wanted 2012 ported on Android & iOS because it has in-game currency & it doesn't suck! When I first heard of this game, I thought, "Wow! My favorite game from the NFS series will be remade. Sgt. Cross, the hot chick named Mia & the Blacklist are coming back." My hopes has been ruined. This game is just a combination of NFS: Undercover (which I really hated) & Burnout Paradise (which I really liked). It has no manual transmission, poor handling, bumper cam & chase cam only, the city is very small, no car customizations & modifications, no currency, no story, cheating AI (SUVs that can catch up with supercars), & most of all, there's no distinct character milieu like in the original Most Wanted. Flashy graphics doesn't always mean a good game. It's not worth the money. This game should be boycotted. EA better not touch NFS: High Stakes next.… Expand
  30. Donads
    Nov 1, 2012
    2
    I don't understand those guys at EA, I really don't. Why don't they ask what the costumers WANT to play? Why do they keep ruining game series that I loved years ago? I've stopped playing NFS on NFS: Shift (which I really didn't like), but when I first watched the first video of NFS:MW(2012), I was really excited about it, I thought "Hey, they're coming back for MW!". But I was wrong, completely wrong. First of all, you can't skip the intro when you start a new game. So, after waiting for that completely boring intro, there were the tutorials, totally annoying, and then, when I finally get to play it, It's nothing but Burnout Paradise (which I really like) with less colourful graphics, and a completely boring gameplay. I just hope they don't release a new NFS: Underground and ruin it like they did with MW. Please, if you're going to make a ridiculously bad game, don't name it as a game fans used to like years ago.… Expand
  31. Redeemer989
    Nov 5, 2012
    3
    Look, I gave up playing this. After all that struggle on single player, I couldn't get used to it anymore due to the crash cam and the gameplay mechanics. So, I'm decreasing my scoring to 3.
  32. Audius
    Nov 2, 2012
    3
    Honestly the lead designer behind this game needs to face some repercussions, because games repeatedly being released this poorly for such a 'major' title is getting old. The title should read Burnout: With Cops, or if they were so adamant about it containing the Need for Speed title it should've read Need for Speed: Least Wanted. There is absolutely NOTHING innovative about this game. This game is the product of cross-breeding between two titles, containing the worst possible genes and deformities between the two. There is absolutely no story-line, you're kind-of just thrown in a bright colored open-world. What to do now? Want to drive a Lamborghini Gallardo but don't feel like doing any work to get it? Great, just go find it on the mini-map and hop in it! Want to customize it? Sorry, those features were overlooked. Want to change the color to your favorite color? No worries! Drive through the magic repair shop where your car is instantly repaired and your car is randomly given a color. Don't like the color? No problem, just reverse through the repair shop and repeat until you get the color you want! Now, aside from the horrendous customization options, the handling in this game is among some of the worst racing games to date. The steering feels extremely clunky, heavy, and delayed. Say you try to avoid a car in front of you by slamming your throttle to the left, then try to correct yourself after you've avoided the car, you'll usually end up slamming into the wall to your left before your car even begins to acknowledge the fact that you corrected yourself. This NORMALLY wouldn't be that much of an issue in a NFS title, but Criterion felt they had to add in their ridiculous "slow-mo crash cam" every time you so much as bump into something. In which case you'll be forced to watch your car flop about, and in some cases watch your car sit motionless after a pathetic accident. This is the kind of stuff that belongs on Arcade machines where you don't expect to be playing the same game for more than a couple repetitions. If you're not a fan of the Burnout series, save yourself the headache and frustration afterwards and avoid purchasing this horrendous title. Don't take my word for it if you don't believe me. Try it yourself either by purchasing or via trackers. I'm pretty sure you'll come to a similar conclusion. If you want to play a similar title that's free-to-play without the terrible design choices by Criterion, try out Need for Speed World, as it is at least 10x better than this steaming load.… Expand
  33. Palenoire
    Nov 1, 2012
    0
    Game made so angry that I published my review not on PC page but on PS3 page by mistake.
    This is crap! Horrible! Why cars are uncontrollable? Why game is lagging on high settings while Skyrim/Battlefield 3 run absolutely normally on my PC? Why music sucks (again)? Why game slows down time every 5 seconds like an online lag? How many freaking hours do I need to hold down "turn left" button     for my car to actually turn left? And when she turns left... oh boy... nothing can stop her from causing total devastation in spinning 360 freaking degrees!!! Once you gently, for half of the second tap Space it sends you car flying like a tornado! Screw this game, don't buy it, download it from trackers if you are curious- yeah, i said that.… Expand
  34. davoz28
    Mar 31, 2013
    1
    First off, this game looks rediculously good on max settings. Gorgeous game. But unfortunately its a RACING game. Omg the controls. OMG. Cars are tanks, they either dont turn at all, or turn you 90 degrees into a wall. I've played for 5 hrs now, TRYING to get a grasp at it. Its just unplayable and unenjoyable. I really want to like it but if you cant steer, you cant race. Shameful a game that looks this good races this bad.… Expand
  35. Jintoss
    Nov 7, 2012
    4
    Gorgeous, poorly thought out, and badly optimized for PC. Cars handle like they are driving flat out even at low speeds. Success in the 'speed run' (maintain average speed) are purely determined by lucky traffic conditions. 'Quick Drive' mechanic allows you to switch upgrades (basically various perks for cars, not really upgrades) but requires you to drive to each event - seriously questionable logic here. Menus load painfully slow and aren't skippable - you will wait 10 seconds after each race attempt at the same menu animations; it will feel like torture. You will have to drive very defensively, as once you've committed to a turn, a random car coming out of a turn will ruin your day.

    Some interesting design concepts, but in the end don't compliment each other. The result is a gorgeous, uninteresting, and frustrating mess that you wish was more fun.    … Expand
  36. McJobless
    Nov 12, 2012
    2
    This game makes The Run look like a masterpiece in the Need for Speed collection. EA has told its developers since ProStreet onwards that graphics are more important than gameplay. I find this a complete insult to the entire series, but more over, an even greater insult to the original developers (Black Box, as they are now known) of Most Wanted. This game ruins every single aspect that made the original fun, and then further rubs salt into the wound through its utilization of the terrible AutoLog system.

    Need for Speed, I loved you, but now is the time to let you go.    … Expand
  37. Boeteloez
    Nov 4, 2012
    2
    I still got Most Wanted from 2005 laying around in the attic somewhere. I might as well just played that game again, because this 2012 version is just one big copy past with some updated consolegraphic. Some how it runs like crap on pc (another greate EA port i guess) and the game is way to easy, especially if you played games like GT, forza or Grid. Need4speed is not the same good old game it was 5 to10 years back. It feels like a total ripp-off, because they basically are selling us the same game from 7 years back. However, If you are the type of gamer that does NOT like the brake button and want to hit every corner doing about 280, this is your game! A 12 year old kid should have fun with this, a real gamer who likes a challenge should skip this waste of game. Thank god for the 8 days refund option. Second game from EA I decided to return and change for another game.… Expand
  38. the_kracken
    Oct 30, 2012
    3
    I was hoping for a story game like the first one. What I got was a crappy knockoff that tossed everything cool about the first one and replaced it with garbage. There is no work to get the best cars. They are just given to you to pick up off the street. There is no sense of accomplishment or any story at all. It is just simply cool cars driving around in a city avoiding cops. The only thing nice about the game are the decent graphics. Thanks for another half-assed typical EA release.… Expand
  39. Pandoron
    Oct 31, 2012
    2
    Sorry to say that but this game is a 1 millionth variant of the same thing. Completely unrealistic demonstration of these cars (except the exterior optics). Only two camera positions. Upgrade system is a joke. Gameplay is rather boring. We had these games even 20 years ago with higher quality levels regarding gameplay. If you want to have fun with driving nice and fast cars you should consider buying NFS: Shift 1/2 or something similar. This stuff is just boring and repetitive like hell.

    Also again it is annoying to see who the "Critic Reviews" get influenced by the payment of the publisher because I cannot imagine that the reviews are that high without any bribery. Once more you can realize that magazine reviews are not reliable at all.    … Expand
  40. rentonB
    Oct 30, 2012
    3
    This is the worst Need for Speed game i have ever played, i was like "uh" first 30 minutes and i dont wanna come back to this game, its so boring. Even Undercover was much better.
  41. razgriz10000
    Oct 30, 2012
    1
    Horrible. I give it a 1 because the graphics are good. Other than that the game is absolute crap. There's no feeling of leveling up. You are handed everything. No buying anything. No customization. Stupid camera angles. The cars feel like you're driving 20 ton dump trucks with cheese for wheels. You can't even pick between an automatic or a manual transmission anymore. The run was a bad blow to NFS. This game has killed the series for me. Time to go back to midnight club where I can at least have some fun and have a personalized car and stuff.… Expand
  42. J0k3r4255
    Oct 30, 2012
    3
    srsly a waste of money doesn't reminde me of a nfs at all and i waited for it for this long .srlsy guys first the run now this nfs games were good till nfs run .no story,no tuning,i am totaly disappointed.graphics srsly i have a 8gb pc with a i7 and i still get laggy and the grapchics are similair to nfs hp 2010.then comes the steering drivin in a car any car need to turn i press a turning button a little and i see myself smashing in to a wall tried using a wheel no changes.srsly game looks like it is not complete.i'm chosing older nfs games i recomend that too… Expand
  43. Della195
    Oct 30, 2012
    3
    3 since game looks awesome, sound is great, and I liked the cars inside it, the rest 0
    First of all, pointless single player just race around get points beat some rivals get their cars, that's it.
    Secondly, AWFUL seriously AWFUL handling, adding the fact of the input lag the cars drive like bricks there is rarely occasions where you can drive trough lots of traffic, eventually you will c    rash with something on your way.
    Race breaking AI: they crash you whenever they get the chance and make you get smoked against walls or anything, with the addition of the annoying crash cam they added that makes you loose all your positions, it's almost impossible to win a race in medium without 5 or 6 retries.
    Terribly annoying police: Have you ever seen a Ford Crown Victoria Police car go 280+km/h? If you did not here you can see it, not only they can break the speed of sound but they are tanks literally they will smash you down no matter how hard you try to avoid them, on police chases it's not a problem but on races where you managed to get past around 7 cars that are on now your tail police cars ramming at you and totaling your car its seriously deserves a rage time.
    Race line: I just red IGN's review saying the closed racing line is annoying, how is that possible? I find far more annoying having to go trough checkpoints without the chance of using shortcuts or using a parallel road I mean if you are going to do an open racing game without barriers on the road they should at least let you take secondary roads or use shortcuts but no, you have to follow the racing line and make no mistakes because you will have to turn 180° and head on back to the annoying checkpoint you missed.
    Small map: Overall map is the size of a Most Wanted 2005 district nuff said.
    0% Unlocks: You can unlock and drive a Lamborghini Aventador, Bugatti Veyron SS, Koenigsegg Agera R, by just finding them and spending 0$, just pointless and boring I remember when I used to play games like Most Wanted, and seeing the SLR McLaren that was unlocked after beating the 3rd blacklist racer and I was like : "Damn I gonna have to work a lot to get that awesome car." Now that feeling is unexistent.
    No customization: I played HP 2 from 2002 and yes there was no customization but at least you could choose the color from your car, now you get a random color everytime you go trough the shop. In the end this is a game for a very very casual player who have never played a really good NFS title and only wants to race dumbly with his friends.

    PD: Thank god I got a pirated version of it, I was going to try it and then buy now I won't waste my cash.
    I recommend to PC players to torrent it, don't waste your 60$/50    … Expand
  44. masiao
    Oct 30, 2012
    2
    This is the Worst Need for Speed Most Graphics ever Made, It's pure graphics, game play sucks, handling sucks, no **** view, just 2 bump and chase, physics are beyond arcade, cops have X ray vision, you can destroy your car 100 times and it's still working, no wheels no nothing, no clutch, no h shift, purely automatic arcade crap, no customization, all cars are free to use, no story, it's A Criterion Game. Welcome to the Need for Speed Most Burnout.… Expand
  45. racergsxr1
    Oct 30, 2012
    2
    This game is more "Burnout" than it is "Need For Speed". Criterion has made great games over the years but they need to stick with their "Crash N Bash" formula with Burnout and not dump it on the NFS series. This game is such a disappointment. Criterion took out all the things that made Most Wanted great and added in a bunch of things that didn't. No more manual transmission, next to no customization, no storyline other than "There's ten people who are the best racers in the city. Beat them and I'll give you a cookie". I don't think I even saw a change camera option. What the hell happened? And the so called "Find it, Drive it"? What the hell is that? What happened to doing races for money and using the cash to buy cars and parts? That's a proven formula and everyone knows that, why take it away and replace it with something as stupid as driving around looking for exotic cars that are (for whatever reason) sitting around a city? I'm glad they brought back free roam instead of "drive on a long curvy road with high-speed corners". But at such a cost! This game isn't even Need for Speed anymore. It's like Burnout Paradise City with Frostbite 2 and a different name. It's not even as great as Paradise City, it's like a hybrid that takes all the worst case scenarios EA and Criterion could made each game into (but didn't thankfully) and combines them all into one fustercluck of unrecognizable programming. If you're looking for a fun, freeroaming, street-racing game, try NFS Underground 2 or if you also want great graphics, try NFS Undercover.… Expand
  46. Datherion94
    Oct 31, 2012
    0
    This game is as 'kryator' mentioned, a straight port making it unplayable. The car handling is completely HORRIBLE. Car implosions (i.e crashes) are unrealistic, all vehicles are way to fragile. Crash a single time in any race, etc.. and you lose. The handling really needs to be looked over, because making it completely impossible to complete a mission such as 'The Getaway'. Worthless cop cars just mashes into you from nowhere and along with the actual fact that ALL of the policecars catches up with you no matter what (they can just FLY past you from being far behind).. Criterion Game and EA really needs to re-work this. WAAAASTED money, no doubt. I'm truly dissapointed. Last time I will even look at NFS games.… Expand
  47. sensuxx
    Oct 31, 2012
    3
    to start we are not talking about most wanted, but a burnout 2, the graphics are very beautiful, magnificent bumps, never before seen in a racing game, but so and so.
    gameplay hard, totally complicated, cars pass in jobs and regenerate, customization weak, which does not add anything to the car, dry game with no excitement
  48. souravb26
    Nov 1, 2012
    4
    I agree with most of the user reviews here...really disappointing game for me...first of all there is no fluidity in the game..it runs slow even on lowest resolutions and settings, which makes the game unplayable...EA needs to fix this soon....i can play BF3 and MOH :War fighter at high settings without any problem but this is just unplayable... next, about the game play, well, it sux even more...no story, no varied game types and the most irritating one are the crashes... No matter how well u drive, u r bound 2 crash from minute to minute n no, m not a rookie in driving games, have been playing them for years and well dis is the worst i have played so far i think...the game should have been renamed need for crash...i have beaten d first guy in the road to being the most wanted and well, m fed up....can not tolerate this game any more...… Expand
  49. Bejito81
    Nov 1, 2012
    1
    Firstly, it looks great, graphic to max, 60fps, then you drive a little and for no real reason, fps drops, I put everything to minimum, then same again, 60fps and for no reason drops again (to like 30fps) (nor gpu nor cpu are at 100%)

    Secondly, and basically it is even worse than stuttering graphics (well 30fps is playable), commands lag, everyone (well most of us) play with analog devi    ces (like xbox 360 pad), but the game basically doesn't care, the more you want to turn the longer you press, and the car only react a second after your input, it is barely impossible to pass by another car at the last second, so if you chose bad lane before doing a turn, you'll be in the ass of another car

    So I love burnout paradise, but this game is not even as good as BP was so, it is a big NO to EA, after the FIFAs on Vita, now this, if they want the players to stop buying their games, they can just stop making them, we don't need this crap

    They need to patch it, quick and good    … Expand
  50. GravSpec
    Nov 1, 2012
    0
    This game is just a way less fun version of Burnout: Paradise. Among my complaints are: horrible handling, lack of camera options, and the horribly artsy and lengthy cut-scenes prior to each race. The only thing I enjoyed about this game is some of the soundtrack. I highly suggest just renting this if you want to play it. Do not waste money on this.
  51. wtfmen
    Nov 4, 2012
    0
    This is the supposed to be a similar game to the original Need for Speed Most Wanted, but it lacks a lot of the most important aspects. There is no car customization, no manual transmission, no in game currency, and the worst part of all is that you can't own a car! Who thought it would be a good idea to remove one of the best parts of the original NFS MW, owning and customizing a garage full of cars? The driving mechanics are mediocre. It feels like they were made for "fun" but it makes driving more repetitive. Another extremely annoying thing about this game is the stupid slow mo- zoom out camera that happens when you crash. I just want to keep driving not waste time looking at my stupid crash without being able to go anywhere.… Expand
  52. FreeMan4096
    Nov 1, 2012
    3
    Notice how every 10 out of 10 user review here contains "Citerion" in first sencence. It's called Fanboysm :) The Game is aweful, not worth even ilegal download. it's absolut insult to gamers who like racing games or ever loved NFSs. I don't know how they ended up naming it Most Wanted when there is nothing in common with original game. whole desing is stupid. it starts with awkward intro where game tries to excuse poor gameplay mechanics and lack of trully exciting futures. the game might be average 5 out of 10 on consoles but its much worse on PC as it's yet another offence to PC gamers, bringing us port that was writen during weekend.… Expand
  53. DeeZaster
    Nov 1, 2012
    2
    This game is one of the worst driving games in the series of NFS racing with super cheesy adverts. To start with the adverts, all the billboards you smash through are labelled with EA bought companies like DICE, BIOWARE etc... and this is far from a NFS title, its a Burnout title and I want my money back this game is just horrid. First while your driving your constantly blinded by the super whiteout sun 25% of the time and even using the calibration, its subpar after calibration is still used for brightness and contrast, this is unacceptable. Second is the lag with controllers. Your usually hitting a lot of things because the car continues to turn even after you've readjusted your stick on your controller, it just seems to still steer for a second after a lot, not always but a lot which makes driving unpredictable. Having no customization options just sucks, whatever happened to need for speed underground where you could soop up your ride the way you wanted, with the parts you wanted and even the style. Did you know there is NO MANUAL TRANSMISSION?!?! This joke of a game you just drive through a gas station and your ride is instantly fixed and colour changed, COME ON can you get any more mickey mouse job of making a game than this? The graphics are decent, nothing spectacular but this game is a MAJOR rush job and just quickly put together with social features nobody uses. The cop chases usually last for an hour because they constantly are on your tail and so many keep respawning, its a joke. I've been parked by the side of the road my first time in the game, no heat on me, while I was setting up the settings and got back to game and BOOM a cop just busted me, this was f**ked! The other annoying thing about this game is while your driving and hitting objects its like a cop's cherries are flashing behind you each time you hit an object, its very distracting and not sure why they are flashing white and blue when you hit any object like a light pole.

    SERIOUS GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK! After these few hours I seriously can't take it no more, this game is in the trash. This game isn't even better than the RUN (the last NFS game) when it first game out and that is VERY BAD. I really miss the games last the old most wanted where it had a story, if this game even had a story it would be something to play for, in its current state I don't ever want to play this game again.

    This game only gets a HURTING 2/10, I gave it 1 extra point cuz I didn't crash to desktop once at least. Never again am I going to PreOrder a NFS title.    … Expand
  54. Cylon
    Nov 2, 2012
    3
    A discrace for the NFS series, I can't believe this. This is a horrible pc port, what a slap in the face to the pc users. It's like Dark Souls! Not only the fps drops, random crashes and bugs, the controls are so bad as well. Why do they release a port like this in this state? It boggles my mind. The gameplay of this game is quite good though, especially the multiplayer which has a whole lot of variety in it. One thing I don't get is why between events everyone keeps crashing into other cars. As a result you'll be watching so many crash screens in a short amount of time, it's insane. I want a button that makes me neutral between events, I just want to enjoy driving around! Sigh. Fifty bucks wasted, AGAIN.… Expand
  55. fureisenjin
    Nov 2, 2012
    4
    This game is not a Need for Speed game. It should be called Burnout Paradise 2.
    The graphics and music are top notch but needs optimization.
    Gameplay is among the things that in my opinion is killing the game, the devs seems to be confused by either making it an arcade or a simulation game.
    U crash too much and it is ridiculous how even the slightest 'touch' can cause a massive crash.
    The cops are among the most aggressive ever to be seen in a game. But that is not a +.… Expand
  56. makeros
    Nov 2, 2012
    3
    I have to say that, I do not wish that any future racing games takes this game as an example. There is no fun, the controls are ok BUT it is not FUN! You crash all the time and it screws your race. Also if you drive really well, you have that amazing rubber band effect!! In the year 2012 you`d think that EA sports might have the capability to make an realistic Ai!!
  57. maxik24
    Nov 11, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Дорогие товарищи из ЕА, вновь "обули" широкую общественность, выпустив сие недоразумение под именем игры, любимой миллионами... Мне искренне жаль 45 минут моей жизни, которые я потратил играя в это.... Мне кажется, что пора прекращать заниматься ерундой и пытаться продать людям, простите за выражение: "дерьмо" в золотой обертке... Не нужно засовывать Frostbite2, с его дурацкой оптимизацией во все ваши проекты... Надеюсь, что кто-нибудь из разработчиков прочитает мой отзыв, и додумается перевести его через google translate...
    Сделайте ремейк старого NFS MW 2005 года, с новой графикой и все!!!    … Expand
  58. Jaha
    Nov 2, 2012
    0
    This must be one of the worst racing games I ever played. First of all, the pc version has massive fps drops and is pretty much unplayable. There is also a delay when you turn which makes it impossible to keep the car on the road. The car handling is also terrible and I bet Super Mario Karts have better car handling. It really feels like you driving a boat. Also every time when you start the game you have to watch a stupid intro for about 3 minutes, you can… Expand
  59. AR87ACE
    Nov 3, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. First off, i just want to say that i knew this was coming... another need for speed title,another bad racing game added to the long list! This game is a huge disappointment for almost any nfs fan out there... and i`m talking about the ones who played the whole series from the first installment, who know that after nfs hot pursuit, the series slowly died. The only reason why i`m giving this game a 5/10 is that it has great graphics ,great sounds/music, but these things can`t make up for the bad and unrealistic handling of the cars, the stupid crashes with traffic cars, stupid a.i, stupid cops, fps drops, pop-ups that appear on screen in front of you that block the whole view and so on... And above all, this game is dumbed down hard (that easydrive system is s**t) it has only 2 camera views, a pretty small map, no garage, no shops, no customization, no story and no purpose at all. Overall this is bad experience and i suggest you buy something else

    PS: In my opinion nfs hp 2010 was better than this one, this shows once again that history repeats itself, by that i mean: what happened to ea is happening to criterion, but much earlier (next game will be even worse,if there will be a next one)    … Expand
  60. bjaz
    Apr 23, 2013
    1
    THE WORST NO.1 IN NFS SERIES,
    There is no story,No good music,gameplay is bad(compared to previous one)
    This Game is nooo match for the previous Most Wanted (2005),which i still play sometimes.
    I'll GIVE A BIG THUMB DOWN...
  61. Method320
    Nov 3, 2012
    3
    Criterion's recent work on the Need for Speed series has been moderately refreshing. Hot Pursuit was definitely a nice addition to the series. That's where it ended. Most Wanted is nothing more than a sequel to Burnout Paradise. While Burnout Paradise was certainly a fun game, Most Wanted doesn't do much new for the NFS franchise and this game has no place in the series. Need for Speed games have always had a place for customization, Burnout games have not. All need for speed games had a garage you could choose your car from, and customize it with more than just the paint job (Save for Criterion's previous Hot Pursuit)

    While the game itself certainly has some fun elements to it, the glaring downsides to this title easily outweigh the positives. Yes, it looks pretty, that's more or less all it has going for it.    … Expand
  62. Xxovich
    Nov 3, 2012
    0
    Worst racing game ever.Steering forces you to drift since its impossible to just do a decent turn and even you did drift you would end up crashing which get you in a 5 second crash cutscene everytime (that annoys the hell out of me) even if its just a side crash which you did on purpose to get your car straight.The physics aren't right at all , you could end up rolling 10 times from a slow tbone by a police car but you would get a straight jump if you'd hit a ramp with just 2 wheels.Optimization is crap , it gives 20-40 fps in the city and 50 in some areas on my system which gives a stable 60 on any game including BF3.There is no real progression , story or anything , yes you have to work your way through the list if you want a bugatti or a koenigsegg but you can find all the cars around the map except the most wanted ones.I was really excited about this game , I pre-ordered it , couldn't sleep the day before it's release... I was shocked to see what a piece of crap this was. Customization is my favourite thing in racing games and a racing game without customization is not worth to play in my opinion , NFS was the last title for me to expect that situation. I mean WHAT THE HELL?? At least let me choose the paint!? It does let you choose paint in multiplayer but that requires you to do extremely long tasks for a selection between 5 colors.I couldn't believe the crap I was playing so I kept playing for 4 days , I waited for a patch to solve the steering and fps problem , I became the number 1 most wanted in singleplayer (which is the end of the storyline , If you could call that a storyline) and played a few hours on multiplayer.I gave this game too many chances and it failed me every time. I would give it a 0.5 for the good selection of cars but there's no such score in the chart so I give it a 0 and promise not to buy another NFS title made by criterion.… Expand
  63. devillightning1
    Nov 4, 2012
    0
    Ok lets just say that I am running a gaming rig that I considered to be high end :GTX 680 Lightning, i5 2500k 4.7GHz 8GB Vengeance RAM. So with these hardware, you would think it shouldn't be a problem running this game right? WRONG. This game's first obvious flaw is its terrible optimization. Even when you have a HIGH END GPU you would still be running at around 40-50FPS dropping down to about 30 FPS in the tunnels, something is obviously very wrong here, and forget about overclocking your GPU since the GPU usage barely reach 80% it wouldn't help at all. 2nd flaw is the cars handling. All the cars in this game felt like you are driving a brick, it felt so heavy and it hard to turn around. Another problem is that since EA is advertising this game as a reboot to the Most Wanted IP, you would think that this game would include everything that the original Most Wanted did so well, a good storyline, some insane customization, pursuit breakers, speedbreaker and more, but NO. Instead, they threw out everything that made the original Most Wanted so memorable and threw in everything that came from Burnout Paradise, smashing billboards, instant repair cars, takedowns blahblah, and Burnout Paradise still runs better and plays better than this game...And also the cheating AI, the cops even though you are driving at 300KM/H they would still catch up to you no problem and the roadblocks are seriously almost impossible to go through when they are using SUVs although in the original Most Wanted you can pass through SUV by ramming the rear, and now spike stripes have a blinking yellow light to warn you and after you entered cooldown mode, for some unknown reason when you take a shortcut, the cops will still follow you into the shortcuts, SERIOUSLY, DID YOUR CAR HAVE SOME SORT OF MAGNETIC TRACKING DEVICE???!!!!...And also since all cars are already unlocked in the beginning, the sense of leveling up and improving is gone since in the original game you would have to defeat certain Blacklist drivers to unlock cars. car parts, performance upgrades and more. Simply put, this game is very disappointing and a waste of money. The name Most Wanted is just for advertising and nothing inside is even related to the original game, except the most wanted list, but in the original its called the BLACKLIST, not the MOST WANTED LIST ZZZ, even Burnout Paradise is much better compared to this… Expand
  64. Newghandi
    Nov 4, 2012
    2
    Unfortunately there's so many bad things with the game that I just have to start off with them. Poor PC port. 30FPS lock and there's still graphical lag tested on 3 powerful machines. Control is sluggish and could be a result of the low frame rate and lag issues. It's basically a copy of Burnout: Paradise which in many respects (those that matters anyway) is a lot better. The AI is incredibly bad and missions where you're chased by the cops are frustratingly bad since they cheat by spawning in cops you've out-runned in front of you. There's very little customization and the content of the game is terrible - drive around, find car, do mission, find another car, do mission... no story, no depth. EA has yet again pushed out a superficial title without any kind of depth.… Expand
  65. ryansworld10
    Nov 4, 2012
    1
    This is the worst offense to PC gamers I've seen in a long time. The game is completely playable on a high end PC due to constant FPS drops below 40. I'm using a Radeon HD 7950 and AMD FX-8320. This looks like a really fun game, and I want to like it; but how can I enjoy it if I can't even play it?
  66. BSEI
    Nov 5, 2012
    2
    The game is a bad, bad fail. Do not spend your money on the game, you will regret it. It is however fun and enjoyable for small children or mentally challenged, the same as Mario Kart is. 1. Graphics. This is something positive about the game, it has great graphics..... if you have the hardware to enjoy it. There are severe frame rate drops, it feels chunky in most areas of the map, but, it looks great. 2. Story line: non. 3. Customization: just above 0. 4. Handling: horrible, and I mean horrible. Horrible with a racing wheel, horrible with a gaming pad, horrible with a joystick and even more horrible with the keyboard. You can not even adjust the sensibility of the controller to try to compensate for the horrible handling. 5. Races: in case you manage to deal with the handling issues of the game and not crash, you actually can win. If some random car in the traffic does not hit you. The AI of the other racers is ok, but they posses some paranormal ability to jump through space right beneath you, but this rare, most of the time you will crash. 6. Cop chases: the cops have the ability of 360 degrees X-ray vision and, most of the time, can overtake you when you drive a Lambo, have better traction on dirt than you on asphalt, and their cars handle much better than yours. 7. The playing: well... it is somewhat fun and you get to drive all cars around the small map. With drive I meant crash allover the place. If you plan only to drive around, crash, and deal with super cops in super cars, this game is for you. The rest of the game is worthless. Another positive aspect is that my kids really enjoy the game (age 6 and 8), they are familiar with the start and race style of the game from Mario Kart and do not need any help form grownups. Although I bought the game for myself, which I utterly regret, because my kids play it, only 90% of the price is a waste of money, which is better than 100%. If you do not have kids, are not slow minded of retarded, or have such in your family, do not buy the game! You where warned.… Expand
  67. PloppySon
    Nov 5, 2012
    0
    Rushed out to buy this as I had the old Most Wanted (which I really enjoyed). This game is Burnout Paradise 2 not Most Wanted! That's my quick review :D PROS: Nice GFX, runs well on my PC - AMD quad 3.4ghz, GTX470 8gig 1333mhz corsair ram, WIN7 64bit. Free roaming. Nice sound FX for cars, engines, creaking chassis etc. Great fun for Burnout fans. CONS: Music is crap, load of dubstep junk.
    No **** cam or hood/bonnet cam.
    No gears for wheel owners eg G25/G27
    Loading screens between race retry/restart.
    No Story mode you just get thrown in and left to it.

    I have mixed feelings about this game, overall I like it but there seems to be a lot of things missing and some really stupid design choices - External Camera or Bumper Camera which means you get to see the world as if your face is stapled to the road, I don't like external cams and the absence of a bonnet/hood cam or a **** cam has FAIL written all over it.

    You don't feel like you are a real person trying to be most wanted as there is no story and the game sort of feels a bit empty and pointless.

    This game is NOT Most Wanted, as others have said (even before release) it is Burnout Paradise 2. If like me you loved BP then you will like this, even though cars are given to you just by driving past key spots around the map you have to win races for the specific car to earn its upgrade which is ok for an arcade racer but takes the sense of achievement out of the game.

    I'll give this an 8 because it IS A GOOD GAME, but yet again EA have released another NFS that is not NFS it's Burnout with the Police chasing you.

    Sorry if this review is mixed up but I'm still trying to work out why this is called NFS:Most Wanted and not Burnout - Yes I said it again!    … Expand
  68. hansgoed
    Nov 5, 2012
    0
    I really wanted to like this game. NFSMW is my favourite NFS game and I hoped they had improved the graphics, added some race modes, given it a new story and be done with it. Unfortunately they took Burnout, named it Need for Speed and added a little something weird and the result is something that feels like crap, isn't fun and isn't inviting you to play on to reach the goal. It would have been acceptable if they didn't take the NFS name to sell this garbage.… Expand
  69. ivarswe
    Nov 6, 2012
    1
    I was very excited when i heard about the game. I hope this could be a good Need for speed after many years , But NO

    Game feels half done and fps drop is very annoying. The old Most Wanted was soooo much better
    Wasted money...EA need to go back and look at old NFS games. WE WANT UNDERGROUND 2!
  70. RyuzakiX
    Nov 6, 2012
    0
    sh*t game.nfs has gone to the dogs.All this game has is graphics and thats it.Mediocre music,no story,no car customization,no motivation to play.100 boring non fun game,disgrace to the original 'most wanted'.
  71. tatbkath
    Nov 6, 2012
    3
    No, this game isn't Need for Speed.

    It's game-play looks like a Burnout Pradise.

    And huge in-game fps drops, poorly optimized for pc 's.

    Disqusting race intros, camera angles weird and sucks...
  72. Redphyve
    Nov 7, 2012
    1
    This review contains spoilers. What to say? I think the phrase "some polish and no spit" seems to sum it up for me. No storyline.
    No continuity.
    No sense of immersion. Here is car. Drive car. Win race. Get chased. Ad nauseum. Ad infinitum.

    The graphics may be pretty and detailed for a console, but for a high-end pc like mine? It's no challenge. FPS locked at 60. Sometimes dipping into the high 50's. It looks like the washed- out console port it is. It's pretty awful is more like it. Adjusting options in-game is a joke. it just looks worse.

    And then lets get to the game-play. I'm not going to crtitique the car-handling much. Let's just say its much of a muchness with very little feel or difference between the cars. An Evoque is an Aventador. Just slower. But the AI? It varies from "Oh my God that was brilliant!" to "WTF??? Did that cop just run into the road-block head-on?" "Umm...I turn left and a cop APPEARS FROM NOWHERE right in front of me on an empty road?" And the last Most Wanted chase they must have figured that its not going to be much of a challenge as the slightest touch from the Koeniggsegg Agera sends your impact-protected and chassis-reinforced Lamborghini Aventador skidding wildly out of control while a perfectly executed hit on the rear 3/4 panel of the Agera barely moves it. And in one bewilderingly inexplicable moment, I deflect the Agera up an off-ramp to only see it appear seconds later in FRONT of me! How did it go up the off-ramp, 180-degree turn, back down, another 180 and then catch me doing over 280kph? Really. That's piss-poor and lazy-ass programming.

    Multi-player? Still to make up my mind on that but so far NOT IMPRESSED. But I won't let me initial impressions are of a chaotic confusing mess that with some effort you can get going and do...stuff.

    Anyway: to sum up. Pretty disappointing for PC-gamers, as usual EA and Criterion have kicked the pc-users in the teeth again delivering a console game for the pc. Up next are the lack of updates, lack of DLC and general support for the platform that single-handedly kept EA "In the game.    … Collapse
  73. Geecy
    Nov 7, 2012
    0
    Purchased the game because of the name NFS Most Wanted. Big mistake. First, I wasn't aware that Criterion was the maker of Burnout because I hated that game. Second, the game runs terrible on my I5 2500K, AMD 6970 and 8GB Ram. Console port without regard for pc customer. The multiplayer is kinda fun but the lag just ruins it for me. We spend big money on our rig and we expect to outperform a PS3. This is sad. Big marketing scam from EA, again.… Expand
  74. Mad0ne
    Nov 11, 2012
    1
    Console port! Not much options to set graphics. I see somewhat anti-alias.. but maybe it's just me? It's still rough looking and no option to change AA.

    Gameplay is terrible, 250 kmg drifting on wet asphalt through 90+ degree corners is just ridiculous. It's so bad that I dont have words for it. Collision and everything physics related is stuper bad.

    Waste of money!
  75. dimeruff
    Nov 12, 2012
    0
    Remember Need for Speed: The Run? The new Most Wanted makes that god awful game look awesome in comparison. It hasn't inherited any features from the original Most Wanted that made that game outstanding. The gameplay is simply frustrating. The only good thing about this game is gorgeous graphics, but they managed to screw up even that for PC users. My rig is i5-3750, Geforce 680 GTX, 16GB Ram and I'm only getting 20-40 fps most of the time.

    Anyway, Criterion has ruined a great racing game.    … Expand
  76. Cougarific
    Nov 12, 2012
    4
    The original NFS: MW is one of my all-time favorite racing games - this is nothing like the original. As others say, it's a mashup of Burnout Paradise and Hot Pursuit - with nothing in common with the original except the title. There are no challenges beyond racing (Speed Cameras are implemented totally differently), no environmental destruction to be used to throw off cops, no story, no reason to climb the ladder because most cars are available to you from the start (and the ones you "win" are far from worth it). Gamers giving this good reviews clearly never played the original or a fans of Criterion's other games (which I am not). I really was hoping for a clean re-do of NFS: MW with all the features that made the original amazing still intact. Far from it. Very disappointed - should have re-installed Hot Pursuit instead.… Expand
  77. Kris79
    Nov 13, 2012
    0
    I was looking forward to the release of the new version curious to see what is new since I love the previous version of most wanted. Long story short, this game is a piece of garbage and waste of my money. The biggest disappointment of my week. This is the first racing game where you only have 2 camera change options. Since I am used to playing all my games with the **** cam this game is completly usless to me!! The far view changes so often its hard to keep control of the car and I cant read a lot of the menu words either. I like the concept of the new game even though I cannot play it, it just feels like an unfinished game to me. Need for speed the Run was pretty lame but this version takes the cake!!… Expand
  78. neozora
    Nov 13, 2012
    3
    Race without manual transmission? What is that? Have any of the developers ever driven a car? It's pathetic. Crappy game with crappy gameplay. Great graphics though, but that's the minimum they could do it. I'm happy I played before buying, it would be a complete waste of money. Not recommended
  79. tlove21
    Nov 14, 2012
    4
    Do not believe the 102 people who reviewed this positive. they are probably used to crashing into walls and feeling OK with it. Actual NFS fans who prefer to not hit a wall or traffic will agree this is not a NFS game. I have been playing NFS from Porsche unleashed days. Criterion made this game into an arcade crap, the handling sucks NFS Hot Pursuit handling was much better but also not perfect. In my honest opinion Shift 2 is the last great release of NFS and that one is confined to a track and simulation driving. Driving shouldn't be about who can hit the wall hardest. The franchise is DEAD after this. I will never buy another game from EA 's NFS franchise until Criterion is fired for this horrible mistake.… Expand
  80. sirspecific
    Nov 20, 2012
    1
    Game control is very weak. car are like a magnet to the side of the barrier. You can not escape from police with this poor control. The game has no story.
  81. MeLnUgA
    Nov 19, 2012
    4
    Nothing interesting in this game waste of time, cheap copy of burnout paradise, if you like arcade go play nfs world, there are not story like in nfs The Run, This game is poorly optimized for PC, a straight port, constant fps drops make the game unplayable. The car handling is too "heavy", the camera choices are horrible. All in all, wasted money.
  82. ridicol
    Nov 28, 2012
    2
    The game is not that bad, it has great graphics, decent controls, it would be a 7/10 game, but as a most wanted sequel it's just disappointing, the first game was all about tunning, about making your car your car, not to mention the fact that criterion recycled much of burnout paradise in this game, that added to the bad optimization makes this an awful game.
  83. theoperator69
    Nov 30, 2012
    4
    Are you freaking kidding me EA? No customization? Crashing every two seconds? repetitive game-play? shortest/easiest story-mode of all time with no story? Ok well there's still pursuits to have endless fun...just kidding, no penalty for getting busted and escaping the cops is so easy, I have to cruise at 50 MPH to get to level six, which is still pretty Goddard easy. You can't just make a reboot with absolutely none of the original game features, false advertising. return/pirate this game and buy 2005 most wanted instead.… Expand
  84. dsb_dsb
    Dec 11, 2012
    2
    I am a single player gamer & i played this on my friend's PC for about 10 hours in 2 days. So i am judging the game as single-player only.

    Now when this game took the name of 'Most wanted' & so they should have at-least tried to make another most wanted not another Burnout Paradise. Well as most of the people now know that this game is made by Criterion who are well known for Burnout se    ries & for NFS HP 2010; one thing was sure that this game will have elements similar to those previous games & this ruined the whole most wanted experience. I can get 2 better games at unbeatable price right away i.e. NFS MW 2005 BE & Burnout paradise Ultimate Ed.

    Now lets look at Pros & Cons from actual game-play :-

    Pros :-
    Better graphics than previous MW game & some enjoyable races (There are only a few as most races are repeated no. of times)

    Cons :-
    Everything else from new NFS MW game falls in this category..... No story, No money, Game plays like burnout (Crash sequences), Few customizations (when compared with old games), Fewer camera angles, No manual transmission option (Oldest NFS feature), Not ported properly for PC's (sudden frame drops) & the rivals are either very easy & not challenging at all or too difficult & all the challenge you get is when you try to obtain best parts for a car.

    This game is just not 'Most wanted' it is another Burnout but you can get better entertainment from burnout paradise than this. Also there are is no re-playability factor as i upgraded my first car completely by winning all it's races & was easily able to beat all 10 most wanted racers from it & not only that i took their cars with it as well.    … Expand
  85. mastergene
    Apr 27, 2013
    4
    a game with hes pro's and con's you cant complain about the graphics but other than that even on a high end pc you cant get this game running smooth which makes EA effort to take our money minimal and the crashes yea they ruined the game for me its horrible so yea not even worth its 50€ not even 30 in my eyes for the horrible port play the game in another way if ya can but not wortrth its money is EA did only filling there purses and not the fan base… Expand
  86. ragehardreviews
    Jan 14, 2013
    2
    Excuse the extremely late review. This game ran fine on a 3 year old dual core system with a 1 gig NVIDIA card. Now let's rip this to shreds.

    When I heard about this game coming out I was pretty stoked because I'd already played NFS MW1 from back in the xbox original days - so I was expecting great things. Sadly...not many of those great things happened. In fact I'm not so sure any hap    pened.

    The game has a decent mix of cars, but there are many "jackspots" that consist of the same car. When you're left to run around looking for these jackspots you'd expect to find the experience of finding one to be a little more rewarding than just another Lamborghini, or just another Volkswagen or just another whatever - the whatever being a repeat model of the manufacturer's car you've already found somewhere else.

    The game in it's origins, had oodles of originality as far as the NFS franchise was concerned. Speedbreaking was really handy to get out of tight spots with the cops, or to avoid head on smashes with walls at sharp corners. This doesn't even exist in the second one. I dunno why. It just doesn't. But clearly it needs it because driving any car in the game using a keyboard, is akin to either driving a tank, or driving on a skidpan. Criterion and EA pretty much annoyed me immensely with this game.

    Every crash cutscene will eventually drive you completely stark raving bonkers. EVERY. crash. If this is it's attempt at trying to be like Burnout it doesn't work, it just sucks worse than Burnout ever did (which if memory serves me well - it didn't). Initially I was impressed, I liked the graphics, the intro FMV sequences for the most wanted cars are sharp and snazzy and in all cases, rather smooth. But that's about as sharp, snazzy and smooth as it's ever going to get in game. This game single-handedly destroys the fun that was NFS MW and tries to bring too much of a different experience to it's predecessor to make it even moderately enjoyable. The rewards system is pretty dire, the racing structure is dull - you have to repeat the same process over and over and over again, for EVERY car - the cutscenes will most definitely vex you if you get to driving any of the faster cars (although despite all the badmouthing I'm giving this game, the Bugatti Veyron is a lot of fun, all crash cutscenes aside). I found the logic of the game pretty tough not to mention blindingly unfair. This game seriously punishes you for sucking at driving. If you don't have the patience, and you do get pissed off watching repeat performances of crash after crash, you may well end up - like me - not really liking this game all that much. What's worse is that for instance, smashing through a roadblock may bring you screeching to a halt, but during the cut scene (yet another cut scene) you'll see that bloody AI car boosting on by having smashed through the roadblock and not even slowing down due to contact made. It's vexing at worst, and really rage worthy at best. The only slight enjoyment in this game, with it's seemingly smaller than usual map (is it just me or does that map look much smaller in comparison to NFSMW1?) are some of the really good looking locations, and the jumps (so long as you don't bloody crash at the end of them) can be a bit of good fun for a few minutes until you get bored and go looking for another one. But that's it. My ultimate bone of contention with this game, is it's lack of any personalized customization. There are no vinyls, no stickers, no custom paints no NOTHING. That was some of the best fun to be had in the original and they took it right out. So much wrong with this game it's difficult to really pick out any extremely positive bits.
    PC gaming at it's worst on this one. The worst of the lot though, is the ultimate design flaw. The 'on-the-fly' menu which you access by pressing the right arrowed 6 key on the number pad. For whatever reason, I'm assuming that Criterion assumes we have as many limbs as an octopus with which to mess about menus whilst driving a car at over 60 mph or more. Whichever complete total donkeybrain came up with this idea, really didn't think that far ahead, or with an open mind. If you have an xbox controller on your PC, it may not be a problem, but if you're stuck with a keyboard, you're screwed. That "on the fly menu" used to be a pause menu - accessed by pressing a button during the driving session you were having, and then you could tweak the car at leisure, and then resume driving and hey presto the changes were done. This game expects you to stop the car, make the changes, and then carry on driving. This is kind of dumb as **** if you're driving off road and the situation demands spontaneously accessing the menu to change the tires to the 'off-road' variety, when there are a dozen cops up your tailpipe. This game....not something to be proud of. Not something to be proud of at all. I hope EA even remotely care enough to hang their hang their heads in shame.    … Expand
  87. robalaquio
    Jan 26, 2013
    3
    The worst game of the franchise, initially thought it would be a version of the previous game (one of the best) adapted to frostbite engine,my mistake, the game is more like a version of NFS online with better graphics. The controls are bad, in some races you will start about to hit a wall or fall off the track without any control of what you doing, you wiil need to break giving advantage to the other racers. The amount of availabe cars was new in the franchise, at the begging it was cool, but them you notice that you have to do same things to unlock new upgrades and it start to becoming boring. And as the cops, oh my... the cops, well, for that i will just say that they should have changed the title franchise for Need For Cops, one of the worst experience in a race game ever. But got to give a 3 for the graphics!… Expand
  88. GamesReviewed
    Feb 13, 2013
    0
    This is such a game it deserves a negative score. You spend most time looking at annoying crash cams instead of playing the actual game. It's utter garbage and I refuse to play it anymore. Had 2-3 hours on it and it angered me so much I wanted to literally watch the people that made the game get shot in the public square. I am glad I decided to torrent the game before deciding to part with my hard earned money. Word of advice, stay away from this turd. You're better off playing with yourself really, rather than having to play this … Expand
  89. LostInDaJungle
    Feb 22, 2013
    2
    How in the world did this game get such glowing reviews? For starters, I love both the NFS and Burnout franchises. So one of those, or a mix of the two SHOULD appeal to me, right? I put over 100 hours into Burnout Paradise... Issue 1: Car handling. Playing with a gamepad, I found the handling to be unbearable. The stick was over sensitive, you would turn a bit, let go of the stick and still be turning, and then have to correct back the other direction. Wha? Combine this with some of the narrow obstacle filled races, and it was nothing short of unpleasant. Push the stick too far, and find yourself spinning like mad. FYI No option to increase or reduce sensitivity. Their racing system is designed around the idea that you're going to drift around every turn. Issue 2: Freaking lens flare. Too many pop-ups. Obstacles hidden over hills. The game sets it's difficulty curve by blinding you. The graphics are quite beautiful, but half of the time you just can't see what the heck you're doing. You don't want to slipstream other cars, because you'll be blinded by their smoke/dirt trail and they'll turn at the last second leaving you staring at the wall that just appeared out of nowhere. Issue 3: Awful AI. The game has a rubberband AI that means that there's always 2 cars right on your tail. No matter how well or poorly you play. Add in Cops who wait around corners and "Jump out" to wreck into you. At the end of the day, this game wasn't enjoyable. It was a frustrating grind, and I felt that the difference between getting 1st place and 6th place was more luck than skill. Poor visibility, bad AI, and oversensitive handling meant that you couldn't see what was coming, couldn't react to it, and when you hit it, 2-3 AI cars were lined up behind you. Restart race, start over... Oh, and the menus are slow and fiddly too. Wait for bizarre/stupid cutscene to load, skip it, watch another cut scene of the race starting... You spent 2-3 minutes starting a race just to have the poor AI or poor handling put you into a barricade that you couldn't see due to lens flare in the first 15 seconds. Restart race... Rinse lather repeat. Get first place, sigh.… Expand
  90. eriksonis
    Feb 23, 2013
    0
    This game is really disappointing. First thing that really bothers me is gaming menu it doesn't exist at all. Makes me feel that his game is regular straight console port. Second, no matter how well you drive, you will crash 10+ times during your race. View from the cab does not exist too. Disaster, it deserves 0 rating.
  91. ProtoDrake
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    TL;DR: This is Burnout Paradise 2 not Most Wanted. Console port without optimization also means low fps even with high end cards like a GTX 680. >|

    This game is not worthy of calling itself Most Wanted. Compared to the original it lacks numerous features such as tuning, body kits and paint jobs. There is no story within this game and because it is poorly optimized for pc, max settings     cannot be brought out without constant dips in fps rates into the low 20s (I have a GTX 680). If this game were to be labeled as Burnout Paradise 2, I would give it a solid 10 (minus the performance issues) but since EA has enough balls to call this game Most Wanted it will earn my 1 out of 10. To add insult to injury, they also have the balls to make running through petrol stations fill your nitrous and fix your car, completely ripped out of burnout paradise without any bother to change. However, for me what did it was the constant unavoidable crashing because apparently hitting a civilian car will cause you to flip over 10 times in a row whilst head-on collisions with cops will do nothing.… Expand
  92. EV3RLiGHT
    Apr 16, 2013
    2
    It's a hugely over-rated game that misses its expectations by miles. Fully detached from its origins, brought to the PC for arguably better visuals and simplified controls, but a polished turd is still a turd. Where's the customization? Where is the proper story? Where is a fraction of realism? Criterion has ruined the legendary Most Wanted by making it too "arcadeish" and way too simplified, all that this game has is decent (not outstanding) graphics and a relatively short list of licensed cars. I've had to push this to 2 out of 10.… Expand
  93. Akuma698
    May 7, 2013
    3
    OMG this game is a load of utter B.S! Don't waste your money! This game is lazy boring and easy. You "Hijack" cars. This means driving around and parking next to a car such as a Lamborghini and pressing E. I mean what the hell. No saving cash to buy a awesome car. No car customization. Cops are just retarded. You can hit another car right in-front of them and they don't do about it.I didn't even care about the racing cause there was no POINT!… Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
78 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Nov 30, 2012
    60
    Just pick one of the beautiful cars, hop in and drive. But do not want anything else. NFS: Most Wanted is average fun for all car lovers. [Dec 2012]
  2. CD-Action
    Nov 29, 2012
    70
    Most Wanted works best when you treat it like mobile games – switch it on for 15 minutes, do a random race with a random car and then turn it off. It's a good arcade racing title closely resembling Burnout: Paradise but it's not exceptional. [CD-Action 13/2012, p.52]
  3. Worth Playing
    Nov 25, 2012
    92
    Most Wanted's biggest strength is that it feels like a cohesive whole, rather than some amalgamation of a reboot tacked on to another game's engine. The gameplay emphasizes as little downtime as possible, which is a good thing as it's an absolute blast whether or not cops are involved. It's not a reboot as much as it is a reimagining of the original game, taking the bits that worked and wrapping them in a completely new package. Surprisingly enough, it does so in a way that works, and the new Most Wanted ranks up there with the original.
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