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

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 471 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 147 out of 471
  2. Mixed: 63 out of 471
  3. Negative: 261 out of 471

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  1. 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
  2. frast2012
    May 4, 2013
    7
    Nie łatwo jest zrobić kontynuacje czy odświeżenie tak bardzo lubianej gry wyścigowej w tak samo dobrym stylu. Myślę jednak że twórcą się to po części udało. Mamy tu główny nacisk na wyścigi w dzień, emocjonujące pościgi, ucieczki przed policją i otwarty świat. To chyba to było najważniejsze w starym Most Wanted? Myślę że brak tuningu to nie wada. Nacisk na tuning pojawił się w Underground' pojawił się w Underground'dzie 1 i 2, w Most Wanted głównymi czynnikami były inne rzeczy. Ludzie nie, nie lubią tej gry, ludzie nie chcą jej lubić. Hejt na nią jest uzasadniany żałosnymi argumentami..więc ja przedstawię swoje. Gra jest strasznie nie dopracowana. Bugi, bugi i jeszcze raz bugi. Nie mówię już o tych przez które przegrywałem wyścigi, ale coś w stylu speed 100 razy większy kiedy policja lub mój przeciwnik chce mnie dogonić(naprawdę popatrzcie sobie czasami na mapkę jak przeciwnik popełni błąd i będzie stał przez chwile, zobaczcie jak nagle przyśpieszy po pewnym czasie...). Do tego nie dopracowany Frosbite. Uruchamiając grafikę na Ultra mam tu tyle efektów, przez co nie widzę nic na ekranie. Jezu, nauczcie się wreszcie wykorzystywać dobrą grafikę. Gra zrobiona na totalny odpierdziel. Twórcy dali nam otwarty teren, dali nam auta, i nic, powiedzieli "ścigajcie się" i mieli, brzydko mówiąc "wszystko w d***e". Mało wyścigów do każdego auta, pewne głupie pomysły i momentami strasznie ciężka ucieczka od policji czasami ustępuje i wreszcie doznajemy przyjemność z wyścigów które rzeczywiście wyglądają ładnie, i rzeczywiście jeździ się przyjemnie. Podobają mi się jeszcze filmiki kiedy uruchamiamy wyścig z Most Wanted, naprawdę, perełka. Szkoda że Criterion po tak świetnym Hot Pursuit, tak spierniczył Most Wanted. Moja ocena 7/10… Expand
  3. Kutsubato
    May 3, 2013
    9
    I CAN´T UNDERSTAND ALL THESE PEOPLE WHO SAYS THAT NFS MOST WANTED IS A BAD GAME!!! It´s very great car game with the best multiplayer and graphic i´ve ever seen in a game like this!
  4. 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
  5. voiders
    Apr 26, 2013
    7
    Amazing graphics, imersive sounds and phisics but the game is very short and the moviments are weird.
    I have a steering wheel but i dont know why, the car lose control so easy.

    Some times i think you have to have some patience with bugs and controls.
  6. 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...
  7. Duro
    Apr 23, 2013
    6
    The first thing you need to do is change graphics because anything under 60fps ruins gameplay. Once configured to your specs the game is actually very enjoyable. Nothing like the original but still lots of fun driving around at high speeds. Cars are way to easy to get and after a handful of races with each there is really no reason to use it. There is no story or progression besides taking down the top 10 most wanted. The city feels empty and pursuits are very easy. Cops basically throw themselves at you, roadblocks are static and will not pursue you. Building heat is very easy and escaping pursuits is very boring as cops catch up to you from a dead stop almost instantly. Crashes are way overdone in both SP and MP. Multiplayer is somewhat fun if you mute everyone but again it is high speed bumper cars. I love racing games and have played all the NFS games. Yet this one just seems empty, its just about driving cars and nothing else. The DLC is just more cars. I was really unhappy at first but after a couple weeks it grew on me. All the cars are fun to drive there just really isn't any feeling of accomplishment in the game.

    Overall it is a good game. However the lack of patches and communication kills it.
    Criterion basically shut down their forums and won't respond to any problems.
    EA tries to help on their forums but it is frustrating because they can't do anything about it.
    The game crashes on one race 'Every time' and caused a corrupt save.
    Now the game won't even start up even after a repair of the install which found no errors.
    Many people are getting save problems that is causing them to delete and start all over.
    I would rent it if you really want to play it on console, but on PC its just a mess.
    How can you make a game and then ignore your customers? Not fix problems but yet push out DLC.    … Expand
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. 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
  11. KalanYamato
    Mar 12, 2013
    5
    This game's not that bad as a game by itself, but this is purely Burnout Paradise. There's barely any trace of Need for Speed, or anything original to begin with.

    Decent game, but false advertising. Do not buy.
  12. 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
  13. 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.
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. Ckazochnik
    Feb 15, 2013
    9
    Most Wanted by Criterion is true arcade racing. Tuning for kids and stupid storyline cutted and we having pure racing now. Beatiful and stylish cutscenes for each race. No money no limits, I can try each car in game in one game passing. Cops and opponents more aggressive than ever and it's cool. City is great and I like just to ride around. This game remember me about NFS3:HP. NFS:MW2012 is old-school NFS.… Expand
  17. 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
  18. 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
  19. 2Eric
    Jan 31, 2013
    10
    This game is awesome I loved the open world setting its like burnout paradise but with real high end sports cars and awesome graphics. If you have a high end pc this game definitely will show it off everything from the awesome weather effects to super detailed cars to effects like smoke coming out of sewer holes and waves splashing up against the shore all come together to make a very realistic experience. I love to hop in a Bugatti and just go driving then taunt a cop and then smoke him. It is cool to get on the high way and just open it up. Add all of the features from street racing to car mods and this makes for one cool driving experience.… Expand
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. 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.
  23. emmanuelbriceno
    Jan 20, 2013
    7
    Multiplayer = frustrating derby, just crash, crash, crash, and more crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, stupid!!!!!!
  24. bluemonkey93
    Jan 20, 2013
    7
    I am really enjoying this game. It is disappointing it doesn't have garages, money and customization like the original did, but as a modern racing game I find it stands out with its array of content, cars, and beautiful locations.
  25. fessisbest
    Jan 16, 2013
    7
    I don't know where everyone is getting the poor performance excuse. I could run the game on all high settings 25-30 fps with my gtx 768mb. Overall though the lack of story and somewhat repetitive game-play could turn a lot of gamers off, but believe me, when it's fun, Its really fun.
  26. fredderator
    Jan 16, 2013
    5
    I wanted to love this game, I really did.

    Coming off the dismal "Need for Speed: The Run" last year, I was glad to hear Criteron was getting back to the style of "Hot Pursuit", the pinnacle of the modern NFS games. About three hours after firing this up, pumped as ever, I had to stop out of sheer frustration. First, the good. It seems as if there is a massive list of cars in this game.     Ranging for the Bugatti Veyron to the Ford Shelby GT, each car is faithfully represented on the screen.

    The graphics in the game are quite good but for me, they didn't look all too different from 2010's "Hot Pursuit". There are a few exceptions which I'll get into but overall, the game is still great to look at. The Bad.

    First, the controls feel incredibly sluggish. If you put Hot Pursuit at one end of the spectrum and The Run on the other, Most Wanted falls right in the middle. Perhaps I'm biased because I absolutely love the fast paced, arcade style controls of HP but MW falls disappointingly short. I didn't feel like I was in control of the car a lot of the times, especially if I was rubbing up against a wall. The amount of precision it takes to move away from the wall without slamming into the opposite one, feels inappropriate in this type of game. In Gran Turismo, this may work but I feel for a street racing game it's frustrating as all hell. I understand that upgrades can remedy this but you'll be repeating events so many times to get those upgrades the controls will start to wear on you.

    Rubber-banding and teleporting of opponents is commonplace in the NFS franchise unfortunately. Even my favorite, HP, is guilty of this. However in this game, it feels slightly unfair and here's why: At the beginning when you first obtain a car, you need to race for your upgrades including your boost. As far as I can tell, this happens with every single car (which is annoying to race for your boost on your car every single time). These races are already stacked against the player who already has enough to deal with when racing a new car, since each handles differently. Lack of boost, new car and rubber banding/teleporting in a preliminary race is way too much to throw at someone in the first race. The graphics, while beautiful, can be incredibly distracting. I remember during one race, I had the sun facing in my eyes for the entire time. I couldn't see a damn thing. Now this might work if the computer racers were somewhat affected, but they aren't. The amount of dust cars kick up also seems to be too much. In here lies a key problem with this game: It can't decide whether to be an arcade racing game or a simulator a la Gran Turismo. On one hand, the environmental effects scream "simulation" while slamming into a wall at 200/mph and driving away after multiple barrel rolls says "arcade". Mixing the two makes for a frustrating experience. Constant frame-rate issues also seem to plague the PC port but along with controls, it's not something new coming from a console focused title. However, it doesn't make it right. With virtually the same set up between the two, HP seems to have no frame-rate issues nor touchy control problems. The setting is incredibly bland, not to mention that this city feels incredibly similar to Burnout: Paradise's. Each race feels the same with slightly different turns. I think the series could have used some sort of plot device where it allowed for racing in different surroundings, like snowy rocky mountains or big canyons.


    The Indifferent

    There is really no story to NFS: MW. Then again, I don't necessarily play racing games for their story so this wasn't an issue for me but I could see how people feel less inclined to continue up the ranks. Different personalities for the "Most Wanted" drivers could have been neat but again, not really a necessity. The music is really nothing to write home about. You got your rock, your dubstep, blah blah blah. Typically they get drowned out by the constant crashing and smashing of cars that you'll barely notice there's any music. The sound overall is fantastic though, as each car has a distinct sound (as it should). Conclusion

    It may seem like I hate this game, but I really don't. I'm just incredibly disappointed with the end product after being hyped about this being the spiritual successor to Hot Pursuit. In the end, if you enjoy the NFS series as a whole, it's probably worth a rental. Anyone else may have a hard time staying interested after a few days.    … Expand
  27. 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
  28. RiverMonster
    Dec 27, 2012
    10
    Fantastic game, all framerate issues have been resolved by the patches. It's pure EA/Criterion goodness!

    Think Burnout Paradise meets NFS Hot Pursuit--it's a BLAST! As with all Criterion games they design with fun first--so folks looking for a tedious overly technical simulator aren't going to be happy.

    The rest of us who enjoy life and love a great arcade racer are going to have AN     AMAZING TIME! Can't recommend it enough!

    Do get yourself an XBox 360 controller for Windows though--then again if you're a PC gamer these days you should already have one. :) Cheers and see you guys on the streets!    … Expand
  29. 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
  30. 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.
  31. twilightrocks
    Dec 23, 2012
    6
    Not really worth spending £35 on. The optimization is very bad, even on my HD 7870 I get constant fps drops sometimes as low as 20. However, the game itself is good but could be better. The gps thingy is great, it is clear on the minimap on where you need to go and tells you the distance to the event you are getting to. The racing itself is good but again could be better. The car handling and responsiveness of the car is also good but once again could be better. A few things I haven't seen in the game which was in the original Most Wanted which I think EA could have added into the game are shops, car lots and a garage. Overall the game is decent but not excellent which is why I am rating this 6/10.… Expand
  32. ghost12345
    Dec 21, 2012
    9
    I liked the game very much because the graphics are outstanding,races are thrilling and there are so many cars for you to drive and modify.
    many people complain about lagging etc,they should upgrade their systems because its not the fault of developer.
    well because the last nfs game was completely story based so this time they have come with a complete make over (no story),but its a rac    ing game why do u need a story.
    BG music is good ,race intro videos are also a highlight of the game.    … Expand
  33. 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
  34. Ensi
    Dec 7, 2012
    6
    First of all, this is a fun game. It's a good mix of realism and arcade (leaning towards the arcade side) with nice cars and all in all fun gameplay. I don't do the races, but I do like to just drive around and drift corners in my favorite cars. For PC this game doesn't have the best optimization, I get mostly 60 FPS (capped) and it usually drops to 20-30 in some areas (670, 3570k, 16gb). Oh and there is no in-car view, disappointing for those with steering wheels. I played this with a gamepad (and so should you if you don't have a wheel).… Expand
  35. 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
  36. 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.
  37. Lintrup
    Nov 27, 2012
    9
    Need for speed : Most Wanted is a worthy edition to the long legacy of Need for Speed. It shouldn't be called Need for Speed tho, when it's clearly a follow up to the smash hit Burnout: Paradise City.. Even though its title is misleading, i believe that Criterion really made an awesome game here. It isn't like any Need for Speed that you have played before, which in some cases can be a blast of fresh air. The city of Fairhaven is even more chaotic and pumped with adrenaline than the previous cities we have visited.

    All in all, i believe that Criterion succeeds in making an arcade racing game, pumped with adrenaline, fast decisions and last but not least competition between you and your friends which for me is the most motivating thing in the world, when i meet up at a race, smashes a billboard or just driving around in the city to see that my best friend are way better than me. That's a motivating factor and that's what makes a arcade racer like Need for Speed: Most Wanted worth buying!

    I don't have any optimizing problems with it on my PC, don't know why people are complaining about it but if it's a problem then fix it for the people who have them. If i had the issues mentioned below it would have been a deal breaker. Still i think it's good to mention that not all PC users have these optimizing problems.

    Need for speed: Most wanted or should i say Burnout: Paradise City 2? - Is it even a bad thing? - NO!    … Expand
  38. 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
  39. okuhle94
    Nov 22, 2012
    8
    This game is great, it has a great online multiplayer, great graphics, great sound tracks, and a fun single player. It would have been better if it had a proper story line, and the proper car customization like the early NFS games. Overall, I am happy with this game.
  40. SohailACE
    Nov 21, 2012
    5
    Very poorly optimized for PC, FPS very low, Loads of cars, no excitement of unlocking cars coz they are already unlocked and are parked roadside, too much VFX while racing which makes driving worse, NFS series is dead.
  41. 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.
  42. AcIDBased
    Nov 19, 2012
    5
    ooooo I get to customize my licence plate wow cool. it's a online game. give me sum stickers and paint dam it. iam 32 yo i still want sticks and paint man lol
  43. 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.
  44. pawwilon
    Nov 18, 2012
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
  45. GeoVad
    Nov 18, 2012
    5
    The opponent in this game is not the racers aka black list,IS THE WALLS!most time you spend crashing than racing...also there is not a tuning option like turbo upgrades,ECU upgrades etc.There is just a ''customize car'' option with general upgrades,At last its not good to have a option to start with every car you found on the road,its better to start with a normal one and after you can change it.The only good in this game is the graphics which is very good and also the variety of the cars.Thats all.… Expand
  46. Coldcut333
    Nov 17, 2012
    8
    Awesome game, put 40+ hours in already, not even nearly done with it and i've hardly touched the multilayer.Fighting the Speedboards, jumps and cameras is addictive. Looks fantastic and plays well too when it wants to.

    I do encounter quite alot of crashes and some FPS dips, sometimes but there's other times it runs great.Might be my system but read a few having issues too.My score would     be higher if it wasn't for this.… Expand
  47. 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.
  48. 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...
  49. 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
  50. sinadoom
    Nov 14, 2012
    8
    I'll begin by addressing the problems and common misconceptions about this game. The main problem with this is that it's not optimized for PC. You may want to go straight to your "Criterion Games" folder in My Documents and in the cfg file set LockAt30fps to true. This is not something you should have to do with any game, let alone one designed for casual gamers. 30 FPS does suit the game well though. A recent patch has fixed many problems with regards to controllers and framerates though. In terms of the brick-like heavy handling and the seeming "auto-correct" when steering; just remember that this game is made for non-racers. If, like me, you're used to super-sharp and technical driving you need to break out of the precision mindset and just throw the car about more generally, since in more hardcore racing games the smallest input at the wrong time can lead to a disaster. Here you need to be aggressive, so it can take some getting used to if you're serious about your racing games. As for more general downsides, this game lacks any real depth in terms of single player content. It wouldn't be as empty if the leaderboards were more focused globally rather than on friends. Indeed if you have no friends who play the game all the speedwalls are pointless as always. But this game is designed with mutliplayer first, as stated by Criterion. Hence, the single player is just a free-roam messabout arena rather than the main chunk. The title has caused much confusion. The 2005 game is my 15th favourite game ever (at time of writing). However, Criterion have stated (see Wikipedia article on this game) that their intention was NOT to make a sequel to the original masterpiece. And so it follows that the concept behind the title is being "Most Wanted" amongst your friends. Like in NFS Hot Pursuit, the handling is very arcade and there is no manual transmission. However the city of Fairhaven resembles that of Most Wanted 2005 so you get a good mix of urban twisty roads and inner city centre. The design philosophy for the single player is to keep it very simple and basic. So no budget to manage, no garage, no consequences for getting busted, no special cars or upgrades to unlock from levelling up or whatever. Just very simply: Whatever car you find, you can drive. The graphics are obviously state-of-the-art; and you'd expect them to be given the system requirements. Compared to Hot Pursuit 2010, there's no innovation, and handling is inferior to that in The Run. The lack of manual transmission doesn't help matters. But unlike The Run this game doesn't have any camera issues, and it's not linear; it's free-roam. I like the concept and the game does feel very modern, with an excellent choice of cars which do handle slightly differently (although once again, not comparable to The Run's handling). This game is not sophisticated, and this is with great delibration. Infact, the emphasis is on the pick-up-and-play, do what you want whenever you want without having to grind through a half-arsed story - kind of thing. If you're expecting a sequel, then you have either been mislead by the title or deeply misinformed of the game's intentions. All in all it's a great game but the technical issues on the PC version on launch and the lack of emphasis on global leaderboards position if you don't have any friends is dissapointing; given that Autolog has been around for quite some time now. Nevertheless, it's definitely the game I would recommend to someone who has never tried a racing game. Everyone who thinks that this game is multiplayer only or is not worth getting if you're planning to mainly or only play single player is lying. When you consider how many cars there are in the game, and that there are 5 races for each, there are upgrades to unlock for each which have their distinct advantages and disadvantages and can be changed at any point even during a race, and the upgrades themselves have "Pro" versions (just as perks in Call of Duty have Pro versions); add in the 60-odd speed cameras and over a hundred billboards to smash and also trying to beat your best time on each race or get more points on each pursuit without having to worry about getting busted and paying a hefty fine - you get the idea. Basically, the amount of content in the single player is actually more than meets the eye if you want to do everything. Variety isn't great but is sufficient to keep it feeling satisfying. The city is tiny but it's used so well it feels bigger than it actually is. The cars sound great, have nice colour schemes, and SFX is generally high quality. When you consider that you get the best-looking racing game to date by a large margin with some of the finest cars around in a very casual drop-in/drop-out environment where there is still motive to unlock things but not the main part, it's very pleasing and relaxing. The difficulty of the races is pretty good if not a little too hard, especially for casuals. Overall, fantastic work Criterion.… Expand
  51. 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
  52. 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
  53. franco214
    Nov 13, 2012
    6
    My problem with this game was where my expectations were before getting my hands on and some game time behind me. I love the NFS series and have hours of fun with friends racing and competing on Autolog. While these things still exist in Most Wanted i still feel like there is something missing from the experience. The handling took me a while getting used to and to be honest it rarely changes between car to car, providing no thrills from finding your next vehicle. The use of the easydrive system is good, if not a little difficult to use while racing, but once you are used to it can be very effective. For me the longevity in this game is lacking it has been less than a month out and i am feeling my will to play just slip away. Could have been much better.… Expand
  54. jfrankie
    Nov 13, 2012
    5
    You would think that a game called need for speed wouldn't make a clunker of a game, but this game really sucks! it's an absolute dog on my gtx 560! Can't belive it!
  55. 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
  56. 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
  57. 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
  58. Techenz
    Nov 11, 2012
    6
    Is it just me or is everyone on metacritic **** about every sequel. I wasn't disappointed, I expected the game to be like this. The reason why games are consistently getting worse is because of the community whinging on and on. Such as the game not changing, the game hasn't changed enough or this game play mechanic is broken. EA tries to do their best to make a game that the community is happy about but that's it's flaw.… Expand
  59. 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
  60. 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!
  61. mikeandike
    Nov 10, 2012
    6
    The whole "easy ride" system is a great testament to the dangers of texting while driving. Well done, EA.

    As a visual piece, this game is one of the best racers I have played. Aside from that, it doesn't have much going for it. Repetitive races, lack of game progression paired with slow and clunky controls make this latest Need for Speed game weaker than its Most Wanted predecessor. The     visuals in this game are spectacular. You can really tell the time that went into crafting the Cinema 4D cinematics that you see when encountering each most wanted vehicle. Some of the in-game cinematics are quite nice too. At times the HUD can be extremely intrusive, especially during the target speed races when concentration is key. I could go on about how all the cars but 10 are handed to you right off the bat, or about how unresponsive the controls are, especially when you're moving at 300km/h however you can simply read the other user reviews to find out the weak aspects of this game.… Expand
  62. Stefarooh
    Nov 10, 2012
    9
    With all these whingers and whiners on this board proclaiming this to be the worst NFS tile yet you have to ask yourself did they even bother giving the game a chance before hopping on the flaming bandwagon. To say this is worse than NFS Undercover is a HUGE joke. Seriously??? In this day and age where every one is a throw away critic how can you possibly take anyone seriously after reading through the 0's and 1's and the extreme 10's. People if you are going to do a review remember to judge a game on the sum of its parts, to be objective and to leave emotion by the door. Its getting slightly ridiculous of late with the Jabber-wokkies jumping up and down handing out 0's and 1's because they never got what they wanted and on the other side those nut-jobs who proclaim certain games to be the best thing "EVA" after spending the total sum of no more than a 1-2 hrs with the game. Three of the years biggest titles (Diablo 3, Mass Effect 3 and now Need for Speed: Most Wanted) all suffered the same fate and none of them were bad by any standard, all being highly polished affairs and standing out amongst their respective genre peers. However, I am sensing I am starting to bring my own emotions into this review, so let me stop right there before I become a caricature of what I am protesting against.

    As for the game, I do agree the game is not optimized very well for the PC but it certainly does not make it unplayable and this is not the very worst port ever (sorry that goes to Dark Souls). In fact the developers have given PC gamers the stock standard options to mess about with when some don't even try and have provided a high definition texture pack. Is this what is considered bad now days? Man oh man how quick we seem to have forgotten the PC port of the excellent Resident Evil 4. With regards to the engine optimization, for those who bothered to fiddle around with the .ini file would have seen 30FPS=false line right at the top of their file and that by simply locking the game to 30FPS (I agree not ideal but hardly earth shattering in a game of this nature as the game still plays fast and furious) most of your stutters and FPS drops would have disappeared. Don't be afraid to experiment a bit after making a copy of the original as this has always been the joy of PC gaming and to see so many not even bother is saddening. Perhaps its because I am an old time gamer and in those good old days a lot of fidgeting and fiddling needed to take place inside those config files in order to get the desired result. Currently I run the game on a GT70 i7-3610QM with a GTX675M GPU and 16GB RAM with the frame rate lock and everything on HIGH and it plays fluidly and beautifully. Whilst I agree some of the more aging hardware out there may require you to fiddle around a bit more with the settings. Just off the bat the game is going to need some serious upper mid-level to high end tech if you are hoping to reach the 60FPS when the patch that address the engine optimizations is released (if its released at all).

    As for the handling, it took me some time to master and at first I simply hated it but a little time and patience was all I needed before I began to get the hang of it and the further you progress the more mods you unlock for your car which in turn makes the cars handle way much better than those first few frustrating hours. Personally I preferred The Runs handling but the game is certainly not unplayable as some have proclaimed. The graphics, for my humble eyes, are a scorcher and the game is simply stunning to look at on a high definition TV with the high definition pack enabled. Particle effects such as falling debris, smoke and the clash of metal on metal as sparks fly as is the reflections of the city on the bonnet and boot of your car as you whizz on by are also accurately portrayed and add to the height-end sense of Michael Bay reality that accompanies these arcade racers of the modern era. I have enjoyed this game on a graphical level immensely.

    Game-play is a lot like if Hot Pursuit and Burnout Paradise got together and had a bastard child. Initially I was not so sure how I was going to enjoy this but after having spent a good 30hrs with the game before commencing with this review in the end I feel the developers made the right choices. I did not mind the mechanics of having to search for new your wheels rather then getting them dished out to you as your skill level increased. I thought this was quite refreshing and a modern take giving everyone access to the more powerful vehicles off the bat instead of having to put in some serious time to earn them. But again this is hardly something that would warrant a 0 or a 1 for a score and is simply subjective. All in all NFS:MW 2012 is the most fun I have had with an arcade racer this generation, edging out Hot Pursuit and the original NFS:MW from 2005. I can see many hours should lost to this and the awesome muliplayer. Well done Criterion!    … Expand
  63. 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
  64. mkkillah
    Nov 9, 2012
    9
    GOOD: -graphics. -map. -multiplayer. -sound of engine is satisfying (try Lamborghini gallardo :O+high volume). -sound reverberation really nice -lots of cars. -GPS works really well. -ramming and fleeing the cops is really enjoyable -5.1/7.1 sound support.............. BAD: -crash cam (beginning). -cars are easy to unlock. -under 40 fps handling is strange and unnatural (read above: WARNING). -there is not a BIG difference in handling.............. NOT SURE: -soundtrack (everyone that says it sucks isn't being objective you can only really say that once you know all the songs by heart and put a lot of hours in the game). -maybe performance BUT it is Frostbite 2 engine (like BF3) so it should be hard on your pc. -I think it would've been nicer to have a tougher woman's voice in-game but this is personal preference. -handling feel is really bad under 40-50fps make SURE you run on 40-50fps at least… Expand
  65. 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
  66. ericnpc
    Nov 7, 2012
    10
    I really don't understand how anybody could hate this game. Yes, it's obvious that it's a port. But, is that a big issue? I mean, in my computer (which is quite old) it's fast as hell. The graphics are super optimized and the gameplay deserves an award. The HUI is perfect, the car selection is awesome, the soundtrack is so various and excellent. One of the top NFS games for me. It has that arcade and fun touch that was necessary! I Just love it.… Expand
  67. 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
  68. 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
  69. Redphyve
    Nov 7, 2012
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. 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.    … Expand
  70. Bliss21
    Nov 7, 2012
    9
    I don't understand people complaining about the PC version of this game. It's one of the best PC versions of a game that also came out on console in my opinion (and I play a lot of different racing games).

    It runs very smooth 60fps on a GTX460 and Core i5 on medium settings (and some high) and looks great. Of course car handeling is very dependent on the type of car you driving and that     makes this game extra fun. Car handling is a bit different than regular NFS handling but if you get used to it works excellent. Presentation is also excellent and loading times are pretty fast compared to the last few NFS games. Autolog is great for challenging your 'friends' and multiplayer is a blast!. In my opinion Criterion did an excellent job in delivering this technical excellent open-world arcade racer and the 20+ hours in game time I already spent on it was definitely worth it. Only thing I agree with most of the negative comments is that should have called it Burnout: Most Wanted instead of NFS: Most wanted as it share more 'gameplay' blood with the Burnout series. But negatively judging a game only by your expectations based on the title is just plain wrong.… Expand
  71. 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
  72. 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...
  73. 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'.
  74. 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
  75. 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!
  76. 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
  77. 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
  78. 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.
  79. 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
  80. 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
  81. 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
  82. AndreyATGB
    Nov 5, 2012
    7
    First off, I do agree with the points everyone is making. If you look at it as a NFS game, it's worth 2 or 3. Looking at it as a Burnout with cops and licensed cars, it's a good game. The cars do feel too heavy, the game is one of the worst ports on PC I've seen recently. At first glance, it seems to have graphics options, but don't be deceived. You can't change VSync and refresh rate. There's only one option for textures: high res on and off. My GTX 580 (which runs any other game maxed out no problem) cannot run this at all high. It has severe frame drops. Even on medium and low shadows, there are frame spikes. I was playing with a PS3 controller and got used to the driving mechanics quickly. Single player is easy and lasts about 5-6 hours. Multiplayer is fun, burnout paradise challenges pretty much. Another thing that annoys me a lot is just the overall slow feeling, when you change a car or finish a race, you'll have to stare at your car with no HUD until the stats of it go away. This is just unnecessary and stupid, it's wasted time every time. Another thing are EA's complete and utterly horrible servers, more precisely Autolog. It doesn't stay connected more than 10 minutes and when it does connect, it DOWNLOADS your progress not uploads. That means while you're disconnected all the speed points you earn will not be uploaded once you reconnect during the game. It will only if you quit and reopen the game. Also, Origin doesn't sync save games. I should mention that I paid 1/3 of the price for it and based on that, I did not waste money. I give it a 7 despite the problems, but just barely. TL;DR Bad NFS game, OK racing game, good Burnout. Horrible PC port.… Expand
  83. 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
  84. RainerLCF
    Nov 4, 2012
    9
    Awesome game, Criterion does it again and bring us a very enjoyable, well built NSF game. Despite some performance issues (wich should be corrected with a patch asap), there aren't much things to complain here, there are lots of missions to do, good variety of cars to get, good AI and great multiplayer (autolog will soon become a standard in racing games). For those who are complaining, this games does NOT hold your hand, it leaves you to discover almost everything by yourself and to me, that's a good thing. While I somewhat agree with the complaining about the lack of more camera angles, I don't think it "kills" the game, as some want to make it seems.

    9/10, great game.    … Expand
  85. GALO
    Nov 4, 2012
    5
    NFS Most Wanted features a very, very small map, packed with horrible frame rate issues. The framerate is so poorly optimized that makes the game unplayable at certain sections of the map. A total disrespect to the PC customer. When you get the game working on the more "clean" sections of the map (and by lowering the graphics almost to nothingness) you can expect decent graphics, mediocre presentation, and poor soundtrack. Aside from the crazy framerate drops, the main problem with NFS:MW is the lack of content. You will beat the most wanted list in about 6-10 hours, and you will be forced to race the same tracks/events again and again, only with different cars. This game is not worth full price, wait for a price drop.… Expand
  86. 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?
  87. Rawberrie
    Nov 4, 2012
    6
    Well I got about 18 hours in so I feel like I can give a good review and not some of the ones that posted a review the same day the game came out so they could not have gotten THAT far. First off it looks pretty darn good on the PC. People saying it's a straight port obviously didn't catch that it has a high definition texture pack that I know the consoles don't use so they did put SOME thought into the PC but not nearly as much as I would like the graphics menu still doesn't have a lot of options a "Made for PC" game has. It sounds good most the cars sound somewhat like you expect and the music score is acceptable. Nothing special but it gets the job done without becoming annoying. The AI in the game can be challenging at times especially the police when you aren't in the greatest car to get away from them but other racers aren't terribly hard or aggressive. The story is like most stories in every racing game out there. It's stupid and easily forgotten and doesn't really matter. Who in the world buys a racing game for it's story I'll never know. I hate the way most the cars handle in the game. It's not arcade but it's not simulation it's somewhere in the middle which makes all the cars feel like they handle like crap. It has it's Burnout moments from time to time with the crashes and the racing which is a nice touch by Criterion Gaming but you can't help but feel EA was prolly really reluctant to allow them to add what they did. You can't customize your car that much but there are a few things that make your cars better for certain situations and can vastly differ how your cars handle but if you came here wanting to go all out on cars like some you can in Forza/GT5 and the like you will be left out. If you like arcade racing games then you may want to try this game out to see if you like it. It has it's moments when it's fun but the actual act of driving for me is ruined by the way all the cars feel and handle on the road with their in the middle of simulation and arcade feel.… Expand
  88. 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
  89. 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
  90. Vedranius
    Nov 4, 2012
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Long time ago, back to 1997., you were playing Need For Speed 2, with a crazy gameplay and fun, brutal machines on road, that were going like 400km/h at least, cool maps, multiplayer modes to have fun with friends... After that, they were another good NFS's, till the nicely century of graphicaly crazy games, and then it comes, NFS Underground which was OK, and then, then it comes 2005., Most Wanted, maybe the best NFS game from 2002. or for someone even from 1999. Most Wanted back in 2005. was an awesome game, you could drive many many cars, with crazy type of driving, no stupid tracking **** and other idiotic "helpful" stuff, like in upcoming Pro Street and Shift games, and even The Run...
    After 7 years, there it comes, Most Wanted again!
    I was pretty suprissed when they announced, because I had most fun in Most Wanted NFS, cuz of many many jumping tracks, fast driving and other crazy things I liked in it...
    So yes, I bought the Most Wanted, and starting it for the first time, still not really knowing what cars are in it. Starting with the main car, and suddenly founding another, Marussia, another one Porsche, another one, Aston Martin V12, and driving through some missions, I got the feeling from the old Most Wanted game, fast paced, crazy cars, awesome driving abilities and such.
    But, things I missed were, BUYING cars, making them the way I really wanted, do you remember Underground 1 and 2 from 2003.? Yes, making the car as you like, fast, awesome handling, nitro long or short as you like, that's what I missed for years and years, and I don't know why but EA/Criterion isn't making it again... So yes CUSTOMIZING CARS from tires to motor.
    OK, you got some minimal customization on fly, made for ridicilous consoles like Xbox - "Xbox, Xbox, change my tires to DIRT tires--- suddenly crashing on road going like 300km/h" :)

    CARS - yes, you got cool cars, but only 43 of them, and all are almost crazy as hell, yes you got oldies, but who cares about them if you can't tune em how you really like...
    I'd like to sit in Nissan 240sx and make it totally for drifting, brutally, with short nitro, feeling it the way I like it, not sitting in Audi R8 and feeling like a airplane driver, and winning almost every round cuz of stupid AI... :)
    I want old cars, or normal every day cars, like Mazda 3, Clio, Opel Astra, or even Smart, goddamit :D
    Making this cars brutal makes me play games like this more and more and more, trying adding another customization to it, making them more faster or more handable ... ;)

    Still, I'll give score 8 to this Most Wanted, because it's still the best NFS after whole this ****ty NFS's that were coming out after Carbon ;)    … Expand
  91. 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
  92. nathalex27
    Nov 4, 2012
    5
    My system specs, amd 1090t hexacore @ 4ghz 16 gb 1660mhz DDR3 GTX 660 ti @ 1385mhz and 2 gb memory GTX 560 ti for physx 2x 300mbps up/down ssd's raid 0 -Framerate of the game: Between 20 and 60 fps Driving under normal conditions is ok, it gives 40/60 fps but....BIG but...when you get chased by cops or do some heavy cornering you will experience heavy frame-drops with at sometimes slow motion
    action. This really is a petty because otherwise I find the cop chases very enjoyable.

    I played the Original most wanted several times incl. LAN play with friends.
    This is something totaly different.
    Aside from the cop chases.

    There is no car setup menu. ( in-game sort of but no tuning/styling or car tech adjustments )

    -There is no garage. ( find cars in-game and drive. When found you can select to drive instantly but wil start where the car was originally found, that might just be on the other side of the map.....)

    -When you're tires are spiked by cops you can just drive. no problem. I drove for a good 10 minutes at heat level 4 of 5 ( cop difficulty ) found a magic gas station and my tires where good again.

    - About that gas station......NFSMW right? Wrong This is a remake of Burnout Paradise with cops
    -Burnout Paradise billboard crashing..
    -Burnout Paradise style driving
    -Burnout Paradise style graphics
    -Burnout Paradise style environment
    -Burnout Paradise style NOS ( just different NOS gauge )
    -Burnout Paradise style car crashing ( slo mo, heavy damage crash but you're OK! And can just continue to drive! Please or no damage or realistic damage )

    I'm not trying to be **** here, I just added system specs for comparison but
    this game should run great on my setup. It is the un-optimized game engine that makes it such drag to play even at low / medium settings.
    Ambient occlusion off.
    Reflections low
    details medium.
    20/60 fps That is what bothered me the most about this game. Second comes the lack of imagination to create something new and exciting instead of a remake of one of you're own Criterion games being Burnout P.

    And third ( A pc gamer **** thing ) the lack of graphics option. ( tessellation, AA, FXAA, Gpu Physx instead of the heavy cpu physics that utiizes 70% of my cpu in hectic situations)

    Criterion, you FAILED misserably to re-create NFSMW.

    The feel of the original game that forced you to want to become that NR.1 is just not there.

    Only the cop chases....they are enjoyable was it not that the fps drops to 20.    … Expand
  93. 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
  94. 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
  95. CrysisEnthusias
    Nov 3, 2012
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Guys, stop the hate. This is NOT the original most wanted, nor is it a sequel, it is a game of it's own, but with the same title as the old MW from 2005, so don't mix them up. This one has it's own touches and i like what they've done there. I like how they integrated as many cars as possible, and all of them handle very good. Although, they could have included manual transmission as well, so that's a 0.5 there. A story would also have been great, so that's another 0.5. Other than that, i find the game great. Billboards are everywhere and fun to smash and make all these jumps for, looking for your favorite car is indeed a pain but that's a nice challenge if you don't go looking online for it's location. Customization is ok but i didn't find it too bad, cause this is criterion as we know it, i would have gone for another 0.5 for it but there are not decimals in user scores here. Police chases are also good, some people are complaining about cooldown spots and destroyable stuff to slow the cops down, well, you could lure the cops in anyway, and not just by doing what we were used to in the original MW (i know it was fun), and cooldown spots are now these repair stations. Another thing i liked are the intros to the races, they are creative, and rather funny. Graphics are amazing, and for people saying it's a console port, it is definitely NOT. Get a decent graphics card and you will see how smoothly it runs at 60fps. And about the multiplayer side, i haven't tried that yet, but i'm sure it's as good as single player. All in all, it's an 8.5 from me, but it rounds up to 9 on the metacritic scale.… Expand
  96. eminefes
    Nov 3, 2012
    8
    There seems to some confusion and misinformation regarding this game. First off, the 10 "most wanted" cars are NOT available immediately. I know it seems contrary to what EA/Criterion have claimed, but you do actually have to earn these cars. The actual gameplay is a mix between NFS Hot Pursuit (2010) and Burnout Paradise. However, the game still feels unique and the setting feels very nice to drive around in. Navigation was the greatest issue in Paradise, but Most Wanted has a much better mini-map and you're far less likely to make a wrong turn. The only real complaint I have is with the performance of the game, since the framerate stutters on occasion, even with high-end systems and/or lowered graphics settings. Overall, this is one of the most addicting arcade racers I've played in quite some time. Beating the "most wanted" cars and taking ownership of them feels rewarding and makes you want to keep going so you can acquire the next one on the list. The cops are also fun and bring another level of excitement that Burnout Paradise never quite had.… Expand
  97. 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
  98. 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
  99. Gman24
    Nov 3, 2012
    9
    Well, after a long time of not playing racing games (last one I played was actually the original "Most Wanted" title), I have to say I am impressed. This title is all about arcade racing action - every car feels different and controls different, giving them proper uniqueness and style. Graphics are amazing and the soundtrack is probably one of my favorites in a long time. Multi-player is also intelligently built into the game - to sum it up, one awesome arcade racing game!… Expand
  100. 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
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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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