Been playing this for a few hours now and I like the vast majority of the game thus far. The graphics are very nice and the cars look perfect. Most Wanted 2.0 also has many more cars and a more interesting variety, which is awesome. The take-down system from the Burnout games is well implemented and makes racing much more interesting. The streamlined menus are easily accessed from the D-Pad for swapping cars, parts, and managing events. However, Criterion's makeover falls short in a few disappointing ways for me, in no particular order: 1) No manual transmission!?!?! That was one of the few pieces of enjoyment I got from racing games, being able to downshift in anticipation of turns and having the added challenge keeps every race fresh; not in this game though. 2) No customization. Basically a cornerstone of NFS was the customization. You can't even pick the color you want it in this one... (aside from zipping through a drivethrough to repair and recolor it randomly). You unlock part upgrades by getting 2nd or 1st in a race and there's basically 2 options per part and allow you to tweak the stats slightly and get a pro-version of that part for completing certain challenges. That's it. No performance dymo, no tuning, just plug and play. 3) No car progression. What I mean by this is you don't save up for that special car you've had your eye on and then make it your own in this game. (In fact there's no currency at all.) You get 5 events to do with each car and then its essentially done, and you move onto the next car and rinse and repeat. That was something I (and I think a lot of people) really enjoyed doing in NFS games was building your baby from the beginning. Sure you might go through 3 or 4 cars on a play-through but you always had that goal to go for. Without being able to progress a car like in NFS Underground 1 and 2 and Most Wanted 1.0 it really takes away from the game by making it too much like the Burnout's. 4) There is no consequence for getting Busted. As you may remember from NFS Most Wanted 1.0, if you go busted you had some options. Using the tokens you got from Blacklist members to get out of jail free or add impound strikes could save you from paying those hefty fines which increased the more mayhem you caused. In this, you go back to the police station. That's it. No money in the game for them to take away, no way to lose your car. Just go back three spaces. Really makes pursuits completely pointless by doing it this way. Just finish a race with cops on you? Just stop and save yourself 5 minutes of trying to evade, it doesn't make a difference if you evade or get caught; sad but true. 5) In NFS: MW 1.0 they had a plot for us for why we were trying to go back up the Blacklist and had some little plot twists and deception going on which was a nice touch. Here in 2.0, the nice lady voice tells you about the list and that you should be #1 and to have fun. I'm not sure what I would ask from Criterion in this department...but it just feels like they should have done...something. *** IN SUMMARY, this doesn't feel like a NFS game as much it feels like a Burnout game and while the game does a lot of things right and it would play fine for a game on its own merits, this just doesn't live up to the original. If anything I just want to play the first one more now, but give it a go and try it for yourself. It's not a bad game by any means just not as good as it could have been by keeping the core and building around it, instead of trying to smash two franchises together in a somewhat disappointing way to both NFS and Burnout fans.… Expand

do not listen to the press and web site, who are too king with EA ^^ this NFs is a big deception , mainly because criterion didn't make it out well , all their previous games was great, this one is really far from that . pick Forza Horizon wich is 10 times bigger , and looks great. the only good point of this game is multiplayer , but as there is no story mode, nor real solo play ( so short

Nice graphics, but this is a super cheesy game. I played it for 30 minutes or so before I was so sick of playing it, I turned it off, put it back in the case, and promptly traded it in for Forza Horizon. There are numerous problems with this game, but it starts with the driving mechanics. Never have I driven a game where when you let off the stick in a turn, and the car keeps turning in that direction, even though you're not in a slide. It actually has some sort of mega-over steer. At the very least the car should let up in the turn, but it doesn't. Coming out of most turns you are required to counter-steer just to get the car to straighten out, which results in over-correction. I understand the idea of having to counter steer when the back end of the car is sliding out, but that's not what's happening in this case. It's completely unrealistic, and absolutely no fun. You can get used to it, but it's a terrible way to start out a game. The next thing that drove me NUTS is that every time you smashed into a wall or a car or anything else, the whole screen changes to a 3rd person view and says "CRASHED", all slow motion, but then just drops you back into the car right where you were. What's the point in that? Even if it's a minor enough crash that in most games you could just continue driving, in this game it must make a BIG deal that you crashed, even though you didn't really "crash". Stupid. Next, is how stupid police chases are. There's no reason to get away from the cops, as you don't lose anything by getting caught. There's zero incentive to get away. Next is the lack of manual shifting. This reminds me of Burnout where every car had 847364923 gears, and it just kept shifting and shifting and shifting. Stupid. You can't choose car colors, or make the car special, which is what was so great about the original NFS Most Wanted. The map is the size of a rural crap-hole town with 500 people living in it. I know millionaires with bigger garages than this city (maybe a bit of an embellishment, but you get my point) This is just a barely upgraded version of Burnout, which was another game I played for a few hours, got bored with, and traded in. I play a LOT of driving games, and I'm disappointed I wasted my time with this, and even more disappointed that I didn't just buy Forza Horizon instead. Good riddance, and NEVER again will I purchase a Criterion pile-o-crap driving game.… Expand

WHAT???????? No manual transmission,serious is racing now been down by Automatic cars.Bought it,played 10 mins and extremely disappointing. Graphics is very well done, and that's about it.

I have never written a review in my life, but after seeing some of the reviews here I HAD to write one. It's plain to see that all the positive reviews are written by EA employees or promoters trying to keep the balance in the game. This game is complete garbage and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I can't believe that EA continues to release bad games and steal peoples money with good trailers. You should have called it Need for Speed: We finally ruined the franchise. You can't switch to manual at all and there's no leveling system in the game. There's no story line that drives you to an ending. I played this game for 30 minutes and you would think that the game would at least be fun at the beginning to draw you in. The controls are horrible and each car feels exactly the same with horrible turning. After purchasing this game I went back to the store and exchanged it. I lost money and I am completely disappointed. I was really looking forward to a sequel to the first Most Wanted, which I enjoyed very much. This game gets a 0 from me, because every game has good graphics these days and that's not an exception for a 1.… Collapse

A 1 on graphics, they're pretty good. Otherwise the game is just not worth buying. No change in auto or manual and the cars feel ultra clunky. I'm not sure why they even release this, the 1st NFS Most Wanted was way better.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The overall driving mechanics and game physics are not too shabby. Although the game can often be very blurry and hard to see even on a 50 inch HD screen. My biggest problem is that I loved Most Wanted for ps2. In fact it is still my favourite need for speed game ever made. If that is what you were hoping for in this game you will be VERY disapointed. There is virtually nothing for customization options. Besides winning new tires or having nos or not. That is the extent of customization, which previous need for speed titles were known for. The fact that you dont start from scratch but actually start the game in a porsche is also a dissapointment. Half the fun of the game was having a worthless car and competing and EARNING your way to better cars and better races. Speaking of earning better races, the autolog racing system is stupid. There are only 5 races for each car. After that you have to abandon your favourite car and drive some peice of crap. There is virtually no structure of progression in place to take you further. You just wander aimlessly untill you earn enough points to race the guy above you. After that, back to wandering aimlessly. Overall as a remake this is a total failure. A piss-poor attempt at customization. No sense of how people like to enjoy video games and progression, or earning something. A measly 10 people on the most wanted list ahead of you compared to 25 from the original. I hope this helps anyone who was considering buying this game because its CALLED "Most Wanted" The name is selling this game, and nothing else. Avoid this game or be disapointed.… Expand

A good solid racing game that you don't need to spend 25 hours on just to unlock a half-decent car. Take it for what it is, a pick-up-and-play racer with little to no need for massive time investment. If you want to tune your car, or spend 40 hours unlocking a twin turbo hatchback, then buy GT5 or Forza. If you are married or have kids and just want to spin the wheels for half an hour, buy this game.… Expand

Waste of money. I don't understand how EA could allow Criterion to develop such a steaming pile of dung like this. Reading the 10 rated reviews, I'm asking myself if most of them have even played the game, or are they just posting 10s cause of the name. Here's a quick breakdown: Pros: -Graphics are incredible, this is a very pretty game. -Large selection of cars. -Allows you to compare races, events, etc. with friends.

Cons:
-Incessant flashing of the speed cameras and transitions gave me a headache.
-Glaring lack of customization options, and what few are there, don't amount to much.
-Play camera options are either a bumper position with a slightly upward angle, or your standard close rear overhead.
-Crash camera is annoying simply because I have no choice but to watch a slow motion video of my car crashing, it was cool the first few times, but now I just want to turn it off.

Overall this game feels like it's still in beta. EA should have waited another couple of months development before releasing this.… Expand

This game is one of the worst driving games in the series of NFS racing with super cheesy adverts. To start with the adverts, all the billboards you smash through are labelled with EA bought companies like DICE, BIOWARE etc... and this is far from a NFS title, its a Burnout title and I want my money back this game is just horrid. First while your driving your constantly blinded by the super whiteout sun 25% of the time and even using the calibration, its subpar after calibration is still used for brightness and contrast, this is unacceptable. Second is the lag with controllers. Your usually hitting a lot of things because the car continues to turn even after you've readjusted your stick on your controller, it just seems to still steer for a second after a lot, not always but a lot which makes driving unpredictable. Having no customization options just sucks, whatever happened to need for speed underground where you could soop up your ride the way you wanted, with the parts you wanted and even the style. This joke of a game you just drive through a gas station and your ride is instantly fixed and colour changed, COME ON can you get any more mickey mouse job of making a game than this? The graphics are decent, nothing spectacular but this game is a MAJOR rush job and just quickly put together with social features nobody uses. The cop chases usually last for an hour because they constantly are on your tail and so many keep respawning, its a joke. I've been parked by the side of the road my first time in the game, no heat on me, while I was setting up the settings and got back to game and BOOM a cop just busted me, this was f**ked! The other annoying thing about this game is while your driving and hitting objects its like a cop's cherries are flashing behind you each time you hit an object, its very distracting and not sure why they are flashing white and blue when you hit any object like a light pole.

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

This game only gets a HURTING 2/10, I gave it 1 extra point cuz I didn't crash to desktop once at least.… Expand

OK. I wasn't signed up for this site and I only went on it for the first time today. I only signed up because i was angry at some of these scores and feel I should write my honest review. Some of these reviews are ridiculous, the amount of 1/10s and 0/10s given to this game are beyond stupid. This game, after playing several hours, is a new concept from the starting from scratch type of storyline given with most racers. For me, that is a relief. I love driving around in the best of the best cars, and searching for them all over the map is sooo rewarding. The scenery of the city is amazing, a massive improvement to previous need for speeds, with graphics being just as impressive. The car handling starts off difficult, however unlocking new parts help to eventually turn your favourite car into drift king, being able to do maneuvers which leaves you in awe. The most wanted list brings back memories from the old most wanted, which was my favourite racer of all time, being able to wipe out the most wanted list members and take their car to eventually become the number 1. However, I would understand why people may dislike this game due to not being able to customise the car as much as in the previous games. But not for me, the slick glossy colours of the cars look so sweet I coudn't care less if I don't have some kind of dragon on it. Actually, it probably would ruin it. An issue I did have with the game was the amount of cop cars. They are everywhere. Starting a pursuit by hitting a cop is easy, and could come annoying. But that's not a problem for me, because I love cop chases. Unfortunately, they took away the crashing objects to take out the cops, which i did enjoy. It does however make the pursuits more challenging.

Overall, I am really happy with this game and am enjoying it, however it doesn't quite live up to the name of the 2005 version. Oh, and the soundtrack is awesome, much better than previous NFS soundtracks.… Expand

The graphics are what they should be, the sound is good and game has imo the best soundtrack any EA has had in the last 5 year. The handling seems a bit stiff at first but after a good hour of play you pretty much get used to it and it's no longer an issue. Lastly the autolog 2.0 is everything autolog 1.0 was and more: it basically keeps track of everything you do in the game, not just race times but also the speeds at which you pass a traffic cam or the distance you jump through a billboard. It's all there so for pretty much everything you do in this game, you can see how you're doing compared to your friends.

So much for the good things. The game has one major downside... it just lacks any sense of progress. The least they could've done is wrap the singleplayer up in a storyline. It didn't even have to be a super exciting story, just ANY basic story (like in the previous Most Wanted or Carbon) would've been fine. Instead, all you do now is drive around the map, looking for new cars. Once you get a car you win 5 races with it and you go on to the next car, rinse and repeat. The only thing that interupts this routine are the 10 Most Wanted drivers you can challenge, altho challenge is a bad word, destroy seems to be the better option.

I have not yet tried the multiplayer part of the game. I am assuming, like usual for me, that this part of the game will be more exiting.

All in all, it's a good game but they missed quite a few chances here to merge Need for Speed & Burnout together into a fantastic piece. Instead the game just feels like a dumbed down version of Burnout with the Need for Speed cars instead of fictional ones. Neither of the two fanbases will be extatic with how this game turned out.

PS: I would like to say: people that complain about the lack of manual transmission should shut up. This is an arcade racer, if you want manual transmission go play a simulation. Arcade racers aren't supposed to have all kinds of fancy crap like detailed **** view or steering wheel support, they are about hitting the gas as much and often as you can and Most Wanted gives you exactly that.… Expand

Horrible graphics, boring gameplay, absolutely no story, boring soundtrack and too easy to get any car. The handling is weird and heavy / loose, very hard to describe but you crash a lot. Sometimes I go very slow and the car still crash. The races force you to take out opponents and if you race a bit ahead of the other AI they sling shot on the mini map right behind you which is just retarded. The last nfs I loved in the series was NFS Most Wanted the first. Also the graphics are so bad sometimes and jagged at night that you can't see anything ahead and end up crashing. This game is a huge disappointment. All the high ratings like IGN and others are definitely paid reviews as there is no way in hell this game is any good.… Expand

This is the review to explain all the other reviews! Perhaps my background might help you judge how valuable this review is. I am a huge NFS fan, and I have been playing it since Porsche Unleashed, before the first Hot Pursuit. I have not played every NFS game because many have been duds. I am not a huge fan of sim-racing, I do prefer arcade racing, so Burnout: Paradise was one of my favorite driving games to date. Hopefully that gives you an idea of where I'm coming from.

The original Most Wanted was one of my favorite NFS games that I ever played. I could tell early on that this was not a successor to that in so many ways. For example, no interactive environment. You might remember the original MW had police chase breakers, where you could drive into areas on your map listed with a triangle and it would slow down cops by a giant plastic donut dropping from a restaurant logo, or perhaps a gas station blowing up. Well, nothing like that here.

I wouldn't say that the police chases are non-consequential as others have said, but they're nearly non-consequential. They exist merely to entertain and/or irritate. The cars handle reasonably well, although still not as arcadey as they did in Burnout: Paradise, and they don't have a wealth of difference between them all, other than the feeling of weight, and of course: speed.

So why the sharp difference in reviews? Perhaps some felt that this would revive the NFS franchise after The Run? It certainly won't do that. While it doesn't have a clunky narrative that gets in the way like The Run, it doesn't have... anything. Any story at all. Yes, I know this is Criterion and they never promised a story, etc. But it does feel sorely missing, especially in a game called Most Wanted where they took a game with a decent (albeit cheesy) story and attempted to remake it. So for fans that are looking for a reboot for NFS, it sadly does not start here.

What about for those looking for the successor of Most Wanted? Again, no! This is not it. Most Wanted (the original) was a really great game. You jumped in, and you felt part of the game. The story held it all together, and the cop chases were great. You really were interested in lowering your heat level, or driving around for 10 minutes to find a pursuit breaker and then a cool-down spot, only to be detected at the last minute. Paying huge fines or customizing your car really made you feel like your character... you were invested! There was gain and loss, so winning felt like success, not simply the "next step". In short: there is none of that here. No customization, which personally I can live with in Burnout, but it doesn't fly here! The single-player campaign which was so exhilarating in MW (original) barely exists here. While they matched the joy of simply driving around and taking in the sights, not much else meets the 7-year old marker left by the original, which is sad given the age difference between the two products. Junior should be beating up the dad, but it just doesn't happen.

So then, that leaves us with one last group of people... the group of people I fall into: people looking for a spiritual successor to Burnout Paradise. Before even buying the game I knew all of the above. None of that surprises me... but I was looking for the next Burnout Paradise. Even after 100 solid hours of gameplay on Burnout Paradise to get all your trophies, etc, you still had a lengthy online play-life because helping others complete their challenges or stunt runs with new challengers was always a joy. Hell, it still is! And now Criterion are coming out with a brand new game where they've focused EVEN MORE energy into multiplayer. Sign me up, amirite?!? Well - multiplayer has some advantages here and some disadvantages. Advantages is that competition is drummed up much more through results being everywhere, and of course the famed billboard pics. This is great - perhaps it would be more great if I played online with my known friends, but since I play online more with random people it doesn't pack the same punch. Be that as it may, online multiplayer is where this game is at... although without the longevity of challenges stunt runs and gameplay elements like this, I can't see it matching Paradise for long. It should be noted that MW doesn't have individual Freeburn challenges like in Paradise either, but speed lists which are a lot more clunky, and frustrating should people drop out. No more 1 minute challenges... you're signing up for 10 - 20 minutes each time.

So, why the vast difference in reviews? Perhaps someone was expecting one of the above scenarios to be true. The fact is, this isn't a turning point for NFS, it's not a better game than Most Wanted (original) and it's not better than Paradise. Still, the amalgum here is still good in it's own right. Great graphics, new challenges online, fun competition, but still: an overwhelming missed opportunity. See Praxiss review for everything I couldn't write here!… Expand

Ok everyone, take a deep breath. What about the 10 and the o !!! First, before writing a review, try to play the game more than 10 or 30 minutes. Second, every gamer on the planet knows that this game is the legetimate successor to BURNOUT and not MOST WANTED. finaly, stop comparing it to Forza, its a totaly different experience. Forza is a sim racer that let you pay outside of the track. The other is clearly a fast pace adrenaline pumping arcade racer with over the top jumps and crushing crash. For my part, this is a excellent game. It got its flaws but every game does. Its realy Burnout with real cars. Once you get used to the controls and the weight of the car it plays like a charm. Its clear that the single player is not as chunky as Burnout but you got plenty to keep you busy even if you dont play online. It could take you weeks juste to find all short cuts and billboards. I love that i can pick any car i want and try it. Changing cars on the fly is great to. There is no real customisation. Its more like tuning your car to fit the next race. If your a tuning freek and like to spend hours working on you car, look elswhere, this is not a game for you. If you liked Burnout paradise and other arcare racer, you will love this game.… Expand

Awesome awesome arcade-racer!!!! What is it with reviewers thinking this is supposed to be driving round a track for hour after hour, tweaking the car little by little then going back round a track until you fall asleep at the controls???? Go get GT or some other soul-draining sim-racer. Game is awesome and HUGE FUN!!!!!

This is a half breed for Burnout and Need for Speed. Bad thing is that they picked the worsts parts of both so its really really bad. They use the stupid "always in-game menus" Criterion seems obsessed with. Those menus are both annoying an slow to use. Handling is awful. When your handling has a totally different "mode" for going fast/straight lines and a separate "drift" mechanic, the switch between those has to feel right. Its feels awful which ruins the whole handling. Things are made even worse by bad lightning which sometimes blocks your vision causing you to miss judge your turn-in point. AI is cheap since it uses rubberband so its always close to you. Soundtrack is so bad that the 4th most used button after gas/brake/steering is "skip track". Yeah, cant say anything good about this game expect for the fact that it works and boots up. Please EA, stop making these dumb excuses for a NFS game.

In short: RIdge Racer Unbouded is a better Burnout expiriecen, Forza Horizon is a better racing game if you want real cars. Blur is also a much much better game.… Expand

I was a huge fan of the first release of NFS:MW. Great cars, customizability, a narrative, awesome graphics, etc. That game was great in many ways, but especially because you had to earn your cars or earn money to buy them. They were yours. You could customize them in countless ways. Want to buy a car and make it look like one in your driveway? No problem. Pretty cool. In this version of NFS:MW, all that make-it-yours glory is gone. Now, you just find cars willy-nilly. Hop in and its yours. Don't have to buy them. They're just sitting around in the open for you to "take". Huh? Oh, you want to paint your newly "found" Porsche red because its your favorite color? Ok, well, go to a repair shop and drive through it. Wait, it turned your car a random color? Huh? WTF? No problem, just put it in reverse, back up and drive through again. Keep doing this until you get the color you like. Who the hell thought of that retarded system?! There is NO customizability of cars in this car. Camera views? Only 2. Not even an interior camera view. How lame is that? Graphics are great, but the roads are always wet. Another WTF moment. There is no narrative AT ALL. And the cutscenes before a race are real head-scratchers. Have nothing to do with the race. One cut scene shows you go up the side of a building (presumably in some kind of elevator you can't see) and when it gets to the top, it free falls to the ground. Then you're in your car. WTF? What idiot thought up that as a good cutscene before a car race? Makes zero sense at all. It's as if they took stock footage from the bargain bin of lost games and pasted it in to fill in the lack of creativity here. A real shame and another NFS game down the tubes....… Expand

Honestly, this game is pretty mediocre. If you were at all a fan of the older Need for Speed titles, namely, Need for Speed Underground 1 & 2, Most Wanted 1, and aren't particularly a fan of the Burnout series, you'll find yourself pretty disappointed with this game.

The game shouldn't have the title Need for Speed in it, as it is extremely misleading. As many know, the game was developed by Criterion, the same people who brought us the Burnout series, which I'm going to say right out I'm not a particular fan of. I like games that have great customization, and a solid progression base. The open world style is great, but there's no unlocking cars, you just drive around and swap cars whenever you want. But there's no customization, you can swap parts around here and there to get minor boosts, but there's no customization to the actual car (you can't even change the color of your car - unless you drive through a shop which repairs your car/changes the color. I found myself disliking the handling a lot, it's extremely "drift" based where making any turn almost necessitates forcing your car into a drift because the handling is so shoddy. One of the things they imported from Burnout which I disliked the most was the wiping out, even after minor crashes your car would wreck/spin out and you'd have to wait for your car to respawn to play again. This gets extremely frustrating when you're trying to outrun cops and because the handling is so poor you almost can't avoid slamming into a car in front of you. When I saw that this was going to be made by Criterion, I thought, why not give it a go, it has the Need for Speed title afterall. Frankly, it just feels like another Burnout title with cops added in. Almost nothing was imported from what made the Need for Speed titles great, especially Most Wanted 1. If you don't like the Burnout style, don't bother with this game, you'll find yourself extremely disappointed like I did.… Expand

I did not like this game at all. It is not optimized for excellent hardware and it does not follow the formula of the first game. The only think that is "OK" about this game is the graphics but again they are not optimized well.

thank you criterion very good game everything in the right way i love this game it is one of the most amazing race games ever made really good work ..

need for speed most wanted - A Criterion Game my best car game till this moment graphics action and every thing you need you will find it in this game like hot pursuit

This game is a disgrace to bearing the name Need for Speed Most Wanted. If you have played the original NFS MW, you would really feel angry about this rubbish new one. If you have tried this game and come here to read the reviews just like I do, you would know those who give this game low scores are giving honest opinions, and those who give this game 9 or 10 are so Criterion or EA employee alike.

If you want a driving game....this is not the game for you! This is more like Pinball on wheels! This game has great parts but they just do not mesh together to make a cohesive whole. The story/reason just isn't enough to make you believe in the world they are trying to create and finding cars randomly is how you you get better vehicles?....then you have to get the same upgrades for each damn car! PAINFUL! The original NFSMW does all of these things much better. There is no feeling of progression and therefore lacks the reward of leveling up and robs you of that sense of achievement! Deciding were to spend your hard earned rewards/resources and on which car is essential to identity within the game and this just doesn't happen here. The user reviews are superb on Metacritic and are nearly always right and no more so than in this case. Get Forza Horizons if you have the choice...a much better game were you actually feel like you are in control of how you progress/upgrade.… Expand

I'm a little torn how to rate this. I play with my family and cousins online and we were all very excited about this game. Each of us had differing opinions on games, but we all enjoy playing together when we can. First, why call this Most Wanted? It clearly isn't and the idea they posted it under the NFS franchise suggests they were looking for sales based off the Title alone. NFS:MW was/is one of the better racing games made. It catered to both Sim fans and Arcade fans. This is back when it mattered to EA if they released a good game or not. I personally thought with Criterion involved even EA couldn't mess it up.
So when my cousin won a copy, we were all pretty excited. We went over expecting to find a great game the rest of us would want to buy and play together. We found some really fun aspects, which could equate to a lot of fun racing online. But after a few days playing, I think we all kind of decided it just wasn't worth the money. It's certainly not a racing Sim, which is fine since a few of us don't really care for racing sims. But the lack of camera views was annoying. I don't care about manual/automatic but my brother did. I do care about fun, and every car had it's unique qualities, which is ok, but they also all were pretty much the same. You could win with a little 4 cyl compact as easily as a super sports car. This is fun, at first, but after awhile it gets annoying. Especially if you get a car you think looks cool, because you're only allowed so many races per car.

Really, you can read most reviews, aside from the "This is the best game ever, get it now!!!' and the "WTF, no manual transmission? This game sux don't buy" reviews. There are plenty of people who actually spent time to write what's good and bad about this game. Most of the better reviews gave it lower scores, but they explained it. Many of the 9 and 10 reviews seem to write how everyone else is wrong and the game is really good but they don't really go into details why. Just from what I've seen anyway. I strongly recommend you read more than a few reviews to get a better idea of the good and bad points. Because this game definitely has some great features and some not-so-great features.

From a racing sim fans point of view, this game just isn't worth the money for me. It feels like they went for an over-the-top attempt and glitz and decided that a high production quality makes a good game. And for those who like that kind of racing, it will be a very fun game. Because, even though I won't buy it, it would be fun to play from time-to-time in smaller doses. For me, I don't think this really fits what I would call a racing game. I don't need full out realism, but I do need a challenge when I race and this game isn't challenging. It's a smash-up game, and they could substitute the cars with tractors, bicycles, old people pushing carts, just about anything that moves could be swapped out. My brother said it best "It's Mario kart but with kick butt graphics and very cool cars." And Mario Kart is a very fun arcade game, so maybe EA does have a hit on their hands. Just not with us. I think we all wanted to like this game, but it just is lacking in too many areas. Too bad.… Expand

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

I have the X-box 360 version. It runs smoothly and looks good. The main problem with the game is that it doesn't live up to its name. I am a Most Wanted 2005 fan. And this game misses the mix of basic elements that made that game so much fun.
It does have an open world and cops, but that's all. It misses the story line, cheesy but fun cut scenes with the funny characters, the sense o achievement, the pimping of your ride, the building of you car collection, and the general sense of building up your rep. Most Wanted 2005 had an open world but also well defined goals. This game misses all that. But most of all it doesn't suck you in like the original.

I would have given it a 7 if it wasn't called "Most Wanted" but because it's false advertising I give it a 6.… Expand

This is not Need for Speed. They should named it Burnout. It has nothing to do with the old NFS Most Wanted. It feels like that even the police is just in the game so they could named it Most Wanted. If you get busted you dont looe any money, nothing, no consequencces for getting busted. The game has good graphics and nice sounds. If you play it without thinking that this is a NFS game, its pretty good and fun to play. So finally, the game itself would be a good sequel for Burnout Paradise but because they had to name it NFS Most Wanted, which has nothing to do with the old Most Wanted or even with any NFS this game isn't worth to buy.… Expand

Best racing game Atm if u like racing games get it right now !

If you want the paramount in arcade racing look no further than NFS:MW. I won't go too far into the mechanics or story, I'll just tell you how I feel about Most Wanted. This isn't a Black Box game so don't expect anything similar to the 2005 title of the same name, Criterion has been on an whole notha level since the first Burnout. When it comes to making you feel like a stunt driver, there is no equivalent Some may say the new feel is "heavy" or unrealistic and call that a bad thing. These people haven't played this type of game. Burnout is about drifting, extreme speed and vehicle destruction. Don't write a review if all you wanted was Fortza or GT, you bought the wrong game too bad. This is about action-racing, the non-boring kind of racing. You aren't circling a track for 45 minutes. You're weaving the streets of a busy city, trying your best to dodge traffic, make secrets and destroy other players. The multiplayer is of a different caliber than you have ever experience, sans Hot Pursuit players. The difference is in the spontaneity of it all. The fused mechanics of Hot Pursuit's feel and Paradise's openness make for a multiplayer experience that is almost seamless with the singleplayer. This is possibly one of the most revolutionary efforts ever made in that respect. A game that lets you have true freedom. This is where all games are headed I expect. A 10/10 if I ever gave one. Note: I feel sorry for anyone who is even the least bit swayed in their purchase by the negative reviews being written. Go back to racing sims you pack of idiots. Fortza and GT aren't even games by definition. They're simulators. I get that some want to drive a car exactly like being in a real race, but I myself want to see cars flipping and crashing, going off cliffs and hitting pedestrians, to be able to drift at 200 mhp and hit the turbo. But that's just me. **** ten.… Expand

This game dominates the racing world right now! EA and Criterion have created the ultimate race - gaming experience possible! Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 is like Burnout but with official cars. Very fun and interesting to play.

All of you people who are rating this game as a zero or extremely low, go back to Forza and Xbox. You obviously have an economic agenda and no credibility. NFS MW is the best racing experience since Burnout Paradise. The racing is fun, intense, and the world is second to none. A must buy for anyone remotely interested in an adrenaline filled speed fest.

It's best open-world racing game. But you must know, that it is not Most Wanted. It's Burnout Paradise 2 with license cars. But it's pretty good!!!!

I was iffy about buying this I love burnout but I was definitely in the mood for some real NFS racing game. After about an hour of playing I gotta say this game kicks ass! best way to describe it would be the handling of NFS underground with the open world of burnout paradise. It's not burnout it is NFS

When I started the game, I really didn't like the way the cars handled and thought it would be a big disappointment. As I've continued, now with 4 hours into the game, I'm getting really comfortable with the handling and the physics and I realize how the car customization changes the ways the cars feel on the road and perform.

I really didn't want another NFS: the Run or Hot Pursuit. I wanted another Burnout Paradise, and so far the game has absolutely delivered. I'm having a blast and the races and pursuits are breathtaking. If you're worried about the handling, level up your car or get a better vehicle. The physics will become more comfortable.

This game is not a sim (than goodness!). It's a wild arcade racer with very life-like physics but enough of a break from reality to make it exhilarating fun.

I'm really glad this game came along right now. I'm so tired of third person shooters and games that don't deliver the goods. This one delivers the goods. I would like to have seen some more detailed control adjustment, like sensitivity. The Autolog system is quite unique and effective. I enjoyed hundreds of hours of Burnout Paradise play. If Need for Speed: Most Wanted gets me half that much, it will have been well worth every penny. It is my opinion that I'll be enjoying this game a lot in the coming months.… Expand

Ничего не понимаю

This game was not Need for Speed. I'm not sure why they're trying to achieve similarities with a title that is no longer active (Burnout). The graphics of this game are astounding but other than that the game falls flat. There is no story line, a very lame excuse for a customization system and no heart to the game whatsoever. In single player mode you're essentially racing against a list of numbers and the multiplayer mode can be fun but again, the visual customization to the cars are nonexistent therefore it feels as if you're driving generic cars and that takes all the fun out of it. I miss the good old days of the original Most Wanted and Carbon where one could be completely immersed in the storyline and overwhelmed by the level of unique customization. The majority of the positive reviews you see on this website are from Burnout fans and there is nothing wrong with that but this game isn't Burnout. As fans of the Need for Speed title we continued to support the game due to its unique qualities and completely one of a kind gameplay both of which are completely absent from this title… Expand

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

I have signed up to metacritic because i cannot believe the stupid scores i have seen on here by what must be complete and utter fools, it really annoys me that people try and review a game that they could not have played or spent about 2 minutes with and then made a judgement and a bad one at that.
Most wanted is an absolute storming racer and if you actually bother to play it properly and add the mods to your cars it opens up into astonishingly well crafted arcade racer, so what if it does not have manual gears, it is an arcade racing game, not formula 1 or gran turismo, what it provides is a fantastic looking, superb sounding and incredibly playable game and that is what an arcade racer should be all about, it is a mix of need for speed and burnout but criterion have streamlined the interface so everything is neat and fast to get to, once you have found something you can fast travel there instantly instead of driving around aimlessly, something even some so called professional review sites did not even pick up on this fast travel feature so how can they put out reviews that say ( oh you have to keep driving miles to events ) when this is simply not true. So to round up, my view of most wanted is, a superbly well crafted game that has an excellent single player mode with so much to do and see and the online mode has even more fun and challenges than just about any other racer out there, just go out and buy it and play it properly for a few hours and by then you will be hooked by this astonishing game. I do not work for any game company and i think criterion have made a quite simply genius game here and if you play games to have real fun then go get this, please do not listen to the idiots that gave this game all the stupid low scores. It is a 10 / 10 game for me because it has a level of polish that even Mr Sheen would have a job to beat.… Expand

I'm enjoying it a lot. It's pretty much Burnout Paradise City 2.0. So if you liked Burnout......and you want to see it with better.....everything.....then you'll like NFSMW. Best thing: The fact you can see your friend's times for every race and speed camera. So you can constantly compete with all your friends.

Worst thing: Game is very short in terms of the main "mission".

Unless you enjoy frustration avoid this game. Everyone has already touched on the lack any sort of customizing and the retarded way of attaining cars. Also the rubber band AI in off line play is horrible. Cops blowing by you when you are driving some of the fastest exotics in the world. Online play is by far the worst disappointment. I loved hot pursuit, and when criterion took over for this game i was very excited. Wow what a letdown. Online sucks. First there is no rhyme or reason to who wins in take downs with other players. Sitting still and they hit you, they get a take down, running wide open and smash them while they sit still..they still get a take down. There is no logic to it at all. I found 90% of the time it didn't matter what the situation was whoever i was involved in a crash with got credit for the take down. Next is the total lack of variety. After about 5 times playing online i was playing the same lame challenges over again already. Racing online and off it is very confusing to keep up with where to go while driving. Some challenges require you to be on different levels of a building and don't make it clear. Retarded king of the hill type challenges when mixed with my earlier complaint about take downs become a real nightmare to your nerves. I swear you could be in a tank and they hit you in ford focus and somehow you will see your tank fly through the air and them get take down credit. I am going to bite the bullet and trade this in tomorrow...no fun, and no sense to this game at all. Music was horrible to top it off.… Expand

If you're a fan of Burnout Paradise. You'll like this game. From everything I saw about this game. Told me about the customizing. Like an old NFS game. None of that is in this. Sure, you can "tune" your car. Kind of. To select a car, you cant just buy it. You have to find it. And painting. No choice. Drive through a random booth and it does a random color. Plus the steering.. Turn right. Pull off the analog stick. And it's still turning right. In my opinion, if you had to choose between this and Forza Horizon. Forza it is..… Expand

A lot of people have INCORRECTLY said that there is NO penalty for being arrested, this statement is very WRONG.
I just had a car chase with the police that lasted over 40 minutes, during the chase, I gathered 53,872 speed points (experience) that I LOST when the police manged to put and end to my city wide rampage by taking out my tires and trapping me in a rail tunnel...
Had I managed to escape them I would have been given those points for the car I was driving and would have been able to upgrade it in many different ways.
A 40 minute car chase may sound boring but I can tell you, it was some of the most amazing and thrilling action I have every witnessed in a video game with stunts and crashes that would have put Hollywood to shame.
I strongly recommend this game, give it a chance, you wont be sorry.… Expand

After playing Forza horizon and having loved hot pursuit, I can honestly say that Most wanted is terrible. This game should have been purchased for $20 as a play while waiting for a new release to play. This is the kind of game thats 90% hype 10% fun to play. After 1 hour I was bored.

worst game ever for need for speed they just spoil the name of the best series most wanted it a horrible word they give customization to show off in reality there is no customization every looks same...................dnt spoil the name of most wanted if u don't know how to make a better sequel.......

totally disappointed nxt level of gamin fun was xpected
visual effect r well enough rest its jus a waste of tym
EA should have work more before realeasing it
dis game might have work for sum graphics lover but disatisfied many gamers around d globe
PEACE-

wht a 3rd class game ...wrosted game aver...seen nfs whole series............................................................................................

Really disappointed with Most wanted, boring easy single player, you are handed everything, just holds your hand through everything
A RACING GAME DOESNT NEED TO BE OPEN WOLRD, they focused on that too much, No split screen, online police chases, random cut scene before each race whats that about? random paint jobs dont know who thought that was a good idea that you cant chose you color. Theres too much focus on online multi player my mates dont play racing games and online i keep playing with people who dont speak the same language.
Unstructured races miss a checkpoint and game over, races are like GTA races, No helicopter, EMP, Turbo, only 2 camera angles, No manual transmission, bland and boring map… Expand

The biggest mistake I made going into this game is making the presumption that this would be a Need For Speed game. I also foolishly presumed it would be in the same vein as its namesake, the 2005 hit Need For Speed: Most Wanted. I'd like to start by first listing a few things that game had that made it so appealing.

-A storyline that was illustrated through both CGI and live action cinematics, text messages and voicemails.
-Characterisation of adversaries that provided incentive.
-Unscripted police presence and chases during races.
-Unique and inventive racing modes.
-Varied destructible environments including vivid large-scale props to break up police chases.
-A well balanced currency system.
-A stripped down (compared to Underground 2) but still highly in-depth customisation system that included car performance, visual alterations and body modification.
-An ongoing heat system that related to specific cars in a realistic manner.
-Easy access to in-depth chase records.
-Clear, relevant and varied police chatter.
-A wide range of police tactics and vehicles.
-Excellent AI scaling.
-Repercussions from getting BUSTED.
-A prologue that adequately explains game mechanics and allows players to trial as they are eased into free roam gameplay.
-A city that felt varied, inspired and easy to navigate.
-A sensical GPS system that allowed instant and easy navigation.
-A choice between automatic and manual.
-A small degree of music player customisation.

Go into Critereon's Most Wanted knowing that it has none of this. What you're getting is a bland and decidedly dated feeling free roaming racer. It follows mechanics more akin to Burnout than NFS. This isn't a huge problem, but it is so grating when expecting a different franchise. The city is uninspired, more like something from a GTA-knock off than one of the beautiful cities from Carbon, Most Wanted or even Underground 2. They have stripped back any customisation in all facets to nil for the bro audience. Their alternative is drive-through repair shops (much like the Pay 'n' Spray spots in earlier GTAs) which choose a new car colour for you and repair the small visible damage.
Most of your time between races is spent eliminating 'collectibles'. These are repetitive billboards and fences half-assedly hidden around the boxed in game world. What's more, the billboards all promote EA and its bought companies. They couldn't even bother creating fictional in-game companies and the few little sparks of character around the world are repeated to the point of mundanity. Seeing 'FML' on a building isn't funny the first time, it won't be the next hundred times either.

The visuals are good if not at the level expected of a 2012 game but the load times will remind you of how far this game stretches to meet these standards. The cars handle like cartoon vehicles, more like Mario Kart handling than anything NFS have done previously and players will suffer from bizarre unpredictabilities in the nuances of turning corners that the rival racer AI (which never seems to change) never suffer. The police chases are awful. Easy and unvaried. The time it takes to build heat (which resets every time a pursuit ends) is not worth it just to get into a fulfilling chase.

What really hurts this game is a lack of story. I know that, as a racing game it's not required, but what replaces it is a weak, tinny intro speech that tells you nothing before you're thrown into your first car. After this point, you can do whatever you want. Some people may like the sound of this, but keep in mind doing 'what you want' involves either finding another insta-gain car, smashing one of four possible environment props, entering a chase, or racing in one of the three staple racing modes (time trial, sprint and circuit. yawn). This is fun, don't get me wrong, but for three hours. You have no incentive to race the 10 cars on the Most Wanted list (a pale impression of 2005's MW Blacklist which involved characters with visually unique vehicles) other than to collect another car that feels almost no different and can't be customised to look any differently to the rest.

The game fails on some very basic mechanics too. Terrible mini-map system, difficult navigation in and out of races (you will lose so many races because there is NO INDICATION to turn unless it's extra unclear in which case the devs popped in a little band-aid arrow border) and the GPS doesn't help at all. You cannot even choose between automatic and manual. It's automatic all the way with uncustomisable music so you can nod your head to 2009's top 20 bro-tunes while you bro-steer through a cardboard cutout environment.

In short, this game isn't worth your money. It's about $30 worth of solid fun and there's still something to be said there. This game isn't entirely awful, but it's unfinished and there's no reason to have ever called it NFS or MW. It feels like false advertising.… Expand

Let me start by saying that I'm a big fan of both the NFS and Burnout franchises. And as a fan of both franchises, I was severely disappointed in this game, particularly after reading all the critic reviews that raved about it. I know a company like EA can influence some publications, but this one got pretty ridiculous.

As many others have said, the graphics are great, but in this case they're merely polish on a turd. The game plays like a fusion of Burnout: Paradise and one of the blander NFS games, but with all the fun methodically drained from the experience. The vehicle handling is god-awful--NFS: The Run had issues, but at least the cars were driveable. I'm a fan of both arcade racers and simulators, and this game is neither.

BP's takedowns were a ton of fun, but without the slo-mo and the terrible wrecks, they seem pretty boring and uninteresting. As many other users pointed out, the cop chases are a huge letdown as well--NFS:MW nearly perfected the cop chase/escape formula--why wouldn't you crib some ideas from that?

I'm thankful I got this game as a rental from Gamefly and didn't buy it. If you haven't bought it yet, definitely give it a rental before plucking down the $60.… Expand

I've never written a game review before and created my account specifically in hopes that I may be able to save someone else the trouble of wasting their money like I did. The graphics of the game are good however everything looks like a cartoon, the cars all seem to handle and drive the same except they just accelerate at slightly different speeds, there is only car customization through performance parts and so many terrible things about this game these aren't even the things that frustrate me the most. The crash cam shows you a slow motion replay of yourself crashing into a wall every time it happens and then when you're in a race it puts you in a rolling start from there so as to keep you from losing too much time. From what I've seen of the cops in the game their cars are made of fine china because one moderately solid hit destroys them and removes that fun aspect where you get to beat up on their car because if it only takes one or two shots you could probably take out their whole police force without much problem. Finally, the game gives you every car from the start which sounds appealing if you want to just find the best car in the game and stick with it however if you want to find every car you end up getting ADD trying to find every car and hit all of the speed traps and smash the signs and the whole thing is just a cluster_____ (you can fill in the blank). All in all this is probably the worst game I've ever bought. Just buy Forza Horizons or Gran Turismo unless you want to destroy cop cars, then wait for GTA: V.… Expand

Nice graphics,rest CRAPPP.Horrible game,do not listen the press specially PSX extreme pl version and others,boring gameplay,old nfsmw 2005 its very good game,NEW mw crap.Do not buy this game,LOST MONEY

This is hands down the best Need For Speed ever. Well sorry to burst your bubble. Graphics for this game are very impressive, however the physics and how the cars handle are horrible. cops blow past you and AI is incredibly aggressive to the point where police and racers stop every positive thing you have in a race. handling is by far the worst part of the game. when braking you continue in the straight forward direction and then finally the car will break loose in to sliding any direction. when driving slow your car will turn sharper than you want regardless of your tilt on the joystick. it seems that all effort was put into the game looking good and was not focused on creating a good and balanced game for gamers. Fans of the NFS series were given the open road again but no longer have the feeling of accomplishment since the developers have essentially put cars around the city for you to find. No customization options for car color, drive through repair shop and hope you get the color you want if not try again. Parts are basic but nothing in terms of building the car how you like it. Options wise there are none for steering sensitivity or AI difficulty which may leave more novice fans or beginners of the series feeling like they wasted their money on this one. The game soundtrack is ok nothing spectacular at all especially given this a racing game. All-in-all I have been a fan of the series but the past 2 games have me questioning if I would get the next title release for the NFS franchise.the in game menu is to much to navigate through when trying to drive to various locations and navigating around the city and in races is not user friendly. They needed to put some sort of turning system in the game to warn you of approaching turns. So much is going on on screen that wrecks happen to frequent and the road bumps move the screen up and down not just the cars.… Expand

I'm writing this because I see there are more positive reviews than negative ones. I don't believe they had ever played the game. I would rather trust they are some criterion hired morons posting positive reviews to get more people on bait.
This is the WORST racing game I ever played . I play from NFS1 and I love the NFS5Porsche and NFS9MW. After play 30min of this CRAP I simply want to uninstall this piece of **** The speed meter shows 200km/h but it feels like 40km/h and it is struggle to overtake even the street cars. And it feels like you are skating on the ice when taking the turns. And the SUN REALLY MAKES YOU BLIND. YOU CAN SEE NOTHING ON THE ROAD WHEN DRIVING AGAINST THE SUN. DO I NEED TO WEAR SUN GLASSES?
Makes me wanna puke.… Expand

unbelievable game, the game Need for Speed game ever released. It got a 9 instead of 10 due to lack of dual screen mode. The best NFS game ever released, love it

It's just amazing that in a game that was CLEARLY billed by both EA and NFS/Criterion as "Burnout Paradise 2" or "Burnout Paradise with Cops", so many reviews keep going back to the whole NFS:MW on the PS2.

At NO time was that ever hinted at or suggested. The intention of this game was always to be open world and to compete against your friends. There are plenty of ways to get Autolog fans which is another thing people are missing, apparently.

Cars DO handle differently, you've got to be a racing ran and have played a LOT of different ones to really see the subtle ones. Two cars can have the same top speed/accel but handle WAY different. It's about trial and error.

As for "having everything handed to you", I see it as refreshing. You're not worrying about maxing out experience points to unlock all the cars. They are all available at the start. Sure, some of them are out of the way, but I found 5 in the first 10 minutes of play. As a developer, it's near impossible to produce a racing game that's going to satisfy both the hardcore and the casual fan.

I've played darn near every racing game ever released for the PS3, and this game falls into a lump with Blur, Dirt 3, Gran Turismo 5 and Driver: San Francisco as to which one is "truly" the best. It's definitely the best open world game (light years ahead of TDU2). I've now put 4 days into the game and I love it. I think the # of cars available is a little on the low side, and I think there's some significant difficulty spikes (especially the races that ask you to maintain an average speed). I also think that if you don't have Autolog friends and are simply staring at this as a single player game, you'll be through it rather quickly. If you've got friends and have seen how great multiplayer is, give this a 9. If you don't have friends and understand you're going to have to make your own fun/blaze your own trail, give it a 7. I simply shot the middle.… Expand

Spectacular. This game was sensational EA got hit once again recreating a classic. The passing system for instant repair was very good and practical cars around the scene was also found to be an excellent idea. Ramps, persecutions, good gameplay, beautiful graphics and great; fun make this game be right purchase.

I'll make it simple: this game is worse than the previous Criterion outing (NFS Hot Pursuit) and it is worse than the original NFS Most Wanted. This is unacceptable. I know that this is a sequel to Burnout but if Burnout was that boring then I wonder why the sequel was even needed.

Positives: graphics are sumptuous even if slightly blurry at high speeds. Car selection is respectable and the handling is arcadey and easy, which is what everyone should have been expecting (all those comparing it to Forza really should not be reviewing anything).

And here a long list of negatives:

- Almost every car has to be found in the city, and no unlocks. This effectively removes any porgression system (that MW list is a joke) and honestly without racing, driving around the city is not fun, and therefore collecting cars from garages, sewers and under the bridge is boring. Let's face it: city is not something that's needed in any racing game. NFSU2 introduced a city and was criticised for it because the city makes everything much less streamlined and who wants to drive around a mesh of buildings? Open city is often a bland place where you can just drive around. Leave that stuff for GTA at least in that game you can run over people, steal all cars and do a gazillion of other things.

The city in this game only works as an open environment during Police chases. But talking about those:

- Police chases are too hard and at the same time unfulfilling. If you drive a Ford, you can't win. If you drive an Atom, the chase is over in 10 seconds. The city element doesn't matter. The Police are overly tenacious and the cooldown phase doesn't have hiding spots anymore. You get points for the chase as for racing, but you onlybuild up any consistent heat level that would make the police more alert or send more troops during the same chase. After the chase is over, everything is reset. Once again, the chance to make a consistent progression system has been abandoned. - No customization. How come I could choose the color of my car in Hot Pursuit but in MW it's all random? Compared to the original MW it's a disaster. - Just random weird stuff: police helicopter doesn't exist anymore apparently, you can't drive police cars or use any gadgets from Hot Pursuit. Each car can only participate in 4-5 races to get a fixed set of unlockable upgrades.

Look, if you want a good arcadey NFS game. The Hot Pursuit released 2 years ago is much more fun and is now probably sold for 10-20$. If you want a good game with cop chases in the city, take the original Most Wanted for 0-5$ and despite the older graphics, it still rocks!! This game is a disaster and while I think that it didn't follow up on its predecessors' success as to not to compete with it, well... that made for one hell of a boring and derivative game.… Expand

I am more than a little pissed. I bought this game based on the first 10 reviews that averaged nearly 90% so I spent 60 on a very average game only to find out that it was not all it was supposed to be. It seems EA is buying reviews and this kills all credibility of EA and review sites. No wonder why EA is so hated in the gaming community.

I'll be serious here. People don't know what they want. Actually, they do. THEY WANTED A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL MOST WANTED. They're so biased by that idea they don't even try to enjoy the present Most Wanted that, by the way, is an awesome game. People put all their efforts on hating a game that's actually good just for the sake of the game not being what the first was. I know, it lacks aesthetic customization of the car, there's no time break, or whatever that thing of slowing the time is called, BUT Most Wanted 2 has a sweet gameplay, astounding graphics and is **** fun. People **** about this game are just haters and don't deserve attention. I say, if you like arcade racers, Need For Speed included, this is a must play for you. It has much little in common with the previous Most Wanted, but is still a remarkable game, awesome to play with your friends or to spend hours wandering in its open world. The cars are gorgeous, the EasyDrive menu is easy to use and functional and the game takes a 9 from me. It doesn't take a 10 because it don't have body customization. But it doesn't spoil the fun.… Expand

It's a remake with some new Features. Guess that's okay and I really don't expect much more of EA...but it's not as good as Forza Horizon. It's still way too much Arcade, Forza gets the symbiosis between Simulation and Arcade way better. The cars are fine, but for my taste it's once more too much PS-Monsters. Guess there's not much left to say. Buy it, if you have no XBox 360. If you've got one: Forza Horizon.… Expand

Look, giving this game a bad review because it "isn't a real sequel to most wanted" is ridiculous. Do you see a "2" or "two" anywhere in the title? Didn't think so. Criterion re-imagined a game, just like they did with Hot Pursuit. It's a great game. To the people complaining about manual. A) It's not a driving sim, It's an arcade racer, and since It's Need for Speed that should come as no surprise. B) demoting a game to a 0 based on that is childish. Every article about this game pre launch has stated that Its "Burnout Paradise 2.0" so why are any of you surprised or upset by this? Why did you even buy the game? For anyone who doesn't want a troll review, this is a great game. If you like Hot Pursuit two years ago or you liked Burnout Paradise you'll be right at home here. The gameplay is great, blowing through bilboards and pissing off the cops just to see if you can get away is awesome. Graphics are great, should also be no surprise. The fact you can play as any car from the start is something new and I personally like it.… Expand

this game is a horrible abomination of the original. it is not worth half the purchase price and i have never been more disappointed in a game. Hot Pursuit was close, but at least i had no real expectations from that total departure from the success of the earlier versions.

Why is it so hard to have a game where you can be "naughty", drive a stick, and customize your car? Tuners are undoubtedly one of the most popular classes and yet NFS acts as if they don't even exist.

I am so utterly disappointed.… Expand

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

I was extremely excited for this game since the original NFSMW was an amazing game! This however was purely and absolutely terrible. The driving mechanics make me feel like I am trying to guide the car where I want it to go instead of controlling it. I'm driving a 1.2+ million dollar car and I have to fight to keep it on the road? I mean, come on. This is not to say that I don't like more difficult racing games that require much more skill (GT, Forza, Etc), but this game is neither fun to drive in or realistic. Overall, I only beat this game because it was short enough that I could finish it without breaking anything.… Expand

One of the things that saddens us is the lack of a storyline, a plot that accompany us during our progress towards the top of the "blacklist", if its name is still this, of Fairhaven City.
Only 10 cars, and no more "opponents" or "racers", to beat in a simple race 1 vs 1. All this makes the single player banal because, running in front of a camera and jumping like kangaroos through billboards, like in Burnout Paradise, becomes boring after the first 30 minutes of gameplay.
The handlings are really embarrassing at first, but once you get used becomes "just" horrible! Being able to control a car becomes a mission impossible in certain situations. You can't avoid traffic cars like you want, it's all about being lucky! And, the worst thing is that the difference between the various cars is imperceptible: physics, speed, control, and all the rest are almost identical regardless of the car on which we stand, regardless of the changes that we apply to them.
Police in Fairhaven will not be so hard as everyone might think. Their only advantage is to have trucks and Corvettes that drop spike strips like in Hot Pursuit, in order to stop your run, however, those vehicles will be available only when you reach heat 6! But even with the heat 6 is still too easy to run away!
The other things that the Criterion team has taken from his best creation, Burnout, are Takedowns and how to change color and repair your car. The takedowns were a good thing before coming to Need for Speed​​: here, every single hit, even the most trivial, over 60km / h turns into a f**ckin' "takedown moment", and after the first half hour of play they become very annoying! And we can't do anything to disable those takedowns!
The AI ​​is less involved than the previous titles.
The multiplayer is well structured and it's very funny, like Burnout Paradise. But even this becomes boring a lot in about 2 days!
Good things: graphics and sounds.
Bad things: almost all the rest: handlings, takedowns, no storyline, easy AI, boring, no tuning, etc...… Expand

I

To anyone on the fence, to anyone who enjoys videogames or to anyone who is simply stressed out with life, Do urself a favour; GET THIS GAME. Why? Because its phenomenal. Forget the cry-babies, look at the score to the left

One of the best "Modern-day racers." Criterion delivers its next TRUE hit after Burnout Paradise. The driving mechanics feel great and the graphics are stunning. Though, the crashes do feel unfinished and bland.

I should first say that I am only a few hours into this game but I feel the need to post a review because some of the ridiculous user reviews on here giving it a bad score.

This game is an open world and as such seems not to have much structure to it but it does and I think it is quite clever. I actually dislike open world in pretty much every game because it is a cheap way of making a game seem big when it isn't.

This open world works and lets you decide what to do. Getting from A to B is very fun and the cops won't bug you if you slow down when they are around, pretty easy.

The racing is simply arcade fun where you can smash into things and still win...it depends what you want really. Controls are a little loose but that is entirely on purpose.

I have to say ignore all the bad user comments because they were expecting a different game and come here to complain.

Get this game if you liked hot pursuit or burnout paradise, do not get it if you didn't.

The only thing I don't like so far is that the take downs you do does not have a slow mo camera thing like ALL the other burnout games, which is pretty annoying.

FYI:the logitech wheel works great for this game.… Expand

Best game ever who ever don't like it hates extreme racing The Need For Speed game series is the best so to all the haters you guys shouldn't Play the game if you don't like it

A great game for anyone looking for an arcade racer. It's not for everyone though, Fans of the series from it's roots (Before Underground) and fans of Burnout will likely have a blast playing this. But if your NFS experience started with Underground then you might want to rent it first. This is an arcade racer to the core and a good one at that. The only real complaint that I have is the name. Using the title Most Wanted is probably confusing a lot of people looking for a street racer like the original Most Wanted. This new Most Wanted is not a street racer, it is an Arcade racer. The single player lacks a bit and is mostly for racking up speed points, beating your friend's time and exploring, it is very short. The online is where this game shines. The online uses many elements from Burnout's easy drive and freeburn system. Some unique features were not included but the overall online experience is fun and entertaining. The only complaint about online is the lack of a ranked racing system. Overall the game shines and is a great example of a good arcade racer.… Expand

NFS fans like me won't like this game, it has the title "Most Wanted" which reminds us of the awesome 2005 NFS, not some sort of Criterion "good idea" concept. Criterion should just stop making NFS' and go back to Burnout.

You know when games used to simpler? When things were about purely having fun? Easy to pick up and play for a couple of hours? Well here we have such a arcade racer. The key term in there is *arcade* racer. This has no pretension of being a Forza or a GT5. This is about clean arcade entrainment and about having FUN! It's insanely addictive and packs a whole load of action from the outset it's very easy to loose a couple of hours to this game! From the get go at the start of the game everything is open to you nothing is locked. New cars are scattered around the open world for you to collect when you discover them. No areas of the world are locked off. So basically you start the game by being dropped into an open world to do as you will! Race? Do it! Burn up the streets trying to whizz past speed cameras scattered around as fast as you can (and beat your friends scores handily shown on a billboard near the camera) just do it! Find the craziest jump to attempt and smash through a billboard to beat your friends distance go for it! Have a play with the Police? Tap a Police car and off you go for an insane chase around the city. The whole game engine moves at a fantastic pace (as can be expected from a Criterion game) and considering the speed it runs looks very nice indeed, reflections of puddles on the ground, lens flare effects etc. all looks very pretty! Soundtrack is great too not as garish as some Need For Speeds and tastefully put together. The other aspect of this is multiplayer. This is insane fun and will provide endless hours of carnage and fun! There are a multitude of challenges availalable which the CPU or hosting user can create play lists from. This will basically set up a list of these challenges that happen one after the other with intermissions between each where everyone can have fun getting to the next challenge maybe trying to get a shifty take down to the next challenge! Immense fun. Essentially this game provides a playground to have some action driving fun in. It's a toy box. Use your imagination with it and you can invent any sort of game you like! Of course your have a Police force in there too to spice things up to. It's like playing all those cops and robbers shows for real! They even drag out stingers and make roadblocks to stop you (which you can satisfyingly smash through!). This is one of the best arcade racers out there and anyone needing action and carnage packed into every minute of gameplay this is where it is at. Oh did I mention Burnout Paradise?! Effectively treat this as the BP on steriods. This is BP the next iteration in all but name. Staggeringly good game Criterion and keep up the great work making wonderfully addictive fast action packed arcade racers of the highest order. Cannot recommend this enough. Oh did I mention anywhere that this game is a whole bunch of FUN! :) EDIT
Update on the original review I made of this. After spending around 10hours playing with this and I started to attempt to actually play the single player game found the races immensely frustrating. Problem I mainly had was with the view. Generally don't play drivers in 3rd person view (behind the car) and use the bonnet cam. I attempted my first most wanted race ( for the Alfa 4C) and simply was not able to complete this race in 1st person view. The camera is simply too low and near the road to be useable. However I did complete the event on my first try in 3rd person view. Seemingly the game was designed to be played in 3rd person view, which is unfortunate as it feels far to sluggish in this mode... Like driving through treacle if you will. Still a great game if you can get on with the camera views. However I will stick with Burnout Paradise for my action racer and move this on.

Another point to note is with respect to the PS3 version. It takes far to long to load and this is particularly noticible when your want to replay a race the blu-ray drive seems to grind on for what seems like an eternity. Unfortunately there is no install to HDD option so if you have both consoles to choose from unless you have specific reasons for choosing the PS3 version ( online friends list) then I would opt for the 360 version as at least you are able to install to the HDD!

In summary still a fun game but the racing part gets tiresome too quickly IMHO. Which is a shame. Burnout Paradise will scratch that online fun arcade itch for a fraction of the price if you can find any
online buddies to race against that is ( getting on a bit now...). IMHO it's the better game though and runs a good bit faster at 60fps too.....… Expand

Hi,
like everyone else here i m just another fan of NFS and Burnout...i am playing NFS when they launched Need for Speed II and till now i have played every nfs game and NFS2 and NFSMW 1 are my favorites......yesterday i bought NFSMW 2 and i must say that it was a huge disappointment in the begining when i started at 3:00 Am with a thought that i will check the gameplay and will sleep but after playing it for 2.5 hours...i was like "OK, now this is the new type of arcade" and I really liked it. Graphics are amazing soundtrack is amazing blah blah blah...but Game Play is awesome and breathtaking.
Almost everyone is against this game i dont know why?? lets discuss them
Crash cam sometimes feels irritating but as HUGE FAN i dont feel bad abt it NOW...i mean you get use to it.
Cop Chases are extremely hard and no special reward on evading but i am OK with it :)
no Story Line means no Fiction Characters and i like it.
Sometimes looking at the map takes you in a Crash so what...i mean anytime you can restart from your last check point.
no customization of engines and tires etc etc but i would say thats perfect cause in this game you already have everything. I cannot say anything about the ONLINE Game play but i am pretty sure that it will be whole new experience.
I mean common guys there cant be any other game like NFS MW 1 or Burnout...they were the best games of their time and they still are the BEST...i still play Most Wanted 1 on my laptop(actually i couldn't find it for Xbox). MW1 was a different game and this is a different game same goes for Burnout. so please dont mix NFSMW 2 with those games in fact no arcade racing game can be compared with those games and if you do then you are making a mistake or you are not a Fan of NFS or Burnout.
Those who are new in NFS, they will find this game not good no blah blah blah BUT fan like me will like this game.
Act like a NFS Fan not like a looser who thinks that i have lost my money on this game...i paid 60$ for this and i have no regret cause i really like nfs games (excluding some bs) and one more thing i play NFS most wanted on my iPhone also and there this game is totally different :)
P.S. Galvinize by chemical brothers is an excellent song used in this MW2… Expand

Bah This game is heavily Repetitive compared to the 2005 Most wanted. No story which makes the racing pointless. After beating the most wanted which was really easy, The game feels really empty and doesn't really reward much. The multiplayer is quite repetitive as well.

Why the **** is this game so much more expensive for Europeans? I havent even played it yet and its already annoying me.

Digital Version for the USA: $59.99
Digital Version for the UK: £59.99 Actual price of game when you convert $ to £: $60 = £37.5 WHY THE **** IS THIS GAME £60 in the psn store??? everybody buy psn cards from cardscodes.com and just buy it from US store if you`re in the UK… Expand

Stick with 2005s NFS most wanted try it on PC with new textures and car mods cause criterion should stop making racing games. the promblems with it is there frequent crash cam breaks the flow of the game to a point where it becomes frustrating to play. they also left out what made the original so good, a decent story with progression, customization, drag racing, speed breakers as well as pursuit breakers and choppers. w/o the pursuit breakers the cop chases in this game are lifeless and you have no real way of escaping them especially with the rubber banding. the ps3 version also suffers from longer load times graphics are the only positive thing bout the game… Expand

Приветствую, Земляки! Первое впечатление от игры - самое положите
083;ьное, это именно то, чего ждали от Criterion Games (CG). Геймплей горячий, нагнетающий, лихой, передающий всю гамму чувств от езды на мощных авто, каков восторг! Я за игру вообще не переживал, CG знают свое дело.
Система Easy Drive просто порадовала, отлично вкручена в геймплей. Погони с полицией - просто бомба. Копы стали очень агрессивными, умными и хитрыми, а еще очень быстрыми, просто так теперь не уйти. Азарт во время погони просто зашкаливает! SoundTrack в игре просто отличный, почти так же гармонично вписывающийсяв игру, как это было с NFS Hot Pursuit 2 далеком 2004.
Вообщем то об игре вы все и так знаете, я лишь пишу подтверждение всему вышесказанному в СМИ. Игра имеет полное право поселиться на десктопе каждого кто любит лихие гонки!… Expand

greatest racing game ever created in the history of the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First off, I loved both the original NFS:MW and Burnout Paradise, so this amalgam of those two franchises must be truly amazing yes? Unfortunately this is very far from the case. This new NFS:MW is probably the most disappointing game I have played in a long time. It borrows only at a very high level from the above two franchises (Police chases from the former, open world layout of the latter) but fails to implement any of the sense of fun or progression that exist in either of those (superior) titles.

I'm sure in multi-player this game starts to make sense, but this is also its undoing. It comes across as a game world designed wholly for you to race around with your on-line friends but with absolutely no content for off-line players (bar smashing billboards lifted straight from Burnout Paradise), think Quake:Arena off-line appeal as a point of reference.

Whilst the graphics and frame rate are excellent, the handling and AI is truly appalling. None of the cars have a natural weight or feel to them and all feel like they have four flat tires, such is the waywardness of their handling. Slightly squiffy handling can be overlooked if the game still manages to be fun (this was the case with Burnout Paradise), but even here NFS:MW fails on this basic requirement. The game just feels aimless with no sense of point or progression. There is no story, just a leaderboard of faceless "Most Wanted" drivers to beat. If you're coming to this game with fond memories of the (intentionally) cheesy rival cut-scenes from the original NFS:MW then you are in for a major disappointment here.

Probably the biggest crime (ironic, considering the title!) this game commits is the removal of car ownership! Yes that's right, this is probably the only racing game where you don't get to build your own virtual garage of bought / won cars. Sometimes trying something new is the way to reinvigorating a tired genre, but there is a reason why no-one has gone down this route before. If you remove the need to earn money to buy cars (or races where you win cars) then you remove one of the main points for playing a racing game. With the whole game essentially "unlocked" right from the beginning, once you've had a little burn around the map and completed a couple of races your quickly find yourself becoming bored. It's like the developers took on board the "endless grinding" comments about GT5 and thought "we'll do the exact opposite of that", when in fact what is required is a halfway house (as implemented by every other racing game). The fact that the police and competitors fully embrace rubber band physics, even the chases / races aren't very enjoyable.

This brings me on to my other complaint of this title, the police chases. They're just not very interesting. In the original NFS:MW you would actively search out police and incite them to chase you because the chases (especially as they ramped up in scale) were truly fun and as enjoyable as the races. This is not the case with this latest incarnation where the police chases just act as an annoyance that get in the way of you racing.

Resident Evil 6 was something of a disappointment (mainly due to clunky AI, controls and camera angles and total lack of scares or puzzles) but at least had a sense of fun. This is just not the case with NFS:MW. It's a racing game with dodgy handling, rubber band AI and absolutely no sense of progression, achievement or fun.

NFS:MW biggest problem though is that Forza Horizon already does everything (bar the police chases and considering how poorly NFS:MW implemented them this isn't a real issue) that NFS:MW does, but does it much better. Open world environment, CHECK. Fabulous graphics and silky frame rate, CHECK. Wide list of cars both past and present, CHECK. Superb handling that can be tailored to suite, CHECK. Diverse selection of race events, CHECK. On-line racing, CHECK. Ability to purchase / win and customise cars, CHECK.

With Forza Horizon the developers have taken all the elements from the best racing games, thrown them into a pot and cooked them up into a lovely tasting concoction that satisfies on (almost) every level. With NFS:MW, Criterion have taken Burnout Paradise, stripped out all the offline content, tacked on police chases and ended up with something very underwhelming.

All that's left to say is that with Black OPS 2 out tomorrow, my copy of NFS:MW is going to help fund its purchase. All I'm hoping is that NFS:MW trade in value hasn't been dented too much yet by other disgruntled players.… Expand

I bought this last night so i have less than 24 hours in with it thus far. i do like that it has the open ended world to it. that is somewhat entertaining and the police chases are fun...at first. after awhile you just want them to end. now really all that is left is the racing. so here is how racing goes, you click on your race and it starts. that gps type map is mostly useless or it gives misleading info. so you have to wing it. the checkpoint markers aren't always that easy to spot you realize where they are as you are passing the turn. there is nothing more frustrating that coming to one checkpoint, waiting for the next one and coming to a T in the road at 140 mph with still no sign of the next checkpoint. either let us race from point a to b without using checkpoints and letting us pick our own path or actually mark this well enough to actually run a race. if you want something that resembles a race, this is not the game for you. i'm already bored to death with it there should be a few modes where there are no cops and maybe even more of a track or no traffic. i understand that the premise is street racing and i love the idea of racing in cars you may see on the street. but this is a very flawed game.also, multiplayer absolutely sucks when playing with strangers at least. it's nothing but a demolition derby. not to mention that youd' think there would be some sort of clear controls to quiet or mute the other drivers. i dont plunk down my money to listen to someone's faulty mic. this game is a waste of time and money. the only purpose it serves is to be something you can play for 15 minutes to kill time. but after a weekend of playing this is sure to collect dust. there simply isn't much desire for repeated play with this and when you get down to it that is the only criteria that really matters.… Expand

The game is fun, but compared to what it could be... it's got nothing.

I was stoked for a new street racing game, I've been looking forward to something in open world street racing since Midnight Club L.A. I have to say Rockstar nailed it with that game. I guess I was hoping for something a bit more like that. A couple main points they missed.

Customization - half the fun of street racing is customizing your car. In NFSMW you can get mods, but they don't do anything to the car. You can't even keep a color. Pretty lame

Money - The other half of street racing that is fun is starting with an empty wallet and a POS car, and working your way up. NFSMW has Speed Points... but those are pretty worthless, they don't really unlock anything, you can't use them for anything... they just keep stacking up. Like a bank account you can deposit money into, but can't withdraw. All you can do it show people how much "money" you have.

Cars - I have to admit, driving around in some of those supercars is a lot of fun. But in a street racing game, does it really make sense? I have more fun rolling in a Mitsubishi Evo X than the Bugatti Veyron, just because it makes more sense to me. It would be great if there were more street cars and a bit less supercar weight. Progression - NFSMW is open from the beginning... all the cars are there, you just need to find them... which may sound cool in theory, but it ruins the game for me. There is no game progression. The easiest part of the game was beating the top ten cars... the "MAIN STORY"

Story - I put Main Story in quotes above, because there is no story at all. Which is fine. I was expecting more of an arcade racer light on the story... but they play with you... just a little hint of a story... and nothing more.

Cut-Scenes - One thing I thought looked promising was the seamless gameplay... which is done well at points... but then you start a race by squealing you wheels. You think you should just be able to start the race there, right? Nope, you need to wait for a freaking ridiculous cut scene to play. Even when you skip the scene, you are still forced to sit through the end of it. So lame.

Crash Cam - This is cool for about 2 seconds, and then it gets real old. Especially during multiplayer (which I will get to in a second). Again the seamless quality of the game is completely ruined by this slow motion crash camera... which you can't skip

Multiplayer - It seems the whole goal to multiplayer is to smash into other people. I think it would be fine if that was a part of it, but you get more points from smashing people constantly than you do from actually winning the events. I just played a multiplayer speedlist, won each event, and then came in 4th overall... How can you win every event and come in 4th? The three people above you decided to crash into people instead of racing. I was done after than one....

The idea of the game is great. It looks fantastic, the cars are fun to drive, but the racing and overall enjoyment is mediocre (because of the faults listed)... It's like they had this awesome abstract sculpture that they kept filing away at... getting rid of parts... smoothing out any edges... polishing... making sure it made sense to everyone... making sure not to make it to hard... making sure there were not sharp edges... and what they were left with was a polished statue of a little puppy. Cute and all, but the meaning and meat of the work is gone.… Expand

Criterion haven't reinvented their formula since at least Burnout Paradise. This is obviously just some tweaks since then with some changes to Autolog introduced in Hot Pursuit. Heck, this is a step back in ways, what happened to being able to drop in/drop out for multiplayer action? Why a loading screen? Lost the guys who knew how to do that? Game has some poor collision, how many times have you hit an object at 100+ mph head on and not crashed but stopped dead? Running away from the cops is boring, boring boring. Nothing like spawning into an event wrecked and the AI have a massive racing start, only for the restart option to spawn you like that again. The menus are a bit slow to enter. Why do I have to wait, constantly 15 seconds to see some stupid pointless things about my car before I can set a new checkpoint to drive to the next event, or change the upgrades to my car? I don't care about some stupid little graphic showing the mods on or available to my car, I can see that with the easydrive menu. The messaging for items, is STILL in the middle of the screen, how many criterion game iterations has this been? Nothing like not being able to see ahead of you as you're driving through congested streets at 150mph... The cop detection as you've hidden, or are running away is something of epic legend, they can spot you through walls and over objects without direct line of sight! nothing more fun than having been bored of running away and found a hiding spot, only for the xray cops to catch you and force you to take another 2 mins to try and hide away from them because this town has an unlimited supply of cops so you can't destroy them all.… Expand

I find a lot of you being blatant jerks and giving the game a score of 0 or 1. I would think anyone with a rational bone in their body would use these low scores for their intended purpose, which is to give something that is such a complete abomination that it is broken.... un-playable. Have some professionalism people!
It seems like most of the complaints are stating that you played the game for 30 minutes, maybe an hour ( Personally I always know every last detail there is to know about every last game I buy after 10 minutes of game play, so I don't know what is wrong with you all) and complain about how the game is not a real NFS title.... how it is the death of the franchise... How Criterion ruined Need For Speed. Well it was stated months ago in every major published preview of the game that Criterion was the Developer (Shocker number one for you all I know) and that the title would follow the same style of game play as Criterion's "Burnout Paradise" (Shocker number two). So It was clearly said BY EA that the game would be a sort of mash up of Need For Speed: Most wanted, and Criterion's Burnout Paradise.... Hence the title: "Need For Speed: Most Wanted - a Criterion game". Wow so now that you dingbats with the 0's and 1's have no excuse... You officially know that this game was developed by Criterion with burnout paradise in mind as a model, and I think they did a DAMN GOOD JOB!
The game is set in a gorgeous open world, the selection of cars is nothing short of awesome, the soundtrack is stellar, and the game play is fantastic.
One aspect I found to be particularly cool was that you had the option to compete in different style-race events catered to each individual car, which would earn you speed points advancing you closer to the coveted number 1 most wanted spot, and earn you upgrades such as specialized tires, nitro boost, better chassis and gearbox layouts, ect.. But you have a virtual bevy of other options to earn points. These include the obvious such as catching air and smashing through billboards much like in Burnout Paradise, deliberately crashing into cops and starting chases, finding new cars, driving past speed cameras in excess of the posted speed and more... Aside from this you also earn points from reaching certain milestones such as drifting certain distances, driving for set amounts of time (with different point scales for driving on the correct side of the road, and driving into oncoming traffic) and many other activities that tend to just happen from driving each car anyway.
The Graphics and sound are just PHENOMENAL, The cars sound as close as can be to their actual counterparts in reality (I know because I watch A LOT of "Top Gear" UK), the soundtrack is one that you would come to expect from an EA title except a lot better than usual, the day to night cycles and weather effects are so realistic that as in real life they just blend into the greater world as something that is just happening (not to mention that I found the wet ground/ spray from driving to be absolutely life-like). The cars pick up dirt, or mud if driving after poor weather conditions, and as with all of the effects in the game this looks fantastic. There are many different parts to this open world leaving something for everyone.... Crazy architecture for the stunt driver, bumpy dirt trails for the rally driver, Winding mountain roads for the initial-d loving toge drivers, freeway systems for pedal to the metal top-speed drivers, and of course... the city itself for the good old fashioned track racers (I found many hours wasted developing my own routes through the city, which helped me earn milestones in each different car i used. Now here is where we get to the major parts of this game that prevented it from earning a higher score in my book. First and by far the worst is the multiplayer. It is great racing around and making friends who's high scores are then posted into the speed cameras, billboards ect. in your city, meaning you can beat their scores in single player. This makes for some fun competition amongst friends. This is all well and good but the multiplayer games are horribly difficult to find out what you are supposed to be doing, and sometimes when you do find out the challenge is so stupid that it might prompt some to leave the game then and there. I found myself spending so much of the time trying to figure out what to do that in many cases I had been eliminated before having a chance to even compete. Another major flaw is the inability to select a manual transmission. I do not know what the developers were thinking and I put it off as the game being released pre-maturely in order to fit into the holiday sales period. If this is the case it was a huge mistake on the part of EA as most of the people I have talked to playing this game find this to be a major flaw in an otherwise great game. All and all I would recommend this title to any fan of arcade style racers… Expand

Crazy how real racing enthusiast are being criticized because they want "manual transmission" option... the mental capacity required for this game is fit for a 9 year old... with all due respect, no story, few options and the inability to simply choose whether I want manual or automatic is atrocious. On a good note, the graphics are about the best I've seen in any NFS games.

I am very disapointed in this game and its developers. I played it 5 min and got shocked by a for this time poor graphic, a unrealistic steering which makes you think that there is somebody else steering your car while you drive, just to make you mad.
No customization, just a crappy bumper few, no manual transmission, no tuning, no making money, no money needed at all for some strange reason. Its all together a big idiotic dissapointment and not worth it 5 $. Why in hell did i buy this?… Expand

Absolutely rubbish. No vehicle customization, terrible game-engine, no realism whatsoever, over saturated filter... Criterion has ruined it and EA is stupid for letting them.

This is an updated review of this game since I finished the single player mode recently. The main story mode where you have to take down the 10 most wanted cars to unlock them is a fun experience. Also the 40 or so licensed cars that are scattered around Fairhaven are fun to drive and beat the races that are tied to a specific car. While Most Wanted has some elements of past NFS games like the cop chases, the crazy speed, and licensed cars, it feels more like a sequel to Burnout Paradise, which isn't a bad thing unless you're a hardcore NFS fan. The crashes and handling of the cars is very Burnout Paradise. The single player mode you can easily finish in a week, so it really isn't that lengthy. The online multi player in fun and that's where the true value of the game is. There isn't any cheesy story mode in this game like past NFS games, which is fine by me. The graphics, controls, and gameplay are all solid in this game, if you're expecting a true NFS game and/or a lengthy single player campaign, you might wanna pass this game by or wait til it's cheaper.… Expand

The physics of Hot Pursuit meets the open world of Paradise City. Now imagine coming around a corner with the heavier physics and seeing 3 different obsticals in the way and having to steer around them. This worked very well with arcade handling, but it doesn't here. Hot Pursuit had a small amout of obsticals for this very reason. And somehow (a mystery) the developers are still forcing us to watch every crash. There was an outcry after Paradise City after they did this. Were you not paying attention? And to top it off, they took away the takedown cutaway, which were truly cool. Now it just says "Takedown". However, the graphis are great and I like the progression. And when it's working well, it is a lot of fun. It's just one of those games were you can have a lot of fun but it seems like, literally, every 90 seconds I'm findng something that totally annoys me until I sell the game (which I just did).… Expand

Need for Speed: Most Wanted - A Criterion Game (since that is, apparently, its full name) is a tough nut to crack. On one hand, it's a huge improvement over humiliating "The Run" that I still can't recover from, and a smart coalition of NFS and Burnout series. And to some degree, it is. It is smart, it is fun, it is visually pleasing to the eye. And then, there are those little things, that prove to be not so little after a while. The biggest downfall for me is the absolute lack of any innovation. We are placed in, almost literally, the same city: coast from one side, mountains from the other. Downtown in between, plus the industrial area and highways holding it all together. That is something we've seen hundreds of times, from NFS and Burnout series, too - isn't it time for innovation? The game is obvious down to the soundtrack: some d'n'b, some hits, some rock, some american poprock, some electronic, few hits. It's painfully expectable. The game has some issues with the difficulty level, too - some tracks deemed as "easy" prove to be impossible to finish, and vice versa. And as you play, more and more of those little devilish details start to pile up - until you finish the game, which is rather quickly. NfSMWACG could be a top game if two braniac studios had shown a bit of innovation and risk-taking, instead of pure laziness and the same, stale gimmicks.… Expand

If you're looking for a replica of the PS2 title, save your money and your review. That being said, if you're looking for one amazing racing game on all fronts (gameplay, presentation, graphics) then this will blow your mind. I've logged hours upon hours and keep finding nuances that make my heart race while I maintain a huge smile on my face. Outrunning the cops has never felt this good. Well done!!… Expand

This game is CRAZY. The open world is so big but lost, The cars are hottest, The pursuit is massive but dangerous and is more experiancble then The Run. This is the only need for speed game i love, since hot pursuit and shift 2 unleashed.

It is very, very hard to rate this game. I'll admit that. Let's start with the bad things. There is no storyline in this game, just the basic ladder of Most Wanted Cars to climb, defeat and claim. There is no visual customization whatsoever in single player, and Paint only in multiplayer. Also, and this is personal, I much prefer the regular style of collecting money and leveling up to unlock, buy and upgrade new cars.
HOWEVER.
The way you truly rate a game is based on how much fun you have playing it, and NFS:MW is an absolute blast. I bought it along with AC3, and this game has taken most of my time. It's a really solid title with a compelling race style. Now, I love Gran Turismo for its realism, but I'm also a fan of arcade racing. I mean, why are people knocking this game for not being realistic as far as physics? It's a CRITERION GAME. And it's no secret that this is more of a sequel to Burnout: Paradise than any Need for Speed title. It's a fun game, with a well-structured multiplayer. The only drawbacks in that department are a) idiots who don't show up to the meet-up and waste our time and b) too many challenges about parking on roofs and near-missing and not enough real racing. But as I said, I can't put this game down quite yet. A solid 9. Wish I could give it a 9.5, if Metacritic would let me.… Expand

I have played Criterion's Most Wanted on PS3 for a week now and to me best part of the game so far is the billboard smashing (from Burnout Paradise).

Racing is quite hard, partly because I'm still a novice with the gamepad, but mainly because the tracks do not have those floating arrow barriers to show you where to drive at intersections and the sides of the roads are filled with hundredths of sudden stop opportunities.

This game is definitely a step back from The Run and even Criterion's own Hot Pursuit. If we are honest and I always am, this game is nothing more than a badge engineered Burnout Paradise 2. I haven't yet found a single feature that would scream out Need for Speed, but a ton of ones that say: "Hey look, I'm a sequel to Burnout Paradise with a high profile name and licensed cars".

The game would have scored better, if it did not have so many missing and left out features. The game has no screenshot ability and it's missing hood cam and far chase cam (arcade game does not really need a **** view). There's no proper customization, but that's understandable, since the game also has no money and no garage to put your cars in. In fact. I think all cars are stolen. There's also no real incentive to get away from the cops in your stolen car, because there's no money in the game, so you won't get fined no matter what you do with your car. With all these absent features and more, I can only give it half of what I would give to a good game with no missing features (5/10).

Conclusion: It's a fun game and you'll love it, if you liked Burnout Paradise. If you loved the original Most Wanted and couldn't care less about Burnout Paradise, you will most likely hate this game with all your heart.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Sighs! Wailing! Lamentations! Need For Speed you do this to me again.
After every iteration I wonder when I may, perchance, break the sound barrier in your game. Or ride a rocket through space. Surely both of those devices provide greater high speeds then the cars you offer me. It still takes me far too long to get across town but in a supersonic jet? No time at all.
Good job suckering me in with that "Most Wanted" phrase, for these surely are my most wanted vehicles to enter the Need For Speed fray. Alas, I sit in a car, touching the ground and look up at the rendered sky above and dream.… Expand

Best riot racer alive today. Takes Hot Pursuit and gives it an open world. The whole game oozes style and intelligence, but doesn't take itself too seriously. An absolute blast! Gamers who don't like this one are probably a bunch of sim snobs who spend hours on message boards arguing about how to tune their Pagani.

Esse jogo está longe, mas muito longe de ser o verdadeiro Need for Speed Most Wanted, parece um clone e mal feito gráficos não não tudo pessoal será que vou ver um Need for Speed descente?

Is this play distant, but much far from being the true Need for Speed Most Wanted, it seems a clone and when personal one was badly made printers not not everything it will be that I am going to see a Need he will be descending Speed?… Expand