Let’s start by saying that Need for Speed: Most Wanted is definitely a Criterion game. Easily the spiritual successor to 2008’s Burnout Paradise, Criterion has distilled that collection of fantastic gameplay types into a shot of pure arcade racing destruction.
Most Wanted brings out the completionist in everyone. It helps when it’s pretty, too.
The single-player consists of an open world wherein you travel about finding various “jack spots,” triggering speed cameras, and stunting your way through billboards. All of which are meticulously tracked and “stat’d out” on their own respective leaderboards made to garner competition among your friends. There’s no traditional unlock progression when it comes to getting your favorite cars. Gaining new cars consists of unlocking vehicles by finding “jack spots” around the open world. The closest thing to a narrative or end goal of the single-player campaign is to take out the 10 vehicles that make up the “Most Wanted List.” Unlocking these races requires you to gain experience points by doing various races in various cars, some of which are unique to the cars themselves and some which repeat between cars of the same class.
I’m just trying to be the most wanted dude why you gotta hate?
Although the name Most Wanted implies crazy hijinks between yourself and the fuzz, the inclusion of a police presence feels like an afterthought. The majority of your time spent running (sometimes desperately) from the police loses it’s appeal once you realize it’s easier and sometimes faster to let yourself get busted rather than outrun your pursuers. You are rewarded experience points for losing the boys in blue, but the problem is you cannot do anything once you are locked into a chase. So if you’re only a half mile away from the next event you want to start before you call it quits for the night, if you’re spotted being a miscreant, you’re screwed until you lose them or get busted.
Unfortunately, I find myself to be disappointed in the single-player experience. During my time alone I couldn’t help feeling lost in an inherently empty, small, and inconsequential single-player world. The real star of the show is the hectic balls-to-the-wall online multiplayer portion of the game. Most Wanted online is the same open world, same billboards, speed cameras, and challenges as it’s offline portion, but with 7 maniacs.
Mercilessness and brutality are rewarded to those who brave the online space.
Jumping into an online game you find yourself in familiar surroundings, but instead of forcing you into a collection of rigid races, you’re asked to drive to “Meet Up” locations in the open world to start a series of events, which range from pure competition to collaborative challenges. You may be asked as a group to drift a total of 2000 ft. around a barn, simultaneously, ranking you according to the length of your drift. Immediately after this collaboration you may find yourself in a Team Race, point-to-point race, or “see who jumps the furthest over this ramp before being viciously taken out by you monsters.” These events come in a series of five rounds and reward a variety of actions Call of Duty style. Did you come in last, get taken out most often, or get to the Meet Up location first? Here’s some points!
GET AWAY FROM ME YOU GUYS ARE CRAZY.
Overall, the single-player is competent, yet lacking and begs for a more complete experience. Thankfully the online multiplayer addresses every issue I have with the lone experience. Besides it’s spiritual predecessor Burnout Paradise, there’s no other online racing experience quite like it.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted is one of the best multiplayer experiences of the year.