Need For Speed: Most Wanted

Written by Glenn Wigmore  on August 26, 2005

First Impressions: EA is back at it with more cop-evading mayhem.

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The Need for Speed brand has been around for about a decade now, but it definitely has moved in the direction of street racing in recent years. When the series began, the racing was more of a circuit style and it allowed gamers to outrun opponents (and the police). With the new generation of Need for Speed games, the focus seems to be on a Уstreet-racing sandboxФ where there are multiple paths to go alongside the circuit and sprint races. Of course, the fuzz will hound you (that's always been a stalwart of NFS games), but the choices you will have for evading them will be increased in Need for Speed: Most Wanted for the Xbox 360. This game represents one of the key titles that Electronic Arts has committed to Microsoft's next console launch window, and it appears that it will be available on the first day of Xbox 360 availability.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted will be released for every available platform come this fall, but the obvious favorite for graphical and online performance will be the Xbox 360 version, and if the game's offerings at E3 2005 were any indication, this next-gen version looks to give Project Gotham Racing 3 a run for its money. Additionally, if PGR3 gets pushed back in the launch window Ц as has been speculated Ц then NFS: MW will have to carry the torch for racing titles early in the Xbox 360's release.

Like PGR3, Need for Speed: Most Wanted has wowed crowds immediately with its looks. The detail on the cars is quite beautiful, with accurate window reflections, sleek car models, and amazing reflections and lighting on every part of the vehicle. The vehicles are not quite at the level of those seen in some of the PGR3 footage and screenshots, but they do look extremely good Ц well beyond anything in this generation. The environments that players will frequent in the game look strikingly realistic, and some of the detail is downright eerie. You'll see pavement that is filled with all sorts of wear and tear, as well as great detail on the city and rural environments that you'll drive through. One of the most visually arresting effects comes from the sunlight in the game, which bathes the environment in a permanent glow, and this effect is amplified when exiting from a tunnel. Many games have had sun flare effects in the past, but none of them have looked Ц or felt Ц this real. Much like PGR3, the graphical horsepower of this game looks incredibly strong and the final few months of development should only serve to polish up any lose ends.

NFS: MW will feature circuit and sprint racing that has been refined in previous entries, but it will also employ more of an open-ended style to some of its environments. This means you will not only have more choices for certain situations (like where to turn and how to avoid the cops), but you will also have some races/tasks that are more УsandboxФ in nature. Of course, much of your time in the game will be spent shaking off law enforcement, and NFS: MW aims to make you a bigger player in the street racing scene based on how many cops you've evaded and chases you've endured. This will raise your prestige level and, more importantly, allow you to challenge bigger fish in the racing pond. The trick to all of this is that you want to be careful around the police, as too much pursuit from them may get you caught and then you'll have to give up your wheels. The threat from the police seems to have been ramped up for this rendition of the Need for Speed series.

One feature being highly touted for the game is the speed-breaker, which allows you to slow down time in order to gain full control of your car for split-second turns and evasions. This seems to work quite well as a game mechanic, and it provides a dose of exaggeration to a quasi-simulation game (although, Need for Speed might be more 50/50 in terms of simulation-to-arcade ratio). While not the most original feature in the world (Burnout, anyone?), this speed-breaker feature does allow for more white-knuckled racing to be had, especially when evading copious pedestrian cars and police cruisers.

Plenty of online racing will be supported for NFS: MW, and with Xbox Live and other integrated features on the Xbox 360, the next-gen MS platform becomes the obvious choice for playing people from around the world. This title isn't slated to support УspectatorФ mode for the Xbox 360, nor will it have the extended tournament features of Gotham TV (in PGR3), but it should support plenty of user-created tournaments, single races, and user-specific stat tracking. While a player limit hasn't been confirmed, the game should support at least 8 players for online races.

This title should have some tough competition at launch with PGR3 being around, but the visual effects in Need for Speed: Most Wanted are extremely strong, and the more open-ended gameplay should give it a fighting chance.