Discount Need for Speed: Most Wanted

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I really wanted to like this game...probably one of the games I have been looking forward to the most. I have played every need for speed game in the franchise. Like others have already said, this isn't just a remake of the old most wanted. Yes, there are cops that chase you, and you do kind of get to customize your cars. The real problem with this game is the most important aspect of any racing game, and that is the control of the cars. This game is AWFUL with the control. The best way I can explain it is when you try to steer left or right, there's like a lag or something. It's just really not responsive. I am using a 360 controller.

Also, I've seen other reviews on here saying that the frame rates are terrible. Let me clear this up. Yes, I have noticed some frame rate drops, but not terrible ones. I haven't done actual testing, but I would guess going from a constant 50-60fps, and the drops go down to maybe 30 at the lowest. Someone else said the graphics look old. This is also untrue. This game LOOKS fantastic! I am running an AMD Phenom II x4 3.4ghz cpu, 8gb of ram, and a Sapphire Radeon 7950 graphics card.

I also read some other reviews that said the game sucks. Again, I disagree. I think they have done everything in a nice, new, refreshing style. Let it be known, I loved the Hot Pursuit game by them, and also The Run. Really, the only thing holding me back from this game receiving a 5 star rating is the poor handling of the cars, and just a little bit discouraged by the frame drop. Not a huge thing, and I am serious about when games have frame rate drops. It's really not that bad.

Oh, on a side note, I was thinking maybe the car was handling like crap at first because I was at the beginning of the game and it was just that car. Turns out to not be true...I have like five or six cars now and you just can't help but to constantly smash into either other cars, walls, or every freaking light pole on the side of the street.

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I grew up with the NFS franchise. The games were always great. The series peaked 3 times equally: Porsche Unleashed because of its attention to historical detail and physics, Underground 2 for taking all that was good about Underground and then adding an open-world environment, and then Most Wanted for taking what UG2 did, and simply removing the boring bits and enhancing the best ones. After Most Wanted, things started to slide. Carbon was okay, but then the series went off a cliff. Undercover had the worst environment detail ever with even less plot, Hot Pursuit simply was not made for people who have ever driven a car in real life (keep in mind all NFS games were great BECAUSE they were arcadey, but predictable and had linear handling), The Run wasn't even finished, and then we get this, Most Wanted 2, for all intents and purposes. Without question, this is the most disappointing game of the entire franchise. Why? It's not the worst in full, but since it meant to update the original and is absolutely terrible, it loses even more points. Let's get started:

Graphics

Quite outstanding, actually. The port is just fair, but the game is actually nice to look at. Not up there with Hot Pursuit, but still nice. Doesn't matter though as the remainder of this review will show you.

Handling

There is none. Cars do not behave like cars, they all behave exactly the same which is something like a cross between a yacht and driving on an ice rink. Accelerating is fine. Braking is fine. Turning? You turn by hitting the handbrake and going into a preposterous slide. This would be fine if it was like Burnout, but there is no correlation between how much you slide and how fast you were going. If you try to brake normally and turn, the car reverts to boat mode. This game makes Cruisin' USA look like a simulator. I can put this another way: it is as though the handling model simply was not finished, but they wanted to get this game out for what...the on-Halloween season?

Gameplay

Gone are the days of racing for cash to buy cars and upgrades. Instead, you, with zero back story, start in an Aston Martin and are told to simply drive up to a Porsche, press a button, and then you can drive it. Yes, you find cars scattered throughout the city, but you aren't rewarded for your task. No. Instead, you just can swap cars on the spot as though you already own them all. Speaking of which, you can even do this when being chased by the police. Have 8 cruisers on you? No problem, hop out of your 911 and get into a Shelby Mustang and you'll hear on the radio "Suspect has changed vehicles, now in pursuit of grey Ford Mustang!". Keep in mind these cars are literally on the side of the road or in the middle of fields. Those familiar with NFS games will understand that the problem known as rubber-banding is worse than ever. Doesn't matter if your Gallardo is going 180mph, the basic police cruiser will still pass you as though you're standing still. The only thing more inane than this is that you can have a full head-on crash into a wall, get a message on the screen saying "CRASHED!"......and then continue your chase, but if you slow down normally, you'll get busted. This isn't like the rewind feature in The Run, it just happens. I could go on, but there's no point.

Plot

The entire game is run from a HUD saying you have x amount of points until you get to challenge the Most Wanted racer in x position. Woo hoo. So no, there is no plot, you come out of nowhere in an Aston Martin Vantage, and immediately "steal" a Porsche 911 and just hop off and start racing. I am not exaggerating, that is your first 45 seconds of gameplay.

If you have owned any NFS games in the past, let me just put it like this: this isn't one. It's a terribly made game which happens to have good looking models of cars in it. Once again, graphics have taken the front seat and actual fun fell off the top of the roof as you did a burnout to start a race (yes that is how you start races). Look elsewhere.

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First, let me make it clear I enjoy NFS games and have since the early ones. I even enjoyed the The Run and Most Wanted and the World. I find myself wonder what the heck is this? The city of Fairhaven is great, I like the detail and exploration, it reminds me of Skyrim in its detail. My problem is with the gameplay.

Firstly, there is no car handling, you cant even tweak it or sensitivity. The cars are all over the place and handle like garbage. Now Im not a crappy driver, I own Forza Horizon, Past NFS, Test Drive Unlimited 1 and 2 and easily have succeeded in playing them all without sliding all over the place. It just seems to me Criteron did everything they could to make their Trademark Crash cut-scenes play often. These cut scenes are so annoying too. You cant skip them and by the time the animations finish playing, your in last place again. Real fun.

All in all, if you want to race, look elsewhere. This is a crash simulator not even a arcade racer. If you skip racing and just drive around crashing into things and exploring the city, it is fun and enjoyable, albeit shallow experience. However if you try racing, you'll likely end up annoyed and asking yourself why bother?

Honest reviews on Need for Speed: Most Wanted

The game is poorly optimized for PCs. Frame rate drops happen whenver you turn the camera. Im on a 2700k and gtx 680. I put the graphics on low and it still drops and hiccups and hitches. wait till the release a proper update or drivers.

Besides that I love this game. Its burnout paradise 2. As long as your cool with that, you'll enjoy this game. People expecting the original Most Wanted should just go play the 2006 game.

::UPDATE::

Four days after launch and the performance has gotten better on low settings. The most severe drops occur when inside buildings with some shadows on. Also, the higher your graphic settings, the worse the drops are. Them more chaotic your chase and multiplayer the more the game suffers. This game does not run smoothly on high settings in demanding areas. period.

high settings in multiplayer simply is not smooth.

my gut tells me its the lighting models that are killing the frame rate. but I cant back that up.

This can be considered nit-picky by some, but I'll be the first to tell you the lack of optimization does not take away from this game, its still very fun to play and I've been enjoying it since launch!

::Update 2::

40 hours into this game and I'm still loving it. The multiplayer and autolog have been keeping me busy. Unfortunately the performance issues are still there, I've been trying different settings and have found a setup that runs fairly well. Although slow downs online can't really be avoided. Ive made note of a few problem areas in Fairhaven where frames seem to dip no matter what setting I have on.

There are quite a few discussions going on out there about MWs performance and I by no means am the only one experiencing less than stellar performance.

Criterion recently said a patch is in the works.

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This game seems to be hammered not because it's bad in itself no, the game is actually pretty nice (of course, if you ignore all that the words "Need For Speed" ever meant" to gamers). I'm giving this two stars, because although this is a solid game, it's not Need For Speed. At least for me, Need For Speed carried that sense of pride of having that particular car, with that particular tint of paint, with those particular specs. It was the thrill of knowing that your car can take out that roadblock like there's no tomorrow, and that the cops cannot catch up unless it's heat level 5-6. It carried a sense of trust in the car like you know that it will perform when you most need it, and that the NOS will pull you out when you fall behind.

Now comes this new installment. After the brilliant NFS:HP3 two years ago, when Criterion showed that the NFS isn't exactly dead yet and that there still is a game out there where the cops are out to get you. If anyone remembers NFS:HP2, that had no story either, so that was alright that there was no story in that new installment either.

I believe that's where the developers/EA got a little cocky. They decided to bring together the burnout formula, and merge it with the fame of the NFS series. However, that doesn't resonate with many players, and here's why:

Because when you strap on the word "NFS:MW" people expect a story, or at least gameplay that's arcade-ish but not over-the-top. When you strap-on "burnout", then people know what you're getting in. But this game is a slap in the face it's like going to a grocery store, buying a box of brand-new chocolate-chip cookie made by your favorite brand, just to find out that it's actually Oreo re-branded. Remember how you could actually smash through a roadblock? when your momentum actually mattered? well, here you get "taken down" no matter what. You recall how if you're lucked out and run over the roadblock, you're bound to get caught, not "re-inflate" your tires magically? You recall when the game actually took time to get to better cars, and how the races were difficult? Well, this game isn't that. It's not that at all. You don't even get punished for getting caught in a pursuit. Oh, and your heat level dies off after you evade back to zero.

You smash into traffic that car going 40kmh throws back your car going 250+kmh against it. Umm, hello? anyone took freshman physics? if anything the car I smash into should be subjected to this... Unless, of course, people drive 10-tonne cars around the city, and all the race-cars are feather-light.

I did like Paradise City, and it's a nice game, but it's in its own smash-and-trash genre...

tl;dr: if you like burnout, and you're willing to compromise on this being realistic, then you're in for a treat. If you expect something more than a pick-up-and-play (COD-style) from this game, then go buy something else... or buy the NFS:HP3.