Paradise?
Need for Speed has had its share of highs and lows over the years, 2010’s Hot Pursuit was a huge success and proof that Criterion of Burnout fame, should handle the franchise. But then came The Run from last year, which had nothing to do with Criterion and was a complete disaster, it wasn’t a broken racer…it just had a very limited lifespan of only a few hours and wasn’t in any way memorable compared to Hot Pursuit. Luckily, Criterion has been given another shot with Most Wanted, but is it worth taking out for a spin?
Most Wanted feels very much like Burnout Paradise, it’s an open-world city full of events, billboards and gates to smash, collectable cars and so on, it also has the classic police chases from past NFS games, while everything you do will be logged in the Autolog as you gain experience points in the city of Fairhaven. You can challenge friends’ scores and times or take them on as well, there’s a real nice mixture of things to do.
Completing events will also gain you new upgrades, which you can apply to the cars of your choice so you can tinker with them to your heart’s content. Damage will be sustained in the game unless you drive through a gas station and you’ll be fixed up and have full nitrous to blast away. Your friends can still challenge your scores if you are offline, so you could wake up and find your time beaten and wish to reclaim it the next time you sign in, which gives the game a nice competitive edge.
Visually, Most Wanted looks amazing. Fairhaven is a living, breathing city and the cars look outstanding. The music is a selection of all sorts, while still playing it safe in some regards.
The Verdict
Need for Speed: Most Wanted is a much needed improvement over last year’s disappointing “The Run” and it’s a great spiritual successor to Burnout Paradise, it’s probably the best NFS for many years and hopefully Criterion will have full control over the franchise from this point onwards.
