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Need For Speed Most Wanted (Xbox)

• Developer:
• Publisher: EA
• Genre:
• Official Website: http://www.ea.com
• Score: 5 of 5: Purchase

The last Need for Speed game that I enjoyed was Hot Pursuit; God knows when that came out on the PC. Ever since, I barely touched the following games in the series (Undergrounds and so on). I tried them, and they just reaffirmed my lack of interest in racers. Then Burnout showed up, and I absolutely loved it. As I was getting back into the racing genre, I became more and more interested in the upcoming Need for Speed game, so I decided to pick it up once again.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted takes us back to the days of Hot Pursuit, leaves a bit from Undergrounds and mixes in something new. What does this recipe equal? Why of course, success and awesomeness. How does it work?

The story isn't (well, obviously) Metal Gear. You are racing against a ‘tough guy,' and he really wants your ride. As expected, that guy, Razor, screws with your car, you lose and he gets your car and your chick. But there is always a good girl, Mia (Josie Maran), who helps you out.

After this is when the game truly starts. You buy a car, and of course, it sucks compared to your BMW that Razor won (or stole) from you. As you progress, you are able to buy more and obviously better cars and tunable parts.

Yes, tuning remains, and it's cool as ever. Transform your VW Golf from its original crappy state to a beautiful little thing, making it seem like an elegant sports car.

Your objective: get on top of the Black List to win your car back and beat Razor. How will this be possible? Each person on the Black List has a few challenges for you. You need to win a certain amount of races (sprints, circuits, knockouts and more), get bounty (get chased by the cops, piss them off and lose them) and surpass milestone events (such as having the police chase you for four minutes and then lose them). After completing a number of these, you get to race whatever number that person is on the Black List. Simple? Not really, because if you don't work your car(s) right, you might find yourself in deep trouble, not being able to beat your foe(s). You can also free roam around the city and join events such as drag races.

By the time you get to the top, you should have a few cars-or ‘had' a few cars. It's good to have at least two because you can take turns in racing them, since the cops will be more on you if you race with one car for a long time. Of course, the cars are licensed, and basically everyone will be able to find a car of their love. Even if you don't like it stock, just tune it and then your car will look like it had plastic surgery.

The single-player game will take a while to beat, surprisingly enough. The Xbox version is the only console from this generation to have online, but since I don't have Xbox Live, I was not able to try it out; however, I'm sure it's good.

No wonder this game was number one on the British multiplatform sales chart for about two months. This game rocks-racing fans should buy it ASAP. I just wonder what the next Need for Speed game will be like.

Feb 26, 2006 | 0 comments
Mate Bors