Need for Speed: Most Wanted

Overview

An indirect sequel to both the original Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Criterion's own Burnout Paradise, the game returns to the open world game play of the titles in the franchise, allowing the player to explore a large, modern city filled with events and shortcuts for the player to find. The stat tracking Autolog feature returns (which debuted in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit) keeping track of all accomplishments and comparing them to friends. Every vehicle in the game is unlocked from the start (with the exception of the top 10 most wanted racer's cars), requiring only that you find the vehicle first. This is a change from most other Need for Speed games, which usually had a system of classes for the player to work through to get progressively better cars along the way. The game's multiplayer is similar in structure to Burnout Paradise, giving players random events that start at different spots in the city that players have to complete either competitively or cooperatively.

Gameplay

The single player game immediately drops the player into the open world with the main task of beating the ten "Most Wanted" street racers in the City of "Fairhaven". In order to access these races, players must accumulate enough "Speed Points" to unlock them. Speed Points are gained by completing races, evading the cops, meeting objectives, taking down competitors and other various driving antics and maneuvers.

Players can unlock additional cars by locating them within the city and simply pressing a button to get behind the wheel. Every car has its own set of progression, and unlocking each car's upgrades is done by winning races and completing objectives. Once discovered, these new cars are instantly accessible through the Easy Drive drop-down menu.

The police play a large role in the single player game, pursuing the player if they see them do anything illegal, and are often integrated into race events. On higher alert levels, cops will set up road blocks and lay out spike strips. These obstacles are more easily overcome if the player has unlocked vehicles mods like re-inflating tires and heavy chassis, although there is virtually zero penalty for getting "busted."

The game contains dozens of collectibles in the form of billboards to destroy, speed cameras for record-breaking competitions, and gates to smash through. When a player sets a record for distance during a billboard-smashing jump, their photo will be displayed on it for all their friends to see.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer component of Most Wanted consists of up to eight players completing "Speedlists", which are sets of five events for players to compete in. Event types are highly variable; ranging from simple team-based checkpoint races, to things like all players meeting on top of a certain building, or collectively gathering a certain amount of "near misses" in a specific area. Players receive Speed Points for winning individual races, as well as for winning the full Speedlist.

The game does not incorporate a lobby, and each event is immediately followed by another with the occasional "intermission" of a few minutes in-between events. All Speed Points for the player are shared between single-player and multiplayer, and as players win events and accumulate Speed Points, they unlock vehicle mods such as off-road tires, higher gears and other upgrades.

Wii U Version

The Wii U version, Need for Speed: Most Wanted U, utilizes the console's unique features in various ways. A new mode, called Co-Op Driver, is included in this version and it supports asymmetric gameplay functions in that it has one player racing with the Wii Remote or Wii U Pro Controller and another assisting with the GamePad by distracting cops, activating boosts, controlling traffic or selecting the time of day. Off-TV Play is supported by the game, as well. When players are not making use of that feature, the touch screen allows for instant access to carselection, tracking records or finding secrets around the city. The game also features Miiverse integration which ties directly into Autolog, displaying Mii characters on billboards and letting players post messages in Paradise mode.

This version also includes the Ultimate Speed Pack (adding five new cars), which was available as $10 DLC on other platforms. However, the other three DLC that were later released on the other platforms are not available.

On top of that, Need for Speed: Most Wanted U also features various graphical upgrades such as higher resolution textures from the PC version and improved lighting.

Wii U Version Development

Criterion had the game running on Wii U concurrently with the other versions and returned to it after those had shipped and everybody had actual hands on with the final retail system at home, Alex Ward of Vice President of Criterion said. The team had also been reading the various Iwata Asks interviews put out by Nintendo around the time of the system's launch to better understand the philosophy and really create a version of the game that is tailored to the system's strengths.

Available Vehicles

On-disc

Downloadable Content

Note that the Wii U version has all Ultimate Speed Pack cars on-disc, but no other DLC.

Most Wanted Top 10 List

Soundtrack

Limited Edition and Preorder

The Limited Edition of Need for Speed: Most Wanted includes many bonuses:

• 4 hours of double speed points for multiplayer
• 2012 Porsche 911 Carerra S
• Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale - Both cars are decked out with an exclusive livery and performance modifications

Pre-ordering from select retailers granted players exclusive vehicles with upgrades. 360/PS3 owners could order from Walmart.com to get both Power & Strike while GameStop orders get the Speed Pack. Preordering on PC (through Origin) granted players all three packs.

• Speed Pack: Caterham Superlight R500
• Power Pack: Ford F-150 Raptor
• Strike Pack: Mercedes-Benz SL 65 Black Series

Trivia

While the game doesn't have any story continuity with the original Need for Speed: Most Wanted, there are some references to it and its characters, such as the "Callahan Industrial" area in the PS3/360/PC game, and the mobile/portable version includes an track named "Callahan District", both references to the 2005 game's antagonist Razor Callahan.

PC System Requirements