Need for Speed: Most Wanted Review (noah am)
TLDR: Probably the most "Need For Speed" Need For Speed game.
Graphics:
Quite pretty. The game follows a similar aesthetic to GTA IV where everything is a little dark and dull yet is quite beautiful. I found that it especially helped while racing because there were no flashing colors for me to get distracted by.
Storyline:
It doesn't exist. You're just given a list of 10 "racers" to beat.
Price:
Get it on sale. I played 12 hours and beat the entire game - so just adjust price expectations to that.
Difficulty:
It's really not that hard, even on the hardest difficulty. The enemy cars always will stay really close ahead so you can overtake and slow down if you crash so you can reach them again.
AI:
It's not so good. They're quite stupid, seeming to be unaware of the player/other cars positions. This can be quite funny at times... but also quite annoying.
Cutscenes:
THESE. ARE. AMAZING. Every race for every car has its own introduction cutscene, each being pretty creative. They look absolutely beautiful and are so early 2010s.
Fun:
Very.
Sounds/Music:
Cars sound great, sound effects are nice, voice acting is meh (just boring), and it has the best selection of early 2010s pop music.
Launcher:
Requires the EA Launcher.
Achievements:
None
Replayability:
I could see myself coming back to this - a lot. The world is very large and there's always new corners to explore and there are HUNDREDS of races. Considering you only need to play 84 races to unlock the final mission, there's plenty of content to keep going with.
Controls:
Cars control like if GTA IV and GTA V had a baby. Cars are pretty grippy, but they slide a bit if you go fast enough. I personally really liked that as it made me have to take corners a lot better than I do in most games.
Performance:
No issues
Modding:
None
Selling Out:
There's multiple DLCs... which are constantly shoved down your throat. You will find cars around the world which you cannot drive because you do not own the DLC, a section of the map is locked off, and many multiplayer lobbies require DLC.
Similar Games:
- Burnout Paradise
- The previous NFS Most Wanted
- The Crew 2 (mostly in the open world exploration aspect)
Bugs:
- Texture pop in
- Cops spawn very close, being very easy to watch appear.