Need for Speed Most Wanted is a flawed open world racing gaming that can't hit the high marks it tries to achieve.
Online racing feels sloppy and struggles to develop. Every match starts of with players meeting at one spot to start a match, and while this is engaging players do not have control in this matter. Player can’t decide which mode they are racing in or what happens. It’s befuddling, which has given online multiplayer a poor structure to live off of, and inevitably crumbles.
Autolog is the highlight of the package in Need for Speed: Most Wanted, but has a couple of problems. From the ground up Autolog has been built into the game and has adopted a social media. For example, if you chose to smash into billboard your profile pic will be there. This teases your friends and influences them to beat your score. Anytime you do something you are going to be placed online leaderboards to showcase your stick skills, and that’s awesome awesome. However the mode needs a few fixes. At this current state of the game not enough points are given towards doing event races. You can earn three times more if you avoid the cops and cause massive destruction.
One of the worst aspects of the game is the car swapping mechanic. Sure I would swap out my Chevy Cruise for an Aston Martin any day, but somehow Need for Speed Most Wanted makes this un-enjoyable. Every time you win an event, you win new equipment that boosts your car. But anytime you jump to another car in the game you lose all your progress. See the reason I despise this idea is because it forces repetition upon the player. Why should I be forced to redo all of event in the city just so can max my car’s speed. For that reason you feel disconnected from what you’re driving.
This isn’t the first time we have seen the Most Wanted brand. In fact, in 2005 it was the first Need for Speed game released in the current console life cycle, which is distractedly different from this current iteration of the series. As I mentioned at the top, this is Criterion Games their third appearance in the Need for Speed series, and the result feels like a greatest hits album, just to the tune of high speed racing cars. It’s a return to paradise for the developer with an extra dash of hot pursuit, and it’s gigantic missed opportunity for them.
Score: 8 / 10
