Best NFS game, yet. EA has out-done themselves

Wow totally blown away by this game. This has to be the best EA has put out yet in the NFS series. Great police chases, good story line, and beautiful cars. This game is worth every penny. Good job EA for putting so much work into this game. Totally recommend to anyone who likes driving games, or who liked all the previous Need for Speed games.

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Story
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (Playstation®2)
Wake up to the smell of burnt asphalt as the thrill of illicit street racing permeates the air. From the makers of the hit Need for Speed Underground series that has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, Need for Speed: Most Wanted challenges players to become the most notorious and elusive street racer.

Combining illicit street racing and tuner customization with the intensity of strategic police pursuit that surpasses any Hollywood-style chase scene, Need for Speed: Most Wanted will be on every gamer’s ‘must-have’ list this holiday season. Out-race rivals, evade cops and exploit hundreds of miles of open road as gamers make their way up the Blacklist.

To become the most wanted racer, players must build up their street cred and Rap Sheet with gripping, white knuckle, head-to-head races with the top drivers on the streets, as well as pull daring, evasive moves to out-run and out-fox the cops that patrol the open road. Players can manage their heat or utilize a number of strategic tactics to keep the cops off their tails as they leave their rivals behind to suck their exhaust fumes.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted also features a variety of the hottest cars that range from tuners and super cars to muscles and sports cars. You can tune your ride to race against any class of vehicles. The streets will be your playground.


Features

• Open Road, Open World: Rule the streets as the most notorious street racer in various distinct regions that include edgy and upscale industrial and urban environments. In the game, the environment can be a friend for a foe. Players will master short-cuts as well as use the traffic and destructible environments to their advantage.

• All-New Gameplay: Need for Speed: Most Wanted features new and exciting gameplay that incorporates strategic cop pursuit and skill-based evasion techniques with illicit street racing.

• Visual Customization: Whether gamers are trying to lose the cops or they just want to pimp their ride, Need for Speed: Most Wanted offers extensive visual customizations.

• Blacklist: As players enter the world of illicit street racing, they must go up against the best street racers on the scene to earn respect and rise to the top of the Blacklist.

• Rap Sheet: Players will build up their Rap Sheet with record breaking times, epic races, wildest headline-making stunts and out-foxing an escalation of police vehicles, tactics and technology.

• Performance Tuning: Can’t compete against a sports car? Head to the safehouse and tune up your ride to race against any class of vehicles.

• Next-Gen Features: Need for Speed: Most Wanted for the next generation console delivers the next level of graphical excellence in video games. Utilizing techniques including normal mapping, digital scanning and real-time lighting, the graphical experience is incomparable to any racing game on the market.

• Race Online: Need For Speed: Most Wanted features online play for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system.

Great game but not perfect

I purchased NFSMW:Black edition and was instantly thrilled with it. The storyline draws you in from the beginning but after that leaves a lot to be desired. You are constantly getting empty threats from the villian of game and much of what is said is useless. The control of the cars is pretty good but their are some physics flaws in the game that im not a fan of. For example you are driving in a straight line and you hit the side walk which 9/10 times does nothing but lift one side of the car up slightly, this time the game decides to flip your car over and do a barrel roll why??? Another issue I have with the game is when you get arrested, even if your car is moving you can still be arrested, I dont mean dong 200mph im talking about less than 20 mph but still you are moving and possibly getting away and all of the sudden you're busted, why? Another issue I have with the game is sometimes when getting into a collision with a cop car usually one that is part of a roadblock your car will end up on to of the cop car and be stuck, no amount of forward or reverse does anything, this is also the same with some of the semi's in the game you can get caught up with one for what looks like no reason. Yes the game has a reset your car button but if you hit it and the cops are close you are almost instantly busted. Some good things about the game, its actually a challenge especially if you never reset the game when you get busted. There are many choice on cars and upgrades. The map is really big and once you get to know it you can figure out the best way to loose the cops. The missions are fun esp one where you have to hit a certain amount of cop cars or do a certain amount of damage. One negative thing about the upgrades, you can unlock select upgrades when you win a blacklist race, dont bother the upgrade is usually something you can just as easily buy so save those credits for a chance to win your opponents car. In the beginning loosing the cops won't be hard but as you progress in the game chases can take upwards of 20 minutes, my personal best is a touch over 25 mins. The last thing I'll say anything about is the ability to tune the car, once you have your car on the road you can adjust steering, ride height, nitrous and other characteristics of that specific car, its a great feature but its not explained well at all and I found myself searching the internet for a description. The scenarios part of the game(not the storyline) is quite involved and took me longer to complete then the story line portion of the game. But for 100% completion you will also need to have the best rap sheet. This is where you have to be the other players of the blacklist's personal best in different categories, some examples include, most roadblocks dodged, most helicopters deployed, most cost to state, this is not only on a per chase basis but also a lifetime achievement too, this quite possibly is the hardest aspect of the game to beat. All in all its an excellent game with its inevitable quirks but still a game that will have you playing for hours on end.

Need For Speed: Most Wanted

When it comes to launch games, one can usually find many ports with some sort of enhanced features thus making the title seem greater than it's past-gen counterpart, but is it really?. Most Wanted is a game that certainly looks to follow the mantra but in effect and to most of our surprise is an entirely polished and well branded next gen offering. Now, I know it's been a year since release and that shiny glimmer of the title might not be as appealing now a days, but let's face it... for it's new dropped price of $30, you really can not go wrong! This title is tricked out with hours upon hours of entertaining-heart drilling action and high speed EPIC chases that will literally blow those old Grand Theft Auto police chases right out of the water and out of mind! Of course, Most Wanted isn't all about police chases either, as it's focus is trying to earn respect by jumping up the blacklist. The blacklist is a listing of 15 underground races wanted by law but free by evasion. They rigged your car and left you for dead taking your pride and leaving you without anything. Luckily, there's a little help by a very beautiful young lady named Mia who gives you your golden ticket back into the races. Of course, gaining on the black list isn't about winning the most races but also building a rep with the Rockfort Police Department. This game will own you and anyone else who dares to feast their eyes on this mesmerizing wonder!

In the graphics department, Most Wanted is an upgraded-souped up version of the GC/PS2/Xbox version. The environments aren't terribly improved but there's a lot of help in the effects department which enhances the world's image thus developing a more cinematic style. There's a lot more motion blur and enhanced textures that make the roads and scenery feel more real and believable. The car models themselves are some of the game's absolute beauties as just staring at the controllable vehicles looks as though you're looking through a window right at the real thing itself. The game is absolutely astonishing when it comes to detail. There are some aspects that haven't really been improved on, and that's definitely the city structure itself. Things seem just a little blocky, and I do understand that this is supposed to be the same game as the past gen versions and their limitations would make some appearance in this next gen title, but it's still a little too boxed to make this world feel 100% real. However, it must be mentioned that the best visual flare of this game shines when it comes to the lighting itself. As you travel in daylight (this isn't the night driven underground series, mind you), trees, buildings, and even other cars reflect back at you as your car is flying up and down valleys and underneath canopy tree hidden roads. The realism in the cars' reflections are mind numbing in how gorgeous it looks. Oh and the times when you're driving into the sunset only help to make the adventure even more enrapturing for the true graphics hog inside all of us. This isnt a visually perfect game, but it is a game that gives us a taste of what the 360 is capable of.

In finishing, I must say that this game is a blast to play from beginning to end. NFS: Underground 2 was a fun, but nothing in comparison to this. After demoing NFS Carbon, I can confidently say that this title holds stronger than both those titles combined and with so much action to be experienced, I can say this is a great game.

Just like the Xbox 360 game....BETTER?!?

For the game and its game play, I easily give it 5 stars Excellent.

For the game itself: Need For Speed: Most Wanted (herein after called NFSMW) is by far the best racing game available now. What makes this the superior racing game in my opinion are the key elements that have been brought together: Awesome Storyline/Goal, sweet, brand-name cars (Lamborghini, Corvette, Ford GT), and racing/car options. What I love about the game is the 2 dimensional racing game play. To progress in the story, you need to complete classical racing marks (Sprints, circuits, drag racing) and you need to race/war against the police. In racing, you put your normal racing skills to the test. In police pursuits, you will required to do the same but face against several other police. In upper level, high end pursuits (state and federal), you will dodge roadblocks, oncoming trucks, and spike strips along with other clever endeavors that have been set out to "stop" you. You are caught when you have been "stopped"/immobilize​d for about 10 seconds. The storyline is also catchy because you were cheated and now you have to work through a bunch of racers to get to the guy that cheated you (not really a spoiler as its told at the onset of the game; you know this from day one after 10 min from first play). The other cool part of the game is the personalization you get to do on your car. You have the option of paint, body type, spoiler, rims, hoods, and performance (engine, trans, brakes, tires) from the auto parts store and type of car to buy and drive from the garage. You will have to pay for everything and its not all available at once. You get money for each race and unlock options after beating the prime racers. The only real fault is the elaboration of "crashing". Besides drag racing, if you hit something at 50+mph, you're car is not destroyed nor anything is not damaged. It will look at bit rugged, but is automatically fixed and doesn't affect your money. The driving is unlikely as realistic as in Forza, but the other stuff def. makes up for it.

For the game play: okay, so I'll admit it.....this game plays great with my super gaming PC...but if you DON'T have a gaming PC, this means nothing to you and you should give it like 1-2 stars; because face it, if you DON'T have the right gear (GRAPHICS CARD!!), the game play will be junk, as in it will just flicker or worse yet FREEZE UP. For me, I have ATI Radeon 4600 Premium Graphics card with my HP...although it did cost me a sh*t load to get it, going PC GAMING is so worth it. Let me explain: If you go on the road, you likely can't bring your Xbox,Wii,PS3 with you, but you are definitely gonna have your PC with you because you need to do internet, computer stuff. The only down side is that for your games, they are gonna take up some good space on your PC (~3Gb), but for the fact that you only need to bring around a disk or two (just like your xbox), it is completely convenient....and so, for this game at least, the graphics were superior. Let's compare this to xbox 360 (mine at least bought in 2007). When I went through the car selection, it would sometimes freeze up. On my PC, it never did it--not once. Also, it has remained flawless throughout racing as quick maneuvering or quick scene paces (the city flashing by) would cause the game to stop as it was trying to load in the next screen play. Also, the environment appears more realistic with the storm/sun effect being more evident. Also, the rain is more realistic.

Need For Speed Most Wanted (PS2)

This is a GREAT game, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, but it does take a little time to learn how to drive the cars and escape cop pursuits. I have NFS Most Wanted in both Greatest Hits and Black Edition. There are not that many differences between the two versions. One thing to know: You CANNOT use your Greatest Hits profile in the Black Edition or vice-versa so if you have both versions like I do you have to go through the entire game under each profile. I was okay with that!

Career Mode: Early on the cars are not the fastest or best handling which can kill you in races or pursuits. Just keep trying. I recommend upgrading the cars with some cash or performance markers before moving on to the next blacklist rival just because a little cash spent now may save you time and frustration later, but that’s up to you. Try to get the rival’s pinkslip to his/her car because most of the time it’s a better performance car than the one you are running. The more HP you have under your hood the more likely your car will fish-tail when accelerating quickly so I tune all my cars to have the handling, acceleration and “feel” that I prefer.
My son and I have defeated this game five times between us and we have 100% Career Mode completion in both versions. We have both completed each version and it was fun (and sometime frustrating) each time through. Even now it's great to get the cars out and engage in a cop pursuit or run the races again. My favorite car to run is the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. I have won the pinkslips to the VW Golf GTI, Lexus IS 300, Supra, RX-8, Eclipse, Porsche Cayman S, Lancer Evo VIII, Mustang GT, CLK 500, Lambo Gallardo, Corvette C6, Viper SRT 10, Aston Martin DB9, Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and the BMW M3 GTR. It’s fun to take the cars to the shop and upgrade the performance or change the visuals. It can get expensive though - I have spent over $350K upgrading the Porsche to the highest performance level.
I have over $550 Million in bounty if you combine my profiles. This is by far the best NFS game ever. It's better than Carbon or ProStreet. Underground 2 was a good game but this one is still better. I am just getting ready to start Underground but need to get my fill of Halo 3 first! That will probably take a while though….
I found an “in-game map” of the layout of all the streets at gamefaqs.com which was like gold during the last cop pursuit before you (finally) win in Career Mode.
One note: The drag races are pretty fun once you learn that there is a pattern to each one of them.

Challenge Series: Gets pretty tough and really frustrating at times as you progress. I am at number 56 but the best ones are #46 (garbage truck) and #50 (cement mixer). I prefer the pursuits over the Toll’s any time.

There are a few things I would like to change if I could: 1) There is no way to have a two player cop pursuit (which just plain stinks), 2) In the Challenge Series you cannot tune your car the way you like so you are stuck with the way the car handles and performs (which adds to the frustration), 3) You should be able to turn catch-up off (during Blacklist races) but you can't and 4) You WILL have bad things happen to you during races and cop pursuits, so you just have to live with it!