Need for Speed: Most Wanted - A Criterion Game

 PC
User Score
4.5

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 1020 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 254 out of 1020
  2. Mixed: 249 out of 1020
  3. Negative: 517 out of 1020
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  1. Davek183
    Oct 24, 2015
    8
    Finished the whole game just to get Koenigsegg, and in the end I got something which has absolutly different sound than Koenigsegg... Anyway, the game is so well made, graphics, physics (arcade style but good) and sound are incredibly good. I had goosebumps many times. If only the game hadn't these weird faults like steering delay, success based on smashing other cars etc. The thing I likeFinished the whole game just to get Koenigsegg, and in the end I got something which has absolutly different sound than Koenigsegg... Anyway, the game is so well made, graphics, physics (arcade style but good) and sound are incredibly good. I had goosebumps many times. If only the game hadn't these weird faults like steering delay, success based on smashing other cars etc. The thing I like the most is realism, but NFS Shift is a total crap compared to this, for me.… Expand
  2. Moony21
    Oct 2, 2015
    1
    The game absolutely sucks. No physics, no progression. No safe houses, no bounty, no cost to state, the bizzare crash scene, too much traffic, dark graphics. Waste of Money!!!!
  3. cedarus
    Jan 27, 2015
    5
    The game looks great but at the cost of a poorly implemented game with tons of DLC that ruin the experience. The Origin overlay cannot be found within the game even when it is enabled within the application.
  4. doncsoo
    Jan 8, 2015
    7
    This game is very frustrating at the start because we crash,crash and crash. But we could get used to it then we realize it that we're playing a great arcade game that is unique in the need for speed series.

    7/10
  5. H3-M4N
    Jan 2, 2015
    8
    Worthy successor of Burnout Paradise!
    Great love was given to cars (sound, details) and environments (Fairhaven fun to explore).
    Many great features of BP are back (bilboards and gates, races) MP is also great (but beware of some cheaters). So, if you liked BP, you will also like this very much. From technical perspective it runs flawlessly on mid to high end gaming PC, very smooth    Worthy successor of Burnout Paradise!
    Great love was given to cars (sound, details) and environments (Fairhaven fun to explore).
    Many great features of BP are back (bilboards and gates, races)
    MP is also great (but beware of some cheaters).
    So, if you liked BP, you will also like this very much.

    From technical perspective it runs flawlessly on mid to high end gaming PC, very smooth 60 fps (try adaptive vsync).

    So get it in a deal, its worth it! Also Terminal Velocity DLC is great.    … Expand
  6. azeitona
    Dec 10, 2014
    6
    Actually, it's not that bad when you think about it. The multiplayer is really fun, and so is the campaign. Yes, it is short and kind of bland, and I can understand no customization in the remake Hot Pursuit (there was none in the original game either), but this being Most Wanted, it left something to be desired at this topic. The user interface also is really horrible and gets in yourActually, it's not that bad when you think about it. The multiplayer is really fun, and so is the campaign. Yes, it is short and kind of bland, and I can understand no customization in the remake Hot Pursuit (there was none in the original game either), but this being Most Wanted, it left something to be desired at this topic. The user interface also is really horrible and gets in your face all the time. But, to counter part it, the environment is beautiful and the locations are really fun to race. Not a game for everyone. I regret buying it by its retail price, but I wouldn't mind if I got it in a sale.… Expand
  7. Ahenci
    Dec 2, 2014
    4
    Polished Burnout with horrible physics and poor gameplay. Just a sandbox where there's nothing of interesting to do and with no notion of progression.
  8. Goreaffection
    Oct 31, 2014
    1
    **** this game **** **** **** Is this game made for people who are on extacy? No difficulty settings, menu horrible to navigate. I feel like crushing the developers scull to pieces. You guys ****ed th Most Wanted name real good!
  9. yo_mama_so_fat
    Oct 23, 2014
    6
    To be honest, I was disappointed by this game. Don't get me wrong, the visuals are stunning, the cars sound amazing and the soundtrack is decent. However this game has no storyline, no real sense of purpose. Doesn't even compare to it's 2005 counterpart.
  10. chiefwiggum2
    Sep 28, 2014
    9
    Great game with great graphics, if you like racing games, you'll love this, however when you crash it pans around your car which can get really annoying after some time as you have to constantly wait for you to respawn, in addition to this, the races can get really frustrating sometimes!
  11. nukemdukem3d
    Aug 13, 2014
    0
    CRAP! Worst driving model in nfs history! Also: worst nfs ever. Gameplay is boring and not funny. Original most wanted is 100x better. If you like nfs - dont buy this "thing".
  12. shamon
    Jul 19, 2014
    1
    worst driving game i ever played...the handling is atrocious, the steering is so sloppy it's almost impossible not to hit something and crash, the opponent AI deliberatly smashes into you and every rice is a crashing carnage fest....i have no ideea what they were thinking then they made this game
  13. capo193
    May 27, 2014
    9
    Amazing game if you have steering wheel for pc. Good graphic, good system of cars owning (only once find car on map and will by yours for ever and you can jump in car from menu anytime) and amazing car sounds. Story is missing but i had good times with friends while playing :)
  14. NooblordFocker
    May 24, 2014
    3
    Need For Speed is no longer a video game franchise.No, it has become a twisted,ungodly product of man's evil, a sickeningly loathsome social experiment: to what extent can a franchise be violated and stripped of every ounce of pride it once hat and still remain profitable. EA wants to know what the bare minimum is, how little effort they can put in a game and still profit from it. Sure,Need For Speed is no longer a video game franchise.No, it has become a twisted,ungodly product of man's evil, a sickeningly loathsome social experiment: to what extent can a franchise be violated and stripped of every ounce of pride it once hat and still remain profitable. EA wants to know what the bare minimum is, how little effort they can put in a game and still profit from it. Sure, people may accuse them of being perverted spawns from the nether regions of hell, but why should they give a damn, the mainstream public is still more then willing to provide them with do$h. It pains me greatly to see that the "Need For Speed" franchise has become the main victim of these heinous practices. EA rant aside, the game did show some promise, there were a few interesting ideas,albeit poorly executed because EA rushed the development cycle in order to fulfill their satanic duties. But this simple fact gives me hope that the people at Criterion at least care about the series. The 2010 "Hot Pursuit", the first of the NFS series they made, was actually decent. Then again EA weren't the dark lords of the underworld back then. Aside from that this really is a bare bones game and a horrible port.The framerate drops to 20-30 at times on my R9 270, perhaps people with Nvidia cards are doing better. But let's not forget that our delightful fiends at EA have done their homework, they know that the mainstream players of racing games are console users, so they don't really give a single duck-toothed f**k about you, Mr. PC User. If you are, of course, ready to surrender all your belongings and/or soul to EA, I am sure the will happily patch your game. Perhaps this review is not very objective due to the fact that I played this game for about an hour, because of reasons mentioned above and perhaps my great love for the wonderful corporation EA has also clouded my judgement. But for now I must conclude this review in order to sacrifice little puppies in my basement and drink their blood to appease our almighty overlords,Electronic Arts.… Expand
  15. Fostin4
    Mar 27, 2014
    0
    First of all I own a controller. But this game is horrible on keyboard you won't survive a few kilometers without crashing into something and the crashes pretty much ruin the immersivness of the game. You keep staring at the animation for what feels like hours. It's totally pointless and repeatitve and makes you want to hit alt+f4
  16. RdVortex
    Mar 1, 2014
    9
    If you liked Burnout Paradise then chances are that you'll like this game too. Need for Speed: Most Wanted is basically Burnout paradise with Need for Speed name, real cars and slightly different game modes. The biggest downside of the game is that it's quite buggy, especially the multiplayer.
  17. gesi
    Feb 28, 2014
    0
    The creator of this games are greedy lazy bastards just copy past from burnout, no story whatsoever, no customization poor number of cars the gameplay is retarded keep crashing in traffic and very annoying scenes, this game concept may be ok for phones but not justify for pc.
  18. cornel
    Jan 13, 2014
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. You have already reviewed this product. You can submit a new review and rating now if you wish to make changes. Your review must be at least 150 characters long.… Expand
  19. Leo4211
    Dec 31, 2013
    1
    When everyone was happy about NFS remaking the legendary NFSMW, this game turns out to be Burnout: Least Wanted.

    The good things about the game is the graphics are good and the map is great with cities and off-roads. The rest are not good or terrible. The main problem is the concept of the game. Everyone knows (truly not those who started playing from NFS14 yelling this game is    When everyone was happy about NFS remaking the legendary NFSMW, this game turns out to be Burnout: Least Wanted.

    The good things about the game is the graphics are good and the map is great with cities and off-roads. The rest are not good or terrible.

    The main problem is the concept of the game. Everyone knows (truly not those who started playing from NFS14 yelling this game is awesome) the REAL Need For Speed Most Wanted (9th one) is about being the top illegal racer and revenge the No.1 most wanted. All you do in the game is to win races, do milestones (something nasty with the cops) and become the most dangerous speed racer in the game. Unfortunately, this game is quite boring. All you do is to EARN POINTS to be the "Most Wanted". You don't need to care about the cops because you get NO PENALTY of losing your car or paying money when you get busted. You can simply just pull off when you get into a pursuit, getting busted and travel back to the spawn. Also, the most wanted list is a bunch of CARS, not PEOPLE. You race with the CARS because you want to get better cars, NOT beating people in your way to the fearsome dangerous illegal racer. The cars in the most wanted list is not stylized, just plain white. The whole concept is not being the MOST WANTED, it's just like earning stupid points or wins like Burnout.

    The second issue is the cars. It's really hilarious that you get cars by finding them in the street. You can simply find a Mercedes-Benz SLS or a Lamborghini Gallardo parking on sideways without reasons and you can get into the cars somehow and drive. Also, when you drive your car into the repair shop, it changes your car paint to a random colour without choosing not to. So, when you're driving a perfectly-matched yellow Lamborghini into a repair shop, it helps you to change to boring blue without allowing you to choose. You cannot personalize your car to make it look cooler and make the cops remember you and your car. It's simply awful.

    The physics of the cars are just terrible. The races have THE SAME PRINCIPLE AS YOU EXPERIENCE IN BURNOUT. You can simply just get invincible when you aim for an AI's back, push the nitrous button and the car will automatically crash for you. You can also crash somebody's car when you slightly hit the side of an AI and it will somehow wreck it for you. You can crash your car easily on the other hand by hitting a road car driving in the same direction with a speed of 120km/h and you get your car flipped by a million times. Criterion is smart by amplifying the "boom" to an extent that you feel it's really a big crash, when you get the exact same sound when you're driving a Bugatti in high speed and you crash the exact same car. This is so Burnout, not a normal NFS game.

    Ah, forgot to mention the soundtracks/sound effects in the game. Simply just plain. If you get excited when you're racing (I doubt if anyone will feel the excitement of driving and racing in this game), it's definitely not about the sounds.

    It's easy to conclude the game in one sentence: It's another fast-food game produced by Criterion using the remarkable "Need For Speed Most Wanted" name to cover "Burnout: Cops and robot cars". It's also good to conclude the game by saying it's a rip-off.    … Expand
  20. mightyzz
    Dec 30, 2013
    1
    its not NFS it is burnout !

    Looks worse than previous NFS and feel very bad as well. Cut scene after cut scene and the old most wanted was totally different game.
  21. Toad_004
    Dec 4, 2013
    3
    I'm not happy (to say the least) about this product. So how did EA and Criterion manage to mess up Most Wanted? They didn't. They didn't mess up Most Wanted because this isn't Most Wanted. I think Criterion must've mislabeled some games they developed, because this is clearly Burnout Paradise 2: Now with Cops!

    So everything you loved about Most Wanted? Gone. Car Customization and    I'm not happy (to say the least) about this product. So how did EA and Criterion manage to mess up Most Wanted? They didn't. They didn't mess up Most Wanted because this isn't Most Wanted. I think Criterion must've mislabeled some games they developed, because this is clearly Burnout Paradise 2: Now with Cops!

    So everything you loved about Most Wanted? Gone. Car Customization and winning races to buy new engines to upgrade your car? In this game, upgrades are given out for winning races there is no money, and there is no store. Furthermore, there are only a few upgrades the tire choice are "on road" and "off road". Just oversimplified, bullet point options. Forget spending hours in the garage getting your car just right. You can't even choose your car's color. I have more control over the visuals of this text than my car in "Most Wanted".

    So how do you obtain new cars if there's no money and no stores? Do you unlock them as in Hot Pursuit, getting gradually better and better cars as you progress through the missions? No. You unlock them by finding them. With the exception of the cars the "bosses" drive (more on that in a minute) all the cars in the game are available right from the start, you just have to find them around the city. In fact, the city is littered with ridiculous collectables lifted from Burnout Paradise such as speed cameras, billboards, and "jack spots" (spots where you find cars). In fact, there are roughly 3 times as many Jack Spots as there are cars in the game, just to give you more pointless crap to find. "Collect-a-thon" type games haven't been in style since the N64 era, yet here we are in 2012 preforming extra fetch quests... in a racing game.

    And what of the famous Story from Most Wanted and it's sequel, Carbon? The interesting characters, the backstabbing gangs and the bounty hunter constantly after you? All gone. The "story" here begins with you driving towards the city and a narrator explains that you're trying to become the Most Wanted. That's it. Seriously, that's all there is that makes The Run look like a masterpiece of storytelling. There are no other characters no, not even the bosses the final boss is literally named "Most Wanted #01".

    Let's not forget that Criterion apparently stole some design secrets from Zynga this game constantly badgers you to badger your friends to buy the game. The autolog is here, but unlike the previous 2 games where it was a nice extra to the racing, this game seems to be an extra to the autolog, rather than the reverse. You are annoyed by the game to add your friends to such an extent that you might as well be playing Farmville EA, if we wanted to play a "Social Game" (PR speak for "Bad Single-Player") we'd go on Facebook.

    But what of the actual events? Well, before you start an event you need to drive to it. That's right it's just like Most Wanted... if it lacked the "Jump to Event" feature. You need to have played an event once before you can jump to it. EA tried every trick in the book to pad their game, didn't they. At least the game gives you a way to set your destination, so you know where you're going. Every car has 5 events set up to it. But when you realize there are 40 something cars and only 60 something events, you realize that yes, EA wants you to race the same events again, that you have already defeated, using a different car.

    Once you actually get there (if the cops don't stop you) there are five different events it can be Circuit Race, Sprint Race, Ambush, Speed Run, and "Most Wanted" (Boss). The races are Burnout style with takedowns and crashes. The races aren't as fun as Burnout Revenge or Hot Pursuit because of one mistake the racetrack. There are checkpoints on the course to tell you where to go, but it can be quite easy to get lost during a race. Keep in mind that in these races, crashing costs you a few seconds, but a wrong turn can assure you last place. What happened to the "arrow barrier" present in every other Need for Speed and Burnout title? It only shows up when it wants to. Yes, it's in the game, but it's not on every turn. It's like they didn't even finish the game yet.

    The sad fact here is that EA and Criterion might've actually made a pretty good game if they took out all the padding sure, it wouldn't be Most Wanted, but it would be a well-designed game. The Races, Cop Chases, and other fun events would be fantastic if they stood alone. There is fun to be had within this game, but it's buried under mountains of tedious collecting, "Social" pestering, and events you need to drive to. It's the equivalent of me adding another 5 pages to this review, but there's nothing but gibberish on them.    … Expand
  22. Intense1997
    Nov 29, 2013
    8
    That game it's very good, but is not a Need for Speed game, but yes a Burnout game, in my opnion. I play that game in PS3 is very funny, grafics and disgns are very pretty and gameplay is cool, but the car handling is a little heavy.
    It´s a awesome arcade game.
  23. Manjul
    Nov 26, 2013
    6
    NFS RIVALS
    first of all ,graphics are not heavy as compare to performance
    previous nfs most wanted runs great at maximum settings
    but this one run at medium thats why rating gets low
    but as far as gameplay is concern
    it has very nice gameplay(better than cars are also good
    i give 6/10 due to gameplay otherwise graphics,animations are quite bad
  24. asy8492
    Nov 24, 2013
    0
    Among most of the Need for Speed series that I've played, this is by far the worst and crappiest series ever. What the hell Criterion? First of all the controlling sucks heavily. Graphic was fine but the controlling REALLY SUCKS!! I can't even finish one race without crashing to cars and buildings. The car handling was too heavy and the AI was too difficult even at easy level. I'd say thisAmong most of the Need for Speed series that I've played, this is by far the worst and crappiest series ever. What the hell Criterion? First of all the controlling sucks heavily. Graphic was fine but the controlling REALLY SUCKS!! I can't even finish one race without crashing to cars and buildings. The car handling was too heavy and the AI was too difficult even at easy level. I'd say this is the most disappointing parts and its not even fluid for the handling. If this rating had a minus rate, I would have given -10!!… Expand
  25. iPawned
    Nov 11, 2013
    0
    game this is maybe the frustrating i game i ever played i mean why does this earn a need for speed title? first time i play it was no instructions and its badly optimized for pc wonder this game has wonderful reviews by critics guess EA payed them
  26. morfil
    Nov 1, 2013
    4
    This is one the worst NFS game, if not the worst No story, terrible V-Sync, random races, no adrenaline, no rush, no passion... I've never played more than 10% of the game because it's so utter crap I totally hated it I'm curious I still have it on my HDD I deleted it right now...
  27. ThorBreaker
    Sep 20, 2013
    1
    The game graphics is good, that's to be expected sadly, disappointing and frustratingly the game play is "extremely" unfriendly....The AI's are the same.....their cars usually run faster than yours w/e the car the AI uses...most terrible in this game is the cut scene of crashing....little bump crash destroying the momentum of the game....the police chase is OK.....but seriously? suddenlyThe game graphics is good, that's to be expected sadly, disappointing and frustratingly the game play is "extremely" unfriendly....The AI's are the same.....their cars usually run faster than yours w/e the car the AI uses...most terrible in this game is the cut scene of crashing....little bump crash destroying the momentum of the game....the police chase is OK.....but seriously? suddenly appearing like nowhere....games should be challenging but always remember should be enjoyable as well. but this game failed both....its stressful and BORING in the long run… Expand
  28. dOrIaN101nthnsm
    Aug 26, 2013
    6
    After all is said and done (and my second 7970 arrived) i can tell you what this game truly feels like:
    it's a pure eye candy to wow you'r friends with, THIS is the crysis 3 of racing games meaning,
    more fun to watch then to play. it's not a 'broken' game but it's due to some heavy, heavy polish in terms of handling, the 'lag' between what you want it to do to what the car is currently    After all is said and done (and my second 7970 arrived) i can tell you what this game truly feels like:
    it's a pure eye candy to wow you'r friends with, THIS is the crysis 3 of racing games meaning,
    more fun to watch then to play.
    it's not a 'broken' game but it's due to some heavy, heavy polish in terms of handling, the 'lag' between
    what you want it to do to what the car is currently doing is frankly, horrible.
    it's like it's meant to be a drift to win game but the drift mechanics are not working.
    Try grid 2 if you want that^ btw.
    never gave multiplayer the time of days considering the childish gameplay modes available
    i would suggest trying to find something more fun to do in an open world racer then just playing tag
    or racing.
    you will find more realism in mario kart, Just get grid 2.    … Expand
  29. iseeall
    Jul 26, 2013
    3
    I haven't played Need for Speed in a long time (since 2005 or so), and this game was a disappointment to me. First, why is the menu keyboard-only controlled? No mouse?
    The game starts without even telling you the controls.
    The turns feel not responsive enough. I just kept crushing and bumbing into all kinds of stuff. After a while i just didn't care since it seems nothing can happen to    I haven't played Need for Speed in a long time (since 2005 or so), and this game was a disappointment to me. First, why is the menu keyboard-only controlled? No mouse?
    The game starts without even telling you the controls.
    The turns feel not responsive enough. I just kept crushing and bumbing into all kinds of stuff. After a while i just didn't care since it seems nothing can happen to the car even if you crush into a wall at 300 km/h. The game forces you to go some place to start a race, then drive some other place. This felt just idiotic. I ended up just driving randomly across the city for a while and then uninstalling.
    And yes, the starting cutscene made me lose all hopes in today's generation. Are players really that dumb? I mean "10 drivers dominate the city and police can't find them", and collect all those stupid cars across the city? I don't remember myself being so dumb to enjoy a story like this even in the age of 12 (if that's the age of the target audience they had in mind).
    Overall, a bad joke and a disgrace of a good name.    … Expand
  30. AmbigousBarrel
    Jul 26, 2013
    5
    I think they did put effort into the graphics and it does run well on my system on maximum setting's, my problem is even though it does run well, I don't want to play it for longer than about ten minute's...It's a game with car's sure, but...it seems ambiguous frankly. The handling is...normal...the city is...well a city just like you would expect it to be...in other words I was lookingI think they did put effort into the graphics and it does run well on my system on maximum setting's, my problem is even though it does run well, I don't want to play it for longer than about ten minute's...It's a game with car's sure, but...it seems ambiguous frankly. The handling is...normal...the city is...well a city just like you would expect it to be...in other words I was looking for that thing you get with a game that you cannot explain but it keeps you coming back, but for me this game doesn't have that. I played it for a hour, noticed the lack of story, lack of the sort of custom stuff you can do to your car (Like back in Need for Speed Underground 2 before the series started going down hill) it's just so disheartening to see them make such a pretty game, that feels such a chore to play...And...Criterion I know your proud of Burnout franchise and you have every right to be, I'm a fan of that series myself too, but I never imagined you to only be capable of just one trick. I mean you had a chance to make a new original game, and then you just turned it into Burnout clone...Award winning or not...I don't like it.

    I tried it with Eyefinity too, which was a mistake frankly. Not that it hurt the frame rate, that was fine. It was that the menu's and such went behind the bezel's and everything was squashed onto the middle screen. And the lack of controller sensitivity and dead zone adjustment was rather irritating, to say the least.

    Over all, good effort in the graphics department still needs work elsewhere though and needs to have its own identity, Need for Speed's identity, not Burnout's identity.    … Expand
  31. petemundy
    Jul 5, 2013
    3
    Graphics are great, Jackspots are a cool idea, cars are awesome.

    Handling is TERRIBLE. Just shocking. I cannot complete one race without crashing a dozen times. It COMPLETELY ruins the entire game. I have played one hour on this game and won't be playing any more. Handling just RUINS all the fun you expect from an NFS game.
  32. Nineball
    Jun 30, 2013
    1
    Pathetic.

    FACT: Mustangs are not faster than Aventadors. These guys cannot into reality. Random traffic appearing out of no where to ruin your fun? Pathetic. This is supposed to be a racing game. Not a crashing game. Good thing i didn't pay for it. Uninstalled and forgotten. Need For Speed: Most Wanted? more Like Need For Speed: Glad I Torrented It Instead. This proves    Pathetic.

    FACT: Mustangs are not faster than Aventadors.

    These guys cannot into reality.
    Random traffic appearing out of no where to ruin your fun? Pathetic. This is supposed to be a racing game. Not a crashing game.

    Good thing i didn't pay for it.

    Uninstalled and forgotten.

    Need For Speed: Most Wanted? more Like Need For Speed: Glad I Torrented It Instead.

    This proves to me, once again, that Japanese games are just better.    … Expand
  33. genericreviewer
    Jun 30, 2013
    0
    Beautiful graphics and cars.
    Horrible soundtracks, horrible handling, horrible camera angle.
    It's a NFS, I just want to drive 250km/h and corner at full speed, not crash every single time my cars run on a chewing gum.
    And seriously what's wrong with you putting 5 seconds crash animation in a racing game
  34. W3XC
    Jun 27, 2013
    6
    First of all, this is not Need for Speed, its Burnout. Has all the charasteristics, same game mechanics as Burnout Paradise. In other words, its a bad NFS game. Is it a bad game overall? No, its a great racing game, but it does not live up to the NFS criterias. As im playing this on a PC, the game is also poorly optimized and runs at about 25-30 frames per second no matter what settings onFirst of all, this is not Need for Speed, its Burnout. Has all the charasteristics, same game mechanics as Burnout Paradise. In other words, its a bad NFS game. Is it a bad game overall? No, its a great racing game, but it does not live up to the NFS criterias. As im playing this on a PC, the game is also poorly optimized and runs at about 25-30 frames per second no matter what settings on a GTX 670 and i7 3770k.… Expand
  35. jangers
    Jun 25, 2013
    5
    The game is totally senseless in single player. Without the story and random racing. For one car we have assigned six races (when we don't have any DLC's) wtf.. Irritating is also crash/elimination system. Car tuning is minimalist and we do not see visual changes. In multiplayer a game can be enjoyed, particularly when we play with friends. I was expecting a better game
  36. galakfryar
    Jun 16, 2013
    1
    This game is literally unplayable on PC for me (Asus G75VW). I expected much better from criterion. They did a piss poor job on the PC port. I am so disappointed. I got so frustrated with this game that I actually hit alt-f4 from this game. No redeeming qualities what so ever. I hope this never happens again.
  37. hodgesb
    Jun 9, 2013
    8
    I enjoyed Need for Speed: Most Wanted on the PC. I don't generally play racing games, but I gave this one a shot and it surprised me. Even though my PC is equipped to play most games on the highest graphical settings, I did have some FPS problems during a few cut scenes, but the actual racing portion was fine (30+ FPS). Contrary to many of the user reviews, I think the gameplay was theI enjoyed Need for Speed: Most Wanted on the PC. I don't generally play racing games, but I gave this one a shot and it surprised me. Even though my PC is equipped to play most games on the highest graphical settings, I did have some FPS problems during a few cut scenes, but the actual racing portion was fine (30+ FPS). Contrary to many of the user reviews, I think the gameplay was the most impressive aspect of the game. I haven't played many racing games, but I was able to jump in and play successfully with little to no practice using a USB controller. However, I would have liked to seen more customization options on the cars. Overall, I enjoyed this game and I will likely play Criterion's future NFS titles.… Expand
  38. shanad1998
    May 26, 2013
    0
    I bought this game over joyed that they were finally making a need for speed most wanted 2. But all that joy went away when I played it for the first 10 minutes. Especially when I found out my first car on the game was a Porsche! I'd rather work my way up to a Porsche than get one right off, its so stupid. Next, there is no story line like I thought there was going to be, bigI bought this game over joyed that they were finally making a need for speed most wanted 2. But all that joy went away when I played it for the first 10 minutes. Especially when I found out my first car on the game was a Porsche! I'd rather work my way up to a Porsche than get one right off, its so stupid. Next, there is no story line like I thought there was going to be, big disappointment. But anyway I just decided to keep playing to see if it'd become more fun as i completed some missions, but after that i actually found more wrong with the game. The map was too small, there were no ordinary cars(tuners, muscles) just plain old super cars and all you had to do was find them and you owned them! And there is many more wrong with the game. After about an hour, my mom came i and asked if i liked the game, i didn't want my mom t think it was a waste of money so i told her i liked it. A couple of months later, i got Forza Horizon and it was way better. I wish i would have bought that one earlier. Anyway, I beat MW2 in just one day of playing it.… Expand
  39. Akuma698
    May 7, 2013
    3
    OMG this game is a load of utter B.S! Don't waste your money! This game is lazy boring and easy. You "Hijack" cars. This means driving around and parking next to a car such as a Lamborghini and pressing E. I mean what the hell. No saving cash to buy a awesome car. No car customization. Cops are just retarded. You can hit another car right in-front of them and they don't do about it.IOMG this game is a load of utter B.S! Don't waste your money! This game is lazy boring and easy. You "Hijack" cars. This means driving around and parking next to a car such as a Lamborghini and pressing E. I mean what the hell. No saving cash to buy a awesome car. No car customization. Cops are just retarded. You can hit another car right in-front of them and they don't do about it.I didn't even care about the racing cause there was no POINT!… Expand
  40. Kutsubato
    May 3, 2013
    9
    I CAN´T UNDERSTAND ALL THESE PEOPLE WHO SAYS THAT NFS MOST WANTED IS A BAD GAME!!! It´s very great car game with the best multiplayer and graphic i´ve ever seen in a game like this!
  41. mastergene
    Apr 27, 2013
    4
    a game with hes pro's and con's
    you cant complain about the graphics but other than that
    even on a high end pc you cant get this game running smooth which makes EA effort to take our money minimal and the crashes yea they ruined the game for me its horrible so yea not even worth its 50€ not even 30 in my eyes for the horrible port play the game in another way if ya can but not    a game with hes pro's and con's
    you cant complain about the graphics but other than that
    even on a high end pc you cant get this game running smooth which makes EA effort to take our money minimal
    and the crashes yea they ruined the game for me its horrible
    so yea not even worth its 50€ not even 30 in my eyes for the horrible port
    play the game in another way if ya can but not worth its money is EA did only filling there purses and not the fan base    … Expand
  42. voiders
    Apr 26, 2013
    7
    Amazing graphics, imersive sounds and phisics but the game is very short and the moviments are weird.
    I have a steering wheel but i dont know why, the car lose control so easy.

    Some times i think you have to have some patience with bugs and controls.
  43. bjaz
    Apr 23, 2013
    1
    THE WORST NO.1 IN NFS SERIES,
    There is no story,No good music,gameplay is bad(compared to previous one)
    This Game is nooo match for the previous Most Wanted (2005),which i still play sometimes.
    I'll GIVE A BIG THUMB DOWN...
  44. Duro
    Apr 23, 2013
    6
    The first thing you need to do is change graphics because anything under 60fps ruins gameplay. Once configured to your specs the game is actually very enjoyable. Nothing like the original but still lots of fun driving around at high speeds. Cars are way to easy to get and after a handful of races with each there is really no reason to use it. There is no story or progression besidesThe first thing you need to do is change graphics because anything under 60fps ruins gameplay. Once configured to your specs the game is actually very enjoyable. Nothing like the original but still lots of fun driving around at high speeds. Cars are way to easy to get and after a handful of races with each there is really no reason to use it. There is no story or progression besides taking down the top 10 most wanted. The city feels empty and pursuits are very easy. Cops basically throw themselves at you, roadblocks are static and will not pursue you. Building heat is very easy and escaping pursuits is very boring as cops catch up to you from a dead stop almost instantly. Crashes are way overdone in both SP and MP. Multiplayer is somewhat fun if you mute everyone but again it is high speed bumper cars. I love racing games and have played all the NFS games. Yet this one just seems empty, its just about driving cars and nothing else. The DLC is just more cars. I was really unhappy at first but after a couple weeks it grew on me. All the cars are fun to drive there just really isn't any feeling of accomplishment in the game.

    Overall it is a good game. However the lack of patches and communication kills it.
    Criterion basically shut down their forums and won't respond to any problems.
    EA tries to help on their forums but it is frustrating because they can't do anything about it.
    The game crashes on one race 'Every time' and caused a corrupt save.
    Now the game won't even start up even after a repair of the install which found no errors.
    Many people are getting save problems that is causing them to delete and start all over.
    I would rent it if you really want to play it on console, but on PC its just a mess.
    How can you make a game and then ignore your customers? Not fix problems but yet push out DLC.    … Expand
  45. EV3RLiGHT
    Apr 16, 2013
    2
    It's a hugely over-rated game that misses its expectations by miles. Fully detached from its origins, brought to the PC for arguably better visuals and simplified controls, but a polished turd is still a turd. Where's the customization? Where is the proper story? Where is a fraction of realism? Criterion has ruined the legendary Most Wanted by making it too "arcadeish" and way tooIt's a hugely over-rated game that misses its expectations by miles. Fully detached from its origins, brought to the PC for arguably better visuals and simplified controls, but a polished turd is still a turd. Where's the customization? Where is the proper story? Where is a fraction of realism? Criterion has ruined the legendary Most Wanted by making it too "arcadeish" and way too simplified, all that this game has is decent (not outstanding) graphics and a relatively short list of licensed cars. I've had to push this to 2 out of 10.… Expand
  46. davoz28
    Mar 31, 2013
    1
    First off, this game looks rediculously good on max settings. Gorgeous game. But unfortunately its a RACING game. Omg the controls. OMG. Cars are tanks, they either dont turn at all, or turn you 90 degrees into a wall. I've played for 5 hrs now, TRYING to get a grasp at it. Its just unplayable and unenjoyable. I really want to like it but if you cant steer, you cant race. Shameful a gameFirst off, this game looks rediculously good on max settings. Gorgeous game. But unfortunately its a RACING game. Omg the controls. OMG. Cars are tanks, they either dont turn at all, or turn you 90 degrees into a wall. I've played for 5 hrs now, TRYING to get a grasp at it. Its just unplayable and unenjoyable. I really want to like it but if you cant steer, you cant race. Shameful a game that looks this good races this bad.… Expand
  47. suthnara
    Mar 21, 2013
    3
    What can I sat that hasn't been already said. Worst Need For Speed game? Yep it wins that title quiet easily. All cars handle like buses, sloshing left and right and NO MANUAL transmission!! The multiplayer is useless. I never had any clue as to what I was supposed to do. To improve this game some should make a patch or mod to improve the handling of the car and please include manualWhat can I sat that hasn't been already said. Worst Need For Speed game? Yep it wins that title quiet easily. All cars handle like buses, sloshing left and right and NO MANUAL transmission!! The multiplayer is useless. I never had any clue as to what I was supposed to do. To improve this game some should make a patch or mod to improve the handling of the car and please include manual transmission. Only good thing about the game is the beautiful graphics.… Expand
  48. KalanYamato
    Mar 12, 2013
    5
    This game's not that bad as a game by itself, but this is purely Burnout Paradise. There's barely any trace of Need for Speed, or anything original to begin with.

    Decent game, but false advertising. Do not buy.
  49. ProtoDrake
    Mar 6, 2013
    0
    TL;DR: This is Burnout Paradise 2 not Most Wanted. Console port without optimization also means low fps even with high end cards like a GTX 680. >|

    This game is not worthy of calling itself Most Wanted. Compared to the original it lacks numerous features such as tuning, body kits and paint jobs. There is no story within this game and because it is poorly optimized for pc, max settings     TL;DR: This is Burnout Paradise 2 not Most Wanted. Console port without optimization also means low fps even with high end cards like a GTX 680. >|

    This game is not worthy of calling itself Most Wanted. Compared to the original it lacks numerous features such as tuning, body kits and paint jobs. There is no story within this game and because it is poorly optimized for pc, max settings cannot be brought out without constant dips in fps rates into the low 20s (I have a GTX 680). If this game were to be labeled as Burnout Paradise 2, I would give it a solid 10 (minus the performance issues) but since EA has enough balls to call this game Most Wanted it will earn my 1 out of 10. To add insult to injury, they also have the balls to make running through petrol stations fill your nitrous and fix your car, completely ripped out of burnout paradise without any bother to change. However, for me what did it was the constant unavoidable crashing because apparently hitting a civilian car will cause you to flip over 10 times in a row whilst head-on collisions with cops will do nothing.    … Expand
  50. eriksonis
    Feb 23, 2013
    0
    This game is really disappointing. First thing that really bothers me is gaming menu it doesn't exist at all. Makes me feel that his game is regular straight console port. Second, no matter how well you drive, you will crash 10+ times during your race. View from the cab does not exist too. Disaster, it deserves 0 rating.
  51. LostInDaJungle
    Feb 22, 2013
    2
    How in the world did this game get such glowing reviews? For starters, I love both the NFS and Burnout franchises. So one of those, or a mix of the two SHOULD appeal to me, right? I put over 100 hours into Burnout Paradise... Issue 1: Car handling. Playing with a gamepad, I found the handling to be unbearable. The stick was over sensitive, you would turn a bit, let go of the stick andHow in the world did this game get such glowing reviews? For starters, I love both the NFS and Burnout franchises. So one of those, or a mix of the two SHOULD appeal to me, right? I put over 100 hours into Burnout Paradise... Issue 1: Car handling. Playing with a gamepad, I found the handling to be unbearable. The stick was over sensitive, you would turn a bit, let go of the stick and still be turning, and then have to correct back the other direction. Wha? Combine this with some of the narrow obstacle filled races, and it was nothing short of unpleasant. Push the stick too far, and find yourself spinning like mad. FYI No option to increase or reduce sensitivity. Their racing system is designed around the idea that you're going to drift around every turn. Issue 2: Freaking lens flare. Too many pop-ups. Obstacles hidden over hills. The game sets it's difficulty curve by blinding you. The graphics are quite beautiful, but half of the time you just can't see what the heck you're doing. You don't want to slipstream other cars, because you'll be blinded by their smoke/dirt trail and they'll turn at the last second leaving you staring at the wall that just appeared out of nowhere. Issue 3: Awful AI. The game has a rubberband AI that means that there's always 2 cars right on your tail. No matter how well or poorly you play. Add in Cops who wait around corners and "Jump out" to wreck into you. At the end of the day, this game wasn't enjoyable. It was a frustrating grind, and I felt that the difference between getting 1st place and 6th place was more luck than skill. Poor visibility, bad AI, and oversensitive handling meant that you couldn't see what was coming, couldn't react to it, and when you hit it, 2-3 AI cars were lined up behind you. Restart race, start over... Oh, and the menus are slow and fiddly too. Wait for bizarre/stupid cutscene to load, skip it, watch another cut scene of the race starting... You spent 2-3 minutes starting a race just to have the poor AI or poor handling put you into a barricade that you couldn't see due to lens flare in the first 15 seconds. Restart race... Rinse lather repeat. Get first place, sigh.… Expand
  52. Avadon
    Feb 20, 2013
    2
    I hadn't played a NFS game in years and had really missed it, so I got this with very minimal expectations. I just wanted the usual post-Underground NFS game, with silly storyline and enjoyable driving. Even with non existent expectations however, this game is bad. When I can run Far Cry 3 on high and I need to turn this down to low details, you know there's a problem. Also, the handlingI hadn't played a NFS game in years and had really missed it, so I got this with very minimal expectations. I just wanted the usual post-Underground NFS game, with silly storyline and enjoyable driving. Even with non existent expectations however, this game is bad. When I can run Far Cry 3 on high and I need to turn this down to low details, you know there's a problem. Also, the handling is so terrible that I couldn't stand it for more than an hour. You press the stick to turn and at first the car doesn't respond and then it immediately takes a 90 degree turn straight into the nearest wall. I can't believe Criterion made this game, wtf happened to them? I don't think I need to add anything else, when you've got a sluggish racing game that handles terribly, it's done, nothing else matters. Huge disappointment.… Expand
  53. GamesReviewed
    Feb 13, 2013
    0
    This is such a game it deserves a negative score. You spend most time looking at annoying crash cams instead of playing the actual game. It's utter garbage and I refuse to play it anymore. Had 2-3 hours on it and it angered me so much I wanted to literally watch the people that made the game get shot in the public square. I am glad I decided to torrent the game before deciding to partThis is such a game it deserves a negative score. You spend most time looking at annoying crash cams instead of playing the actual game. It's utter garbage and I refuse to play it anymore. Had 2-3 hours on it and it angered me so much I wanted to literally watch the people that made the game get shot in the public square. I am glad I decided to torrent the game before deciding to part with my hard earned money. Word of advice, stay away from this turd. You're better off playing with yourself really, rather than having to play this … Expand
  54. shArk87
    Feb 5, 2013
    6
    Criterion, Go yourself, you're screwing all NFS games!!!
    When does the mercenary *EA* learns what we really want... Criterion, your only good game release was Burnout, and it stayed there.. Stop before u screw Need for speed
  55. 2Eric
    Jan 31, 2013
    10
    This game is awesome I loved the open world setting its like burnout paradise but with real high end sports cars and awesome graphics. If you have a high end pc this game definitely will show it off everything from the awesome weather effects to super detailed cars to effects like smoke coming out of sewer holes and waves splashing up against the shore all come together to make a veryThis game is awesome I loved the open world setting its like burnout paradise but with real high end sports cars and awesome graphics. If you have a high end pc this game definitely will show it off everything from the awesome weather effects to super detailed cars to effects like smoke coming out of sewer holes and waves splashing up against the shore all come together to make a very realistic experience. I love to hop in a Bugatti and just go driving then taunt a cop and then smoke him. It is cool to get on the high way and just open it up. Add all of the features from street racing to car mods and this makes for one cool driving experience.… Expand
  56. robalaquio
    Jan 26, 2013
    3
    The worst game of the franchise, initially thought it would be a version of the previous game (one of the best) adapted to frostbite engine,my mistake, the game is more like a version of NFS online with better graphics. The controls are bad, in some races you will start about to hit a wall or fall off the track without any control of what you doing, you wiil need to break giving advantageThe worst game of the franchise, initially thought it would be a version of the previous game (one of the best) adapted to frostbite engine,my mistake, the game is more like a version of NFS online with better graphics. The controls are bad, in some races you will start about to hit a wall or fall off the track without any control of what you doing, you wiil need to break giving advantage to the other racers. The amount of availabe cars was new in the franchise, at the begging it was cool, but them you notice that you have to do same things to unlock new upgrades and it start to becoming boring. And as the cops, oh my... the cops, well, for that i will just say that they should have changed the title franchise for Need For Cops, one of the worst experience in a race game ever. But got to give a 3 for the graphics!… Expand
  57. Thingriz
    Jan 26, 2013
    0
    Not worth the time to even think about it! Baby game written for babies with six axis controllers stuck to their hands and mommy and daddies money in their wallets. Console crap all the way- just like everything from criterion. The user reviews are very kind and the game reviewer's have been paid handsomely to lie! EA has failed on this series for 8 years now. I hated Black Box butNot worth the time to even think about it! Baby game written for babies with six axis controllers stuck to their hands and mommy and daddies money in their wallets. Console crap all the way- just like everything from criterion. The user reviews are very kind and the game reviewer's have been paid handsomely to lie! EA has failed on this series for 8 years now. I hated Black Box but Criterion? They can't even make a game that runs on PC or uses PC hardware. They aren't alone though- so they think that makes it alright to steal our money. Not mine! Need for Speed has been dead to me for 7 years. Sorry Sucker's.… Expand
  58. emperorkibbles
    Jan 25, 2013
    2
    It feels like a horribly watered down version of Burnout Paradise in almost every aspect. Hell, even the COLOURS look watered down compared to Burnout Paradise.

    The slow-mo crash thing is horribly disappointing compared to the exact same system in Burnout Paradise.
  59. emmanuelbriceno
    Jan 20, 2013
    7
    Multiplayer = frustrating derby, just crash, crash, crash, and more crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, crash, stupid!!!!!!
  60. bluemonkey93
    Jan 20, 2013
    7
    I am really enjoying this game. It is disappointing it doesn't have garages, money and customization like the original did, but as a modern racing game I find it stands out with its array of content, cars, and beautiful locations.
  61. fessisbest
    Jan 16, 2013
    7
    I don't know where everyone is getting the poor performance excuse. I could run the game on all high settings 25-30 fps with my gtx 768mb. Overall though the lack of story and somewhat repetitive game-play could turn a lot of gamers off, but believe me, when it's fun, Its really fun.
  62. fredderator
    Jan 16, 2013
    5
    I wanted to love this game, I really did.

    Coming off the dismal "Need for Speed: The Run" last year, I was glad to hear Criteron was getting back to the style of "Hot Pursuit", the pinnacle of the modern NFS games. About three hours after firing this up, pumped as ever, I had to stop out of sheer frustration. First, the good. It seems as if there is a massive list of cars in this game.    I wanted to love this game, I really did.

    Coming off the dismal "Need for Speed: The Run" last year, I was glad to hear Criteron was getting back to the style of "Hot Pursuit", the pinnacle of the modern NFS games. About three hours after firing this up, pumped as ever, I had to stop out of sheer frustration. First, the good. It seems as if there is a massive list of cars in this game. Ranging for the Bugatti Veyron to the Ford Shelby GT, each car is faithfully represented on the screen.

    The graphics in the game are quite good but for me, they didn't look all too different from 2010's "Hot Pursuit". There are a few exceptions which I'll get into but overall, the game is still great to look at. The Bad.

    First, the controls feel incredibly sluggish. If you put Hot Pursuit at one end of the spectrum and The Run on the other, Most Wanted falls right in the middle. Perhaps I'm biased because I absolutely love the fast paced, arcade style controls of HP but MW falls disappointingly short. I didn't feel like I was in control of the car a lot of the times, especially if I was rubbing up against a wall. The amount of precision it takes to move away from the wall without slamming into the opposite one, feels inappropriate in this type of game. In Gran Turismo, this may work but I feel for a street racing game it's frustrating as all hell. I understand that upgrades can remedy this but you'll be repeating events so many times to get those upgrades the controls will start to wear on you.

    Rubber-banding and teleporting of opponents is commonplace in the NFS franchise unfortunately. Even my favorite, HP, is guilty of this. However in this game, it feels slightly unfair and here's why: At the beginning when you first obtain a car, you need to race for your upgrades including your boost. As far as I can tell, this happens with every single car (which is annoying to race for your boost on your car every single time). These races are already stacked against the player who already has enough to deal with when racing a new car, since each handles differently. Lack of boost, new car and rubber banding/teleporting in a preliminary race is way too much to throw at someone in the first race. The graphics, while beautiful, can be incredibly distracting. I remember during one race, I had the sun facing in my eyes for the entire time. I couldn't see a damn thing. Now this might work if the computer racers were somewhat affected, but they aren't. The amount of dust cars kick up also seems to be too much. In here lies a key problem with this game: It can't decide whether to be an arcade racing game or a simulator a la Gran Turismo. On one hand, the environmental effects scream "simulation" while slamming into a wall at 200/mph and driving away after multiple barrel rolls says "arcade". Mixing the two makes for a frustrating experience. Constant frame-rate issues also seem to plague the PC port but along with controls, it's not something new coming from a console focused title. However, it doesn't make it right. With virtually the same set up between the two, HP seems to have no frame-rate issues nor touchy control problems. The setting is incredibly bland, not to mention that this city feels incredibly similar to Burnout: Paradise's. Each race feels the same with slightly different turns. I think the series could have used some sort of plot device where it allowed for racing in different surroundings, like snowy rocky mountains or big canyons.

    The Indifferent

    There is really no story to NFS: MW. Then again, I don't necessarily play racing games for their story so this wasn't an issue for me but I could see how people feel less inclined to continue up the ranks. Different personalities for the "Most Wanted" drivers could have been neat but again, not really a necessity. The music is really nothing to write home about. You got your rock, your dubstep, blah blah blah. Typically they get drowned out by the constant crashing and smashing of cars that you'll barely notice there's any music. The sound overall is fantastic though, as each car has a distinct sound (as it should). Conclusion

    It may seem like I hate this game, but I really don't. I'm just incredibly disappointed with the end product after being hyped about this being the spiritual successor to Hot Pursuit. In the end, if you enjoy the NFS series as a whole, it's probably worth a rental. Anyone else may have a hard time staying interested after a few days.    … Expand
  63. ragehardreviews
    Jan 14, 2013
    2
    Excuse the extremely late review. This game ran fine on a 3 year old dual core system with a 1 gig NVIDIA card. Now let's rip this to shreds.

    When I heard about this game coming out I was pretty stoked because I'd already played NFS MW1 from back in the xbox original days - so I was expecting great things. Sadly...not many of those great things happened. In fact I'm not so sure any    Excuse the extremely late review. This game ran fine on a 3 year old dual core system with a 1 gig NVIDIA card. Now let's rip this to shreds.

    When I heard about this game coming out I was pretty stoked because I'd already played NFS MW1 from back in the xbox original days - so I was expecting great things. Sadly...not many of those great things happened. In fact I'm not so sure any happened.

    The game has a decent mix of cars, but there are many "jackspots" that consist of the same car. When you're left to run around looking for these jackspots you'd expect to find the experience of finding one to be a little more rewarding than just another Lamborghini, or just another Volkswagen or just another whatever - the whatever being a repeat model of the manufacturer's car you've already found somewhere else.

    The game in it's origins, had oodles of originality as far as the NFS franchise was concerned. Speedbreaking was really handy to get out of tight spots with the cops, or to avoid head on smashes with walls at sharp corners. This doesn't even exist in the second one. I dunno why. It just doesn't. But clearly it needs it because driving any car in the game using a keyboard, is akin to either driving a tank, or driving on a skidpan. Criterion and EA pretty much annoyed me immensely with this game.

    Every crash cutscene will eventually drive you completely stark raving bonkers. EVERY. crash. If this is it's attempt at trying to be like Burnout it doesn't work, it just sucks worse than Burnout ever did (which if memory serves me well - it didn't). Initially I was impressed, I liked the graphics, the intro FMV sequences for the most wanted cars are sharp and snazzy and in all cases, rather smooth. But that's about as sharp, snazzy and smooth as it's ever going to get in game. This game single-handedly destroys the fun that was NFS MW and tries to bring too much of a different experience to it's predecessor to make it even moderately enjoyable. The rewards system is pretty dire, the racing structure is dull - you have to repeat the same process over and over and over again, for EVERY car - the cutscenes will most definitely vex you if you get to driving any of the faster cars (although despite all the badmouthing I'm giving this game, the Bugatti Veyron is a lot of fun, all crash cutscenes aside). I found the logic of the game pretty tough not to mention blindingly unfair. This game seriously punishes you for sucking at driving. If you don't have the patience, and you do get pissed off watching repeat performances of crash after crash, you may well end up - like me - not really liking this game all that much. What's worse is that for instance, smashing through a roadblock may bring you screeching to a halt, but during the cut scene (yet another cut scene) you'll see that bloody AI car boosting on by having smashed through the roadblock and not even slowing down due to contact made. It's vexing at worst, and really rage worthy at best. The only slight enjoyment in this game, with it's seemingly smaller than usual map (is it just me or does that map look much smaller in comparison to NFSMW1?) are some of the really good looking locations, and the jumps (so long as you don't bloody crash at the end of them) can be a bit of good fun for a few minutes until you get bored and go looking for another one. But that's it. My ultimate bone of contention with this game, is it's lack of any personalized customization. There are no vinyls, no stickers, no custom paints no NOTHING. That was some of the best fun to be had in the original and they took it right out. So much wrong with this game it's difficult to really pick out any extremely positive bits.
    PC gaming at it's worst on this one. The worst of the lot though, is the ultimate design flaw. The 'on-the-fly' menu which you access by pressing the right arrowed 6 key on the number pad. For whatever reason, I'm assuming that Criterion assumes we have as many limbs as an octopus with which to mess about menus whilst driving a car at over 60 mph or more. Whichever complete total donkeybrain came up with this idea, really didn't think that far ahead, or with an open mind. If you have an xbox controller on your PC, it may not be a problem, but if you're stuck with a keyboard, you're screwed. That "on the fly menu" used to be a pause menu - accessed by pressing a button during the driving session you were having, and then you could tweak the car at leisure, and then resume driving and hey presto the changes were done. This game expects you to stop the car, make the changes, and then carry on driving. This is kind of dumb as **** if you're driving off road and the situation demands spontaneously accessing the menu to change the tires to the 'off-road' variety, when there are a dozen cops up your tailpipe. This game....not something to be proud of. Not something to be proud of at all. I hope EA even remotely care enough to hang their hang their heads in shame.    … Expand
  64. RiverMonster
    Dec 27, 2012
    10
    Fantastic game, all framerate issues have been resolved by the patches. It's pure EA/Criterion goodness!

    Think Burnout Paradise meets NFS Hot Pursuit--it's a BLAST! As with all Criterion games they design with fun first--so folks looking for a tedious overly technical simulator aren't going to be happy. The rest of us who enjoy life and love a great arcade racer are going to have AN    Fantastic game, all framerate issues have been resolved by the patches. It's pure EA/Criterion goodness!

    Think Burnout Paradise meets NFS Hot Pursuit--it's a BLAST! As with all Criterion games they design with fun first--so folks looking for a tedious overly technical simulator aren't going to be happy.

    The rest of us who enjoy life and love a great arcade racer are going to have AN AMAZING TIME! Can't recommend it enough!

    Do get yourself an XBox 360 controller for Windows though--then again if you're a PC gamer these days you should already have one. :) Cheers and see you guys on the streets!    … Expand
  65. v00d00m4n
    Dec 26, 2012
    4
    This game should be called "Burnout Paradise 2 - No Need for Speed: Least Wanted" becaus its not that awesome NFS Most Wanted game remake we wanted and expected, its not NFS at all!
    - What made original Most Wanted 2005 a great game? Story - with underground street racing atmosphere, its was intriguing blockbusters where you had clear goal, good characters and felt yourself a real    This game should be called "Burnout Paradise 2 - No Need for Speed: Least Wanted" becaus its not that awesome NFS Most Wanted game remake we wanted and expected, its not NFS at all!
    - What made original Most Wanted 2005 a great game? Story - with underground street racing atmosphere, its was intriguing blockbusters where you had clear goal, good characters and felt yourself a real street racer a pain in cop's ass! Style - awesome moody "golden" lighting, real autumn, road with orange leafs, cool graffiti, awesome customized cars with all sorts of variety! Challenging races- against cop of regular NPC or both, it was not easy it was breathtaking in terms of tension they gave us, final race against cop was totally awesome experience i still cant forget. And getting new cars or customization as price in race was a real treasure that allowed to progress and match your rivals that progressed as well, to get a new car you need to win a lot of races and you need to choose wisely! Customization and tuning - well comparing to previous NFS Underground 2 or next NFS Carbon it was simplified here and there, but it still was good, stylish and allowed to make a lot of various rides, and i heard you all like pimping your rides and they put a "pimp your ride" in your "NFS" so everyone could spent half of gameplay time pimping ride like some Xzibit while playing NFS. Physics - well it was not realistic, it was arcadish, but it was adequate and balanced and kept everyone entertained. Various race modes - i cant remember them all, i think drag and drift racing was missing (well NFS UG 2 and Carbon was still better) but it was enough and all was challenging. Variety of gameplay features - you was able to not just use nitro, but a slow mo as well, was able to hide from cops, if you change cars or colors the heat was going down, you was able to brake parts of levels to make a traps for cops and rivals, there was SMS, car shops, customs shops, safehouses and count of damage you dealt to city, and more gameplay features. Cutscenes - well this goes to story department of game, but even if there was no good story, scenes was very-well directed and quite impressive, people really loved how they mixed real actors and in-game environment and cars, in game real-time cut-scenes that showed cars before and after races was impressive as well and was making all car lovers horny, it was a real vehicle-porn in good meaning. Controls - they was different for every car, they was good, they was optimized well for gamepad, keyboard and wheels. Sound track - i guess everyone remembed awesome tracks since NFS Underground famous "Eron-don-don" and up to Carbon dark grime. There was more good things about original MW, but i need to finally start talking about MW 2012, however there is not too much to talk about.
    So if you played original MW, once you hear about new MW, you expect all the good things from original to appear in new game and evolve to next level.. to make this game even greater than original was...
    And the biggest problem of NFS Most Wanted 2012 that this freaking game HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OF WHAT I JUST LISTED AND WHAT MADE ORIGINAL MOST WANTED 2005 such a good game!
    Im freaking serious! Almost Absolutely nothing except for cop and free roaming city... game is just empty and boring, you have one big (great however) city where you have nothing to do except for changing cars and driving simple circuit races against dumbest boring cops and nameless NPCs... Yo Dawg! Criterion heard you like driving, so they put only a driving in your driving NFS game so you can drive while you drive and do nothing else! No story! No cut-scenes! No style! No customization and tuning! No challenging races! No tension! No adequate physics! No different good controls for different cars! ! No memorable soundtrack! No rich gameplay features! No goals! No sense of wining the race! No awards for winning! No motivation to play! Only a pure empty city where you have nothing to do except for driving through billboards with EA, DICE, Bioware, Visceral game and Criterion logos, and changing cars that have only a cosmetic difference.
    Despite this game feels like a Burnout Paradise 2, it missing a lot of Paradise features and insane speeds, so its not even good as Burnout! Pure marketing FAIL! This game have nothing to be called MOST WANTED, its a LEAST WANTED NFS game (just like recent Hot Pursuit remake)! After playing i realized that crappy Undercover (which was initially called Most Wanted 2) was not so crappy and was actually better than this Most Wanted 3 aka 2012 (or actually MW 4, because Carbon was real MW2 and Undercover was actually MW3). Damn it, half of cars dont even have NITRO! Can you imagine it? Gameplay is somehow close to level of rusty NFS 1-3 which is very simple and empty comparing to what we saw in NFS and Midnight Club and Test drive in recent years.
    Dont buy this game and ask for refund if you did!
    4 of 10 only!    … Expand
  66. RECON-UK
    Dec 23, 2012
    2
    For those of you wanting my opinion, see my video over on YouTube.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJnK52lom_E&feature=youtu.be

    My review is in the description, with video proof.
  67. twilightrocks
    Dec 23, 2012
    6
    Not really worth spending £35 on. The optimization is very bad, even on my HD 7870 I get constant fps drops sometimes as low as 20. However, the game itself is good but could be better. The gps thingy is great, it is clear on the minimap on where you need to go and tells you the distance to the event you are getting to. The racing itself is good but again could be better. The carNot really worth spending £35 on. The optimization is very bad, even on my HD 7870 I get constant fps drops sometimes as low as 20. However, the game itself is good but could be better. The gps thingy is great, it is clear on the minimap on where you need to go and tells you the distance to the event you are getting to. The racing itself is good but again could be better. The car handling and responsiveness of the car is also good but once again could be better. A few things I haven't seen in the game which was in the original Most Wanted which I think EA could have added into the game are shops, car lots and a garage. Overall the game is decent but not excellent which is why I am rating this 6/10.… Expand
  68. ghost12345
    Dec 21, 2012
    9
    I liked the game very much because the graphics are outstanding,races are thrilling and there are so many cars for you to drive and modify.
    many people complain about lagging etc,they should upgrade their systems because its not the fault of developer.
    well because the last nfs game was completely story based so this time they have come with a complete make over (no story),but its a    I liked the game very much because the graphics are outstanding,races are thrilling and there are so many cars for you to drive and modify.
    many people complain about lagging etc,they should upgrade their systems because its not the fault of developer.
    well because the last nfs game was completely story based so this time they have come with a complete make over (no story),but its a racing game why do u need a story.
    BG music is good ,race intro videos are also a highlight of the game.    … Expand
  69. dsb_dsb
    Dec 11, 2012
    2
    I am a single player gamer & i played this on my friend's PC for about 10 hours in 2 days. So i am judging the game as single-player only.

    Now when this game took the name of 'Most wanted' & so they should have at-least tried to make another most wanted not another Burnout Paradise. Well as most of the people now know that this game is made by Criterion who are well known for Burnout    I am a single player gamer & i played this on my friend's PC for about 10 hours in 2 days. So i am judging the game as single-player only.

    Now when this game took the name of 'Most wanted' & so they should have at-least tried to make another most wanted not another Burnout Paradise. Well as most of the people now know that this game is made by Criterion who are well known for Burnout series & for NFS HP 2010; one thing was sure that this game will have elements similar to those previous games & this ruined the whole most wanted experience. I can get 2 better games at unbeatable price right away i.e. NFS MW 2005 BE & Burnout paradise Ultimate Ed.

    Now lets look at Pros & Cons from actual game-play :-

    Pros :-
    Better graphics than previous MW game & some enjoyable races (There are only a few as most races are repeated no. of times)

    Cons :-
    Everything else from new NFS MW game falls in this category..... No story, No money, Game plays like burnout (Crash sequences), Few customizations (when compared with old games), Fewer camera angles, No manual transmission option (Oldest NFS feature), Not ported properly for PC's (sudden frame drops) & the rivals are either very easy & not challenging at all or too difficult & all the challenge you get is when you try to obtain best parts for a car.

    This game is just not 'Most wanted' it is another Burnout but you can get better entertainment from burnout paradise than this. Also there are is no re-playability factor as i upgraded my first car completely by winning all it's races & was easily able to beat all 10 most wanted racers from it & not only that i took their cars with it as well.    … Expand
  70. Ensi
    Dec 7, 2012
    6
    First of all, this is a fun game. It's a good mix of realism and arcade (leaning towards the arcade side) with nice cars and all in all fun gameplay. I don't do the races, but I do like to just drive around and drift corners in my favorite cars. For PC this game doesn't have the best optimization, I get mostly 60 FPS (capped) and it usually drops to 20-30 in some areas (670, 3570k, 16gb).First of all, this is a fun game. It's a good mix of realism and arcade (leaning towards the arcade side) with nice cars and all in all fun gameplay. I don't do the races, but I do like to just drive around and drift corners in my favorite cars. For PC this game doesn't have the best optimization, I get mostly 60 FPS (capped) and it usually drops to 20-30 in some areas (670, 3570k, 16gb). Oh and there is no in-car view, disappointing for those with steering wheels. I played this with a gamepad (and so should you if you don't have a wheel).… Expand
  71. theoperator69
    Nov 30, 2012
    4
    Are you freaking kidding me EA? No customization? Crashing every two seconds? repetitive game-play? shortest/easiest story-mode of all time with no story? Ok well there's still pursuits to have endless fun...just kidding, no penalty for getting busted and escaping the cops is so easy, I have to cruise at 50 MPH to get to level six, which is still pretty Goddard easy. You can't just make aAre you freaking kidding me EA? No customization? Crashing every two seconds? repetitive game-play? shortest/easiest story-mode of all time with no story? Ok well there's still pursuits to have endless fun...just kidding, no penalty for getting busted and escaping the cops is so easy, I have to cruise at 50 MPH to get to level six, which is still pretty Goddard easy. You can't just make a reboot with absolutely none of the original game features, false advertising. return/pirate this game and buy 2005 most wanted instead.… Expand
  72. ridicol
    Nov 28, 2012
    2
    The game is not that bad, it has great graphics, decent controls, it would be a 7/10 game, but as a most wanted sequel it's just disappointing, the first game was all about tunning, about making your car your car, not to mention the fact that criterion recycled much of burnout paradise in this game, that added to the bad optimization makes this an awful game.
  73. Lintrup
    Nov 27, 2012
    9
    Need for speed : Most Wanted is a worthy edition to the long legacy of Need for Speed. It shouldn't be called Need for Speed tho, when it's clearly a follow up to the smash hit Burnout: Paradise City.. Even though its title is misleading, i believe that Criterion really made an awesome game here. It isn't like any Need for Speed that you have played before, which in some cases can be aNeed for speed : Most Wanted is a worthy edition to the long legacy of Need for Speed. It shouldn't be called Need for Speed tho, when it's clearly a follow up to the smash hit Burnout: Paradise City.. Even though its title is misleading, i believe that Criterion really made an awesome game here. It isn't like any Need for Speed that you have played before, which in some cases can be a blast of fresh air. The city of Fairhaven is even more chaotic and pumped with adrenaline than the previous cities we have visited.

    All in all, i believe that Criterion succeeds in making an arcade racing game, pumped with adrenaline, fast decisions and last but not least competition between you and your friends which for me is the most motivating thing in the world, when i meet up at a race, smashes a billboard or just driving around in the city to see that my best friend are way better than me. That's a motivating factor and that's what makes a arcade racer like Need for Speed: Most Wanted worth buying!

    I don't have any optimizing problems with it on my PC, don't know why people are complaining about it but if it's a problem then fix it for the people who have them. If i had the issues mentioned below it would have been a deal breaker. Still i think it's good to mention that not all PC users have these optimizing problems.

    Need for speed: Most wanted or should i say Burnout: Paradise City 2? - Is it even a bad thing? - NO!    … Expand
  74. Liquidlizard
    Nov 26, 2012
    4
    What the hell Criterion? Burnout Paradise was what? 4 years ago? and it still has better graphics and is more realistic than this crap. EA too - Prostreet is more fun. Coulda been alot better if you took another year to work on it. Plus, you cannot unlock/purchase cars. You have to find them around the city... That's no fun. This series is turning into Call of Duty. No one should get it.What the hell Criterion? Burnout Paradise was what? 4 years ago? and it still has better graphics and is more realistic than this crap. EA too - Prostreet is more fun. Coulda been alot better if you took another year to work on it. Plus, you cannot unlock/purchase cars. You have to find them around the city... That's no fun. This series is turning into Call of Duty. No one should get it. Good for $10. Great for $5.… Expand
  75. okuhle94
    Nov 22, 2012
    8
    This game is great, it has a great online multiplayer, great graphics, great sound tracks, and a fun single player. It would have been better if it had a proper story line, and the proper car customization like the early NFS games. Overall, I am happy with this game.
  76. SohailACE
    Nov 21, 2012
    5
    Very poorly optimized for PC, FPS very low, Loads of cars, no excitement of unlocking cars coz they are already unlocked and are parked roadside, too much VFX while racing which makes driving worse, NFS series is dead.
  77. sirspecific
    Nov 20, 2012
    1
    Game control is very weak. car are like a magnet to the side of the barrier. You can not escape from police with this poor control. The game has no story.
  78. AcIDBased
    Nov 19, 2012
    5
    ooooo I get to customize my licence plate wow cool. it's a online game. give me sum stickers and paint dam it. iam 32 yo i still want sticks and paint man lol
  79. MeLnUgA
    Nov 19, 2012
    4
    Nothing interesting in this game waste of time, cheap copy of burnout paradise, if you like arcade go play nfs world, there are not story like in nfs The Run, This game is poorly optimized for PC, a straight port, constant fps drops make the game unplayable. The car handling is too "heavy", the camera choices are horrible. All in all, wasted money.
  80. pawwilon
    Nov 18, 2012
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
  81. GeoVad
    Nov 18, 2012
    5
    The opponent in this game is not the racers aka black list,IS THE WALLS!most time you spend crashing than racing...also there is not a tuning option like turbo upgrades,ECU upgrades etc.There is just a ''customize car'' option with general upgrades,At last its not good to have a option to start with every car you found on the road,its better to start with a normal one and after you canThe opponent in this game is not the racers aka black list,IS THE WALLS!most time you spend crashing than racing...also there is not a tuning option like turbo upgrades,ECU upgrades etc.There is just a ''customize car'' option with general upgrades,At last its not good to have a option to start with every car you found on the road,its better to start with a normal one and after you can change it.The only good in this game is the graphics which is very good and also the variety of the cars.Thats all.… Expand
  82. Coldcut333
    Nov 17, 2012
    8
    Awesome game, put 40+ hours in already, not even nearly done with it and i've hardly touched the multilayer.Fighting the Speedboards, jumps and cameras is addictive. Looks fantastic and plays well too when it wants to.

    I do encounter quite alot of crashes and some FPS dips, sometimes but there's other times it runs great.Might be my system but read a few having issues too.My score would    Awesome game, put 40+ hours in already, not even nearly done with it and i've hardly touched the multilayer.Fighting the Speedboards, jumps and cameras is addictive. Looks fantastic and plays well too when it wants to.

    I do encounter quite alot of crashes and some FPS dips, sometimes but there's other times it runs great.Might be my system but read a few having issues too.My score would be higher if it wasn't for this.    … Expand
  83. mrkartofel1
    Nov 17, 2012
    3
    One of the worst high-budget game I've ever played.The races are totally frustrating, the cars don't want to turn (or turn only slightly). The graphic and audio is fine, but the soundtrack doesn't. In Burnout Paradise soundtrack was great (rock/metal), in this Need for Speed is **** (only 'cool DJ's', Skrillex). I don't play multiplayer, because I don't like play online, so I can't review it.
  84. arthur666
    Nov 17, 2012
    0
    i dont understand this game. i cant control car and hitting every other cars and that annoying CRASH word come up. its makes me mad. its makes me crazy. there is NO possible way the play this game. miss old nfs games...
  85. tlove21
    Nov 14, 2012
    4
    Do not believe the 102 people who reviewed this positive. they are probably used to crashing into walls and feeling OK with it. Actual NFS fans who prefer to not hit a wall or traffic will agree this is not a NFS game. I have been playing NFS from Porsche unleashed days. Criterion made this game into an arcade crap, the handling sucks NFS Hot Pursuit handling was much better but also notDo not believe the 102 people who reviewed this positive. they are probably used to crashing into walls and feeling OK with it. Actual NFS fans who prefer to not hit a wall or traffic will agree this is not a NFS game. I have been playing NFS from Porsche unleashed days. Criterion made this game into an arcade crap, the handling sucks NFS Hot Pursuit handling was much better but also not perfect. In my honest opinion Shift 2 is the last great release of NFS and that one is confined to a track and simulation driving. Driving shouldn't be about who can hit the wall hardest. The franchise is DEAD after this. I will never buy another game from EA 's NFS franchise until Criterion is fired for this horrible mistake.… Expand
  86. sinadoom
    Nov 14, 2012
    7
    I'll begin by addressing the problems and common misconceptions about this game. The main problem with this is that it's not optimized for PC. You may want to go straight to your "Criterion Games" folder in My Documents and in the cfg file set LockAt30fps to true. This is not something you should have to do with any game, let alone one designed for casual gamers. 30 FPS does suit the gameI'll begin by addressing the problems and common misconceptions about this game. The main problem with this is that it's not optimized for PC. You may want to go straight to your "Criterion Games" folder in My Documents and in the cfg file set LockAt30fps to true. This is not something you should have to do with any game, let alone one designed for casual gamers. 30 FPS does suit the game well though. A recent patch has fixed many problems with regards to controllers and framerates though. In terms of the brick-like heavy handling and the seeming "auto-correct" when steering; just remember that this game is made for non-racers. If, like me, you're used to super-sharp and technical driving you need to break out of the precision mindset and just throw the car about more generally, since in more hardcore racing games the smallest input at the wrong time can lead to a disaster. Here you need to be aggressive, so it can take some getting used to if you're serious about your racing games. As for more general downsides, this game lacks any real depth in terms of single player content. It wouldn't be as empty if the leaderboards were more focused globally rather than on friends. Indeed if you have no friends who play the game all the speedwalls are pointless as always. But this game is designed with mutliplayer first, as stated by Criterion. Hence, the single player is just a free-roam messabout arena rather than the main chunk. The title has caused much confusion. The 2005 game is my 15th favourite game ever (at time of writing). However, Criterion have stated (see Wikipedia article on this game) that their intention was NOT to make a sequel to the original masterpiece. And so it follows that the concept behind the title is being "Most Wanted" amongst your friends. Like in NFS Hot Pursuit, the handling is very arcade and there is no manual transmission. However the city of Fairhaven resembles that of Most Wanted 2005 so you get a good mix of urban twisty roads and inner city centre. The design philosophy for the single player is to keep it very simple and basic. So no budget to manage, no garage, no consequences for getting busted, no special cars or upgrades to unlock from levelling up or whatever. Just very simply: Whatever car you find, you can drive. The graphics are obviously state-of-the-art; and you'd expect them to be given the system requirements. Compared to Hot Pursuit 2010, there's no innovation, and handling is inferior to that in The Run. The lack of manual transmission doesn't help matters. But unlike The Run this game doesn't have any camera issues, and it's not linear; it's free-roam. I like the concept and the game does feel very modern, with an excellent choice of cars which do handle slightly differently (although once again, not comparable to The Run's handling). This game is not sophisticated, and this is with great delibration. Infact, the emphasis is on the pick-up-and-play, do what you want whenever you want without having to grind through a half-arsed story - kind of thing. If you're expecting a sequel, then you have either been mislead by the title or deeply misinformed of the game's intentions. All in all it's a great game but the technical issues on the PC version on launch and the lack of emphasis on global leaderboards position if you don't have any friends is dissapointing; given that Autolog has been around for quite some time now. Nevertheless, it's definitely the game I would recommend to someone who has never tried a racing game. Everyone who thinks that this game is multiplayer only or is not worth getting if you're planning to mainly or only play single player is lying. When you consider how many cars there are in the game, and that there are 5 races for each, there are upgrades to unlock for each which have their distinct advantages and disadvantages and can be changed at any point even during a race, and the upgrades themselves have "Pro" versions (just as perks in Call of Duty have Pro versions); add in the 60-odd speed cameras and over a hundred billboards to smash and also trying to beat your best time on each race or get more points on each pursuit without having to worry about getting busted and paying a hefty fine - you get the idea. Basically, the amount of content in the single player is actually more than meets the eye if you want to do everything. Variety isn't great but is sufficient to keep it feeling satisfying. The city is tiny but it's used so well it feels bigger than it actually is. The cars sound great, have nice colour schemes, and SFX is generally high quality. When you consider that you get the best-looking racing game to date by a large margin with some of the finest cars around in a very casual drop-in/drop-out environment where there is still motive to unlock things but not the main part, it's very pleasing and relaxing. The difficulty of the races is pretty good if not a little too hard, especially for casuals. Overall, fantastic work Criterion.… Expand
  87. neozora
    Nov 13, 2012
    3
    Race without manual transmission? What is that? Have any of the developers ever driven a car? It's pathetic. Crappy game with crappy gameplay. Great graphics though, but that's the minimum they could do it. I'm happy I played before buying, it would be a complete waste of money. Not recommended
  88. Kris79
    Nov 13, 2012
    0
    I was looking forward to the release of the new version curious to see what is new since I love the previous version of most wanted. Long story short, this game is a piece of garbage and waste of my money. The biggest disappointment of my week. This is the first racing game where you only have 2 camera change options. Since I am used to playing all my games with the **** cam this game isI was looking forward to the release of the new version curious to see what is new since I love the previous version of most wanted. Long story short, this game is a piece of garbage and waste of my money. The biggest disappointment of my week. This is the first racing game where you only have 2 camera change options. Since I am used to playing all my games with the **** cam this game is completly usless to me!! The far view changes so often its hard to keep control of the car and I cant read a lot of the menu words either. I like the concept of the new game even though I cannot play it, it just feels like an unfinished game to me. Need for speed the Run was pretty lame but this version takes the cake!!… Expand
  89. franco214
    Nov 13, 2012
    6
    My problem with this game was where my expectations were before getting my hands on and some game time behind me. I love the NFS series and have hours of fun with friends racing and competing on Autolog. While these things still exist in Most Wanted i still feel like there is something missing from the experience. The handling took me a while getting used to and to be honest it rarelyMy problem with this game was where my expectations were before getting my hands on and some game time behind me. I love the NFS series and have hours of fun with friends racing and competing on Autolog. While these things still exist in Most Wanted i still feel like there is something missing from the experience. The handling took me a while getting used to and to be honest it rarely changes between car to car, providing no thrills from finding your next vehicle. The use of the easydrive system is good, if not a little difficult to use while racing, but once you are used to it can be very effective. For me the longevity in this game is lacking it has been less than a month out and i am feeling my will to play just slip away. Could have been much better.… Expand
  90. jfrankie
    Nov 13, 2012
    5
    You would think that a game called need for speed wouldn't make a clunker of a game, but this game really sucks! it's an absolute dog on my gtx 560! Can't belive it!
  91. McJobless
    Nov 12, 2012
    2
    This game makes The Run look like a masterpiece in the Need for Speed collection. EA has told its developers since ProStreet onwards that graphics are more important than gameplay. I find this a complete insult to the entire series, but more over, an even greater insult to the original developers (Black Box, as they are now known) of Most Wanted. This game ruins every single aspect thatThis game makes The Run look like a masterpiece in the Need for Speed collection. EA has told its developers since ProStreet onwards that graphics are more important than gameplay. I find this a complete insult to the entire series, but more over, an even greater insult to the original developers (Black Box, as they are now known) of Most Wanted. This game ruins every single aspect that made the original fun, and then further rubs salt into the wound through its utilization of the terrible AutoLog system.

    Need for Speed, I loved you, but now is the time to let you go.    … Expand
  92. Cougarific
    Nov 12, 2012
    4
    The original NFS: MW is one of my all-time favorite racing games - this is nothing like the original. As others say, it's a mashup of Burnout Paradise and Hot Pursuit - with nothing in common with the original except the title. There are no challenges beyond racing (Speed Cameras are implemented totally differently), no environmental destruction to be used to throw off cops, no story, noThe original NFS: MW is one of my all-time favorite racing games - this is nothing like the original. As others say, it's a mashup of Burnout Paradise and Hot Pursuit - with nothing in common with the original except the title. There are no challenges beyond racing (Speed Cameras are implemented totally differently), no environmental destruction to be used to throw off cops, no story, no reason to climb the ladder because most cars are available to you from the start (and the ones you "win" are far from worth it). Gamers giving this good reviews clearly never played the original or a fans of Criterion's other games (which I am not). I really was hoping for a clean re-do of NFS: MW with all the features that made the original amazing still intact. Far from it. Very disappointed - should have re-installed Hot Pursuit instead.… Expand
  93. dimeruff
    Nov 12, 2012
    0
    Remember Need for Speed: The Run? The new Most Wanted makes that god awful game look awesome in comparison. It hasn't inherited any features from the original Most Wanted that made that game outstanding. The gameplay is simply frustrating. The only good thing about this game is gorgeous graphics, but they managed to screw up even that for PC users. My rig is i5-3750, Geforce 680 GTX, 16GBRemember Need for Speed: The Run? The new Most Wanted makes that god awful game look awesome in comparison. It hasn't inherited any features from the original Most Wanted that made that game outstanding. The gameplay is simply frustrating. The only good thing about this game is gorgeous graphics, but they managed to screw up even that for PC users. My rig is i5-3750, Geforce 680 GTX, 16GB Ram and I'm only getting 20-40 fps most of the time.

    Anyway, Criterion has ruined a great racing game.    … Expand
  94. Mad0ne
    Nov 11, 2012
    1
    Console port! Not much options to set graphics. I see somewhat anti-alias.. but maybe it's just me? It's still rough looking and no option to change AA.

    Gameplay is terrible, 250 kmg drifting on wet asphalt through 90+ degree corners is just ridiculous. It's so bad that I dont have words for it. Collision and everything physics related is stuper bad.

    Waste of money!
  95. mikeandike
    Nov 10, 2012
    6
    The whole "easy ride" system is a great testament to the dangers of texting while driving. Well done, EA.

    As a visual piece, this game is one of the best racers I have played. Aside from that, it doesn't have much going for it. Repetitive races, lack of game progression paired with slow and clunky controls make this latest Need for Speed game weaker than its Most Wanted predecessor. The    The whole "easy ride" system is a great testament to the dangers of texting while driving. Well done, EA.

    As a visual piece, this game is one of the best racers I have played. Aside from that, it doesn't have much going for it. Repetitive races, lack of game progression paired with slow and clunky controls make this latest Need for Speed game weaker than its Most Wanted predecessor. The visuals in this game are spectacular. You can really tell the time that went into crafting the Cinema 4D cinematics that you see when encountering each most wanted vehicle. Some of the in-game cinematics are quite nice too. At times the HUD can be extremely intrusive, especially during the target speed races when concentration is key. I could go on about how all the cars but 10 are handed to you right off the bat, or about how unresponsive the controls are, especially when you're moving at 300km/h however you can simply read the other user reviews to find out the weak aspects of this game.    … Expand
  96. Stefarooh
    Nov 10, 2012
    9
    With all these whingers and whiners on this board proclaiming this to be the worst NFS tile yet you have to ask yourself did they even bother giving the game a chance before hopping on the flaming bandwagon. To say this is worse than NFS Undercover is a HUGE joke. Seriously??? In this day and age where every one is a throw away critic how can you possibly take anyone seriously afterWith all these whingers and whiners on this board proclaiming this to be the worst NFS tile yet you have to ask yourself did they even bother giving the game a chance before hopping on the flaming bandwagon. To say this is worse than NFS Undercover is a HUGE joke. Seriously??? In this day and age where every one is a throw away critic how can you possibly take anyone seriously after reading through the 0's and 1's and the extreme 10's. People if you are going to do a review remember to judge a game on the sum of its parts, to be objective and to leave emotion by the door. Its getting slightly ridiculous of late with the Jabber-wokkies jumping up and down handing out 0's and 1's because they never got what they wanted and on the other side those nut-jobs who proclaim certain games to be the best thing "EVA" after spending the total sum of no more than a 1-2 hrs with the game. Three of the years biggest titles (Diablo 3, Mass Effect 3 and now Need for Speed: Most Wanted) all suffered the same fate and none of them were bad by any standard, all being highly polished affairs and standing out amongst their respective genre peers. However, I am sensing I am starting to bring my own emotions into this review, so let me stop right there before I become a caricature of what I am protesting against.

    As for the game, I do agree the game is not optimized very well for the PC but it certainly does not make it unplayable and this is not the very worst port ever (sorry that goes to Dark Souls). In fact the developers have given PC gamers the stock standard options to mess about with when some don't even try and have provided a high definition texture pack. Is this what is considered bad now days? Man oh man how quick we seem to have forgotten the PC port of the excellent Resident Evil 4. With regards to the engine optimization, for those who bothered to fiddle around with the .ini file would have seen 30FPS=false line right at the top of their file and that by simply locking the game to 30FPS (I agree not ideal but hardly earth shattering in a game of this nature as the game still plays fast and furious) most of your stutters and FPS drops would have disappeared. Don't be afraid to experiment a bit after making a copy of the original as this has always been the joy of PC gaming and to see so many not even bother is saddening. Perhaps its because I am an old time gamer and in those good old days a lot of fidgeting and fiddling needed to take place inside those config files in order to get the desired result. Currently I run the game on a GT70 i7-3610QM with a GTX675M GPU and 16GB RAM with the frame rate lock and everything on HIGH and it plays fluidly and beautifully. Whilst I agree some of the more aging hardware out there may require you to fiddle around a bit more with the settings. Just off the bat the game is going to need some serious upper mid-level to high end tech if you are hoping to reach the 60FPS when the patch that address the engine optimizations is released (if its released at all).

    As for the handling, it took me some time to master and at first I simply hated it but a little time and patience was all I needed before I began to get the hang of it and the further you progress the more mods you unlock for your car which in turn makes the cars handle way much better than those first few frustrating hours. Personally I preferred The Runs handling but the game is certainly not unplayable as some have proclaimed. The graphics, for my humble eyes, are a scorcher and the game is simply stunning to look at on a high definition TV with the high definition pack enabled. Particle effects such as falling debris, smoke and the clash of metal on metal as sparks fly as is the reflections of the city on the bonnet and boot of your car as you whizz on by are also accurately portrayed and add to the height-end sense of Michael Bay reality that accompanies these arcade racers of the modern era. I have enjoyed this game on a graphical level immensely.

    Game-play is a lot like if Hot Pursuit and Burnout Paradise got together and had a bastard child. Initially I was not so sure how I was going to enjoy this but after having spent a good 30hrs with the game before commencing with this review in the end I feel the developers made the right choices. I did not mind the mechanics of having to search for new your wheels rather then getting them dished out to you as your skill level increased. I thought this was quite refreshing and a modern take giving everyone access to the more powerful vehicles off the bat instead of having to put in some serious time to earn them. But again this is hardly something that would warrant a 0 or a 1 for a score and is simply subjective. All in all NFS:MW 2012 is the most fun I have had with an arcade racer this generation, edging out Hot Pursuit and the original NFS:MW from 2005. I can see many hours should lost to this and the awesome muliplayer. Well done Criterion!    … Expand
  97. Shrutesh
    Nov 9, 2012
    4
    Ok so I have genuinely tried to like this game... but cant play more now (3 hours in total).. summarizing

    THE GOOD: A big world, decent graphics, high poly cars, clearly some effort made for the PC version (AO, HD textures, etc) THE BAD: HANDLING: Its totally not fun, you will be ramming into stuff every 30 sec or so; and unlike other arcade racers, here every ram is a 3 second crash    Ok so I have genuinely tried to like this game... but cant play more now (3 hours in total).. summarizing

    THE GOOD: A big world, decent graphics, high poly cars, clearly some effort made for the PC version (AO, HD textures, etc)

    THE BAD: HANDLING: Its totally not fun, you will be ramming into stuff every 30 sec or so; and unlike other arcade racers, here every ram is a 3 second crash cam; feels like the game is constantly penalizing you for traffic/obstacles you just can't avoid.

    NO CUSTOMIZATION: No need to buy cars or customize them, basically means there isn't a purpose to your racing, in fact you cant even choose the color of your car. RACE STRUCTURE: You can only play 5 races with each car. You like the Ford GT? Well you can free roam in it, or replay those 5 races, gawd so many options!

    NOT A SINGLE PLAYER GAME: Bottomline, this is not a single player game; just the fact that the game can be played in SP doesn't make it one. It should have been advertised as such.

    CONCLUSION: This is neither Burnout nor NFS, something in between that just doesn't make the grade. Buy only if you are a MP player and don't care about SP.

    Sadly for me this is the death of a beloved series, its been all downhill from U2/Most Wanted; and NFS just doesn't have a soul left anymore.    … Expand
  98. mkkillah
    Nov 9, 2012
    9
    GOOD: -graphics. -map. -multiplayer. -sound of engine is satisfying (try Lamborghini gallardo :O+high volume). -sound reverberation really nice -lots of cars. -GPS works really well. -ramming and fleeing the cops is really enjoyable -5.1/7.1 sound support.............. BAD: -crash cam (beginning). -cars are easy to unlock. -under 40 fps handling is strange and unnatural (read above:GOOD: -graphics. -map. -multiplayer. -sound of engine is satisfying (try Lamborghini gallardo :O+high volume). -sound reverberation really nice -lots of cars. -GPS works really well. -ramming and fleeing the cops is really enjoyable -5.1/7.1 sound support.............. BAD: -crash cam (beginning). -cars are easy to unlock. -under 40 fps handling is strange and unnatural (read above: WARNING). -there is not a BIG difference in handling.............. NOT SURE: -soundtrack (everyone that says it sucks isn't being objective you can only really say that once you know all the songs by heart and put a lot of hours in the game). -maybe performance BUT it is Frostbite 2 engine (like BF3) so it should be hard on your pc. -I think it would've been nicer to have a tougher woman's voice in-game but this is personal preference. -handling feel is really bad under 40-50fps make SURE you run on 40-50fps at least… Expand
  99. ericnpc
    Nov 7, 2012
    10
    I really don't understand how anybody could hate this game. Yes, it's obvious that it's a port. But, is that a big issue? I mean, in my computer (which is quite old) it's fast as hell. The graphics are super optimized and the gameplay deserves an award. The HUI is perfect, the car selection is awesome, the soundtrack is so various and excellent. One of the top NFS games for me. It has thatI really don't understand how anybody could hate this game. Yes, it's obvious that it's a port. But, is that a big issue? I mean, in my computer (which is quite old) it's fast as hell. The graphics are super optimized and the gameplay deserves an award. The HUI is perfect, the car selection is awesome, the soundtrack is so various and excellent. One of the top NFS games for me. It has that arcade and fun touch that was necessary! I Just love it.… Expand
  100. Jintoss
    Nov 7, 2012
    4
    Gorgeous, poorly thought out, and badly optimized for PC. Cars handle like they are driving flat out even at low speeds. Success in the 'speed run' (maintain average speed) are purely determined by lucky traffic conditions. 'Quick Drive' mechanic allows you to switch upgrades (basically various perks for cars, not really upgrades) but requires you to drive to each event - seriouslyGorgeous, poorly thought out, and badly optimized for PC. Cars handle like they are driving flat out even at low speeds. Success in the 'speed run' (maintain average speed) are purely determined by lucky traffic conditions. 'Quick Drive' mechanic allows you to switch upgrades (basically various perks for cars, not really upgrades) but requires you to drive to each event - seriously questionable logic here. Menus load painfully slow and aren't skippable - you will wait 10 seconds after each race attempt at the same menu animations; it will feel like torture. You will have to drive very defensively, as once you've committed to a turn, a random car coming out of a turn will ruin your day.

    Some interesting design concepts, but in the end don't compliment each other. The result is a gorgeous, uninteresting, and frustrating mess that you wish was more fun.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

63
#63 Best PC Game of 2012
28
#28 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
22
#22 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Nov 30, 2012
    60
    Just pick one of the beautiful cars, hop in and drive. But do not want anything else. NFS: Most Wanted is average fun for all car lovers. [Dec 2012]
  2. CD-Action
    Nov 29, 2012
    70
    Most Wanted works best when you treat it like mobile games – switch it on for 15 minutes, do a random race with a random car and then turn it off. It's a good arcade racing title closely resembling Burnout: Paradise but it's not exceptional. [CD-Action 13/2012, p.52]
  3. Worth Playing
    Nov 25, 2012
    92
    Most Wanted's biggest strength is that it feels like a cohesive whole, rather than some amalgamation of a reboot tacked on to another game's engine. The gameplay emphasizes as little downtime as possible, which is a good thing as it's an absolute blast whether or not cops are involved. It's not a reboot as much as it is a reimagining of the original game, taking the bits that worked and wrapping them in a completely new package. Surprisingly enough, it does so in a way that works, and the new Most Wanted ranks up there with the original.
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