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
Page:

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

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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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