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
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. BestNoob
    May 7, 2020
    0
    Absolute garbage, trash just advertising no racing game. With bugs and no fun.
  6. 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
  7. Benden
    Dec 17, 2021
    4
    Bad game. Played the 2005 one and I loved it.
    Got this one for free and I'm disappointed : I confirm it sucks.
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. 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.
  11. 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
  12. Tomle1202
    Nov 4, 2019
    8
    Need for Speed: Most Wanted offers exhilarating rides through crowded urban landscapes decorated by chaos and destruction, albeit a number of frustrating gameplay elements and some underwhelming PC supports.
  13. mivaras
    Jan 10, 2021
    0
    Repetitive,simplistic ,good graphics and sound, good music but this isnt a NFS and nothing like the old Most wanted. What a waste of time...
  14. TsukasaHiiragi
    Apr 22, 2017
    4
    Great graphics, horrible gameplay. The cars all feel rigid with the handling, stock brakes are god awful that essentially the handbrake is the only method that works and not to mention there is npc cars for you to crash in, seeming on every street corner just waiting for you so they can drive in front of you.

    Just not a good entry for this franchise, avoid it to be honest.
  15. dimike
    Jan 10, 2021
    6
    Graphics - ok
    Handling - bad
    Music - ok
    story - awful
    gameplay - bad
    motivation - 0
  16. 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.
  17. jacob_lukas
    Sep 1, 2017
    2
    This game is a bad joke. Gameplay is so awful and unpleasant, most of the time you can't see anything in front of you, bc of those tooons of flares, sun rays, blinding lights and other "artistic graphic enhancements" , also police chases are nightmare, they're worst than japanese kamikaze. Being taken down for the 10th time in 5 minutes is defienetly not fun. Not to mention these "fixed"This game is a bad joke. Gameplay is so awful and unpleasant, most of the time you can't see anything in front of you, bc of those tooons of flares, sun rays, blinding lights and other "artistic graphic enhancements" , also police chases are nightmare, they're worst than japanese kamikaze. Being taken down for the 10th time in 5 minutes is defienetly not fun. Not to mention these "fixed" races where your opponents most of the time stay only a second behind you no matter how flawless and fast you're driving. NFS:MW2012 is a dissapointment. EA and Criterion... shame... >:(… Expand
  18. CheeseLord
    Jun 3, 2017
    0
    Absolutely terrible. It's bad, very bad.
    The game feels like a rehash of burnout, the game gets boring already, i found myself uninstalling once i challenged the first blacklist member, physics are god awful, you will end up crashing into something all the time, ai racers care more about bumping into you rather than winning the race, no body customization of cars, and the worst part of it    Absolutely terrible. It's bad, very bad.
    The game feels like a rehash of burnout, the game gets boring already, i found myself uninstalling once i challenged the first blacklist member, physics are god awful, you will end up crashing into something all the time, ai racers care more about bumping into you rather than winning the race, no body customization of cars, and the worst part of it all is having MOST WANTED on the title making you feel that its a reboot of 2005's title of the same name    … Expand
  19. Critical-Hit
    Jan 20, 2018
    0
    Need For Speed: Demolition Debry
    Enjoy another piece of NFS sh*t. No skill required, console handling included.
    Enjoy our Burnout Paradise rip off with same graphics, mechanics, but different cars. So earn some points by crushing your opponents into walls, because that's what racing is about. So you say, you have never played a mobile game on PC? Now you have the chance. We're offering    Need For Speed: Demolition Debry
    Enjoy another piece of NFS sh*t. No skill required, console handling included.
    Enjoy our Burnout Paradise rip off with same graphics, mechanics, but different cars. So earn some points by crushing your opponents into walls, because that's what racing is about.
    So you say, you have never played a mobile game on PC? Now you have the chance. We're offering you this piece of junk, but don't worry this one is different, not like the others. You say, you trust us? Lol, you'll never learn. But wait, next year it will be different...RPG NFS or NFS FPS, we'll see.    … Expand
  20. mitsosgk22
    Apr 28, 2017
    0
    Okay, let's begin with the graphics options on the pc: Absolute garbage! The controls? What about the controls? They're terrible! The driving? Even worse! This game is a nightmare! Don't even think to buy it. I got it free from Origin. I regret of downloading it.
  21. xlastovi
    Feb 25, 2017
    3
    I played the game for less than an hour and I am not going to play it anymore. The only good things about this game:
    - I got it for free
    - imho the graphics is very good, at least how cars look But that is all. Rest is garbage. Game felt like a destruction derby, not like car racing. - no cockpit view. I could not manage to drive fast without frequent crashing. - cars don't accelerate    I played the game for less than an hour and I am not going to play it anymore. The only good things about this game:
    - I got it for free
    - imho the graphics is very good, at least how cars look
    But that is all. Rest is garbage. Game felt like a destruction derby, not like car racing.
    - no cockpit view. I could not manage to drive fast without frequent crashing.
    - cars don't accelerate unless you push gas to almost 100%
    - you drive a Lambo and then police with an ordinary car speeds past you like a lightning
    - suicidal police crashing into you    … Expand
  22. mahirhasan37
    Sep 19, 2016
    9
    NFS Most Wanted is a great racing game with beautiful graphics and easy to follow campaign . It made me big fan of racing games due to its interactive game play.THIS REVIEW IS ONLY ABOUT OFFLINE SINGLE PLAYER NOT MULTIPLAYER
  23. Addicted-ox
    Dec 2, 2016
    0
    Самая сраная гонка евар. Я люблю симуляторы, как бы умею рулить, но в этой игре на !!! первых гонках я плетусь в хвосте не врезавшись ни разу , бля это пиздец, это полный пиздец. Это разработчики великой Бёрнаут 3, что случислось?!Мусора, в жизни, так не бесят, как в этой игре! Даже если захотеть, я такое гвоно, бы не сделал, графика классная при этом. АААА уроды!Самая сраная гонка евар. Я люблю симуляторы, как бы умею рулить, но в этой игре на !!! первых гонках я плетусь в хвосте не врезавшись ни разу , бля это пиздец, это полный пиздец. Это разработчики великой Бёрнаут 3, что случислось?!Мусора, в жизни, так не бесят, как в этой игре! Даже если захотеть, я такое гвоно, бы не сделал, графика классная при этом. АААА уроды!
  24. LotusTeaDragon
    Jan 30, 2017
    2
    I love the NFS games, and have since the very first Need For Speed title was released. Through the years, they've had hits and misses, but I've still enjoyed each game in one form or another. What happened here? What went wrong with Need For Speed: Most Wanted? The PC ports were always decent (at least for me), but this port seems to have no consideration for anyone who plans on using aI love the NFS games, and have since the very first Need For Speed title was released. Through the years, they've had hits and misses, but I've still enjoyed each game in one form or another. What happened here? What went wrong with Need For Speed: Most Wanted? The PC ports were always decent (at least for me), but this port seems to have no consideration for anyone who plans on using a keyboard instead of a gamepad.

    When the game starts, I'm already in control of the car. Unfortunately, at no point am I told which buttons give me the ability to steer, accelerate or slow down, and the first thing I do is slam into a guardrail. At this point, you might think the game will tell me "Oh, you have to press "A" to accelerate, "Z" to slow down, and the arrow keys to steer," but instead it just lets me crash into the railing, other cars, and everything until I finally find those controls do what I need to do.

    There is no use of a mouse for camera movement. So even if you remap the keys to the traditional WASD keys, you won't have much to do with your right hand save for the occasional button press, because there is no mouse involvement whatsoever. None. For a computer game, that is a waste of control options.

    The visuals look great, but I don't have time to enjoy them. Cops appear out of nowhere and suddenly I'm "busted". "Oops! Better outrun the police next time!" the game tells me, but I didn't get the chance, because the cop car appeared *out of nowhere* right behind me.

    The gameplay is a joke. I want to know who gave the AI a transporter, because one minute I'm 10 car lengths ahead, the next second my opponent has passed me and is crossing the finish line. I need that ability! Amazing! *sigh*

    I am so disappointed in this game. I wanted to love it so much, but for me it fails on nearly every level. I honestly don't feel like playing it, as it doesn't feel like a game, but is, instead, a Sisyphean task that makes me regret every buying the game.    … Expand
  25. BLK99
    Aug 31, 2017
    8
    Un juego divertido sin ningun objetivo prefijado, libertad plena en realizar las actividades como se venga en gana, lo que si falta es contenido, carros, desafios, se siente vacio una vez que se terminan los retos.

    Aunque los juegos arcade de coches cada vez son mas sosos y los que destacan no continuan, como es el caso de blur, born out paradise o split second.
  26. zw1ck
    Dec 16, 2017
    3
    Its a pretty game and the one race I was able to do was fun. But, after that first race I started getting chased by the police. I then spent three hours running from the police. Police who could pass a Bugatti at 180mph like it was sitting still. even when I did lose them they would find me before the five minute cooldown was over and I would be back at it again. Running from the cops isIts a pretty game and the one race I was able to do was fun. But, after that first race I started getting chased by the police. I then spent three hours running from the police. Police who could pass a Bugatti at 180mph like it was sitting still. even when I did lose them they would find me before the five minute cooldown was over and I would be back at it again. Running from the cops is fun and all but it needs to be possible to actually win! Getting chased by the cops for so long only to lose because cops were literally falling from the sky and getting nothing makes this game unplayable and awful. **** this game, the original was better in every way except graphically and even that is close.… Expand
  27. MestreDosMagos
    Apr 19, 2017
    0
    This game is such a big disappointment. How someone can even imagine a NFS game WITHOUT car customization? Only Criterion of course. It's so hard to imagine NFS car only with paint changing, but here we are.
  28. risingpheonix
    Jul 3, 2017
    8
    it doesn't feel like a need for speed game ... but it was fun ... though some might feel this game is not at all good ... they are just perceiving it as a nfs game ... which it is not
  29. Desuroku
    Jun 19, 2017
    0
    If you didn't play the original game released in 2005 you wouldn't understand that this game is missing 4/5 of the features that the original had in its spiritual successor many years ago. No customisation apart from 'driving into a station from one end and coming out a different colour out the other'. No progression in single player you can only unlock cars simply by finding them. that'sIf you didn't play the original game released in 2005 you wouldn't understand that this game is missing 4/5 of the features that the original had in its spiritual successor many years ago. No customisation apart from 'driving into a station from one end and coming out a different colour out the other'. No progression in single player you can only unlock cars simply by finding them. that's not fun. No story mode, a disappointing soundtrack and the city is lifeless.… Expand
  30. altmind
    Aug 21, 2017
    0
    Straight off the bat you are thrown into the city without explaining who are you, what you want, what you strive for and how you going to achieve that. The controls are ridiculous(why you decided A should be accelerate, have you heard of WASD?) Cars feels like you are driving rocket-propelled tank, it takes nothing to accelerate, but all the vehicle controls lag a full second.
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

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.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »