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"Need for Speed: Most Wanted" (NFS:MW) is a multiplatform racing video game, developed by EA Black Box and first released by Electronic Arts for the United States on 15 November 2005. It is part of the Need for Speed series of games. The game reintroduces police chases into a large body of the game's street racing-oriented gameplay, with certain (but not all) customization options from the Need for Speed: Underground series. It is possible that this game is somehow linked to Need For Speed: Underground 2 due to the fact that the word "Bayview" was mentioned in the game. The game is also succeded by Need for Speed: Carbon, which serves as a sequel to Most Wanted.
"Most Wanted" has been released for Windows-based personal computers, the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, Xbox 360 (as a launch title), Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and mobile phones. Another version of Most Wanted, titled Need for Speed: Most Wanted: 5-1-0 has been released for the PlayStation Portable.
"Black Edition", a collector's edition of Most Wanted, was released in celebration of the Need for Speed series' tenth anniversary and in conjunction with the release of Most Wanted. The Black Edition features additional races, bonus cars and other additional content. The Black Edition also comes with a special feature DVD that contains interviews and videos about the game. The Black Edition was released for both the PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox in the United States and Australia; only the PlayStation 2 version of Black Edition was released additionally for Europe. The Black Edition was also released in many major Asian countries for all platforms.
"Most Wanted", like other Need for Speed games, is essentially a driving and racing game, where the player selects one car to reach a destination or race. Police chases have once again been integrated into certain racing sessions, in which the police employ vehicles and tactics to either slow down or halt the player's car. As players take control of faster cars and increasingly rely on nitrous oxide speed boosts (the oxide meter now reloads automatically, for the first time since its introduction in Underground), driving sequences become fast-pace and intense, similar to the Burnout series.
Three distinct regions are offered in the city of Rockport, along with cycling weather. There is no racing in the night, all the action is done between sunrise and sunset. A Grand Theft Auto-like free roam mode is still provided like Need for Speed: Underground 2, but is still limited to Career mode, as well as pursuit-based events in other modes. Most Wanted continues to avoid the use of major vehicle damages on all racing models, as it has been with the Underground series, with only scratched paint and heavily cracked (but not shattered) windscreens comprising the whole of the racers' damage modeling. Police cars, however, are subjectable to extreme physical body damages, and immobilization if they flip over or have been heavily damaged by "pursuit breakers" (see pursuit system) or the player's car.
As in the preceding Underground installments, the performance and physical appearance of the player's car could be extensively modified, but options for exterior modifications have been simplified to only the essentials, with specific parts (i.e. individual bumpers, side skirts, lights and exhaust pipes) foregone, and are primarily used as methods of decreasing the car's wanted level, compared to increasing a car's "reputation rating" in the Underground games. Additionally, players are allowed to assume a sleeper appearance for cars without penalty in Most Wanted.
Online play is included with what is described as a "similar feature set to Underground 2" though this time, world-wide play is included with no conflict between the North American and European versions. Prior to the release of Most Wanted, a decision was made not to include online play for the PlayStation 2 version (including the Black Edition, despite fan requests). It is speculated that EA Games had dropped the PlayStation 2's online services in favor of Xbox Live for the Xbox and Xbox 360. However, the PlayStation Portable version of the game would support this feature. Both the PlayStation 2 versions of Underground and Underground 2 had previously included online play. EA has quit support to the PC version of the game very early from its release, even with the community asking for another patch to fix lasting bugs, the latest patch for the PC version (1.3) was released on December 6, 2005.
Cars included in Most Wanted can be categorized into 3 distinct types, including "Euro imports" and Asian (mostly Japanese) import tuners cars, (mostly European) exotic cars and American muscle cars. The Black Edition of Most Wanted also includes a standard BMW E46 (M3 GTR V8) (although in career in the standard version, you may customize the awarde BMW) and a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, along with an array of specially tuned and customized versions of stock models from the standard edition of Most Wanted, such as the Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG, the Porsche 911 GT2 and the Chevrolet Corvette C6.R.
The customized BMW M3 GTR V8 featured prominently in the game and its cover art was also recreated in real-life by the SPEED Channel television program Tuner Transformation using a 2-door coupé BMW 330Ci upgraded with M3 GTR performance parts, as well as customized vinyls and body parts to the likeness of the in-game car. The finished car vaguely resembles the in game M3 GTR. Wikipedia |
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