Need for Speed: Most Wanted

Multiplayer

Multiplayer over Xbox live is a definite failure. It is clear that little work went into this portion of the title, and it shows. Most Wanted over Xbox Live is strictly about races without any cops - quite a downer there. It is strictly racing and nothing else. This online segment of the game offers you sprint, circuit and drag modes up to only four players, that’s right - just four players. It is quite clear that EA overlooked this component of the game, which was a very poor decision as an online mode with even AI cops would have really extended the life of this title by a great deal. The service keeps a blacklist of all the top racers too, so you can see who the best driver is over Live, but it is essentially a leaderboard and nothing else.

You have the ability to play in ranked and unranked games but I could hardly find a single player online at the time and who can blame them? The fact remains that without any police involvement, and four player action this title’s lifespan online is severely hampered.

Conclusion

I was left quite surprised by Most Wanted on the 360. I expected it to be a direct PC port and to some extent, it definitely feels that way but there are some small differences that set it apart. Mainly the HDR graphical element and the fact that the AI is a lot less forgiving then the OTT PC version which was quite sad.

If you are after a ‘quick’ 1000 gamerpoints (like me) then you will be annoyed to learn that you will not get them here. I rushed through this title, but it still took me a solid week with 2hrs a day being dedicated to it before I could reach and defeat Razor. I had a great laugh playing the game though, because the police are not too harsh, and getting into chases with them can be quite a good laugh.

The best moments of this title involve police chases and little else, forget about the daft storyline, the pointless FMV and just check this title out for the fun police chases. Nothing stands out in this title aside from the chases and only that.

Rating 8.5/10

Pro’s: 

  • Great heated police chases
  • Lots of customisable cars
  • Great visual HDR effects
  • Good arcade like car handling
  • Top notch audio
  • Varied race modes
  • Err…Mia :P

Con’s: 

  • Glitchy police AI is still present
  • Boring, if non existent storyline
  • Poor Xbox Live implementation
  • Blacklist challenge requirements are repetitive
  • Not enough Mia :P

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