Need for Speed: Most Wanted

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Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Developer(s)	EA Black Box (PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, GC) EA Redwood Shores (Windows and PSP)
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Series	Need for Speed
Version	1.3 (December 6, 2005)
Platform(s)	Windows, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, PS2, Xbox, GCN, PSP, GBA, NDS, Mobile
Release date	PS2, XB, GC: USA November 15, 2005 PAL November 24, 2005 Xbox 360: USA November 22, 2005 PAL December 2, 2005 Mobile phone: USA December 21, 2005 PC and PSP USA December 21, 2005
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single player Multiplayer
Rating(s)	BBFC: PG CERO: B ESRB: T OFLC: G PEGI: 12+ PEGI: 11+ USK: 12+
Media	CD, DVD, UMD, GCN Game Disc, GBA Cartridge, NDS Game Card
System requirements	Windows Windows 2000/XP 1.4 GHz CPU 256 MB RAM 3 GB hard disk space, DirectX 9.0c compatible 32 MB graphics card with one of these chipsets Radeon 7500; Radeon Xpress 200; GeForce 2 MX; Intel 950; S3 GammaChrome S18 Pro DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Input methods	PC: Keyboard, Mouse, or USB Steering Wheel/Gamepad

Part of the final cutscene where the player escapes Rockport by jumping over a bridge under construction.

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. The game is also succeeded 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;^[1] only the PlayStation 2 version of Black Edition was released additionally for Europe.^[2][1]

[edit] Plot

The player arrives at Rockport City, fresh out of the underground racing world, with a heavily-tuned BMW M3 GTR. Following Mia Townsend (played by Josie Maran), the player proves his driving prowess as he is pursued by a veteran police officer named Cross, who vows to take down the player.^[3]

Races seems to be in the player's favor until a particular group of racers, led by the game's antagonist Clarence "Razor" Callahan, sabotage the player's car and seize the coveted BMW.^[4][5] Without a car to escape in, the player is arrested by Cross, but is later released due to lack of evidence.^[6] Mia picks up the player and then informs the player about Razor's new status on the Blacklist (a group of drivers most wanted by the Rockport Police Department). She then helps the player by assisting the player in acquiring a new car and working his way up the aforementioned Blacklist. Rivals are defeated one by one, warranting a sizable reputation and comparable rides with every Blacklist member taken down. She also sets up safehouses for the player to lie low in throughout Rockport as new boroughs are accessed, in exchange for placement of "side bets" on the player's races.

The final challenge for the #1 spot on the Blacklist pits the player in a race against Razor, with the player emerging as the victor, thus reclaiming the BMW. When Razor refuses to relinquish ownership of the car and attacks Mia after she confiscates the keys from Razor, she subdues him and in doing so she reveals herself to be an undercover police officer. Mia throws the keys to the player, and orders him to escape the incoming police force. Razor is taken into custody and the player is pursued by the entire Rockport Police Department under the command of Cross.^[7] The player manages to slip away from Cross and abandons Rockport City by launching the BMW over an old incomplete bridge that Mia points out to the player in a last phone call.^[8]

After the player's escape, Cross brings up the player's rap sheet and adds him to the National Most Wanted List. In addition to Razor, the entire Blacklist is arrested with the "help" of the player.^[9]

Need for Speed: Carbon's storyline acts as a sequel, set just after Most Wanted.

[edit] Cut scenes

The cut scenes in the game are presented in a significantly different style from the Underground series, with CGI effects (encompassing car exteriors and environments) mixed with live action. This presentation of cut scenes is used again in Carbon. However,on the PC version, if the player hacks the game so that they have a certain car when they should be driving a different one, (for example: the pursuit at the end), that car they shouldn't have will be in the cutscene.

[edit] Gameplay

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.

[edit] Modes

The game provides players with a selection of game modes, which include a combination of races and police chases. In Career mode, achieving goals by winning races and performing a number of actions, dubbed "Milestones", during police pursuits, as well as a minimum Bounty (see Pursuit system for details on Milestones and Bounties) are needed to advance in the storyline and race against any of the mode's 15 Blacklist racers. In the Xbox 360 version, the player is awarded with Achievement Points each time a Blacklist opponent is defeated. Career mode introduces a new feature - the ability to win a Blacklist opponent's car ("pink slip"), bonus functions (e.g. the ability to "Get Out of Jail Free"), extra cash or car parts and decors ("backroom parts"), after defeating the opponent in question. These come in the form of six markers - the rival's pink slip (which is concealed as a bonus marker), two bonus function markers, and three custom backroom parts markers of which there is a body part, visual upgrade, and performance marker (called a "Junkman Marker") that the player can select - of which the player can choose only two. New cars and parts are also unlocked as the player progresses through Career mode by beating Blacklist racers.

In addition to the Quick Race and Career modes, there is also a "Challenge" mode comprised of 68 progressively difficult challenges (69 in the Black Edition) where players are required to successfully complete Tollbooth races and pursuit challenges, such as tagging a number of police cars. The pre-tuned cars used in each Challenge is fixed, ranging from mostly Career cars with poor handling to traffic vehicles such as a cement truck or police cars. Additional bonus cars may be unlocked as the player progresses through Challenge mode.

In terms of actual variations of races, Most Wanted inherits several racing modes prevalent in its Underground predecessors. The game's four existing modes: Circuit races, point-to-point Sprint races, Lap Knockout races and Drag races, remain largely unchanged since the first iteration of Underground, while Drifting, Street X, Underground Racing League tournaments and Outrun racing are foregone. Meanwhile, Most Wanted see the introduction of two new racing variations, which places emphasis on speed. The first mode is known as "Tollbooth," where a player races alone to designated checkpoints (toll booths) along a point-to-point route before time runs out (similar to Time Attack modes in arcade-style racing games); the more time a player has as they reach a toll booth, the more time they have to arrive at the next one. The second mode, dubbed "Speedtrap," sees racers competing with each other to get the highest accumulated speed record at multiple traffic cameras. At a speed trap/traffic camera, players accelerate their car to aim for the highest possible speed. Accumulated speed is reduced over a period of time after an opponent crosses the finish line first.

[edit] Pursuit system

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The player's car (identified from a dial at the left as having achieved a fourth "Heat" level) is in pursuit by several undercover state police cars and a police helicopter in Free Roam mode. This screenshot also depicts the use of simulated (not actual) HDRR on the sunny sky and surface lighting.^[10]

Most Wanted features police pursuits in the game for the first time since Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2. In Career mode, police pursuits may occur during a race or during free roaming through the city, depending on the frequency of the police units in the area and the offenses players have committed. The player can initiate a pursuit immediately from the game's Safe House or menu by choosing an unfinished Milestone or a Bounty challenge. Pursuits can also be initiated by selecting an appropriate Challenge in Challenge mode. Traffic offenses committed by the player are known in game as Infractions.

The police pursuit system is significantly more complex than its previous Hot Pursuit incarnations. The manner in which the police handle a player is now determined by the "heat level" of the player's current car (although this has been similarly utilized in Hot Pursuit 2). Heat levels, which increase with the length of a police pursuit and the amount of damage caused by the player during the pursuit, add a twist to the pursuit. The higher the car's heat level, the more aggressive the police units are against the player, employing additional tactics and tools, such as roadblocks, spike strips, police helicopters and heavier and faster police cars. Over twenty police cars may be observed pursuing a single car under higher Heat levels (thirty police cars are pursuing the player's car in the final pursuit). There are five heat levels in the game (with a hidden sixth and seventh heat level at the end of Career mode and in the Black Edition respectively), three authoritative levels (Civic/Local, State, and Federal), and ten police vehicles.

Players will have to be careful in pursuits as attention-grabbing driving may prompt Cross to join the pursuit in a Chevrolet Corvette C6(.R) with customized paintwork.^[1]

In Career mode, pursuits are integrated into the game in such a way that it is necessary to challenge Blacklist racers. Completing "Milestones," which involves committing at least a specified amount of traffic offenses or pursuit lengths during a chase, and collecting an amount of "Bounty", a form of credit accumulated as players continue to evade the police or damage police units, are requirements. A car's Heat level may be reduced by changing the physical appearance of a car by changing body parts or paint color, an alternative to lowering the players heat is by using another purchased car with a lower heat level to race in the streets. Rap Sheets, with records such as the player's infractions, cost to state, deployed tactics and pursuit lengths, are also available for viewing by "hacking" into police records, and also includes the player's standing in each individual record against those of other Blacklist racers.

Players are provided with several additional features which are useful during pursuits. The Speedbreaker, provided within the driving interface, slows down time (similar to bullet time), momentarily adds weight to the player's car allowing it to become more difficult for other vehicles (especially police vehicles) to push around, and induces a drift. This allows the player a limited amount of time to quickly maneuver the car out of difficult situations, or assess an escape route through a road block or spike strip blockade.^[2] Another feature in Most Wanted are Pursuit Breakers, road-side objects which are designed to collapse when a player uses their car to knock down its support, either damaging or disabling following police cars (which can be visually seen in many cases). In one example, if a player smashes through a gas station, the roof of the station falls crushing unlucky police units following them.^[3] In addition, players are also required to ensure that they are not spotted again by the police shortly after evading all police units; a "Cooldown" period is required to be met before police units give up and cancel a perimeter search of the player's car. Cooldown spots, hiding spots where players may park in, are also scattered around the city in places like underground carparks, helping to shorten the Cooldown period and end pursuits quickly. However, certain hiding spots may still be exposed and may be discovered by searching police units.

While the game features police cars, including those in the form of Pontiac GTOs and Chevrolet Corvette C6s, Most Wanted does not allow players to play as a pursuing police in chases. However, players may drive several police cars in Challenge mode, but are solely used in checkpoint races and police pursuits, where the police are still pursuing the player.

customized Subaru

[edit] Car customization

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.

[edit] Online play

A decision was made not to include online play for the PlayStation 2 version (including the Black Edition, despite fan requests). This is due entirely to the tight schedule and lack of time to thoroughly test the online component. However, the PlayStation Portable version of the game would support this feature.^[11] 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.^[12]

[edit] Gamers

EA has been organizing various Tournaments and Championships globally. In which many big associates, mostly computer hardware manufacturers and video game console manufacturers like Microsoft ,AMD ,Intel ,Asus ,HP and Sony took part. These were done to sort out good gamers. EA has successfully found 150 gamers which are known as L1 or Volt class gamers

As currently Siddharth Agarwal of India is holding Global Champion for All Need For Speed Versions and Sports Games From 2007 and ranks #2 Worldwide after Jake Orland of Canada who is currently the over all World Champion, and the first in battle mode Games. The world Ranker #3 Ivon Suviziki of Tokyo is specialist for Strategy Games.

[edit] Graphics

The depiction between all of the versions graphics-wise are not much different. The PSP version (also known as Need for Speed: Most Wanted: 5-1-0, which is in this page) has a lower framerate as well as most other games, due to hardware restrictions. The PC version, of course, varies by hardware. The recommended hardware or above has a similar framerate to the PS2 and Xbox 360 version. Also it must be noted that game does a heavy use of the HDRR and motion blur effects to give a more realistic feel.

Promotional screenshot of Rockport's fall foliage of Most Wanted for the Xbox 360. Depicted here is a Porsche 911 Turbo S.

[edit] Soundtrack

As in other EA Black Box Need for Speed games, Most Wanted's soundtrack comprises a licensed selection of hip hop, rock, metalcore and electronica/techno music. Additionally, Paul Linford provided interactive scores for police pursuit sessions. The soundtrack listing is as followed:

Some of the police pursuit songs have been featured in recent commercials for Nissan and in ESPN's March Madness coverage.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Need for Speed: Most Wanted: 5-1-0

Need for Speed: Most Wanted: 5-1-0 is a PlayStation Portable port of Most Wanted, released on the same day as its console and personal computer counterparts. Similar to Most Wanted, Most Wanted: 5-1-0 features a similar Blacklist 15 listing and Career Mode, with the addition of "Tuner Takedown", a "Be The Cop" mode not featured on Most Wanted. Most Wanted: 5-1-0 lacks many elements of its other console and PC counterparts, like cut scenes, a storyline and a free roam mode, and contains minor differences (including listing the real name of a Blacklist racer rather than his/her nickname). The title of the game is based on the numerals "5-1-0", which is the police code for street racing.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• EA Redwood Shores
• Need for Speed Carbon - A sequel and is graphically similar to Most Wanted.

[edit] External links

• Officiālā Most Wanted mājaslapa
• Official Black Edition website
• Need for Speed: Most Wanted guide at StrategyWiki

[edit] French

• Need For Speed Belgique