Need For Speed : Most Wanted - A Criterion game

 


 Most Wanted is Back ...When I heard this at first last year  , I was like " Please god , dont mess up the series name ". When the first sneak peak Trailer was released my interest was piqued. The first trailer made me to wonder ' Can it be good as they show ? ...' ...E3 demo Gameplay was ablsolutely breadth taking that I  thought I was wrong and hasty to jump to the worst conclusion . OMG , Awesome , Excellent were the words that were coming out of my mouth . Especially the gameplay where they use the Reinflatable tires after your car runs over the spikes , I was literally jumping up and down on my chair.

Oct 30th the game was released , As soon I grabbed the copy I was so excited that I was finally going to be playing the game . Hell !! I even thought of bunking office next day . Game opened with a un-skippable video that you had to watch , and I was like ' wait a sec...wat the ..' Because first thing you notice is that the there was no story mode in this . Most Wanted 2005 was most praised and made famous because of the story mode they introduced with the game.Well thats ok , lets see , I thought . Car controls were a little bzzzzzzz , I dont know ..It felt some what different . But chill every game has its won set of unique controls that one must master before  he starts blasting the game .

So I started the first race and the first thing you notice about the game is the breadth taking attention they have give to the imaginary city of " Fairheaven". I was like ' huh not bad ', When suddenly I realised ,WHOA were is the track ??? i Was way out of the track and at the last position in the game . Thats right . Forgot to mention . This is a sandbox style game , so there are no racing lines to guide you to make a turn . You just have to get through checkpoints as fast as you can without getting smashed. I mean literally there are no check points . You just have only your map to guide you to make the turns . Well that was really challenging while playing Sprint races .


The crashes were quite cool and WOWWW to look at initially . But as you progress through the game you will be like ' ya ok , i get it, i crashed , get me back to the game quickly ' and finally pushes you over the edge .And believe me they can be really frustrating like hell . Especially when the cops are on your trail . You will be fast moving through the city in order to get away out of the pursuit circle , all it takes is one sec  for your eye to track the map to see if you have gone out of the circle. But hell tats all it takes to crash into a freaking barrier in the middle of the road or the side wall which have projections which can atleast stop you from top speed to 0 within seconds. And by the time the crash simulation ends the Police will be right on your asses and all the lead you have worked to get will be gone in a jiffy.

Easy Drive :: 

Like the autolog which was introduced by Criterion , this is another new thing which has been introduced here . Its like accessing a PDA to get ur objectives. Its just there on the top left corner blinking if it has got anything new . You can customize the car on the fly while driving , jump to different races , or mark the destination for a race , connect to autolog for your friends , check out the most wanted Racers and their criteria to race against them. Quite cool. It adds up the advantage of playing a real Open world Sandbox style gameplay :D .Hats off to Criterion for this feature . It really has to be appreciated.

Ok coming to races . You have the usual Sprint , Speed Run ( Speed Trap), Circuit Races , Ambush ( Lose the cops withing 2 minutes ) .You have a beautiful collection of cars from the beginning . No need to battle racers in order to get possession of their cars. (Well there goes the challenge right out of the window) . I mean think about it . If you have an option to drive a Lamborghini or a Range Rover Evoque , What the hell will you ride . Of course you are going to opt for the better car .

Aerial 

Sprint Races are the best challenge one can get in this game . Becos 1. You don t know where the hell the route takes a 90 degree turn unless you keep a constant eye on your map . (like real world street races huh . Quite cool by the way ) 2. The Traffic is awful . I mean seriously these guys take out the exact position to bar your way just when you are in the lead , or making a beautiful drift turn around a U turn in the road or a blind corner . God they are cruel and most irritating stupid idiot ass&*#@@$* i can ever think of . But hey tats the challenge of riding in a city huh :D

Circuit races are like the second best . Just when you think you have mastered all the turns and are about to cross the finish line in the lead position , BAMM, another player hits you from behind and makes you go out of control and get crashed . F*#$@#  huh ;). and you have to play the Damn Race all over again..

Speed Run is exactly like Speed traps . You have to maintain an average speed while crossing the checkpoints in order to emerge victorious within 90 sec.Believe me getting a first in this is no easy joke . Its hell.

Ambush :: Is exactly like the same where you have to escape the cops within two minutes to get a 1st and within 6 min to get a 2nd . There is no third here in this game . Even for other races.But what makes this difficult is to get away from these guys . Remember what  we used to do in the old series . Pursuit breakers . Hell yeah , I loved the police chases where you can lead a pack of cops and if you time it right , can take down the whole pack with single breaker .awww ! heaven :D . But Noooo , this is 2012 not 2005 . So remove them . It makes them too easy must have been the thought of Criterion developers when they thought of creating this race.It sure does make it one hell of a ride in order to escape from them . You need to know the city if you want to escape from them easily . Because all you can do is to find all the Off Road areas like sewer , construction sites etc.. and hide, praying like crazy when you enter cool-down, that you are not spotted  . When you enter repair shops while entering cool down can also help you to escape the pursuit easily .

Cool down spots are pretty hard top find in this game and unlike the old game they don't pop up in the maps once you have entered cool-down . You have to find these spots in free roam first in order for them to pop up in your maps .Quite innovative another perk to make the game difficult .

Cops in this game are pretty easy to take care of once you know how. They can be easily taken down with slams ( Shunt take-down, T-bone , slam .. ). Although hitting a cop who is right behind your ass may need some expertise . Because you don t have the speed breaker here which helps you in correcting your position while barging in on roadblocks or taking down a cop or escaping from SUV's coming straight at you from front .Cops have different levels , a tolal of six . Have power cars like Crown Victoria , dodge charger and SWAT TRUCK ..Hell yeah tats a new addition in this game  :D. One thing that was missing apart from the speed breaker was the Heli . I don t know why the hell they removed it . I mean the cover picture had it . But without the heli the chase is at a loss , dont u think. He sure knows how to create chaos and confusion and mist and obscure the road fully. Just when you are in the bridge of escaping that guy finds you or may drop a spike strip in front of you around a blind turn .I missed it  :(

Swat Truck -mean beasts with one helluva stopping power :)

Upgrades:: 

No need to fret like you did in NFS Pro street . Because as soon as you finish a race first or second and win a mod , the system will automatically ask you whether you want the mod to be applied to your car or not . And it also gives you a clear cut idea of which part the mod influences like Acceleration , Top Speed , Impact resistance , Chassis,control and handling etc . Again no need to freak . For amateurs If its just green while applying a mod then its fine , but if its red think before applying . No need to worry even if u did u can easily change it back to your previous one provided you remember it ;-) You have mods like

a) Off - Road Tyres : Gives you a better grip and control while driving your car off-road , that is while exploiting awesome shortcuts or while police chases


b) Reinflates : These are the best feature in this game that one can really appreciate . I mean I still remember how when you run over a spike strip in 2005 then, u will be busted for sure .Well here they have changed that , as soon as you run over a spike strip and all your tires are mince meat with sparks flying off from your Rims ( u still have a good control of your car , its just the speed tats low) you just open up the easy drive , customise car - -> Tires --> Reinflates and voila , you are up and running away from the cops again with ' ha , see ya bitches ;-)' . One of the best features in this game that i enjoyed most :D..Although accessing easydrive while driving can be pretty tricky and may need some time to get used to.

Most Wanted Racers ::

This guys surely do require a mention. I mean talent wise these guys are not that good . its just that they have good cars which have superb control and top speeds than us . Even we have it too . Only advantage is that they are clumsy as us too. I mean they don t really pose that much of a threat at all while racing . You have got only one race against them  , Sprint. And depending upon the number in the most wanted list the heat level may vary .You can easily beat up these guys , provided that you don t get smashed up more than 3 to 4 times. Whenever you smash , the other guy just waits for us to catch up to him :P. I mean its really funny as hell to look . As soon you beat him in the race , you just need to take down his car (which is not at all demanding like what they had in NFS Undercover ) . It would be over in a second :D Apart from the cars these guys are nothing , And even after beating them you just get the stock car of the one they had (minus the mods which they might have used). WTF ..Hell guess we just have to roll with the punches ...

The only thing that is worth mentioning are the intro videos that you get before you race each one of them . It s quite cool and different to look at .And the ones you get in some races are so silly that you end up laughing at them.

You have a beautiful collection of cars which can be found just scattered throughout the city . Here is a list of all the cars that can be found

Link:: http://nfs.wikia.com/wiki/Need_for_Speed:_Most_Wanted_(2012)/Vehicles

Every car has its own unique way of handling . You just need to master it in order to find control. Out of these I personally liked Superlight R500 and Ariel for its superb handling Mclaren F1 and Pagani Huyara for its speed and Concept model BAC Mono and Lamborghini Aventator for its looks .

watch out for the spikes- wat the hell , I have got reinflates :P

Hell , they could have just named it as another sequel to Burnout Paradise . You can find a lot of similar things between those two . I mean like the way you have to start a race by finding them first or tracing a destination path to them and then pressing accelerator and brake ( BURNOUT )at the same time. And the Repair shops which you just pass through for the car to come out all shiny and repaired with no amount of time lost . I mean that was useful in Burnout where it is nescessary for the car to be repaired if you want to make it to the finish line without getting totllaed . Here you use it only for changing the color of your car and to make it look shiny .

A look at 2008's Burnout Paradise

Even the sprint races feel the same . Paradise and Fairhaven may not look similar . But ultimately its the same streets and tight corners , with barricades and pillars right in the middle of the road for you to get smashed into.Only the take down races were missing in this . If it was there then it really would have been a burnout game .

A quick look at 2008's burnout .see for yourself

As far as I am concerned they never should have taken up the series for reboot . It can not even stand near the old version of Most Wanted . There is definitely no feel in this when you become the most wanted finally .I mean Its like ' ya ok I am No.1 , so wat now ' instead of ' hell ?Yeah !! .I am the most wanted ...F@#$ the Police :D' . 


So finally one can sum it up as

Pro's ::

1. Explore the Beautiful city of Fair Heaven with its tight corners and turns.
2. Mind blowing Graphics and real time car sounds and crashes.
3. Reinflates and easydrive .
4. Beautifully designed real world cars with awesome aerodynamics clearly depicted.
5.Only place where you can drive a Lamborghini or Bugatti and get it crashed without having a ounce of guilt :P

Cons ::

1.Repetitive races where you have to drive the same routes again and again with different cars and   opponents of the car's class.
2. No pursuit breakers which can make the pursuit hell to escape and no helicopters too.
3. Track music is awful and boring .
4.Easily beaten Most wanted Racers , no challenge at all .
5. Speed Points can be easily got by driving the same races again and again. no need to play endless amount of cop time to increase your bounty .(just 4 to 5 hrs you can finish the entire game )

So finally it all comes to this .Is this game a tribute to the best game of  2005 ? Has it held atleast 5% of the older game's Appeal . I would say that It definitively is not the case.

Most wanted : A Criterion Game should have been more Aptly named as Burnout : Fairhaven 


Rating :: 8.8/10

Regards
Ram