Need for Speed: Most Wanted (PC)

Need for Speed: Most Wanted (PC)

Avinash Bali, Dec 10, 2005 1816 hrs IST

MW stays true to the hip-hop-bling-bling tuner culture with police chases and exotic cars.

Purposeful free roaming, Fast, furious and thrilling car chases, Sense of speed, Sounds as good as it looks, Impressive car line up.

Difficulty level is suddenly spiked up halfway through the game, Cheesy voice acting, Modding has been toned down quite a bit, Drag races tend to get boring, Not enough Josie Maron.

Expert Rating :

Expert Review

The only way to get the cops of your tail is to lose them momentarily and then quickly enter various hiding spots spread all around Rockport. This is called Cooldown, and these spots speed up the process. It may sound simple on paper but once you have the entire force coming after you with helicopters that follow your every move notifying nearby units of your location, modified cop cars that try to box you in, Rhinos (SUVs) that'll ram you head on in order to stop you, it gets tougher by the minute. As your wanted level increases you'll have even more roadblocks and spike strips waiting for you all around the place. Avoiding them towards the end of the game gets a bit tough, but it is still an adrenaline rush. Trust me, there's nothing more satisfying than ramming your ride through a police roadblock to watch cop cars get decimated in slow motion. Spike strips on the other hand should be avoided like the plague as they'll burst out all your tires rendering you completely useless. Once you're busted, you'll be treated to a small cut scene that shows your character fall victim to police brutality. To release your car from the police impound, you'll have to pay certain charges with cash or markers, which can be obtained once you defeat a Blacklister. Like most racers, MW rewards you once you defeat an opponent by offering you 6 markers, of which you get to choose two. These markers could include anything from a pink slip to the opponent's car, to a free upgrade, to a get out of jail free card.

Vehicular handling has been tweaked a bit in MW. Initially vehicles may feel a bit odd, but once you get the hang of it (and pimp your ride) you'll be blazing down the streets in no time. Now, this game isn't Burnout 3 fast, but it's probably as close to Burnout as a PC racer can get. In a nod to Burnout Revenge, traffic traveling in the same direction as you can be hit to slow down the other racers or cops behind you. Besides checking traffic you could always avail of Pursuit breakers and Speed breakers to help you escape tricky situations. Speed breakers slow down time (shamelessly borrowed from Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition allowing you to maneuver your car in, out and under traffic easily. Rockport's highways are full of trailers and zipping under them can be made possible using speed breakers. Not only does this look extremely cool, but it may also help you shake off the cops who aren't as skilled as you. Be cautioned while using speed breakers during sharp turns as this may cause your car to spiral out of control momentarily. Pursuit breakers are breakable obstacles scattered around Rockport which when hit will fall down onto pursuing cop cars. Remember those trailers I told you about? Well instead of zipping under them, you could always bump into them, causing them to unload logs or cars on the cops.