Electronic Arts
Need For Speed: Most Wanted

Released in 2005 by Electronic Arts, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, proves to be an excellent driving simulator, but not only that.

The plot focuses on illegal street races, as in the two previous Underground episodes, but now a new component is added: a true cinematic-style story to advance as the game develops. You will arrive aboard a blazing white and blue BMW M3 GTR, in a city where races with "high stakes" are the order of the day, and you will start looking for opponents to increase your popularity and wallet, immediately meeting the fierce local police and finding in Sgt. Cross, aboard a Corvette C6, your most formidable foe.

The introduction is very well done where you can already interact with the story development, and you'll immediately see your car vanish into the hands of the n° 1, the evil Razor, who will take it away from you with an ignoble mechanical tampering, get you nabbed, and thrown inside. Once free, your adventure begins, obviously with very little money, so you may buy a car not exactly among the fastest (I suggest paying homage to Italy with the glorious Fiat Grande Punto, which turns out to be quite fast even without tuning).

Having bought your first vehicle, it's time to start moving: you will need to explore the city, which will become more extensive as you progress, with the help of a handy map indicating where the race takes place, appearing by pressing one of the joypad directional arrows, which will also give you access to messages received on your virtual "cellphone" or the ability to jump directly to races and/or points where you can complete the milestones (police chase time, forcing spiked and non-spiked blockades, minimum escape time, etc.), which are necessary for access to the final challenge with each opponent on the Blacklist.

What's the Blacklist? Simple: to challenge Razor and reclaim your car, you have to face one by one the opponents on a list of 15 "hired goons", each with more powerful cars as you progress. The races to complete each time before facing the rival include five types:

Sprint: You must win the race on a percentage completion circuit.

Circuit: The goal, as with every race, is to win, but here you must do 2 or 3 laps of the track.

Elimination: At each pass, whoever comes in last place gets instantly eliminated, so pedal to the metal!

Speed Trap: Achieve the highest speed at each speed trap and try not to fall too far behind (if you have the highest total and don't finish first, your result decreases rapidly over time).

Tollbooth: A solo race, where you have a set time to pass through each tollbooth.

Drag: The most annoying race, where you compete with an opponent over a short stretch of road, with the challenge of hitting the right gear shifts while avoiding all obstacles (no need to accelerate, but to change lanes, just move the stick and let it snap back to the center, and the car will automatically maintain control in the new lane. Be careful not to shift too early or too late and stay out of the red zone. Risk of engine meltdown!)

Every race will give you cash that allows you to buy faster cars or customize your vehicle at the garages marked in yellow on the map (the dealerships are in blue and your safe houses are green), so you can upgrade your vehicle (advanced features are unlocked as you go) however you like: engine, turbo, brakes, tires, etc. There are also countless ways to modify its appearance: decals and airbrush in every style, racing finishes, spoilers, air intakes, carbon hoods, and more. The more you buy, the better.

Whenever you complete both the challenges proposed at each level and the aforementioned milestones, you'll be given the opportunity to meet a new opponent, whom you'll have to defeat in two or three consecutive races, and once defeated, you can choose two out of five "markers". These are bonuses that either unlock additional free parts (which you'll find in the "back of the shop" - garage by pressing the O key) or, if you trust your blind choice, allow immediate jail release without bail, cash, further increases to the number of times you can be busted without having your car seized (the default is set at 3, increasing to 5), and if you're really lucky, you'll seize the rival's car title (the best thing that can happen).

The city to explore is very large and well-detailed, so if you don't feel like racing, you can just "mess around" while keeping an eye on the patrol detector under your rearview mirror (oh, I forgot, you can intercept police communications too), and if you want to cause chaos by having all the police chase you, go ahead, but beware because their tenacity increases as you become more significant, and your priority level rises (from 1 to 5), starting with rookies who will lose you after two turns, up to helicopters and state police that chase and pop up everywhere aboard lightning-fast Corvettes C6, setting up roadblocks you must force, and spike strips you must absolutely avoid! Once you've lost your pursuers (indicated by the gauge at the bottom center), keep a constant eye on the small left map, which will show you where you can hide to significantly reduce escape time. To elude the tenacious "cops," use the "pursuit breakers": water tanks, gas stations, and more to explode on the unlucky ones on your tail (an indescribable satisfaction!).

To give you an idea of what you'll be driving, here are some available cars in Most Wanted: Ford GT, Mercedes SLR McLaren, Porsche Carrera GT, Porsche Cayman S, Porsche 911, Lamborghini Murcièlago, Mazda RX-8, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII, Dodge Viper, Subaru Impreza, Lamborghini Gallardo, etc. You will have a wide selection of fiery cars to push to the limit to climb the Blacklist and become the undisputed n° 1.

The game boasts an excellent graphics engine that is always smooth, despite the numerous landscape details, and load times are minimal. Regarding sound, you can choose which tracks to play in races and which during menu pauses, I'll name a few: Mastodon ("Blood And Thunder"), The Prodigy ("You'll Be Under My Wheels"), Static-X ("Skinnyman"), Jamiroquai ["Feels Just Like It Should (Timo Maas Remix)"], Disturbed ("Decadence"), DJ Spooky And Dave Lombardo ("B-Side Wins Again feat. Chuck D"), Bullet For My Valentine ("Hand Of Blood"), Avenged Sevenfold ("Blinded In Chains").

In conclusion, thumb constantly pointing up on the analog stick, reflexes activated like a Malaysian tiger on the hunt... and watch out for the "cops"!