The wheels are spinning hard and the tires, needing to regain grip are grinding

themselves to the asphalt taking my car to a new straight line. Behind me, two s
ports cars branded with the police logo are doing the best to keep pace but desp
ite the couple of seconds between me and them they've already lost. And no, I'm
no bank robber but in my crazy drive I just broke like a ton of rules and regula
tions, speeding like crazy along two speed camera and wrecking "just a few" ligh
ting posts that were in the way of my perfect trajectory thru the streets of Fai
rhaven. I'm here to make a name for myself and to become the most wanted driver
in town. This is the story of Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012, a game that rewr
ites once again the history of this long franchise.
Between tradition and revelation
Need for Speed is one of the longest running names in the racing games industry.
Always featuring only the best cars, exotic locations and highspeed chases thes
e games have earned a name for themselves. But the latest release: The Run, wasn
't all that successful maybe just because this wasn't the first pure blood racer
bearing the NFS badge. Even so, the British developer Criterion learned its les
son and decided that for the Most Wanted 2012 it will stick with the classic typ
e of game that everybody knew. And this was by all counts a good decision.
So, MW 2012 can be called a combination of new and old that lays all its weight
on an open world environment filled with various types of races. And I must say
that the city looks absolutely extraordinary with lots of visual details and spe
ctacular cut scenes that complete an overall excellent visual experience made po
ssible by the use of the already known Frostbyte 2 graphic engine.

As I told you not everything sticks to the traditional ways of the NFS franchise
. The cars for example are not to be bought while you make your way to the top r
acing world. Actually they can be found on the streets, parking lots and rooftop
s all over the city. And to make them more easy to find, the producers left them
with their headlights on and with a huge floating logo of their manufacturer "h
anging" over them. Its and easy and simple way of getting better cars but it doe
sn't provide the same satisfaction like in those games where I had to fight my w
ay to a better set of wheels, either by earning the money or by getting the loos
er's pink slip. But on the other hand, there's a catch. Most Wanted 2012 doesn't
offer any race prepared vehicles, they all come as stock cars and you will have
to make them better. So in order to do that you will have to win the five races
attached to each car. After you've won the first one you unlock the boost, afte
r the next you get a reinforced chassis and so on. You just get in your new race
r, go straight to the first blimp on the map and here you are, ready for the rac
e. But there's no starting grid, no count down, nothing. Instead of that, you'll
trigger a spectacular cut scene and afterwards you're going to be already speed
ing along the streets not very sure of what's just happened. But that's the beau
ty with the devs at Criterion, they somehow got the idea to create something new
while still hanging to the good ol' values of the classical NFS.


You get to race along speed cameras, fly through advertising panels and of cour
se run away from the cops, all these thing are a source of speed points, the in
game currency that will allow you to perform even more improvements to your cars
. But racing without a purpose is in vain. That of course if you don't speed up
and will all the competitions opening your way to the true goal of the game: com
peting with the top 10 drivers of Fairhaven, a thing that will be possible only
after you will accumulate enough of those speed points.
Arcade style
After The Run got such poor sales and reviews (well not that poor for EA to give
up on Criterion), the British developer was forced to look more into the arcade
stile racing for Most Wanted 2012. So there's no tuff to steer vehicle out ther
e. Just a few minutes and you'll learn how to control your car. No drift will be
too dangerous, no jump too out of control. So in other words, the main controls
were set for the best handling possible, unreal but very fun to drive indeed.
But most of the time, the police will be the main enemy. Always using the best r
acing cars the cops will stop at nothing to make you pull over. Top cars, SUVs,
SWAT vans and even some choppers, all there to put an end to your driving career
once and for all. And at first they might even look like they are succeeding es
pecially when you are driving a stock car. So be careful and invest your speed p
oints in reinforcements because you're going to need a tougher chassis to penetr
ate thru road blocks and a stock car is anything but ready for such an encounter
.


And dont "worry" because the fun will continue even if the race has ended. The po
lice won't let you alone until you will have evaded them in one way or another.
In most of the cases that means getting out of their visual range or passing thr
ough one of the many service stations in the city. That will automatically repai
r all your damage, change you car's color and ease of on the "heat".
Unleash the multiplayer
The thing that really lights up in NFS: Most Wanted 2012 is the multiplayer. The
re are a lot of possibilities and all that many resources to explore that you'll
have a hard time deciding what to do first. You can connect to other people's c
ompetitions or you can create your own. But let's face it, the best way to spend
the time is roaming with your friends thru the town, wrecking billboards and ca
shing on speed points all the day. Nothing is impossible in this fair haven of r
acing cars.


Funny enough, the multiplayer competitions are offered only n sets of five, like
the races you get in the single player every time you jack a new car. These are
called speed lists and the gamers can pick between Criterion created speed list
s or they can assemble one of their own. Sadly, the race won't be over until the
last contestant will pass the finish line so at times you should be careful who
you race with as some people might be more fond of strolling around the city th
an of the race itself.
As it goes
It turns out that Most Wanted 2012 is a good game, even excellent here and there
. It has its strong points like the graphics but there are also some weaker aspe
cts like to total lack of storyline. Besides, in MW 2012 you only get to see car
s, no drivers, no starting grid girls, nothing. I guess this is the best place f
or Stig, but in such a game, this turns out to be a letdown.


In my humble opinion, the guys at Criterion really worked hard for this new NFS
title, but they were over imposed with some basic rules to make the final produc
t more appealing to a wider range of people, to sell better and so get more mone
y. This smells like EA involvement and that's a bad thing, even if the overall g
ame is good. A good arcade racer.