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Two weeks ago, our founder Bojan, gave us an insight into the workings of Criterion's upcoming title Need for Speed Most Wanted (2012). Today I attended one of the EA First Play events in Australia where I got a chance to try out the latest in EA's release line-up. While the fans of Need for Speed are currently divided over the workings and development of this game, I can tell you this will be one of the strongest releases in the NFS franchise since the original Most Wanted in 2005.

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[i]Criterion does what it does best[/i]

From watching promotional videos you can tell this game is very similar to Burnout Paradise and some would say that's a bad thing - but is it really? Burnout Paradise is one of the most successful racing games of all time and has also had one of the longest runs of support and DLC updates of any game - Criterion stuck upon an award winning formula and has brought it across to the Need for Speed franchise.

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[i]Autolog integration makes for a competitive gaming experience[/i]

Criterion's first rendition of a Need for Speed title, Hot Pursuit (2010), while one of the better NFS releases over the past few years, suffered something I call the "replayability factor" - you got bored quickly after finishing it. Criterion learned their lesson this time round and have brought all the best parts of Hot Pursuit to Most Wanted.

Autolog is integrated entirely into this game to keep you interested - your jumps, race times, cost to state and more are all tracked with autolog and displayed on the side of the screen when you set a new personal best, comparing you to your friends. During the First Play event, there was a leaderboard set up to simulate the Autolog time comparison - I found myself constantly repeating the race (the only available one on the demo) to set the highest time before triumphing by a clear 5 seconds. Based on this and experience with Hot Pursuit's autolog system, I believe the complete integration of Autolog will offer hours of extended gameplay, keeping you constantly coming back simply [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsgAmN7iBIw]to be the best[/url].

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[i]Physics & Gameplay - Definitely not Burnout; definitely better than The Run[/i]

As someone who's played Burnout Paradise and every Need for Speed release from Hot Pursuit 2 onwards, I can tell you the gameplay and physics is a welcome change. While the roaming and system is distinctively reminiscent of BP, the driving, crashes and racing are definitely Need for Speed at heart. The handling is definitely an improvement over Hot Pursuit, The Run and Undercover. The cars no longer feel as weightless as feathers as in Undercover, each turn is not a drift like in Hot Pursuit, yet the cars also don't handle like semi-trailers as they did in The Run. The handling, I'd say is in fact quite similar to Carbon or ProStreet, however I guess a bit more torque feedback would be welcome while accelerating.

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[i]Roaming, and Pursuits & Races[/i]

As I said before, the game system is very similar to BP. While the demo I played only had access to one small segment of the city and one race, the map is very true to the original Most Wanted - you get a fantastic city environment with a Highway slicing through it, that's for sure. From the [url=http://www.nfsunlimited.net/mostwanted2012/screenshots]screenshots[/url] you can see that there will be less urbanised and more rural areas available. Essentially, I think the world will be quite similar to that of Undercover and the original Most Wanted in terms of structure and composition, however with the level of detail of Burnout Paradise; you can drive up staircases, climb buildings, leap off rooftops ([url=http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2011/08/begins306.jpg]Batman Begins style[/url] - Tumbler not included) and explore hidden backalleys.

While I only got a taster of the pursuit system in the demo, it worked very fluidly. True to the original Most Wanted, you can plough your way through road blocks with minimal damage, unlike Hot Pursuit, where the slightest touch totalled you. I only had access to the Carrera 911 and thus was only pursued by middle level cops with road blocks and not bombarded by SUV Rhino units and spike strips. Oh and once again, the heat levels make a comeback!

The free roam map is similar to that of BP once again, providing detail of the surroundings (building density, etc.), not just the main roads like in NFS WORLD. During pursuits, cool-down locations are constantly displayed - a handy way for you to plan your runs of mayhem through Fairhaven.

Sprint races draw upon the checkpoint style system from Midnight Club, rather than the closed-circuit that has been present in all NFS titles I can remember. After playing The Run and being constantly reset for miscalculating a turn and sliding off the track, this is a welcome improvement. However you should be careful about building edges and banked turns - a few times in the demo I found myself oversteering during a banked turn and slamming into a building - these turns seem to take gravity and momentum into effect to a degree.

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[i]Graphics & Customisation[/i]

Most Wanted runs on an updated version of the Chameleon Engine, the same engine Criterion used in Hot Pursuit. I must say the game looks drop-dead gorgeous - even on the limited PS3 graphics; I can only imagine how fantastic this would look on a full-blown gaming PC. The colours are crisp, the edges are defined, shadows look excellent and lighting is fantastic; it totally blows the last "Most Wanted styled" game (Undercover) out of the water.

In ways of (visual) customisation, at this point I highly doubt any of that will happen. In the demo there was no access to the bonuses mentioned in other news, however from how I interpret it, I think it will work somewhat like the performance upgrade system of WORLD (but that's just my own speculation). At this point (as far as I know) I don't think Criterion will add bodykits due to the similarities in system structure to BP, however if they do I believe it would be somewhat similar to The Run where you have an option of a few pre-set bodykits and liveries.

The sole form of visual customisation I came across in the demo was the ability to repair your car by driving through a service station (once again a feature from Burnout Paradise). Driving through a service station in a damaged car would result in the car being restored visually in a new paint colour.

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[i]Is it Worth It?[/i]

Unfortunately, there was no PS Vita version or PC version available to play so I can't provide a verdict on those. But for the PS3 version: is it worth it? In a word, I'd say yes. In a few, I'd say it's already surpassed Undercover and The Run in terms of visuals and gameplay.

Despite the clear similarities between Burnout Paradise and this rendition of Most Wanted, I believe this will be a strong testament to the nature and gameplay of the original Most Wanted, and a successful addition to the Need for Speed Franchise.

- TW1ST3R

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