Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005)

Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005) is a legendary third-person arcade racing game in the Need for Speed series. The game takes place in the fictional city of Rockport, where you have complete freedom to drive around. The main character wins races and climbs the “Blacklist” of racers to get back his BMW M3 GTR, which Razor took from him by cheating. The game features dozens of licensed cars, a huge open city, and the police—something previous games were missing.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted is an arcade racing game that lets you drive freely around the city. Developed in 2005 by EA Black Box for PC, Xbox 360, PS3, and other platforms, it combines exciting police chases, different types of races against regular street racers and bosses, a high level of difficulty, a long campaign, and many licensed cars.

Many players and critics consider Most Wanted the best game in the Need for Speed series, thanks to its development of ideas from Underground 2 and the introduction of intense rivalries between street racers and the police. The game has many fan-made modifications.

Most Wanted takes place in the fictional city of Rockport, divided into three districts: a training and entertainment area, a port and industrial area, and a business district. They are connected by a network of highways. Each district has its own building and street designs. Destructible objects are scattered throughout the city—gas stations, signs, communication towers, and scaffolding. Smashing them at the right time will slow down your rivals and wreck police cars.

Street racers are not welcome in Rockport, and the police fight them using six different levels of cars, from regular Fords to souped-up nitro-powered SUVs and high-speed Corvette C6s. Sergeant Cross leads the police in a distinctively painted car, improving and coordinating the tactics of all police vehicles. Those that the cars can’t catch are tracked down and slowed with the help of a helicopter.

In Rockport’s street-racing scene, the “Blacklist” is held in special regard. It’s made up of the most notorious drivers, who have earned their rankings in numerous successful police chases.

In Most Wanted, there is no made-up hero: the player is the protagonist, and all the dialogue is addressed to them and delivered in the first person. The story is told through videos featuring live actors, as well as numerous phone calls and text messages. In the prologue, the player arrives in Rockport in their BMW M3 GTR, looking for opponents to race. After a while, they meet Razor, who is ranked 15th on the Blacklist.

The latter somehow sabotages the player’s car and wins the race. Having lost everything and barely escaping the police, the player has to start their career over, while Razor quickly climbs the Blacklist, reaches the top, and turns the most notorious traffic offenders into a gang. The player must not only knock Razor off the top spot, but also get their BMW back. Their girlfriend Mia and old friend Rog will offer advice along the way. Cross sometimes gets involved.

The story isn’t exactly award-winning, but it’s not entirely straightforward either. Toward the end, there are plot twists, and tension builds as the player faces off against the police and other racers.

One of Most Wanted’s most engaging modes owes its appeal to a series of challenges that you must complete to reach the top spot on the Blacklist. To challenge each of the 15 bosses, you first have to win a series of races and wagers, as well as earn a ranking in police chases.

In other words, gameplay is divided into two parts. One continues the Underground tradition, offering sprint races, checkpoint time trials, circuit races, drag races, last-man-standing elimination races, and speed trap races. The other, new part, focuses on facing off against the police. During pursuits, you need to complete tasks such as wrecking cars, dodging spike strips, staying in a chase for a certain amount of time, reaching a new pursuit status, or escaping within a set time.

When your ranking is high enough, you can challenge a boss to a showdown. It’s a separate event made up of several races (two to five), combining races and pursuits. You need to win most of the races.

Currently, the only way to play Most Wanted online is in LAN mode. Up to four players can compete in sprint races, circuit races, and the “Knockout” and “Interceptor” modes. The game’s official servers were shut down on August 11, 2011.