Reviews VideoGame / Need For Speed Most Wanted

One major flaw brings down the game (2012 version)

Here's an idea for a fun racing game: Drive around a huge, beautifully animated city packed with different sights to see, with the ability to immediately hop into a sizable number of cars, and then take part in a loads of high-speed races while avoiding the wrath of the police. Sounds like an awesome experience, doesn't it?

I wish. Need For Speed: Most Wanted 2012 is easily the most disappointing car racing game I've ever played, and I've become a big fan of racing games since playing 2010's exhilarating Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. And the sad thing is, the game had potential. It isn't a completely terrible experience - in fact, at times, it's a lot of fun.

But one serious flaw downs the game like a plane being shot out of the sky, and this fundamental problem prevents the game from having any kind of purpose beyond being a strong driving sandbox. The flaw is a lack of motivation. You can instantly drive any available cars you find around the city. Each of these cars has a bunch of attached races to complete. The problem is instantly noticeable: by offering you these free cars (minus the several DLC cars) none of their races feel worth doing. Why bother? You've got a big city to explore, and lots of free cars to choose from. You can unlock more cars by defeating the "Most Wanted" (the game's bosses) but there's plenty of great cars available already, and unfortunately, there's no satisfaction in finding (and not earning) them.

However, what exacerbates this flaw is the need to drive to each race. You can't just select the races from a list; you have to maneuver your car to the precise area where the race is located. This reduces the fun of city exploration because driving through it becomes a chore every time you need to find a race. And if, while on the way to a race, you attract the police's attention by driving poorly nearby them, they'll very likely chase you away from the race's starting point. You engage in a police chase, escape them, and most likely lose interest in the race you were driving to. It just isn't accessible enough.

So, you have a whole bunch of races that don't give you much for completing them, a bunch of cars to acquire by simply finding them, and a glorious-looking city to explore. May as well just do that, because NFS:MW 2012 doesn't feel like a true racing game, but a driving sandbox posing as one.