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Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012)

Criterion Games

PC (Microsoft Windows) · PlayStation 3 · Xbox 360

3.20 from 1348 ratings

3405 members have it in their collection · 76 playing now · 703 backlogged · 186 wish listed

How long? Main story 14h · with extras 13h · 100% 30h (from 8 logged playthroughs)

Need for Speed: Most Wanted takes on the gameplay style of the first Most Wanted title in the Need for Speed franchise. Most Wanted allows players to select one car and compete against other racers in three types of events: Sprint races, which involves traveling from one point of the city to another, Circuit races, each having two or three … Read more
Need for Speed: Most Wanted takes on the gameplay style of the first Most Wanted title in the Need for Speed franchise. Most Wanted allows players to select one car and compete against other racers in three types of events: Sprint races, which involves traveling from one point of the city to another, Circuit races, each having two or three laps total and Speed runs, which involve traversing through a course in the highest average speed possible. There is also the Ambush races, which start with the player surrounded by cops and tasked to evade their pursuit as quickly as possible. Read less
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Details

Developers
Criterion Games
Publishers
Electronic Arts
Genres
Adventure, Racing
Themes
Action, Open world
Franchises
Need for Speed
Series
Need for Speed
Event
EA Download 2012 (EA E3 2012 Press Conference)
Steam
View on Steam

Release dates

  • Oct 30, 2012 (Worldwide) PC (Microsoft Windows)
  • Oct 30, 2012 (North_America) PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
  • Nov 01, 2012 (Australia) PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
  • Nov 02, 2012 (Europe) PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
  • Nov 15, 2012 (Japan) PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Also available on

Related

DLC

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Featured in lists

Game Passed by Shot9292 · 162 games · 0

Rating distribution

5 stars
146
4 stars
357
3 stars
552
2 stars
208
1 star
85
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Community All Reviews Statuses

whalee

Status whalee Nov 19, 2022

This version of most wanted I hoped would be more similar to the Black Box NFS games. Criterion does driving fine and that can be seen, the driving is enjoyable but that is where it ends.

There is no customization except the same 5 internals that change car speed and the game is plagued by non stop cutscenes. Nothing makes …

Read more

This version of most wanted I hoped would be more similar to the Black Box NFS games. Criterion does driving fine and that can be seen, the driving is enjoyable but that is where it ends.

There is no customization except the same 5 internals that change car speed and the game is plagued by non stop cutscenes. Nothing makes me more mad than losing control to a pointless cutscene.

Read less
1 Comment Permalink
histidia

Status histidia Nov 21, 2019

Didn't play much of this game but I can tell that this game clearly doesn't deserve the title that it carries. Criterion fucked up the franchise in every possible way and this is a great example of it.

0 Comment Permalink
toninio_g

Status toninio_g Sep 13, 2018

Worst handling ever. I haven't played a game from the NFS series for many years (maybe since Carbon) and can't be more disappointed with the current NFS games. I haven't tried with controller, but turning with the keyboard is impossible. The drift aspect is not bad, though. Uninstalled after the 1st race and a little bit of open world experimenting.

0 Comment Permalink
cemakkartal

Status cemakkartal May 10, 2018

Haven't finished the game yet, but I got the overall idea of the game. Here are my thoughts:

Pros:

  • Graphics.
  • Driving some of the cars are really satisfying and fun. My favorites are Ariel Atom for the control and Lamborghini Countach for the looks.
  • I enjoyed driving around the game world. I think it offers enough variety.

Cons:

  • The scenario. …
Read more

Haven't finished the game yet, but I got the overall idea of the game. Here are my thoughts:

Pros:

  • Graphics.
  • Driving some of the cars are really satisfying and fun. My favorites are Ariel Atom for the control and Lamborghini Countach for the looks.
  • I enjoyed driving around the game world. I think it offers enough variety.

Cons:

  • The scenario. Who am I? Who is giving me all these cars? And why not just give me a fast car, so I can compete with the "most wanted" drivers, if that is my purpose? It's obvious that I can't beat them with a Lancia Delta.
  • Ridiculously absurd race intros. They have absolutely nothing to do with the game. So I decided to skip them.
  • The suicidal, maniac, crazy cops. It's absolutely no fun when you're in the first position and getting close to the finish line, then some brainless cop rams you (because that's how they "catch" you) and you're now 4th at best. And I don't think you can do anything to avoid them. Sometimes it's just pure luck. You play over and over the same circuit and pray for them not to hit you.
  • You think you can beat a Most Wanted driver and get his car? No! You have to ram his car after the race is finished so you can have the right to drive it. Then what was the purpose of racing? I could've wreck his car from the start.
  • Merging DLC with the main game, even if you didn't purchase anything. Then you're constantly met with "go to the store" warning. I'm not a video game history expert, but this game might be among games who started DLC madness.
  • As everyone else mentioned, the "crashed" cutscene is very annoying. Wish there was a way to remove it.
  • On the fly menu is great but I think it should also slow down or stop the game when you open it. Because everytime I use it, I just stop the car anyway. And sometimes you want to restart the event that you're competing. Just before you can select the retry menu, cops or opponents wreck your car and the menu is gone.
  • Some text overlays take too much space in the screen and they pop up right in the middle.
  • The extreme sunlight effect makes it really hard to see sometimes.
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0 Comment Permalink
Haxiel

Status Haxiel May 10, 2016

Pros: White-knuckle level of difficulty, Level of attention paid to Fairhaven City, Cinematic intros to each event (especially the Most Wanted races), On-the-fly customization, The sheer variety of cars.

Cons: Cinematic crashes (IMHO, this had a place in Burnout Paradise, but not here), 31 out of 41 vehicles unlocked at the start (Absolutely no reason to even try …

Read more

Pros: White-knuckle level of difficulty, Level of attention paid to Fairhaven City, Cinematic intros to each event (especially the Most Wanted races), On-the-fly customization, The sheer variety of cars.

Cons: Cinematic crashes (IMHO, this had a place in Burnout Paradise, but not here), 31 out of 41 vehicles unlocked at the start (Absolutely no reason to even try and race with any of the lower-segment cars or SUVs), Ability of the cops to hone in on your position even when they cannot see you, Blatant efforts to make you buy the DLC (You find a vehicle on the road > Purchase 'X' pack to drive this. ).

Bottom Line: Liked it enough to work through the Most Wanted list to the number one position. Had a fair bit of fun on the way as well. Completely different vibe from the original NFS Most Wanted (2005). It's like Burnout Paradise with cops.

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0 Comment Permalink