Need For Speed Most Wanted 2012: Is It Truly a Bad Game? #BlogPost

Now, the other two games I’ve reviewed in the past, NASCAR ‘15 and Burnout Paradise, were in some way a major part of my childhood. NFS never was. Despite being Burnout’s law-breaking brother, Need For Speed never piqued my interest until earlier this year, when I randomly found my copy of NFSMW. When I did, I posted a picture of it to CT and asked if anyone wanted to see a review, and the answers I got were overwhelmingly positive. So here I am, about to give you my thoughts and opinions on the most Burnout-ish Need For Speed game yet.

Map and Atmosphere

One extremely important aspect of any open-world video game is the map and overall feel of the game. I said in my review of Burnout Paradise that the industrial atmosphere wasn’t all that good, and it hadn’t been pulled off well. However, NFSMW does it really rather great, which is probably thanks to the awesome graphics. I also mentioned how gloomy the weather almost always is in Paradise, but I honestly can’t tell you if that’s the case in Most Wanted because the graphics actually distracted me from paying attention to this. Whoops.

So the atmosphere is great, but what about the map? Umm… nope. It’s small. Bad small. The problem with Most Wanted’s map is that it tries to fit the diversity of Paradise into a seemingly smaller space, which doesn’t work. On the bright side, there’s an airport in the game, which Burnout didn’t have. Oh wait, you have to pay for it. Yes, that’s right, you have to give Electronic Arts real money so you can have a small piece of the map and a few more cars. This is something Burnout also did in the form of Big Surf Island, which I forgot to include in my review of that game. Just another reason I hate EA. But before I turn this review into a rant about the world’s most scummy game developer, let’s move on.

The Cars

I’m not gonna lie, the amount of cars in Most Wanted is pretty good. Various supercars, sports cars, and the occasional SUV are scattered around the map for you, the player, to claim as your own. Each car shares a handful of events with other cars, and by winning these events, you can get upgrades for that car. Or you can just buy them all if you don’t feel like actually playing the game.

There are also several DLC cars available to purchase if you feel like giving a god-awful company even more of your money.

Unfortunately, NFSMW lacks in customization. In fact, there isn’t any. At all. Every vehicle has a few preset colors, which you can switch between by driving through a repair shop.

Handling and Physics

The biggest controversy with this game is the physics. Ask the average person what they think, and they’ll say the physics suck and the tap-brake-to-drift system is a crime against humanity. Yes, the physics aren’t that good, I’ll admit that. But the tap-brake-to-drift mechanism shouldn’t be a shocking feature. NFSMW12 is an arcade style game, which means the handling isn’t going to be realistic. Hell, who buys an NFS game and expects a simulator? You’re street racing in expensive cars while trying to lose a bunch of kamikaze police, it’s not supposed to be Gran Turismo. Anyway, I’d give the handling a solid A-, and the physics a C, simply because it isn’t very good at times.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed playing this game. The events were interesting and not repetitive, there’s a nice selection of cars, and there’s plenty of side challenges. The map isn’t very big, and the physics aren’t brilliant, but that really didn’t matter. I was having too much fun to really focus on most of the issues.

So if you want a good game that isn’t glitchy, has a lot of action, and takes genuine effort to play through, I suggest you give it a try. If the handling bothers you too much, well go back to your boring sim games. I really don’t care.

This has been Avalanche, I’ll see ya later.