need for speed

Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Vita, and Xbox 360[edit]

The player's car is in pursuit by several police cars during a racing session. This screen-shot also depicts the use of simulated HDRR on the sunny sky and surface lighting.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted takes on the gameplay style of the first Most Wantedtitle 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.

Cops are integrated into certain racing sessions, in which the police deploy vehicles and tactics to stop the player's car and arrest the player, like the original Most Wanted.^[13] The game features a Blacklist (also known as The Most Wanted List) of 10 racers, similar to the single-player section of the original Most Wanted, which featured 15 Blacklist racers. As the Most Wanted racers are defeated, their cars are added to the player's roster.^[14][15] In this reiteration, the focus shifts from Rockport, the city in the original, to a new city called Fairhaven.

Most Wanted has been likened to the Burnout series. Like Burnout Paradise, races have a start and end point but players can choose their own route to the finish line, a departure from the original Most Wanted, but similar to "crew challenges" from the sequel, Carbon.^[16] Destructible billboards and fences; and drive-through repair garages, all of which originated from Paradise, are also featured.

The game uses Autolog, the competition-between-friends system developed by Criterion for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and since used in other titles in the Need for Speed series. Autolog in Most Wanted plays a larger role and gives more information to players. Activities in-game allow players to earn Speed Points which can boost players up on the Most Wanted list. Autolog recommendations have now been integrated into the game world, rather than sit externally on the menu system.^[16] Most Wantedfeatures a new social system called Cloudcompete, which strings together Most Wanted across all platforms in an inspired example of cross-compatibility. One profile is used for all versions of the game, allowing the player to rank up on one format and continue progress on another.^[17][18]

The driving model of the game has been described as "deep, physical and fun", not as arcade-styled as the Burnout series and Hot Pursuit, but far from a simulator. Most Wantedhas a range of real-world vehicles, a mix of muscle cars, street racers and exotics, described as "the wildest selection of cars yet".^[6] The cars can be altered with performance upgrades, such as reinflatable tyres, transmission, engine, nitrous oxide, and body work that enables players to crash through roadblocks, have a higher top speed, and accelerate faster.^[19] A feature called EasyDrive enables players to customise their vehicles while in action. Almost all the cars are available from the start, hidden in different locations throughout Fairhaven; the player has to discover them in order to unlock them.^[20]

Wii U[edit]

The Wii U-exclusive cooperative "Co-Driver" mode in action. One player drives with the Wii Remote (pictured with the Wii Wheel) while the other provides assistance using the Wii U GamePad.

The Wii U version was retitled to Need for Speed: Most Wanted U. It includes content from the previously released Ultimate Speed Pack,^[21] and offers three unique features that take advantage of the Wii U GamePad to make it the "Enhanced Version."^[22]

This version supports Off-TV Play, which is the ability to play the game exclusively on the Wii U GamePad, independently from the television.^[10][23] There is also a new co-op mode, called Co-Driver, that supports two players: one player drives using a Wii Remote or the Wii U Pro Controller and another uses the Wii U GamePad to provide control and navigation assistance on an interactive real-time map.^[21] The Wii U GamePad can also be used to change mods and switch cars.^[21]

The Wii U version of the game also includes full Miiverse integration, which is the first for a third-party game on Wii U. The game also includes three secret vehicles which are exclusive to the Wii U version, all which allude to the Mario franchise characters Mario, Peach, and Yoshi. These secret vehicles can each be accessed via hidden entrances, shaped like the iconic Warp Pipes from the series, on various tracks. Finding all the secret vehicles unlocks secret license plates which further confirm the allusion of these characters.^[24