
Level-one heat results in the appearance of just your standard squad cars. Losing the cops gets tougher as your heat level rises. But as you resist, you might find 20 cars giving chase, in addition to a chopper flying overhead. Chases usually start with just one car on your tail. Once you've been spotted, it takes some fancy driving to lose the cops. But the real excitement comes from engaging in police chases outside of races. They'll occasionally appear in the middle of a race, which makes the races more hectic and exciting. The police are a major presence in Most Wanted. In addition to your race victories, you also have an overall bounty on your head and milestones to achieve on the open streets of the city. It's a sudden and dramatic shift, and a more gradual difficulty slope would have probably worked better here. The cars still stay on your tail, but they know every shortcut and don't stay too close after they get ahead of you. However, the game suddenly gets harder when you hit the top five on the Blacklist. It makes most of the races really easy - we set the controller down for 20 seconds and were still easily able to catch up and win the race. If you're in the lead, the AI rarely fouls up, ensuring that there's usually someone on your tail. If you fall behind, they'll usually slow up or make a mistake that lets you regain the lead. The three computer-controlled racers are definitely programmed to keep it close. The racing is fun, but the game's artificial intelligence sort of gets in the way at times. Each of the race types is slightly different, but the speed trap and drag races are the only ones to make you rethink your racing strategy. Your speed is clocked at each point and added to your overall score, and the highest score at the end of the track wins.
Film need for speed most wanted series#
Speed-trap races put a series of speed cameras on the track. Drag racing is similar to how it's been in the last couple of Need for Speed games, focusing more on proper shifting and dodging traffic. Tollbooth races are checkpoint races against the clock. Knockout races eliminate the last-place racer at the end of each lap until only one remains.

Circuit races and sprints are as basic as they come. The races are standard and come in a few different varieties.

You'll have to take on each member of the list, one at a time, but you'll also have to prove yourself by completing a series of races and other milestones before you can face off against a Blacklister.

Your career mode goal is to work your way to the top of the blacklist and take out Razor, who has used your old car to get to the top spot. Either way, they look neat and they're fully insane, and it's a real shame that there isn't more of it. They're amazingly hilarious, and really make you wonder if the comedy is intentional or not. It's a neat-looking effect, but the best part of the whole game has to be the characters and performances, because the acting - especially from Razor and his homeboy Ronnie - is completely over the top and ridiculous. These scenes mix CG cars and environments with live actors. But the entire prologue is delivered to you as a series of easy races broken up by full-motion video cutscenes. After you're back out and starting over again, the game's story is conveyed mostly via voicemail and text messages from the various racers.
