E3 2012 Hands On: Need for Speed Most Wanted

Need for Speed: Most Wanted is the best racing video game I saw and played in the last few years and might be the title that finally connects the legacies of Criterion’s Burnout and the classic Need for Speed series.

Last year’s E3 event allowed me to take a look at Need for Speed: The Run, which got pretty good previews but failed to deliver on launch, and this year I headed towards the Electronic Arts stand expecting little from their new Most Wanted title.

But the new Need for Speed is a revelation, a game that combines superb graphics, an updated Autolog 2 and more gameplay mechanics than any other racing title launched since the last Burnout game.

Most Wanted is built around an open world that needs to be explored to discover a range of events, with players able to perform tricks and get collectibles during the free roam portion of the game before moving to races, all of them cleverly created by the Criterion development team for maximum excitement.

I played a little of the open world section, which is fun in itself, and then took part in a race event with another 7 players, chasing checkpoints and trying to force each other of the road.

The handling is pure Criterion, easy to get to top speed before effortlessly sliding around corners with a simple tap of the brakes, and the various events, from Speed Tracks to Jack Spots, Jumps and Billboards, keep the excitement level up at all times.

And Most Wanted is equally impressive when it comes to looks, with one developer remarking that this is the first game to make a yellow Porsche seem like a very cool vehicle.

Via: E3 2012 Hands On: Need for Speed Most Wanted