Most
Wanted, like other Need for Speed games, is essentially a driving and
racing game, where the player selects one car and races against a time
limit or other racers to reach a destination. Police chases have once
again been integrated into certain racing sessions, in which the police
employ vehicles and tactics to stop the player's car and arrest the
player, like Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit, Need for Speed: Hot
Pursuit 2, and Need for Speed: Carbon. As players take control of faster
cars and increasingly rely on nitrous oxide speed boosts, the oxide
meter now refills automatically for the first time since its
introduction in Underground, and driving sequences become fast-paced and
intense similar to the Burnout series.
Three
distinct regions are offered in the city of Rockport, along with
cycling weather. Racing events take place between sunrise and sunset,
unlike in the Underground where the events took place at night. A Grand
Theft Auto-like Free Roam mode is provided as in Need for Speed:
Underground 2, but is still limited to Career mode, as well as
pursuit-based events in other modes.
Brand promotion
from Underground 2 still continues strongly, with the removal of Best
Buy, Old Spice and the entry of Burger King restaurants, Castrol oil,
Axe Unlimited and Edge shaving gel. The Cingular logo is still visible
in the game's wireless communication system. Performance, body and
visual parts that can be bought in the game are also from real life
companies.
Pursuit system
ost Wanted features
pursuit evasion in the game for the first time in the series since Hot
Pursuit 2. In Career mode, police pursuits may occur during a race or
during free roaming through the city, depending on the frequency of the
police units in the area and traffic offenses players have committed.
The player can initiate a pursuit immediately from the game's safe house
or menu by choosing an unfinished Milestone or a Bounty challenge.
Pursuits can also be initiated by selecting an appropriate Challenge in
the Challenge Series mode. Traffic offenses committed by the player are
known in game as Infractions. These include speeding, excessive
speeding, reckless driving, driving off roadway, damage to property, hit
and run, ramming a police unit, and resisting arrest.
The
system is significantly more complex than its previous Hot Pursuit
incarnations. The manner in which the police handle a player is now
determined by the "heat level" of the player's current car. Heat levels,
which increase with the length of a police pursuit and the amount of
damage caused by the player during the pursuit, add a twist to the
pursuit. The higher the car's heat level, the more aggressive the police
units are against the player, employing additional tactics and tools,
such as roadblocks, spike strips, police helicopters and heavier and
faster police cars such as police SUV's.
In Career
mode, pursuits are integrated into the game in such a way that it is
necessary to participate in pursuit in order to be able to challenge
Blacklist racers. The player must complete Milestones which involve
committing at least a specified amount of traffic offenses or pursuit
lengths during a pursuit, and collecting an amount of Bounty, a form of
credit accumulated as players continue to evade the police or damage
police units. A car's heat level may be reduced by changing the physical
appearance of a car by changing body parts or paint color, or by using
another purchased car with a lower heat level to race in the streets. If
a car is not being used by the player its heat level will slowly lower
over time. Rap sheets, with records such as the player's infractions,
cost to state, deployed tactics and pursuit lengths, are also available
for viewing by hacking into police records.
Players are
provided with several additional features which are useful during
pursuits. The Speedbreaker, provided within the driving interface, slows
down time similar to bullet time and momentarily adds weight to the
player's car allowing it to become more difficult for other vehicles to
push around, and induces a drift. This allows the player a limited
amount of time to quickly maneuver the car out of difficult situations,
or assess an escape route through a road block or spike strip blockade.
Another feature in Most Wanted are Pursuit Breakers, road-side objects
which are designed to collapse when a player uses their car to knock
down its support, either damaging or disabling following police cars
(which can be visually seen in many cases). In one example, if a player
smashes through a gas station, the roof of the station falls potentially
crushing police units following them In order to evade the pursuit,
players must get out of the pursuing police’s line of sight. This is
accomplished by getting a certain distance away from the cops or by
disabling the cops. Once the player has evaded the cops they enter
Cooldown mode. During this time the player must avoid being
detected/seen by the police; If the player is detected while in Cooldown
mode the pursuit continues. Cooldown spots, areas in the world usually
not seen from the street, can be used to hide from pursuers. If the
player finds a hiding spot and stops they will spend significantly less
time in Cooldown mode.
Multiplayer
Online
multiplayer is available on Xbox 360, Xbox, PC and PlayStation
Portable. Up to 4 players can participate in an online race and can race
in 4 game modes including circuit, sprint, lap knockout and speed trap.
Furthermore, there is the option to enable Performance Matching in an
online race. When performance matching is enabled, all cars in the race
are automatically upgraded to match the performance (i.e. top speed,
handling, etc.) of the fastest car in that particular race. However, as
soon as the race is over all modifications made to the cars by
performance matching are removed. The online multiplayer lobby was shut
down on August 1, 2011
