High-Performance Racing

Take the obsessive eye for detail of the car-tuner culture and fuse it with fast and furious car chases, bumper-to-bumper takedowns, and head-on collisions with the long arm of the law. What the heck: While you're at it, also throw in a healthy dose of urban grit for good measure.

Voilà ... that's Need for Speed™ Most Wanted, the world's most frantic four-wheeled racer—players sprinting through corkscrewing courses, literally running rivals and police pursuers off the road at every turn—in a nutshell. Well, that and an ultra-addictive online multiplayer mode, sizzling story sequences and roughly 6.7 trillion ways to bite the big one or end up starring in your own COPS-style arrest scene, but I digress ...

Still, before hopping behind the wheel of a Porsche or Aston Martin, take a second to stop and consider just a few of the many surprises you'll encounter on the disc. Not only does it prepare you for what to expect from the series' newest episode, it also helps cut back on those insurance bills ...

The city is yours for the thrashing.

Worlds Apart
Predecessors like Need for Speed™ Underground 2 offered open environments to explore, but no title from the franchise thus far has boasted settings this interactive. Speeding past waterfronts, farms, and rolling stretches of verdant hills, you don't just zoom down branching paths every few seconds—you actually use backgrounds against opponents.

Nudge undercover cops and state patrolmen into pickups, taxis, semis, and other forms of oncoming traffic. Box rivals in, then quickly speed off, watching from a distance as they ram into support pillars or storefronts.

Cruise through construction sites, switch lanes and gun it around twisting turns, and observe in your rearview mirror as the competition instead careens towards certain death. Or just knock down the boards holding up awnings and signs and laugh heartily as they collapse right in front of your opponents.

Shortcuts are also of paramount importance: knowing when to smash in a fence and zip through the local park or shave precious seconds off your lap time by cutting through a back alley is crucial. Besides, it's worth it alone just to hear the cops rant when you suddenly disappear and reemerge half a mile past their seemingly impenetrable roadblocks.

Breakin' the Law
As diehard fans of the franchise know, this isn't the first time you've had a run-in with the police (see Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit 2 for proof). But, man ... the po-po's never been this PO'd before.

The airwaves constantly crackle, as the officers who give chase—and it's worth noting that dozens of cruisers can do so at any given moment—radio tactics and updates back and forth. Some of the stunts they pull include attempting to box you in, unexpectedly veering in front of you, pulling ahead then slowing down with no warning, or forming a living wall of motor vehicles. Count on facing roadblocks and speed traps as well.

Having to avoid intelligent foes that relish slamming into you from behind and screeching in from off-screen only to ram into your side and send you fishtailing is only the beginning. All I can say is "beware of helicopters."

OK, boy ... Now roll over. Good officer!

Positively Smashing
One word: speedbreaker. It's a new technique that lets you switch into slow-motion and gain a great deal of added weight and momentum by doing so.

Activate the feature with the X button, and it makes taking treacherous stretches of road, executing last-minute changes of direction and soaring through barricades that much easier. Best used when you find yourself in a sticky situation, it's a fun feature that lets you escape seemingly unavoidable collisions.

Screech around semis. Slide between parked cars. Avoid winding up in a head-on with the sedan that's just come soaring around the bend. Or just sit back and admire the trippy special effects that accompany the onset of the bullet time-esque antics of this ability. Just know it's an important tool in your arsenal against both Sunday drivers and the boys in blue.

Tweak Freak
Go on ... pimp your ride. You don't need Xzibit's help—simply snag one of the many part upgrades that can be had by winning races, making fools of the police, and scoring bigger bounties. Just don't get busted. The cops aren't above confiscating your ride, and all the speed-, acceleration-, and handling-enhancing goodies you've added to it. Such penalties further make it a heck of a lot harder to take down the underground scene's top contenders. Bummer.

Show and Prove
The races you participate in aren't, shall we say, precisely on the up and up. Nor are the characters you'll encounter—for instance Mia, played by model and actress Josie Maran—the most savory of individuals. Earning your way up the blacklist (and thereby the scene's rankings) means having to garner certain rivals' respect by building a rap sheet.

How to do so? Clock in record-breaking times, emerge victorious from speed- or survival-based street challenges, and punk the police. Just be careful how far you go ... the angrier you make city officials, the more heat they bring to bear against you.

So real you can smell the burning rubber ...

Modern Art
Whoa—get a load of those visuals. So much for neon lighting and rain-slicked streets; grimy graphical touches abound, from blinding sunlight to washed-out color patterns and buildings that look like they could use a fresh coat of pain (or ten). Vehicles all have a funky sheen as well; thank a gritty camera filter and choice of color palette that's more at home in an underground comic book than cutting-edge videogame. Graphic novel-type movie sequences are simply an added bonus.

You can also look forward to a hard-edged soundtrack (featuring cuts by Disturbed, Juvenile, The Prodigy and Static-X) and hidden cars, including imports and exotics. Last but not least, you have at your disposal a host of collectible extras like body kits, roof scoops, painted rims, decals, and tires. Translation: Floor it for your local software retailer today, and ask for Need for Speed Most Wanted by name.

Article by Chris Zimmerman