The wheels are spinning hard and the tires, needing to regain grip are grinding themselves to the asphalt taking my car to a new straight line. Behind me, two sports cars branded with the police logo are doing the best to keep pace but despite the couple of seconds between me and them they've already lost. And no, I'm no bank robber but in my crazy drive I just broke like a ton of rules and regulations, speeding like crazy along two speed camera and wrecking "just a few" lighting posts that were in the way of my perfect trajectory thru the streets of Fairhaven. I'm here to make a name for myself and to become the most wanted driver in town. This is the story of Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012, a game that rewrites once again the history of this long franchise.

Between tradition and revelation

Need for Speed is one of the longest running names in the racing games industry. Always featuring only the best cars, exotic locations and highspeed chases these games have earned a name for themselves. But the latest release: The Run, wasn't all that successful maybe just because this wasn't the first pure blood racer bearing the NFS badge. Even so, the British developer Criterion learned its lesson and decided that for the Most Wanted 2012 it will stick with the classic type of game that everybody knew. And this was by all counts a good decision.

So, MW 2012 can be called a combination of new and old that lays all its weight on an open world environment filled with various types of races. And I must say that the city looks absolutely extraordinary with lots of visual details and spectacular cut scenes that complete an overall excellent visual experience made possible by the use of the already known Frostbyte 2 graphic engine.

As I told you not everything sticks to the traditional ways of the NFS franchise. The cars for example are not to be bought while you make your way to the top racing world. Actually they can be found on the streets, parking lots and rooftops all over the city. And to make them more easy to find, the producers left them with their headlights on and with a huge floating logo of their manufacturer "hanging" over them. Its and easy and simple way of getting better cars but it doesn't provide the same satisfaction like in those games where I had to fight my way to a better set of wheels, either by earning the money or by getting the looser's pink slip. But on the other hand, there's a catch. Most Wanted 2012 doesn't offer any race prepared vehicles, they all come as stock cars and you will have to make them better. So in order to do that you will have to win the five races attached to each car. After you've won the first one you unlock the boost, after the next you get a reinforced chassis and so on. You just get in your new racer, go straight to the first blimp on the map and here you are, ready for the race. But there's no starting grid, no count down, nothing. Instead of that, you'll trigger a spectacular cut scene and afterwards you're going to be already speeding along the streets not very sure of what's just happened. But that's the beauty with the devs at Criterion, they somehow got the idea to create something new while still hanging to the good ol' values of the classical NFS.

You get to race along speed cameras, fly through advertising panels and of course run away from the cops, all these thing are a source of speed points, the in game currency that will allow you to perform even more improvements to your cars. But racing without a purpose is in vain. That of course if you don't speed up and will all the competitions opening your way to the true goal of the game: competing with the top 10 drivers of Fairhaven, a thing that will be possible only after you will accumulate enough of those speed points.

Arcade style

After The Run got such poor sales and reviews (well not that poor for EA to give up on Criterion), the British developer was forced to look more into the arcade stile racing for Most Wanted 2012. So there's no tuff to steer vehicle out there. Just a few minutes and you'll learn how to control your car. No drift will be too dangerous, no jump too out of control. So in other words, the main controls were set for the best handling possible, unreal but very fun to drive indeed.

But most of the time, the police will be the main enemy. Always using the best racing cars the cops will stop at nothing to make you pull over. Top cars, SUVs, SWAT vans and even some choppers, all there to put an end to your driving career once and for all. And at first they might even look like they are succeeding especially when you are driving a stock car. So be careful and invest your speed points in reinforcements because you're going to need a tougher chassis to penetrate thru road blocks and a stock car is anything but ready for such an encounter.

And don�t "worry" because the fun will continue even if the race has ended. The police won't let you alone until you will have evaded them in one way or another. In most of the cases that means getting out of their visual range or passing through one of the many service stations in the city. That will automatically repair all your damage, change you car's color and ease of on the "heat".Unleash the multiplayer

The thing that really lights up in NFS: Most Wanted 2012 is the multiplayer. There are a lot of possibilities and all that many resources to explore that you'll have a hard time deciding what to do first. You can connect to other people's competitions or you can create your own. But let's face it, the best way to spend the time is roaming with your friends thru the town, wrecking billboards and cashing on speed points all the day. Nothing is impossible in this fair haven of racing cars. Funny enough, the multiplayer competitions are offered only n sets of five, like the races you get in the single player every time you jack a new car. These are called speed lists and the gamers can pick between Criterion created speed lists or they can assemble one of their own. Sadly, the race won't be over until the last contestant will pass the finish line so at times you should be careful who you race with as some people might be more fond of strolling around the city than of the race itself.

As it goes

It turns out that Most Wanted 2012 is a good game, even excellent here and there. It has its strong points like the graphics but there are also some weaker aspects like to total lack of storyline. Besides, in MW 2012 you only get to see cars, no drivers, no starting grid girls, nothing. I guess this is the best place for Stig, but in such a game, this turns out to be a letdown.

In my humble opinion, the guys at Criterion really worked hard for this new NFS title, but they were over imposed with some basic rules to make the final product more appealing to a wider range of people, to sell better and so get more money. This smells like EA involvement and that's a bad thing, even if the overall game is good. A good arcade racer.