Need for Speed: Most Wanted - A Criterion Joint (Catch-all)

If a few Goodjers are going for this I may jump in. I've never really played a racing game on line but I love Burnout... I mean Need for Speed.

I'll probably be jumping in. I don't often get games at full price right now, but Autolog makes for a lot of fun, and you need to be current. Hot Pursuit feels lonely now.

I preordered PC. But I think I read somewhere that some of the leaderboard stuff this time is cross platform?

EDIT:

Also announced was a new mode dubbed as 'CloudCompete,' which strings together Most Wanted across all platforms in an inspired example of cross-compatibility. One profile will be used for all versions of the game, allowing you to rank up on one format and continue progress on another. Considering Most Wanted will be available on such a large breadth of platforms spanning home consoles, PC, mobiles and Vita, this could easily set the standard for online cross-compatability - hopefully other developers will start to follow suit.

Not sure if that means the autolog stuff carries over or not.

As much as I might want to play this, I think it'll be a casualty of me buying so many other games this season. I'm not sure when I'll get to it.

cyrax wrote:

As much as I might want to play this, I think it'll be a casualty of me buying so many other games this season. I'm not sure when I'll get to it.

Likewise. Buying two racing games in the same month is a bit excessive for me, and I chose Forza Horizon—then the announcement of the Rally Expansion just confirmed that I'd made the right choice for myself. I imagine I'll get to NFSMW in the new year. For the rationale behind my choice, I wrote in the FH thread:

FH just looks like it has the element of surprise. NFSMW is too much of a known quantity—arcade racing, Criterion pedigree, improved Autolog, matured Paradise City—and while I've every confidence that it's going to be great, I feel like I know everything that's going to be in the box. Whereas I don't entirely know what to expect with a sim driving game in an open world—other than the fact that, as I realized over the last week or so, this is actually the car game I've wanted all my life: real cars, customization, realistic handling, but off staid tracks, with their curbs and catchment fences and tire walls and only-one-way-around, and on to the roads. Too much FM3/4, as enjoyable as they are, inured me to closed circuit racing—I demand junctions, highways, and terrified traffic.

I act like it's an incredibly weighty decision. But these are racing games, including a Criterion game. So for me, it is.

Fair points all, but I'm on PC and I assume FH is 360 only, I've never even looked at it.

And if Autolog is somewhat cross platform, a major coup, then that's awesome.

I didn't realize this was coming out so close to Forza. Oh well, I can wait for a lull to pick this up I guess.

So, having tasted the Forza Horizon demo, I'm interested to see how this turns out.

Watched the overview video narrated by the DJ Atomica gentleman over on GiantBomb, and have to say that I'm definitely interested. I loved NFS: Most Wanted, really enjoyed Burnout: Paradise, and absolutely loathed Criterion's NFS: Hot Pursuit. So now... I'm waiting.

Also, Kinect-based voice integration? Sure...

I'm watching the Most Wanted: Behind The Scenes video on Xbox Live, and yeah, my biggest concern is having just a slew of cars available without any cost. The upgrade of vehicles in Hot Pursuit was like that (you won them, you didn't buy them), and that's probably my biggest concern.

I am definitely going to be playing the demo.

So EA has this whole preload business down. It said it would unlock at 12am EDT, and I had already passed the EA logo before 12:01 hit. None of Steam's decrypting or anything.

It makes a pretty strong first impression, with the intro movie blending directly into handing the controls off to the player. I'm not sure if I immediately like it better. I was immediately distracted by new cars and billboards so quickly that I didn't actually have the chance to start upgrading any of them. The leaderboards seem to be entirely based on your EA friends list, so they might actually be cross-platform.

The multiplayer seems to be in the modern Diablo/Borderlands style of "have your friends jump right in whenever" and your single player game gets converted to a posse roaming around the world smashing billboards. Add me to your Origin friends (same handle) and let's race!

After playing horizon for several hours, I'm frustrated enough to buy NFSMW sight unseen. My handle is ibdoomed and I'll see you on the road!

ibdoomed wrote:

After playing horizon for several hours, I'm frustrated enough to buy NFSMW sight unseen. My handle is ibdoomed and I'll see you on the road!

Because I am sure the cars in NFS will demonstrate real world performance;-)

I am really torn between NFS and AC III. 2 days ago, I would have told you it was NFS hands down. But after finding out it's an "open world" game like Paradise, it's much closer between the two. In general, I can't stand total open world racing games. Just give me a track and let me race! I wish there was a demo of either one to help me decide. I'm sure eventually I will end up with both, but one will be day 1, and one will be a bargain purchase.

Decisions decisions...

Coolbeans wrote:

I am really torn between NFS and AC III. 2 days ago, I would have told you it was NFS hands down. But after finding out it's an "open world" game like Paradise, it's much closer between the two.

Jeff Gerstmann wrote:

Giant Bombs Need for Speed: Most Wanted Review

Need for Speed: Most Wanted might not have the name on the box, but it's essentially a mini-sequel to Burnout Paradise.

[...]

Ultimately, though, the real issue with the single-player is that it feels a little empty. The world feels small and lifeless.

[...]

Thankfully, the game has multiplayer, and the online side of Need for Speed: Most Wanted is amazing. Rather than just dump you into yet another series of races, Most Wanted is more like the challenge modes found in Burnout Paradise with some proper racing mixed in.

[...]

It's a shame that the single-player portion of Most Wanted isn't more exciting, but it's still pretty good because the handling makes the cars enjoyable to just drive around, regardless of what you're doing. But if you're looking for a solid, lengthy solo campaign from a driving game, this isn't what you're looking for. Most Wanted is a multiplayer-first game, and taken in that context, few games do it better than this.

My wife agreed to a couple games for my most recent birthday, and since Target is holding a B2G1 sale, I snagged this, AC3, and Dishonored.

I'd say the Giant Bomb points are all spot on so far. I've been able to upgrade a few cars, break some speed limits, and break into the top 10 most wanted list pretty quickly. For me so far, the world the police patrolling the world is the star of the show. The races have been fun and driving around the town is great, but I quickly discovered that if I saw a police cruiser, I was going to tag it or blow past it at 150mph. So far for me, it's Burnout Paradise with police chases - it's fantastic arcade fun.

My handle is MateoFalconeGWJ on Origin, so friend me up.

Cross posted from Android thread,
Now available for Android!

IGN wasn't as unimpressed with the single player as GiantBomb, so I'm not sure what to think yet.

Polygon's line, "Negotiating Easy Drive is like texting while driving", did make me chuckle, though.

They do say the following, though:

It's dumbfounding that all of Need for Speed Most Wanted's ailments are remedied in its excellent multiplayer mode. Cars can be switched on the spot, no warping required. Vehicles start with the nitrous boost unlocked and, barring very minimal restrictions, nearly every car can compete in every event. Multiplayer party hosts can even create event playlists, which allow them to choose from dozens of events, activities and races from an overworld map.

That multiplayer is superior to single-player isn't really a surprise. It's a trite saying for first-person shooters that I'll extend to Criterion racing games: single-player is just training for the multiplayer experience.

That second paragraph makes me sad, though, because I really enjoy the "classic" games like Most Wanted.

It doesn't really appeal based on that Quick Look. I'll stick with Driver San Francisco for now.

You think that's bad, you should watch last week's Thursday Night Throwdown for Forza Horizon (for some reason, they're non-subscriber viewable now).

Ryan was at the wheel and it was awful. He insisted on keeping the camera out, behind the car, completely ignoring the gorgeous cockpit-cam views). He played multiplayer exclusively (duh) which removes A.I. public traffic completely. He played like crap, coming in 7/8, 8/8 for the bulk of the races.

Man, I freakin' love Horizon, but if someone tried to sell me on it based on TNT, I would have passed without blinking an eye.

I'm getting a crash every time on the PC loading screen. Gah.

Time to look around the web for answers.

Aaron D. wrote:

You think that's bad, you should watch last week's Thursday Night Throwdown for Forza Horizon (for some reason, they're non-subscriber viewable now).

Ryan was at the wheel and it was awful. He insisted on keeping the camera out, behind the car, completely ignoring the gorgeous cockpit-cam views). He played multiplayer exclusively (duh) which removes A.I. public traffic completely. He played like crap, coming in 7/8, 8/8 for the bulk of the races.

Man, I freakin' love Horizon, but if someone tried to sell me on it based on TNT, I would have passed without blinking an eye.

I cannot play racing games in cockpit view. Food for thought, it's not the default for a reason. Ain't for everybody.

Also, TNT's purpose is nowhere near trying to sell people on games. Unless it's some of Patrick's indie stuff.

Blind_Evil wrote:
Aaron D. wrote:

You think that's bad, you should watch last week's Thursday Night Throwdown for Forza Horizon (for some reason, they're non-subscriber viewable now).

Ryan was at the wheel and it was awful. He insisted on keeping the camera out, behind the car, completely ignoring the gorgeous cockpit-cam views). He played multiplayer exclusively (duh) which removes A.I. public traffic completely. He played like crap, coming in 7/8, 8/8 for the bulk of the races.

Man, I freakin' love Horizon, but if someone tried to sell me on it based on TNT, I would have passed without blinking an eye.

I cannot play racing games in cockpit view. Food for thought, it's not the default for a reason. Ain't for everybody.

Also, TNT's purpose is nowhere near trying to sell people on games. Unless it's some of Patrick's indie stuff.

Still cockpit view is a big part of FH

I don't get the logic. He was playing, camera is his choice. I wouldn't crticize him for using cockpit view even though I don't. He doesn't work for Playground.

Yikes. Didn't mean to derail the OP.

Sorry guys.

MannishBoy wrote:

I'm getting a crash every time on the PC loading screen. Gah.

Time to look around the web for answers.

Think I figured out where the problem lies. I have a full Origin friends list. If I disconnect from my network or go into Offline mode in Origin, the game loads. So it's when it tries to sync to Origin or Autolog that it dies.

I went ahead and grabbed this for my PS3, but don't know anyone else playing it and would really like some friends to race with.

My PS3 account is rr00bb00ttss (those are zeros). Please feel free to add me.

Great game so far, btw. Really feels like the best of Burnout and NFS mashed together.

MannishBoy wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:

I'm getting a crash every time on the PC loading screen. Gah.

Time to look around the web for answers.

Think I figured out where the problem lies. I have a full Origin friends list. If I disconnect from my network or go into Offline mode in Origin, the game loads. So it's when it tries to sync to Origin or Autolog that it dies.

That's... Pretty terrible.

If you have PS Plus you can try it out for an hour, which I just did. Wicked fun. In an hour, I was able to get to my first challenge on the top 10 most wanted list. However, I lost due to hitting the police blockade and losing my tires for half of the race (since I missed going through a repair place). 90 miles per hour on rims, my friend, does not win you races.

MannishBoy wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:

I'm getting a crash every time on the PC loading screen. Gah.

Time to look around the web for answers.

Think I figured out where the problem lies. I have a full Origin friends list. If I disconnect from my network or go into Offline mode in Origin, the game loads. So it's when it tries to sync to Origin or Autolog that it dies.

That's worth a support ticket, I think. Also, clear space on your friends list! My AutoLog is so....empty!