XP is earned by completing events, driving milestones, and getting into trouble with the law. But in order to challenge the top racers, you have to earn experience points. As previously stated, the end goal is to become the city’s most wanted, and to do that, you have to climb the ladder. From this point, you’re pretty much on your own, and left to play the game however you’d like. There’s a brief introduction in the form of a fly-over of the city and a voice over which once again reminded me of Burnout Paradise, then you’re off to the races, literally. The single-player end of NFS: Most Wanted, is an open world driving/racing adventure, that allows you to wreak havoc on the fictional city of Fairhaven, and its surroundings. I was just surprised to see so many similarities and things flat out taken from Burnout Paradise. And don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad thing. And this time, they dipped into their own resources more than that of Need For Speed’s legacy.

This is the second Need For Speed reboot to be developed by Criterion they handled 2010’s NFS: Hot Pursuit. Perhaps a more appropriate title for NFS: Most Wanted (2012) would have been Burnout Paradise 2, as it shares more with Burnout Paradise than it does with the original NFS: Most Wanted.

Not only did I become the most wanted in Fairhaven, I stuck around to hunt down some achievements, and take the top spot on as many leaderboards as possible. None the less, Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2012) is a better game than the original in every regard, and one of the few racing games I’ve seen through to completion in recent years. Well, aside from the whole driving exotic cars like a maniac through a bustling city while being chased by cops, thing. It features a top 10 most wanted list, and the ultimate goal is to become the city’s most wanted driver, but that’s about all this game shares with the original.

NFS: Most Wanted 2012 is not an HD remake after all, the original game was in HD to begin with. Before I get into this, I need to get something off my chest it’s totally silly that we have 2 games in the same console generation, both available on the Xbox 360, with the exact same title.

Nfs most wanted 2012 gameplay