NFS Most Wanted Preview

[jtace]

Need for Speed Most Wanted Preview

Introduction: Need for Speed Most Wanted is the latest incarnation of the long standing NFS series bringing about the revolutionization of hot pursuit and bringing it to a whole new level. Thanks to EA I was privledged to go to EA Canada and get lots of hands on with NFS MW and some good Q&A with the developers. I'll say it right now now, there is no oportunity to be the cop, drop all expectations of this and move on. I'm as dissapointed about this as you are, but as you'll see, I got over it. I also don't know anything about online right now, they didn't release anything as I'm sure they're frantically changing things left and right still on it. That being said, here's what I think about the latest build of NFS Most Wanted, which was very stable for still being very beta software.

System Requirements: These aren't the official system requirements but here's the aproximate minimums for NFS MW, 1.5 GHz or so Athlon, with a GF2 series video card.

Game Modes: Here we have the standard racing modes along with some new additions. Here is what I'm currently allowed to talk about that you might not be familiar with.

Drag Race - Drag racing makes it's reapearance in NFS MW, pretty much the same as in Underground 2 with maybe a few tweaks here and there. This has become a staple mode with it's introduction in NFS Underground, concentrating more on shift points, nitrous use, and drafting techniques then actual steering the car. It's not as overpowering as it has been in the past, you still will be kept in your lane automatically, but it doesn't overly restrict your steering as bad as it has in past incarnations.

Tollbooth Race - An all new raceing mode based on running from tollbooth to tollboth as fast as you can, dodgeing traffic and cop cars all the way. Oh and when you finish the race, you have to evade the cops that you got on your tail before you're done! More on pursuit and cops later. You get a set amount of time to get to the next tollbooth, if time runs out, you lose. Kinda reminds me of the arcade games in the mall where you get a time extension for going fast enough thru one segment of the course and another segment is waiting for you.


Car List:

BMW M3 GTR Street
BMW M3 GTR Race
Mazda RX-8
Porsche Carrera GT
Ford Mustang GT
Lotus Elise
Subaru Impreza WRX STi
Audi TT 3.2 V6
McLaren Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
General Motors Corvette C6R
General Motors Corvette C6
Mitsubishi Eclipse GT
Toyota Supra


These are the cars that have been officially announced so far by EA, with a lot more to come. As you can see there is a healthy mix of muscle, tuner, euro, and exotic cars in the game. If you don't see many exotics on the list right now, well there are several yet to be announced cars I'm not allowed to talk about yet. I think it's safe to say there's something for everyone in this game when it comes to car selection.

Car Customization: Visual customization still exists for those of you who enjoy decking out a Supra with decals, vinals, spoiler and body kit. For those who don't enjoy this and prefer a low profile sleeper, don't worry, there's no requirement to "pimp" your ride to advance. Although it is a good idea to modify the visual apearance every so often, you'll find that it helps to lower the "heat" on your car as the police won't recognize it as easily. I'll explain more about cops later. Body kits are custom creations by EA, no more individual spoilers/bumpers and such to put on, but there are 5-6 custom body kits for each car. This is again going back to the basis of the game not being on customization but on cops and this is just another utility to evade the cops when used properly, besides the fact that you can make your ride look as "hot" as you want.

Car Performance Upgrades: There have been some improvements in this area, it's now more clearly defined as to what each upgrade will do for you. If you put $150K into a VW, it'll be a really really fast VW that might just suprise an exotic or two that costs the same amount. This is kind of how things are structured in NFS Most Wanted. You can either put a ton of money into a low end car and make it go fast, or save the money and get one that goes fast out of the box, so to speak.

Physics: Car physics are along the same lines as Underground 2, geared to hit the sweet spot between pure arcade and pure simulation, easy enough to drive right off and have fun, but still true to how a car should feel without being overbearing. I think they've made an improvement from what I've seen so far with the cars, they feel like they have some weight and momentum to them. This is one feature that they are still tweaking right up till ship, so we'll have to wait for release to see the exact balance they strike.

Career Mode and Visuals: Here is the bread and butter of the game, single player. They've done really well with this from what I've seen over the half dozen hours I got to play the game. Gone is the comic book style of NFS UG2, which is a good thing if you ask me, that just didn't draw me into the game very well at all. Live actors are used in all the cutscenes, although they've made sure they didn't try for visual reality in the game.

What do I mean? Well photorealism is all well and good, but try for that and never be able to reach it when you can take reality back a step and create perfection with CG. Thru the use of special filters from the talented special effects director they hired, they've taken reality back down a notch with they're live actors such as Josie Maron. If you ask me this effect was done to perfection! You have a live actor doing things no programmer could create, yet flowing seamlessly with the CG that is created by your computer. There is no disjointedness between the game and the cutscenes, it's done amazingly well and looks incredible. The Xbox 360 on HD TV and the PC looked about the same, stunning. All 10 of us there were very impressed.

Well back to single player, I won't spoil it for you, but let me give you a general idea. The first 5 or so races are interlaced with cutscenes and very scripted for one reason, to royally piss you off! They seamlessly go from race to cutscene and sculpt a foundation that will get you a bit riled up and make you want to go thru and finish the game to get your chance at revenge with your ultimate goal to be the most notorious.

Open World: The open world exists just like in NFS Underground 2 and is about 1.5 to 2 times larger in fact. There are also several improvements. No more night time only and being stuck in the city. You are from dawn to dusk with dynamic lighting and shadows in the city and surrounding countryside. There is the city blocks, industrial zones, downtown skyscrapers, highways and country roads in the woods. This is a true open world, you can go around and thru most anything you want, parks, golf courses, gas stations, hiking trails, grassy knolls and more. There is also a semi destructible environment, breaking phone poles, even if a bit too easily, fire hydrants, fences, gas pumps, complete with explosive results, and even support structures for things like boats and roofs and billboards. Some of this is very important in cop evasion as you'll see later. While you might not think this destruction is very realistic, it is very fun and usefull, so I'm content with it.

Cops: Finally down to the whole reason this game was made, cop pursuit and being the most wanted! Let's just say if you liked the old hot pursuit games, they've taken cops to a whole other level. You'll be blown away at the amount of detail put into the cops in Most Wanted. Many different levels of heat will bring out different levels of cops after you and force you to adapt your escape technique to match thier increasing number of pursuit techniques leveled against you. The old hit reverse trick won't save you anymore. There are 6 different strategies that the cops will level against you, each with one or two specific counters, roadblocks, boxing in, and helicopters to name a few.

There's been an amazing amount of detail put into the pursuit portion of the game. Dynamic radio calls by the police, traffic calling 911 when being hit, dynamic music, ever increasing cop talent, the AI for the cops is great and it all leads to a very exciting experience. Want to evade the cops, run over the boat support struts, and send it crashing down on your pursuit, take a jaunt across the golf course, hide behind the gas station, and just go crazy. After you lose them you need to stay lost, you have to cool off and have a cooldown period. That's the perfect time to find that hiding spot as the cops will have a quadrant around you and be closing in on your last known position to try and find you.

You finish that sprint from downtown to the golf course, got 5 cops hot on your tail, think you're done? Think again, you need to now evade the cops and keep from getting busted! This is all part of the seemless integration between racing and the world. Just getting out of the middle of the golf course after hiding from the police, don't go too fast as you go either to your safehouse or to the next race, that cop around the corner might start up the chase again! The more heat you have the more likely you're to be recognized by a cop. This can make for some heart pounding chases and some nervous crawls around the corner after races. You might find yourself poking your nose out slowly, checking for cops, before you get going. This all adds greatly to the immersion factor. If you really don't care for the cop chases and such, not that I could understand why you wouldn't, you do still have options. You can jump from place to play instantly via the blacklist of racers for challenges once you've qualified for the next level of challenge. This allows you to make the game as difficult as you like seeing as much of the game as you like. It's all put together for a very personalized experience that is second to none. This is the best cop experience I've ever seen in a racing game.


Cons:

Be the cop mode - This doesn't exist in NFS MW, EA has put all thier efforts into a revolutionary cop pursuit, leaving no time or money to do justice to a mode where you are the police. Yeah this will be the biggest dissapointment in the game without a doubt, but I do think the rest NFS MW has to offer makes up for it.

Online - just a complete unkown as now, this could move the final rating by 10% either way as online is the endgame, what else do you do after you've done career mode twice.

Four Racer at a time - yeah we've all been spoiled by the 8 racers in NFS PU and previous, but after only 4 in both Underground games it's only a minor point anymore.

Pros:

Cops, Cops, Cops - I can't say it enough, the best cop experince in a racing game ever.

Visuals - As always NFS takes advantage of the latest visual techniques and looks stunning, especially on PC and Xbox 360.

Career Mode - Very engaging career mode, no more comic books for NFS, great seamless integration of cutscenes and racing, making things fluid and immersive.

Cars - A car for everyone and physics that do what you expect them to do, and in the end very fun.

Open World - Great use of destructive environments, very creative for pursuit evasion and lots of variety so no one get's bored.


Conclusion: 85% While this is just a preview an 85% is a very high score that could go up or down depending upon the online mode. Sorry no details on the online play yet. What could make this better?

[jtace]

Here ya go guys, feel free to ask any questions you might have.

[Justin Martin]

How would you rate the ability to get around the city? One of my biggest complaints with NFSU2 was the lack of frequent entrance / exit ramps on the highways. That made it necessary to backtrack alot, enough to be frustrating, and enough that I tried to avoid the highways if at all possible.

[Avro707C]

Interesting.

The really bad thing in previous NFS incarnations with the drag racing is the keeping you in your lane thing, the artificial steering, and the super "slippery" tyres. It seemed like cars had teflon coated tyres, since they would just spin at the drop of a hat.

I'm interested in how the M3 GTR's sound. I've got a great video of one being driven in anger. The scream from its gearbox is deafening! If you've heard a 320i supertourenwagen, you'll understand. The M3 GTR has that classic BMW racing transmission scream.

[VQ]

The tollbooth racing sounds very similar to some racing that was in TNFS, which is excelent!

THe cop mode sounds like the same basic thing beig used by GTA and in Mafia which is a 3 year old game or so, but no complaints, that's a different type of game.

[jtace]

Originally Posted by IH8COPS

How would you rate the ability to get around the city? One of my biggest complaints with NFSU2 was the lack of frequent entrance / exit ramps on the highways. That made it necessary to backtrack alot, enough to be frustrating, and enough that I tried to avoid the highways if at all possible.

I didn't get to travel around the entire city but I didn't notice as much of a problem like there was in NFS UG2. The highways are more of the open type then the closed type from what I saw. But the city is huge.

[jtace]

Originally Posted by chris

Interesting.

The really bad thing in previous NFS incarnations with the drag racing is the keeping you in your lane thing, the artificial steering, and the super "slippery" tyres. It seemed like cars had teflon coated tyres, since they would just spin at the drop of a hat.

Drag racing still has the same general idea, but it just felt a bit better then in the past incarnations. It wasn't nearly as rigid locking you into your lane as I remember UG2 being, I sometimes forgot that I didn't have to steer it as I was manuvering under a Semi.

Originally Posted by chris

I'm interested in how the M3 GTR's sound. I've got a great video of one being driven in anger. The scream from its gearbox is deafening! If you've heard a 320i supertourenwagen, you'll understand. The M3 GTR has that classic BMW racing transmission scream.

I've been told they've gone thru great pains to get good sounds, as far as putting cars on dyno's and even changing out performance parts to get the changes in sound that would cause.

[jtace]

Originally Posted by VQ

The tollbooth racing sounds very similar to some racing that was in TNFS, which is excelent!

THe cop mode sounds like the same basic thing beig used by GTA and in Mafia which is a 3 year old game or so, but no complaints, that's a different type of game.

Yeah as far as I know this is the best racing game with cops in it that there is. I'm really impressed with it.

The M3 GTR Race version is the real race car, it's a monster.

[Justin Martin]

Originally Posted by jtace

...as I was manuvering under a Semi.

Under a semi?!? I'm liking this game already.

[Remko]

Nice and honest preview of NFS MW, thanks for all the info so far.
2 questions come to mind:

- will game progress be non-linear like UG2, where you have to cruise around the city until you discover spots where racing events are being held, or do you think it will be more traditional in structure?

- well, this is a personal thing for me, but have you noticed anything about a cinematic replay after a race? I saw at least one post on a German fansite that suggested it'd not be there. (which, I think, would make NFS about the only racing franchise without such a feature...)

[jtace]

Originally Posted by Remko

Nice and honest preview of NFS MW, thanks for all the info so far.
2 questions come to mind:

- will game progress be non-linear like UG2, where you have to cruise around the city until you discover spots where racing events are being held, or do you think it will be more traditional in structure?

- well, this is a personal thing for me, but have you noticed anything about a cinematic replay after a race? I saw at least one post on a German fansite that suggested it'd not be there. (which, I think, would make NFS about the only racing franchise without such a feature...)

Well progress is a bit of both. It's linear in the sense that you have to challenge every one to get to the top of the blacklist in order, but non linear in that you can do what you like to get enough "noteriety" to qualify to challenge the next on the list.

Replays, I didn't notice any option for them in game when I was playing. EA has an awesome camera editor they use in house, that the art/cinematography director was pushing to get released, so maybe we'll get lucky and get something even better, but no idea if they are even seriously considering it as yet.

[jtace]

http://www.eagames.com/official/nfs/....73938&src=psp

Some PSP info on NFS MW. I got a chance to play it and for PSP it's amazing. I was surprised at how good it looked and drove.

[Remko]

Originally Posted by jtace

EA has an awesome camera editor they use in house, that the art/cinematography director was pushing to get released, so maybe we'll get lucky and get something even better, but no idea if they are even seriously considering it as yet.

Oh please, oh please...


Oh, and it looks EA put you'guys Community Day Photo Album online: have a look here:
http://www.eagames.com/official/nfs/...=community_day see if you can spot everyone's favourite webmaster in the crowd...

[jtace]

I have the Underground 2 shirt on in a couple of those pics. heh..

[[RS]Alt]

All I can say is "it must reallllllly be rough" to have to go to one of these "pitches" and get treated to all of the new stuph!

...and to have to work at 'playing games' on computers.... Where do I go to sign up for a job like this?