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vandylOffline
Location: Madison, AL
14 Post subject: Need For Speed: Most Wanted  PostPosted: Dec 17, 2005 - 10:37 PM
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Initial thoughts
I've always been a fan of the Need For Speed series - the driving dynamics are a near-perfect blend of the ease, and fun, of arcade racing and the physics of a driving simulator. EA has produced these titles since the introduction of the PlayStation - every new release has taken the strengths of the previous version and improved upon them. The latest installment, Most Wanted, is, to date, their crowning achievement in the racing genre and is a worthy flagship title.

Expansion.visual
I splurged and purchased a copy of the Black Edition - a sort of early Christmas present to myself, and installed it as soon as I got home and finished gift-wrapping.

WOW

Visually, the game is stunning. The course architecture surpasses the benchmark set by RidgeRacerV (and later titles) - but it combines the beautiful detail with an open environment, a nod to Need For Speed: Underground 2. They've developed a codebase that utilizes every feature of the latest graphics card to its fullest ability: pixel shading, realtime reflections, shadows, volumetric smoke and - last but definitely not least - HDR. Wet roads look wet. Oil slicks look slick. Transitions from dim tunnels to bright sunlight are accompanied by the overbright appearance of outdoors, requiring your eyes to adjust (the adjustment is helped by the HDR algorithms in the code itself). Simply an amazing visual experience.

Expansion.include
I've only begun playing through the game, so my list of included cars is short. Present are marquee brands such as BMW, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Porsche. Alongside their bigger (smaller, in a few cases), and better, European relatives are cars more fitting for the ricer segment of society: the new Eclipse, the new Golf GTI, Lexus IS300 (aka the Toyota Altezza), and many more.

Each car has handling that fits the car - they're all configured differently and thus handle differently, a nice touch, especially from a simulation point of view. The 'weights' of the cars feel about right - the amount of squat and dive of the suspension is close to what I expected the car to demonstrate.

Upgrades are broken down into three categories, each with sub-categories: Performance (what makes it go faster), Parts (what makes it look meaner), and Visual (the icing on the cake). This breakdown is a much refined and more open approach than was taken in the Underground installments. The key to unlocking better parts is defeating racers ranked higher than you. All in all, the amount of customization and personalization has been taken to a whole new level - the only minus I've seen so far (and it may be there, just haven't looked deep enough perhaps) is the ability to fine tune the performance parts, as was allowed in NFS: Underground 2. I've bought parts, but I've not found any way to adjust the settings of the parts in any similar manner - there may be no need for this number-crunching customization, or I may just not have found it yet. We'll see (I'll be updating this as I progress through the game).

Expansion.progress
The racing structure is similar to what is found in NFS:U2 and other racers - you have set goals you must attain before moving to the next level. At the end of each level you'll race "the boss" of that level. Defeat the boss to move on. Fortunately, you have a little freedom when it comes to the order in which you accomplish the goals. Prefer building your rap-sheet, the points that boost your underground reputation? No problem - go head to head with the cops, cause mayhem, and make sure you get away. Prefer flat-out embarrassing your competitors? Then get it done in the circuit or sprint races.

Regardless of the order, you have to accomplish all goals before challenging the next racer ranked above you. By giving choice to the gamer, they've effectively created a game you can complete "at your own pace" while maintaining a linear progression, start to finish.

Exit
In short, if you've been a fan of NFS, this title will definitely blow you away. If you enjoy racing, this title will be plenty of fun. If you've never really gotten into racing games, but enjoy cars, this would be a great game to take your first step.

Need For Speed is the family; Most Wanted is the mistress who never leaves you unsatisfied.

Hardware
My system is as follows:
AMD AthlonXP 2800+ (Barton)
1GB PC2100 (you saw that right) DDR-SDRAM
Radeon X850 Pro (AGP) 256 GDDR3, Not overclocked/unlocked
SB Audigy 2 ZS

Game.settings
800x600
Full detail
Advanced options are all turned to max, except as noted below
2xAA (set by game control, one click to the right on the AA option)
VSync On (I've got the refresh set to 75hz at 800x600 via display CP)
These settings on my system run smooth as butter - not a single hickup or frame-hitch.

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PhukFace: what d you get 72 virgins?
vandyl: yeah. unfortunately they were all members of either au gamers, au society of anime and manga, or both.


Last edited by vandyl on Dec 18, 2005 - 12:51 AM; edited 1 time in total
 
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T-BirDOffline
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Post subject: RE: Need For Speed: Most Wanted  PostPosted: Dec 17, 2005 - 11:45 PM
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Joined: Oct 26, 2005
Posts: 108
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Nice analysis! Only thing is...this being EA, in a year you'll have a new mistress with glossier shine Wink

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vandylOffline
Location: Madison, AL
Post subject: RE: Need For Speed: Most Wanted  PostPosted: Dec 18, 2005 - 12:50 AM
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Well, that's the nice thing about mistresses - you can always trade up for the new model Wink

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PhukFace: what d you get 72 virgins?
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T-BirDOffline
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Post subject: RE: Need For Speed: Most Wanted  PostPosted: Dec 18, 2005 - 07:11 AM
teh gam0r!!1~
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Setup...and...execution!

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vandylOffline
Location: Madison, AL
Post subject: RE: Need For Speed: Most Wanted  PostPosted: Dec 18, 2005 - 08:25 PM
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Now that I've gotten a little further into the game, let me append some additional information

Progression
As I stated before, to progress through the game you must accomplish goals set for each level before you can challenge the next racer (that level's boss). I meant to say this earlier but forgot: when it comes to building your rap-sheet, you have to initiate and escape from police pursuits. The reputation goals relate to total damage you cause in a single pursuit, length of time in a single pursuit, among others. When you're in pursuit mode, the gameplay is very similar to Burnout (not a big surprise since EA owns that title as well) - but the driving is much more realistic than is found in the Burnout series. For every pursuit, you basically want to cause as much damage as possible while eluding capture.

When you beat a rival, you're allowed to choose two of that opponents markers - you have the chance to pick up another car, so choose carefully. Cars, and parts, aren't cheap and money isn't as prevalent as I'd like, so a free car is a boon.

Law Enforcement
If you end up busted, you're taken to jail where you have one of two choices: pay the fines or get out free with a "Get out of jail free" card - if you're out of cards, you have to pay the price. Additionally, every time you pay the fines, your car receives an impound strike; once you have three on that car, you lose the car (not sure if you lose it permanently as I haven't gotten a strike yet) - it's definitely something you need to keep in mind and serves as an additional motivator to escape capture.

Customization
The ability to customize your car is limited when compared to the Underground series, but I prefer this method to what was present in the Underground titles - you don't have the ability to mix and match body parts, but the packages offered are plenty. Yes, some might say this cuts down on the gamer's ability to personalize their car (and I agree), but this step cuts out a lot of unnecessary actions and objects and seems a very polished and optimized approach. The same can be said of the vinyls - in short, the visual options for your car are reduced, but I honestly don't miss having the option to mix and match the bodykit.

I still have yet to find a "tuner" mode that allows specific adjustments to the performance parts, so I'll assume it was removed as well. That's ok, the cars have plenty of grip, go and top speed.

Graphics Options
I reexamined my intial thoughts of the graphics; I remember reading that AA and HDR cannot be enabled at the same time, but that was a few months ago. The bottom line is what I've seen in the game MUST be HDR; if it's not, they've outdone themselves by being able to simulate HDR effects without the use of HDR. I know for a fact AA is enabled; there are no jagged edges (the obvious sign of sans-AA) - and I stand by what I said previously - this game is an amazing visual experience - if you've got the hardware, enable AA and max out the "Visual Treatment" option (this is the variable, in game, that controls the HDR and other visual effects). Some cards may have issues running both at the same time - if you experience trouble, investigate your card's abilities and check for a driver update. I believe the Radeon series had an issue with AA + HDR, but it was resolved in a driver release.

Bullet-time
Yes, this game has bullet-time - it's called "Speed Breaker," and functions like the "Aftertouch" mode in Burnout. When you trigger the SB, you're granted full control of your car, even in Drag races, to help you drive a clean line through some difficult traffic and environment props. Obviously, everything is in super-slow-mo; you basically gain superhuman reflexes while the speed breaker is active (you can enable and disable it at will, when needed). I didn't think I'd have a use for it, but I was wrong - one particular drag race set on a pretty heavily commuted road resulted in a few retries and then finally the use of the Speed Breaker. Very handy in a tight spot.

Final thoughts
I've not finished the game, but I will - I've been sucked in and I'm in for the long haul. NFS:MW is a polished, beautiful title chock full of replay value (more than just about any other racer/sim out there) - players are also able to face off with other players online (haven't done that yet, but soon) or via a LAN. If I gave out points, I'd give this game a 9.something/10 - it surpassed my expectations.

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PhukFace: what d you get 72 virgins?
vandyl: yeah. unfortunately they were all members of either au gamers, au society of anime and manga, or both.
 
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