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Initial impressions for any next generation console are always going to be slightly underwhelming. A franchise like Need for Speed is also not the going to provide the graphical tour de force that people will be expecting either. However, in the brief time we spent with Need for Speed Most Wanted it seemed to be talking the series in interesting new directions, even if the visuals and controls failed to impress.
The demo showed off the drag racing mode that has been prominent in recent Need for Speed games. The good news is that rather than the more restricted feel of the Underground drag racing games, Most Wanted gives you full control. While darting along this track, dodging through trucks and hitting nitro to give you a much needed boost, it’s easy to make comparisons to Burnout, and to be honest, the only thing that really changes this is the ‘bullet-time’ like Speedbreaker mode. This throws the game in to slow-motion and allows you to pull off some nifty manoeuvres.
It seemed like pretty good fun, although the drag mode was limited. However, some of the promised features for the full game did pique our interest. The game will have full customisation features as expected, but in an interesting twist these features can affect how the police view you. Have too many dubious additions to your car and the police will give you a lot more hassle. Now that the police cars have more advanced AI, with the ability to use tactics and teamwork to take you out, this should make things much more interesting and will add a welcome extra dimension to the game.
The thing that I’m sure you’re all interested in is the graphics and I’ll be honest, they don’t look much better than the kind of visuals you’d see from a game running on a high-end PC. Yes, the game is unfinished, but its looks are unlikely to change that much before release – a significantly smoother frame rate would help no end though. Not that graphics from a high-end PC are bad of course, and the game is still a treat to the eyes, it just doesn’t live up to what you’d expect from a next generation title. However, it does show good attention to detail, with the use of both normal mapping and authentic vehicle sounds.
At this stage it’s hard to tell how successful the game will be, but it does show promise. We only got to play a short drag race on hardware that was said to be less than half the power of the final 360 console, so it’s hard to see how the game will turn out. Right now the future of the Need for Speed franchise (although we expect Most Wanted to sell well regardless of its quality) is still up in the air, but we’ll be sure to keep an eye on the game over the next few months.
