Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005)

"Become the most notorious. Master the art of cop evasion. Customise the look to elude police pursuit. Win races, climb the Blacklist, become the Most Wanted."

This is surly the worst NFS game on the NDS. Very loosely resembling the PC/XBox/PS2 original and is pretty much a poor version of the GBA release. Whilst is not a great game on the GBA either, it at least looks impressive given that consoles specs. It does look better on the small screen rather than blown up in an emu though. At least the levels load instantly which cant be said for the NFS games that come after on the NDS.

The game starts off quite easy and the races are over fairly quickly. At the end of chapter 6, I play the boss race a few more times to farm some spending points. It a quick 35 second race so I don't waste to much video time here. During most races, especially later faster ones, you will build up the heat meter. Just driving fast is enough to earn some heat but crashing into stuff will fill it quicker. Heat or no heat, the police will harass you and if you are forced to stop, will be Busted. If you have little heat you will be let on your way but if you have a full bar you will get to play a mini game. Win and you get to continue on. Lose and its off to jail!. If you end a race with full heat, you get the option to earn double points in a Double Take. To win them you need to escape the cop. It's a good way to earn some points especially after a Boss Car Battle.

For the longplay, I play through all events in each chapter to make sure I have enough rep points later in the game. By the time I unlocked the last boss car I had only two events left. If you were to choose not to do two events I would suggest the time trials in chapter 14 and 15 as they have stupidly tight time requirements not really allowing for any collisions or slowdowns. The credits roll after the final boss car and I complete remaining events afterwards and buy up all the remaining cars.

Overall, the difficulty isnt to bad with the ai drivers being as dumb as dirt. If they overtake you, its likely they will crash into an oncoming car allowing you to take the lead again. The copy cars are a constant annoyance but will likely just crash into stuff trying to hit you. It's not the most fun to play though. The tracks are fairly basic and doesn't allow for much movement causing you to grind the walls. Driving the cars feels like being on a sheet of ice constantly. A slight tap of the dpad can turn the car around. There is also no real sense of speed even with the fastest cars. At least the credits auto roll though to let you know you have finished the game.

00:00:00 Chapter 1 - Taz
00:12:43 Chapter 2 - Ender
00:21:06 Chapter 3 - Nicki
00:31:01 Chapter 4 - Big Lou
00:40:00 Chapter 5 - Zoe
00:55:18 Chapter 6 - Sol
01:14:32 Chapter 7 - Izzy
01:33:28 Chapter 8 - BBB
01:57:08 Chapter 9 - Earl
02:17:44 Chapter 10 - Sassy
02:35:37 Chapter 11 - Webster
02:59:21 Chapter 12 - Orca
03:22:08 Chapter 13 - Terry
03:41:55 Chapter 14 - Murff
03:59:04 Chapter 15 - Razor