Need for Speed used to be the most popular racing game series by Ubisoft in early 2000. Getting a massive kickstart by Underground, Need For Speed was already on track to be a huge hit and although Most Wanted wasn’t the most anticipated game in the NFS line, it sure did exceed every race game lover’s expectation when it was “first” released back in 2004.
It turned out to be so damn good that it went on to claim the top spot for the most played racing title in the NFS series, selling well over 16 million copies worldwide, taking over its predecessor (if you will) by a huge margin and for the right reasons. But what exactly made Most Wanted so popular that this underdog took the whole world by storm?
The BEST Story Mode
When it comes to racing games, one of the things that many developers don’t really pay attention to is the story mode. I mean, it makes sense a racing game has to be good at “racing” but if a good story mode is what keeps the players entertained for hours and gives more meaning to the whole game.
There is a lot that goes behind making a game worth player’s attention, games like GTA 5 still remains popular even after a decade (almost) because there is so much that the game offers to the players, it has one of the best stories, incredibly beautiful graphics and a multiplayer mode where you can max out your GTA V account by pulling off different legal and not so legal gigs and so much more. There are many other games that bring in a lot of excitement, the likes of Fortnite accounts and PUBG Mobile accounts do bring a similar feel, but it’s hard to beat such a masterpiece like Need For Speed Most Wanted. And although Most Wanted didn’t need to have all that but it did, it had one of the best storylines for any racing game even to this date, beautifully crafted cutscenes that were both fun and interesting, a bunch of different racing modes, some of the badass rivals, a ton of beautifully designed cars and the best of all, POLICE CHASE!!
The Infamous Police Chase!
I remember spending hours trying to outmaneuver the police vehicles in the most fun ways possible. And it wasn’t just some dumb police cars chasing you around like robots, they had a pretty good AI that made it so satisfying yet very challenging to keep you hooked for hours. I mean it had everything from cars to heli’s to roadblocks just to get you!
I remember the moment when I would speed and the cop car nearby would turn on its chase light and it would just pump me up and make me go all “It’s Game Time Baby” on them.
But that’s not all, it also had one of the most amazing physics that I had ever encountered in any of the racing games out there. You could literally destroy everything that comes your way, jump off from cliffs while tearing through billboards and whatnot!
