Let's just get this FMV thing out of the way first, because the rest of this review is going to read like a transcription of our lips being applied to EA's buttocks, repeatedly. While the FMV isn't Night Trap bad (god rest your soul, Dana Plato), the decision to tell the story through a blend of live actors and CG environments is -- well, let's just call it a bold choice and leave it at that. All of the sepia tones and shiny chrome in the world can't erase that mid-90's "CD-ROMs are the future!" feel, but fortunately the storyline itself is at least as cheesy as its presentation, so it's almost so bad it's good. Almost.
As a newcomer to the mean streets of Rockport, you run afoul of local jerk Razor Callahan, who's ranked at number 15 on Rockport's "Blacklist" of street racers. Razor sabotages your M3, beats you in a race, takes the pink slip to your ride and leaves you for the cops. With a burning desire for revenge and the help of sexy mysterious street racer Mia (Josie Maran), you start down the long road to the top of the Blacklist and a rematch with Razor, who's taken the #1 spot thanks to your M3. But ultimately, none of that matters. It's all just window dressing for a truly spectacular racing game. Let the butt-kissing commence.
A Complete Lack of Respect for the Law
Most Wanted retains most of the tried-and-true aspects of the Underground games, including Circuit, Drag and Sprint races. It also adds two new racing modes, Tollbooth (a checkpoint-to-checkpoint race), and Speed Trap (blow past radar guns at maximum speed to win). They replace the Racer X and Drift races from Underground, which didn't make the cut. But you won't even miss them, because EA has brought back one of NFS's best features: running from the cops.
Introduced in the heady days of NFS Hot Pursuit, but conspicuously absent from the Underground games, the boys in blue make their triumphant return in Most Wanted. The better you race, the more "heat" your vehicle earns, similar to Grand Theft Auto's wanted level. At level one, you're easily outrunning a few black-and-whites that can take about as much damage as a pi¿ata. But at level five, you're dodging spike strips, roadblocks, choppers, souped-up squad cars, and homicidal police SUVs that pull some incredibly reckless moves, all in the name of law and order. If they immobilize you, you're busted, and you get a strike against your vehicle. Three strikes, and the vehicle is impounded and taken out of play. Fortunately, you can win markers from other racers that give you get-out-of-jail-free cards, cash for buying or upgrading a car or pink slips that give you ownership of your rival's tricked-out ride.