14 DAY TRIAL // Need for Speed: Most Wanted’s multiplayer mode won’t feature police pursuits, like in the older NFS: Hot Pursuit, but players will still interact heavily with the cops in the game’s single-player events, according to developer Criterion Games.
NFS: Most Wanted is a reimagining of the cult classic racing game from 2005, once again letting players explore an open world and win races while avoiding the police.
Unlike the previous NFS game from Criterion – Hot Pursuit – the new one won’t let people play as cops during multiplayer events, as this time around it’s all about driving through the world and becoming the most wanted racer.
“Most Wanted has a different focus to Hot Pursuit. Hot Pursuit was very much about racers and cops, whereas Most Wanted is about racing with friends, driving in the open world. Obviously it has chasing with cops in single player, but we do other things in multiplayer instead,” said Criterion’s Leanne Loombe to games.on.net.
However, the police will still be present in the single-player mode, complete with their usual arsenal of weapons, from spike strips to roadblocks, but this time around helicopters won’t be used to stop racers.
“If you start driving dangerously, or too fast, then the cops will be on you. You have to get out of their line of sight, which drops your heat level. As your heat levels increase, more cops will come, and they’ll do roadblocks, and drop spike traps, but no helicopters this time around. You then use the open world to evade the pursuit,” she said.
Loombe also highlighted the game’s new handling system, which strives to make each car feel as close in terms of experience to its real-life counterpart.
“It’s brand new handling this time around,” she explained. “It’s unique for every single car, so every car has a different model. We wanted the player to feel like they were driving the real car because they’ll never get to drive those high-end sports cars in real life.”
Need for Speed: Most Wanted is out on October 30, in North America, and November 2, in Europe, for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.