Reviewed: December 7, 2005
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Electronic Arts
Developer
EA Canada
Released: November 15, 2005
Genre: Racing
Players: 1-4
ESRB: Everyone
6
8
7
7
7.1
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Need for Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0 has a slightly altered title to go along with the slightly altered gameplay structure of the other “Most Wanted” games released for consoles and PC. Most Wanted takes the Need for Speed franchise into a new realm by combining elements from their successful Underground games and bringing back the cops from Hot Pursuit and mixing in some cool story elements.
Sadly, the console versions do a much better job at telling this story. The PSP version trims out the cutscenes and cell phone chatter, eliminates entirely, the free-roaming city, and leaves you with a simple, yet challenging list of racing events that you must win in order to make your way up the Black List.
This lack of story takes away a bit from the gameplay, especially if you have already played the game on PC or console, but in the nature of quick and dirty handheld gameplay, I can see how this decision came about. Most PSP players are looking to sneak in a few races here and there and don’t want to be bogged down by exploring miles upon miles of open city or watching FMV cutscenes.
The game unfolds as a series of chapters, each ending with the defeat of a particular boss, or member of the 15 Most Wanted drivers on the Black List. It’s your job to race in a series of events to earn the respect so you can face these Black List racers, then once you defeat them you advance to their spot on the list and face the next racer and his own new set of prerequisite challenges.
Where 5-1-0 takes a turn for the worse are the cops. While this is perhaps one of the best elements on the console and PC versions, the cops on the PSP version are insane. You now have a heat level, which is not to be confused with the heat level on the console, which never gets higher than 6, and that’s on the final escape race of the entire game.
In 5-1-0 your heat will often climb as high as 10 and when this happens look for swarms of cops and roadblocks around every turn. Triggering the cops in inevitable. You have to win the races and to win you have to speed. Once the cops are on your tail they are relentless and it's impossible to lose them no matter how fast or smart you drive.
Part of this is because you are restricted to the track and do not have an open city or any of the Pursuit Breakers of the console version. On the console it was rather easy to lose the cop by destroying the environment or just finding a good tunnel or alley to hide in. On the PSP you are forced to ram and be rammed by cops for most of the race.
This takes away greatly from the racing experience as well as the subtle art of changing the look of your car to reduce your heat level. It doesn’t matter how low your heat level is when the race starts. It will quickly climb to 10 with each new infraction during the next race and you’ll be seeing nothing but black and white.
Then all of the sudden the cops will vanish entirely from an event. You’ll never see a cop in a one-on-one boss battle, but in a race where it’s you against the clock, those pesky patrol cars will knock you around just enough to blow your record. Roadblocks aren’t nearly as exciting as the console version where you got to analyze the formation during the slow-motion Speedbreaker mode then smash through the blockade in true movie-style. The PSP just puts a cluster of cars in the road surrounded by orange fencing and you must simply avoid it.
I’ve probably rambled on a bit too much about the cops, but they really do spoil what would otherwise be a great racing game. You have plenty of cool racing events, although many of my favorites (like drag racing) have been omitted. Knockout races are still my favorite and require that you aren’t in last place at the end of any lap. Then you have circuit races, time trials, and the new Heat Challenge where you must achieve a certain wanted level in a certain time limit. Considering every infraction notches that level up, these are hardly a challenge.
The physics for the cars are really good and the control is phenomenal whether you opt for analog or digital control. The A-pad seemed a bit swimmy and you can easily start ping-ponging off the walls if you aren’t careful. It takes a light touch. The Speedbreaker defaults to down on the D-pad which can be a bit awkward since you are forced to take your thumb off the A-pad momentarily to toggle this on or off.
You have a decent assortment of cars and customization options in the game including visual and performance upgrades, but there is no real challenge in figuring out when and what to upgrade. Basically, by the time you unlock the next better part you will already have enough money to buy it and the next race will require it, so when you see the message saying you have unlocked something, it’s just a matter of buying and installing the part.
Visual upgrades are purely for your own pleasure, or for those you end up playing in multiplayer. While the console rewarded your design changes by taking off some “heat” it doesn’t really matter in 5-1-0. It’s still cool to play with the paint and body kits and install some carbon fiber parts and tinted windows. There is a awesome selection of skins and vinyls, but again, you seldom get to appreciate the beauty of these cars outside the menus.
One interesting addition to the gameplay, and one I found totally worthless is the ability to try and lose the cops at the end of races. This is a gambling proposition where you risk all your respect points in order to lose the cops in an unrealistic time limit. The reward is miniscule compared to the risk, and considering I can’t lose the cops in a 3-5 minute race there is no reason to think you can lose them in a fraction of that time they give you in these challenges.
Speedbreaker is another new addition and is basically slows time and allows you to perform turns and dodge traffic or roadblocks with unrealistic execution. The only problem in 5-1-0 is that there are seldom that many events that require the use of this Matrix-like effect. Instead, I found I would use it whenever I was approaching a hard-to-find shortcut just to make sure I could handle the quick turn.
Tuner Takedown is taken right from the Hot Pursuit game (or more recently, the Pursuit mode in the last batch of Burnout games), and puts you in the role of Johnny Law for a taste of what it’s like on the other side of that patrol car windshield. Now it’s your job to chase down and bust those illegal street races. It’s really no more complicated than what you have probably already done in the Burnout games, but it’s a nice diversion when the “man” has been busting your chops in the main game.
Most Wanted 5-1-0 features multiplayer for local wireless link and Internet play. There is even a leaderboard that tracks the top 100 street racers, giving those with a competitive streak a reason to take their gaming online. The various race modes are ripped right from the main game and it’s easy enough to setup your own game or head to the lobby and find other games to join.
Most Wanted 5-1-0 is a great looking racing title for the PSP. Stacked against its console cousins, it outshines all systems except the PC and Xbox 360 for clarity, texture detail, draw distance, and sensation of speed. What it does lack is variety. You no longer have that massive free-roaming city of Rockport, so the courses start to look all-too familiar with a lot of oranges and browns. The entire game has a very golden sheen to it, almost a surreal glow.
Most tracks are set in the city or urban outskirts with a few actually heading into the mountains or sparsely populated forests. All the courses have sweeping turns with the occasional hairpin or tighter radius shortcut, but there are no turn-on-a-dime 90-degree turns into alleys or back streets like the console game. There are a few slopes that may grant you a bit of airtime, but nothing huge.
The car models look very nice and the menus are easy to read with clear visuals for the various parts and upgrades. I did find it annoying that you had to repeatedly go to the View Car mode after each upgrade. It would have been nice to be able to see and rotate the car in the actual upgrade screen.
Most Wanted makes use of EA’s Trax system for a decent, if not standard selection of urban hip-hop, rap, and some rock tunes. It’s nothing special and unless you go into the sound settings and switch things around the sirens will overwhelm the entire sound presentation.
After having played the console version I was a bit disappointed that the PSP didn’t offer any spoken dialogue. There was no helpful info from Mia and no taunts from the rival racers. There was no real story flow at all, not even text, other than the bio screen for each of the Most Wanted racers.
Sound effects are decent enough with unique engine sounds for the various cars that change a bit as you add turbo chargers and nitro kits. Again, all of these sounds are pushed to the background in favor of the numerous sirens that will be in hot pursuit for a majority of your racing experience. The only time you can truly appreciate the subtle sounds is during the cop-free events.
The story mode consists of you beating 15 members of the Most Wanted. This means racing in about 5-6 events per boss to earn the right to race them, which in turn unlocks a bonus race for a new part or extra respect. I was able to knock off a boss and all his required races in about an hour barring any serious replay issues, so most gamers can expect 15-20 hours of racing action.
The multiplayer modes will certainly offer some added appeal for those with friends who have copies of the game or those who want to venture onto the Internet for a good challenge. The national leaderboard tracks the top 100 racers giving some added incentive for hard core competitors.
The big draw for Need for Speed Most Wanted is the return of the cops, and while that aspect of the game works great on the console and PC where you can actually lose them with skillful driving, Most Wanted 5-1-0 on the PSP bashes you over the head with unrelenting cop chases that suck nearly all the fun right out of the game.
The game looks great, probably the best racing game on the PSP (next to Wipeout of course), and there is a nice car customization component, which is more about tweaking your ride for online racing than actual gameplay. You’ll certainly have a better time playing this game on a big console, but if the PSP is your system of choice then you could do worse. Just make sure you have already finished Burnout Legends before you cross the cop-infested city limits of Rockport.