Criterion’s reboot of EA Black Box’s highly praised arcade racing game has come to Gamescom in Cologne after its unveiling two months ago during E3. The demo on the show floor was different to the E3 appetizer, but unfortunately it’s also a lot shorter.
It was a race that began with a rolling start at the helm of a Porsche 911 against a few AI opponents and cops. It seemed like any standard Need for Speed race except I had a bit of help. Where other NFS games in the past just used the mini-map to show the race course, Most Wanted added a little on track marker of each ‘checkpoint’ to help anticipate a sharp turn and guide me without having to glance over at the mini-map. I found it quite useful, but I know it might annoy some unfortunately. I’m not sure if you’re able to turn that feature off because the options menu wasn’t available in the demo. After the race the police were still on my tail and I had to lose the cops in typical NFS style by outrunning them, destroying them, hiding from them or changing your car colour at a drive-through paint shop followed by a ‘cooldown’ period. I got to explore the open world for a little bit, and while it’s a Need for Speed game, I could definitely feel the Criterion open world influence from Burnout Paradise which excites me.
This is definitely a game to keep track of for arcade racing fans looking towards its Novemeber 2nd release date this year.
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