At E3 I was able to get a taste of Need for Speed: Most Wanted on the Xbox 360. The demo was limited, the true next-gen chops of the title not apparent … in short, I wasn't sure what to think. But now, after getting my hands on a more robust current-gen version of the game, it's become much clearer just what the developers are going for. Need for Speed: Most Wanted is a darker, more oppressive take on the glitzy high-speed street racing of the recent Underground games. When I tossed out the marketing buzzwords "gritty" and "urban" the woman giving me the demo almost collapsed in her glee. Trite but true: Most Wanted brings a palpable patina of decay to the world of Need for Speed.

That sounds a bit over-dramatic for this incremental re-imagining of the series, but it's a crucial difference. While Underground was all about being as slick and glamorous as it could get, the reality of Most Wanted is a place that has it in for you. The big addition to this game is the cops: the brutal, unforgiving cops, who will mercilessly chase you through the levels and try to put an end to your run through the streets of a city designed to echo older, East Coast metropolises (New York being an obvious analog, although the game doesn't actually take place in any real-world location.) In fact, 15 cops can chase you at once -- and they won't give up until you're boxed in. Rather than, say, Driv3r, where they just try to ram you, the police cars in Most Wanted actually work reasonably intelligently, trying to cut off your route and box you in. If you're pinched, that's it -- you lose the race.


Like Underground 2, Most Wanted takes place in a sprawling, free-racing city. If you run into another racer or get invited to an event, you'll launch into a race. In addition to the high-energy drag race mode I saw at E3, I got to check out a tollbooth race: essentially, a checkpoint race through city streets. The interesting thing was that after I conquered the challenge, which is a pretty basic and typical racing game mode, the game transitioned seamlessly into a cop chase, where I had to avoid the fuzz for a couple of minutes or lose everything. A cool feature is how you can hear the cop chatter, cluing you in to just what's pursuing you.

The better you do, the higher your name goes on the "Blacklist" which contains the names of all of the toughest underground racers in the city. If you race a rival on the list and beat him, you'll jump to his position, making competing a crucial part of the game. Your goal is to become the most notorious racer in the city. If the cops get the jump on you, you have to avoid them until you find a safe house, GTA style, where you can get your car restyled. Nope, it's not original, but it definitely keeps you on your toes.