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Review: Need For Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0 (PSP)

December 13th, 2005

Game: Need For Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0
Platform: PSP
Publisher: EA
Price: £29.99 (Amazon.co.uk)
Reviewer: Jay Neill (TechSmec.com staff)

Need For Speed has made its long awaited debut on the PSP and let’s get one thing straight from the off - it doesn’t disappoint. Falling neatly into the category of ’semi-authentic racer’ Need For Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0 delivers a tasty mix of arcade thrills with handling authenticity and it’s the first title we’ve seen on the PSP that actually ‘fits’ on the handheld. Of course, we’ve been reviewing NFSMW alongside Grand Theft Auto, so it’s all the more amazing that it remained a firm favourite in our main PSP even with the stiff competition from Rockstar’s magnum opus.

Followers of the Need For Speed series won’t need any introduction to the concept. Take a variety of cars that you could buy from the forecourt of your local garage and take them onto the streets of a fictional city, racing against like-minded underground racers. If you find success you’ll win the cash to start to upgrade your car, both in terms of performance and visuals. If you do really well you’ll start to unlock new cars which you can start to pimp up all over again adding ridiculous body kits and go faster stripes.

What makes NFSMW different is the addition of the cops. Other street racers, such as Burnout, see you cause complete destruction to whole city blocks without ever attracting the attention of the boys in blue. NFSMW is different. Every piece of agressive driving - breaking the speed limit, driving in the wrong carriageway, running cars off the road - sees your ‘heat level’ increase. At first the police will give chase in a fairly half-hearted way, but as the heat level rises, so does the interest of the law and before you kinow it you’re being chased by high-powered cop cars (and even vans) trying to run you off the road. They’ll try to make you stop, or get so far ahead that they can mount road-blocks or throw tyre-shredding stingers across the road. If you are stopped you’ve got three seconds to get going again or you’re busted and that’s the end of the race. At the very least the attention of the police slows you down and you’ll often find a winning position can get turned into last place in a matter of seconds thanks to a carefully placed roadblock.

The core of the game is a career mode which sees you start on the bottom rung of the illegal street-racing ladder. Win four events (there’s a variery of formats - time trial, race, tournament and heat challenges) and you’ll get the right to challenge the ‘boss’ racer above you in the ladder. See off the boss and you unlock a new level which might see new tracks and new challenges. There are fifteen levels in all and the difficulty level increases as you advance.

As a racing game, NFSMW doesn’t miss out in many areas. The tracks are interesting and have a myriad of shortcuts and alternative routes. The feeling of speed isn’t quite as intense as, say, Burnout, but then NFSMW is a different animal as it strikes a balance between arcade fun and realism. The compromise is just about perfect.

The controls are adequate. Although you can use the analog stick, we found it easier to use the direction buttons to steer. Accelarating and breaking use the right control buttons. Alas, applying the nitro for extra speed involves simultaneously holding down the accelerate and o buttons which requires a remarkable bit of finger-contortion. At the end of a long session we had index-finger ache. Despite these complaints you certainly feel part of the car and the difference in handling between vehicles, and even after applying new suspension upgrades, is noticeable.

The graphics are sub PS2. There’s no getting away from the fact that you’re looking at a handheld device, but they do the job. Lighting effects are nice and the cars are well rendered, even if a long way off photo-realistic.

Sound is a little tinny. The car engines tend to sound like buzzing bees, especially through the PSP’s built-in speakers. The typical EA rock soundtrack plays in the background throughout and actually adds to the game for once. Street racing and pumping bass seems to fit with boy (and girl) racers, but you’ll need the headphones to get the best out of it.

We heartily recommend Need For Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0 to anyone looking for a great handheld racer. It has technical failings, but on a pure gameplay level, it’s a winner.

Graphics

About as good as you would expect on a handheld, but not as good as GTA: Liberty City Stories has shown they could be - 8/10

Sound

Tinny sound effects, but nice tunes - 6/10

Gameplay

It’s just a racer, but an excellent one. The driving is fun and intuitive and the career mode is just difficult enough to provide a challenge while keeping the interest alive - 9/10

Verdict

The best racing game on the PSP to date, with enough variety to keep you coming back for more again and again. If only they could have slightly improved on the graphics and sound, this would be a handheld classic - 8/10

Entry Filed under: PSP Reviews