Need For Speed: Most Wanted

About Need For Speed: Most Wanted

Need for Speed: Most Wanted is a 2005 racing video game, and the ninth installment in the Need for Speed series following Underground 2. Developed and published by Electronic Arts (EA), it was released in November 2005 for GameCube, PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox, and Xbox 360 alongside two distinct versions for Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance. Another version for PlayStation Portable titled Need for Speed: Most Wanted 5-1-0, was released at the same time and featured alternative gameplay.

Most Wanted focuses on street racing-oriented gameplay involving a selection of events and racing circuits found within the fictional city of Rockport. The game's main story involving players taking on the role of a street racer who must compete against 15 of the city's most elite street racers to become the "Most Wanted" racer in Rockport City. In the process, they will seek revenge against Clarence "Razor" Callahan, one of the group who took their BMW M3 GTR (E46) car, and develop a feud with the city's police department led by police sergeant Jonathan Cross. The game brought in many notable improvements and additions over other entries in the series, its major highlight being more in-depth police pursuits. Certain editions of the game were packaged with the ability for online multiplayer gaming.

Most Wanted takes place in the fictional city of Rockport, which consists of three major districts: Rosewood, Camden Beach and Downtown Rockport. The city consists of areas featuring grimy industrial complexes, affluent suburbs, mountainous and wooded surroundings, a university campus, and a downtown core, with a mixture of road networks ranging from coastal roads to major highways. The setting is heavily influenced by cities from across the United States' "Rust Belt" and Pacific Northwest, with some resemblances to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. Much of the game's events and story take place in a fixed time period between sunrise and sunset, compared to the previous title's races that took place at night.

In Rockport City, the Rockport Police Department (RPD) work to put an end to the illegal street racing scene. A task force of traffic officers led by police sergeant Jonathan Cross (played by Dean McKenzie) works to take down any street racers, most prominently including a group known as the "Blacklist" – the fifteen "Most Wanted" racers who have gained notoriety for their racing skill and their frequent and hazardous illegal driving and capture bounty.

The protagonist, an unnamed street racer, arrives at Rockport with a custom painted blue and silver BMW M3 GTR (E46) to face the Blacklist and meets fellow street racer Mia Townsend (played by Josie Maran) who is driving in a red Mazda RX-8 SE3P in the southern bridge towards Camden Beach. The player races her until Rockport, where she inexplicably leaves as Cross, who is driving a black and white Chevrolet Corvette C6, approaches the player along with his female partner, and narrowly avoids arrest after Cross is called to an ongoing pursuit.