Overall 7.9 Graphics 4 Sound 3 Addictive 4 Story 2 Depth 5.3 Difficulty 7.7
6.8
Do you dare? EideticMemory
Back in the day, I had very few positive racing experiences on the Gameboy. The cars were difficult to control and a single mistake would lead to a loss against the impossible-to-beat AIs. So I disliked racing games for the longest time, only to have my mind changed years later, when I played Need for Speed on newer consoles.
Oh boy, would this game have changed that false perception. Not only that, it would have also shattered my notions about the graphical limits of the GBA.
Released in 2005,
Need for Speed - Most Wanted consists of a variety of races and racing minigames. You can play through the career mode, which has 15 levels, or choose a quick race and get right into playing.
To see what all this game has to offer, let’s dive in!
Great Graphics for a GBA Game, Some Gameplay Issues - 7 / 10
While far from perfect, the graphics are impressive. The 3D objects are mostly blocky with 3D image textures, but they also contain a surprising amount of detail. The cars look very nice, and the track isn’t that hard to follow. The courses have a semi-open layout, meaning that you’re not always trapped in by high walls on both sides. Instead, the levels are interspersed with hills and greenery. Pretty nice, huh?
As for the faults, approaching civilian cars seem to come out of nowhere, and much too quickly for one to react. WIth proper strategies, the race doesn’t normally come down to a single crash, so it isn’t that terrible. However, you might have to play a course several times to avoid the obstacles, since by then you’ll know what to expect.
The same can be said for the turns, which also appear very quickly. I found myself looking at the minimap abundantly, because the turns are just that sharp and the graphics don’t help me see them coming. I normally crashed due to this early on, but by the second or third time through, I stopped falling for it. Kind of annoying, wouldn’t you say?
At the same time, we must remember that this is the GBA and the designers managed to do well for this particular console. It is unknown whether the device could have handled additional improvements, but it is likely that it was near its limits.
7 / 10.
Decent Beat and Sound Effects, But Terribly Loud Engine Noise - 6 / 10
The music isn’t exceptional, but it isn’t particularly horrible either. That said, virtually all of the tracks are a few seconds of music, looping over and over. How then, you might ask, could it not be horrible?
Surprisingly enough, the beat sounds pretty decent, and I can excuse the repetition, since it takes a while to get annoying. The only place that you’ll likely be attentively listening to the music is on the menu. In the races themselves, the sound of the engine overpowers everything else. The faint hint of music remains in the background, sounding pretty good compared to the blaring engine.
I couldn’t stand the sound of the engine, and so I had to turn the volume down.
Sound effects, on the other hand, somehow are audible over the sound of the engine, but that’s probably because you hear them when you’ve crashed and the engine slows down. That said, the sound of police sirens manage to pierce the sound of the engines, even at their loudest, and do strike a tinge of fear and add a degree of exhilaration to the race. Does that make the race more fun? For the most part, yes.
6 / 10.
Very Addictive - 7.5 / 10
Racing games are usually a hit or miss when it comes to addictiveness. They’re either playable with decent AI and you get sucked in immediately, or they’re just unplayable and too hard to beat. There are very few racing games in the middle, it seems.
Fortunately,
Most Wanted is part of the former group. It’s a game that you can easily pick up and play a few minutes off without getting bored. I, personally, can’t stop playing until I beat the level I’m on. If I don’t have much time, I’ll quickly choose Quick Race instead of Career. The game stays fun for hours upon hours of gameplay, more so when gameplay is spread out, versus worked through in a binge session.
It gets incrementally harder as you keep progressing, but an easier start helps get you addicted, since you’re more likely to overlook some of the games weaknesses when you’re having a good start.
7.5 / 10.
Get to the Top - 3 / 10
In the career mode, you are trying to climb up the underground ladder of racers. There are 15 of them, one for every level. You have some history with the guy on top, Razor, but the games emphasis is on extra somewhat meaningless gameplay, versus developing the plot. You work through a few minigames before you face the main boss racer of that level. One you beat him in a one on one, the next level is unlocked.
There’s little plot, but an intricate one isn’t expected in a racing game. So this category won’t be worth much when it comes to the overall score.
3 / 10.
Decent Depth - 5 / 10
If you look at career mode, there is quite a bit to do. There’s up to six activities and a boss, and there are quite a few of those. There’s also a few options for quick race. That might suggest a decently in-depth game.
Within the minigames, on the other hand, there’s very little to do. Your primary objective is to finish the course. This means that each minigame is meant to be finished within minutes.
5 / 10.
It’s Challenging - 7 / 10
This isn’t an easy game. It’s easy enough that you can get hooked, but don’t expect to win on your first try. You’ll need to play a few times to familiarize yourself with the course and beating the AI does take a bit of strategy.
If you just try to go all out and finish the course as fast as you can, you’ll probably need to main near maximum speeds without a crash in order to win. On the other hand, you’ll notice that your opponents go slowly at the start and speed up later on. If at the start you slam them into walls and slow them down through collisions, it’s easy to pull very far ahead of them and win by thirty seconds to a minute (instead of losing by that much). For the majority of the minigames, that’s the only technique you’ll need.
The irony behind this simple, yet effective strategy is that your times will be on the order of thirty seconds to a minute slower, yet you’ll still be grabbing the win.
Things to look out for: Cops and opponents who are catching up. For the first, you just have to be quick and dodge the police cars and their traps. For the second, you just have to hit “down” to look behind and try to swerve as to make them crash into you, since their recovery times are quite a bit slower.
It’s difficulty is overcome by strategy and practice, but it’s still present.
7 / 10.
If your interest is in the GBA, You just might want to check it out - Overall: 6.8 / 10
Graphics : 7 * 25% = 1.75
Sound / Music : 6 * 25% = 1.5
Addictiveness : 7.5 * 25% = 1.88
Story : 3 * 5% = 0.15
Depth : 5 * 10% = 0.5
Difficulty : 10 * 10% = 1.0 (Optimal difficulty was 7/10)
Sum = Overall Score =
6.8 / 10.0
In conclusion, this is an addictive yet challenging racing game that you might really enjoy if you’re looking for GBA titles to play. If you’re not dissuaded by the graphical limitations of the GBA, it’s likely that you’ll enjoy yourself.
There are other racing titles on other retro consoles that may be better, but if you’re specifically looking for a GBA title, then I definitely recommend this one.
Enjoy!
Graphics 7 Sound 6 Addictive 8 Story 3 Depth 5 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 06-25-14
Updated: 06-25-14
Review Replies: 4
3
Not the Best myuntoldfunstory
Could Be A lot Better
First off I rate this game a 3 Why? Most of it is because the game is at most in an incomplete stage as you can see first starting the game NFS was mostly marketed to only 4 countries.
GRAPHICS
The graphics were horrible my dinosaur of a cell phone (circa 2006) has better racing games with better graphics than this I dint know if they were aiming for a 3D type affect but it didn't work out most of the tracks use the same background over and over again not to mention the car having a "ripple effect" whenever you turn.
SOUND
The sound and/or music is one of the worst of all GBA games its as if they took a 6 year old and asked him to play a loud annoying song on his xylophone I mean all the music is a simple beat along with annoying chatter looping every 10 or 20 seconds .
ADDICTIVENESS
I must admit at first the game was pretty addicting but over time it just gets old and boring I mean after completing race after race of pretty much the same track it gets boring then when you finally get enough credits for a new car you find out its exactly the same as the other one it just goes a little faster and exccelerates a little faster.
STORY
I was very disappointed to find out that there was no story for people that have played the console version they know it and have no problem but with people that have never played the console game they wouldn't know and it makes no sense.
DEPTH
The only reason I gave this game an 8 in depth is because the game carries on and on and on with the same tracks just to beat everyone to number 1 on the blacklist and it truly does take forever.
DIFFICULTY
The game can get pretty difficult mostly because every 5 minuets or so the game starts flashing and freezing and screws up you whole game plus the fact if you bump a car you are sent flying into a wall or if you try to steer a little your sent crashing to a wall.
Graphics 1 Sound 1 Addictive 3 Depth 8 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 3.5/5
Submitted: 08-26-12
Review Replies: 4
3
this review is the best part about this game ji23
To start off this review I'm just going to say this if you want to play nfs most wanted, do it on a home console, here's why.
the graphics here are a mixed bag for me.
while they are in no way good looking I do have to admire the power they are squeezing out of the gba. However while I do admire the tech side of getting 3d on gba, it just doesn't work here. The game looks like a ps1 game in the alpha stage. The textures are bad, the sceans repeat them self's over and over. Not to mention there is just nothing interesting to look at. Every thing is grey, green, or blue. What they should of done is do a 2d racer in a snes Mario kart way. Not true 3d but still have a sense of depth and looked good for its time.
the sound in this game is trash. Most of the time all you get is a basic beat with an annoying 16bit "music" loop. Don't get me wrong, music in the 16bit era could be awesome. Look at Mario, sonic, and yoshis island as prime examples. This game just recycles the same 5 seconds of boring muzak over and over and over until I wanted to stick my ear in a fire ant mound.
addictiveness....realLy do I have to answer this one....fine. If your playing this on a gba and want just a quick race on the go it may serve a purpose to play there, but if your playing this as a Rom on a pc, there are simply better games on this site to play.
most importantly is the game play well to say the least it was easy enough to drive the car and each one does feel different, but the controls over all are just to loose. id try to make a minor coarse correction by just tapping on the arrow key and I found that half the time it would send me in to the wall. Bad controls aside it's just not fun to drive in this game.
over all this game get a 3 from me for the above stated reason's and while it's not action 52 bad this one still stinks
Graphics 4 Sound 2 Addictive 1 Story 1 Depth 3 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3.1/5
Submitted: 05-27-12
Review Replies: 0
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