Info about Need for Speed™ Most Wanted:

Official game description:
The open-world action in Need for Speed™ Most Wanted gives you the freedom to drive your way. Hit jumps and shortcuts, switch cars, lie low, or head for terrain that plays to your vehicle’s unique strengths. Fight your way past cops and rivals using skill, high-end car tech, and tons of nitrous. It’s all about you, your friends, and a wild selection of cars. Let’s see what you can do.  
**Key features**  
*   **Experience nonstop action** — No menus, no lobbies, and no restrictions — just intense competition. Race, battle, crash, and explore at your own pace with a massive variety of things to do (and rewards to collect) throughout the open world.  
*   **Prove you’re the best** — Pick a car & jump into a nonstop playlist of competitive events in online mode. Influence the playlist by voting with your car. Jostle for position on the starting line. Cross the finish line and turn around to take out oncoming rivals.  
*   **Beat your friends** — Autolog records everything you do, broadcasting a feed of your most newsworthy scores, speeds, and times to your friends — and you’ll see there’s too. Whatever you do, there’s someone to beat.  
*   **Test your urban handling skills** — Need for Speed Most Wanted delivers a deep, physical experience that showcases the personalities of awesome licensed cars. Experience insane speeds, spectacular crashes, aggressive driving, and huge drifts.

Release date: Jun 18, 2020

Categories: Racing Simulation, Open-World Exploration, Vehicle Customization, Multiplayer, Arcade, High Score Chasing

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 90; verdict: Predatory Monetization; summary: The game is heavily criticized for its aggressive monetization strategies, particularly the use of DLCs to lock away significant portions of content, including iconic cars and map sections. Players feel that the base game is incomplete without purchasing additional DLCs, which are seen as overpriced. This creates a pay-to-win environment and frustrates players who expect a more complete experience from the base game.
- Steam Deck: score 90; verdict: Broken; summary: The analysis of user feedback for the Steam Deck experience of the game reveals several critical issues. The most prominent problems include significant difficulties with the EA App launcher, lack of native controller support, frequent game launch failures, account and activation issues, and content accessibility problems. These issues collectively contribute to a frustrating user experience, with many users unable to play the game as intended.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $5.00 - $14.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence consistently suggests that the game is considered worth purchasing when it is on sale at a significantly reduced price. Multiple reviews mention buying the game during promotions for prices around $5 to $14, indicating that the community finds this range to be fair and reasonable. The general sentiment is that the full price is not justified, but the game offers good value when discounted.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 14.0h
  - Story completion: 14.0h
  - Session length: 2.0h
  - Endgame: 200.0h
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides multiple data points regarding the time players spent on the game. Several reviews mention completing the game or significant portions of it within a range of 11 to 16 hours, which helps estimate the typical time for game completion and story completion. Additionally, mentions of accumulated gameplay hours on different platforms provide insights into session lengths and endgame content engagement.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game becomes fun primarily through its multiplayer mode, which offers exciting racing experiences and challenges. Single-player mode can feel repetitive and lacks progression, which may hinder initial enjoyment.
  - Stance: Fun then drops
  - Anchor: Multiplayer mode
  - Time to anchor: 0h 30m
  - Friction: Repetitive races; Lack of progression; Bad controls; Grind for upgrades
  - Unlock drivers: Multiplayer mode; Playing with friends; Completing challenges
  - Conditions: Playing with friends; Engaging in multiplayer races; Completing various challenges; Exploring the open world
- Player Archetypes:
  - Multiplayer Enthusiast (sale)
    - Motivation: Social interaction and competition
    - Playstyle: Competitive and social multiplayer racing
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: Racing game fan; Multiplayer lover
    - Reference games: Hot Pursuit; Asphalt 8
  - Casual Explorer (sale)
    - Motivation: Exploration and casual gameplay
    - Playstyle: Explorative and relaxed driving
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: Casual gamer; Explorer
    - Reference games: Burnout Paradise
  - Nostalgic Veteran (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Nostalgia and mastery
    - Playstyle: Skill-focused and nostalgic gameplay
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: Veteran player; Nostalgic gamer
    - Reference games: Need for Speed: Shift 2; Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005)


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Engaging and fun gameplay (weight 0.56): The gameplay is described as entertaining, intense, and enjoyable. It strikes a balance between speed, challenge, and fun, providing hours of entertainment and replayability.
- Unique and varied car selection (weight 0.24): The game offers a variety of cars, each feeling unique and distinct. Players appreciate the large selection and the beauty of the cars.
- Thrilling sense of speed (weight 0.22): The game provides a great sense of speed, making the driving experience thrilling and enjoyable. Players appreciate the driving sensation.
- Excellent car sounds (weight 0.2): The car sounds are highly praised for being well-recreated, accurate, and among the best in racing games. Players appreciate the attention to detail in the car audio.
- Enjoyable multiplayer experience (weight 0.13): The multiplayer mode is well-done, fun, and engaging. Players find it competitive and enjoyable to play with friends.
- Large and beautiful open world (weight 0.11): The game features a large open world that is beautiful and entertaining to explore. Players appreciate the open-world experience.
- Pure arcade racing experience (weight 0.11): The game is praised for its pure, no-nonsense arcade racing. It appeals to fans of fast-paced, fun arcade street racing.
- Good value for money (weight 0.11): Players find the game to be a good value for money, especially when on sale. It is considered worth the price.

Common complaints:
- Not a true sequel to 2005 version (weight 0.35): Many players feel that the game does not live up to the original 2005 Most Wanted and is very different from it. It is often considered not a true continuation or a worthy reboot.
- Limited car customization options (weight 0.3): The game lacks the deep car customization and tuning options that were present in the 2005 version. Players have noted the absence of individual car styling and a comprehensive customization system.
- Expensive and excessive DLC (weight 0.28): Players find the DLC to be expensive and not worth the price. Some feel that the game is incomplete without purchasing additional DLC.
- Lack of engaging story (weight 0.27): The story is criticized for being too short, minimal, and lacking in content. Some players have even questioned the presence of a story altogether.
- AI behavior issues (weight 0.16): The AI in the game is criticized for being unchallenging and dumb, including both opponent AI and police AI.
- Repetitive gameplay (weight 0.14): The gameplay is criticized for being repetitive, with repetitive races and missions that can become boring quickly.
- Lack of meaningful progression (weight 0.13): The progression system in the game is criticized for being lacking and almost non-existent, providing no real sense of progression.
- Fullscreen mode issues (weight 0.12): Players have reported issues with the game not launching or going into fullscreen mode, which affects the gaming experience.

Gameplay feedback:
- Intense police chases (weight 0.25): The game features high-stakes police chase mechanics, including escaping from the police and engaging in street racing with police pursuits.
- Open-world racing and exploration (weight 0.22): Players can enjoy open-world driving with various cars, exploring the city and engaging in arcade-style street racing.
- Car customization and upgrades (weight 0.21): Players can customize and upgrade their cars, although some feedback suggests limited customization options.
- Multiplayer and online features (weight 0.19): The game offers multiplayer functionality, allowing players to compete with friends and others online.
- Variety of races and events (weight 0.16): The game offers a variety of races and events, including Most Wanted races and Blacklist races.
- Car progression and unlocking system (weight 0.15): The game features a car progression system where players can unlock and obtain new cars through various means.
- Arcade-style physics and handling (weight 0.12): The gameplay focuses on arcade-style driving physics and handling, providing a more casual and accessible racing experience.
- Fairhaven city design (weight 0.09): The open-world city of Fairhaven is designed for exploration and racing, providing a detailed and engaging environment.
- Similarities to Burnout series (weight 0.08): The game shares similarities with the Burnout series, including gameplay mechanics and style.
- Crash animations and scenes (weight 0.07): The game includes detailed crash animations and scenes, adding to the visual appeal and excitement.
- Music and sound design (weight 0.07): The game features a soundtrack and sound design that enhances the overall gaming experience.
- Speedpoints system (weight 0.06): The game includes a progression system based on earning Speed Points (SP), which players can use to advance.
- Gameplay duration and enjoyment (weight 0.06): The game offers long-term enjoyment with a significant duration of gameplay, including various activities and challenges.
- Control settings (weight 0.06): The game supports various control settings, including keyboard and controller support, catering to different player preferences.
- Racing and traffic mechanics (weight 0.04): The game features specific racing mechanics and road traffic mechanics that add to the realism and challenge.
- Billboards and environmental interaction (weight 0.04): Players can interact with the environment by smashing through billboards, adding a unique gameplay element.
- Story and graphics (weight 0.04): The game features a story and good graphics, enhancing the overall gaming experience.
- DLC content (weight 0.03): The game offers DLC content, providing additional gameplay and features for players to enjoy.

Performance notes:
- Fullscreen mode issues (weight 0.13): Many players report problems with fullscreen mode, including it not working at all or causing screen tearing.
- Low system requirements (weight 0.12): The game runs well on low-resource PCs and has decent system requirements, making it accessible to a wide range of hardware.
- Solid graphics quality (weight 0.1): Players appreciate the graphics quality, noting that it holds up well on PC.
- Smooth performance on high-end PCs (weight 0.1): The game runs smoothly on max settings for players with good PCs.
- Game launch issues (weight 0.09): Several players report that the game does not launch or struggles to launch at times.
- Visual glitches and crashes (weight 0.09): Players have encountered various visual glitches and game crashes during gameplay.
- Optimization improvements (weight 0.08): Some players note that the game runs better now, indicating improvements in optimization.
- Low FPS issues (weight 0.07): Some players experience low FPS, with reports of the game running at 15-20 FPS on certain hardware.
- Poor optimization on Steam Deck (weight 0.07): Players using Steam Deck report poor optimization and significant battery drain.
- Launcher and connection issues (weight 0.07): Players have reported issues with the game launcher not working properly and connection issues preventing gameplay.
- Lack of Vsync settings (weight 0.05): Some players have noted the absence of Vsync settings, which can affect gameplay smoothness.
- Input lag and control issues (weight 0.05): Players have reported input lag issues and problems with control configurations.
- No strain on CPU or GPU (weight 0.03): The game is lightweight and does not put significant strain on CPU or GPU, making it suitable for older hardware.
- Always online requirement (weight 0.03): The game requires an always-online connection, which has been a point of contention for some players.
- Lens flare issues (weight 0.02): Some players have noted issues with lens flare in the game.

Recommendations:
- Buy on sale (weight 0.19): Several reviews suggest purchasing the game when it is on sale to get better value for money. This is a common recommendation for budget-conscious gamers.
- Recommended for Burnout fans (weight 0.16): This game is highly recommended for fans of the Burnout series and similar arcade-style racing games. It offers street racing, open-world exploration, and adrenaline-pumping police pursuits.
- Worth playing for racing fans (weight 0.15): The game is considered worth playing for those who enjoy racing games and arcade racing. It offers fun racing and high-speed action.
- Highly recommended by players (weight 0.14): Many reviewers strongly recommend this game, especially to those familiar with older games in the series. The game is praised for its fun and engaging gameplay.
- Mixed recommendations on purchase (weight 0.08): Some players do not recommend buying the game, while others highly recommend it. This indicates a divide in player experiences and satisfaction.
- Consider buying DLC bundle (weight 0.06): Reviewers suggest buying the complete DLC pack or the most expensive DLC bundle to avoid redundancy and enhance the gaming experience.
- Tips for better gameplay (weight 0.06): Various tips are provided to enhance gameplay, such as using a gamepad for better controls, starting with events to earn nitrous, and switching to an SUV to deal with police cars.
- Mods and technical tips (weight 0.06): Reviewers suggest using mods like shaders from NFSMods to improve the game's appearance and switching to full-screen mode with ALT + ENTER for a better visual experience.

Other player notes:
- DLC requirements for content (weight 0.08): Players express frustration over the need for DLC to access full content, including specific cars.
- Nostalgia and personal anecdotes (weight 0.04): Some reviews mention personal stories, such as receiving the game as a gift during childhood or individual price experiences.
- Comparison to PS2 version (weight 0.03): Players note differences between this version and the PS2 version, indicating a preference or expectation based on the older version.

Emotions:
- Nostalgia (weight 0.26): Players are overwhelmed with nostalgia due to childhood memories associated with the game, often tied to specific consoles like the Wii U, PS3, or Xbox 360. The game's atmosphere, music, and the act of replaying it after many years bring back fond memories of playing with family or friends, and the overall experience of growing up with the game.
- Frustration (weight 0.23): Players express frustration primarily due to technical issues such as game crashes, poor controls, and repetitive gameplay mechanics. Additional frustrations stem from aggressive AI, unfair difficulty, and the requirement to purchase DLC to access certain cars or features, which disrupts the overall gaming experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.2): The game fails to meet expectations, particularly for those comparing it to the 2005 version of Need for Speed Most Wanted. Players are disappointed by the lack of story mode, limited car customization, and the overall feeling that the game is not a true sequel or continuation of the original.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.1): Players enjoy the game for its fun and engaging gameplay, including exciting police chases, good map design, and enjoyable driving mechanics. The music, car sounds, and the overall arcade-style racing experience contribute to the enjoyment.
- Joy (weight 0.1): The game brings joy through its fun and enjoyable gameplay, especially when playing with friends. The freedom to explore, the variety of cars, and the positive multiplayer experiences contribute to the overall joyful experience.
- Excitement (weight 0.09): Players are excited by the fast-paced and chaotic gameplay, including intense police chases and high-speed racing. The adrenaline rush from escaping cops and the dynamic driving mechanics add to the excitement.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.07): Players feel satisfied with the game's good graphics, atmospheric soundtracks, and enjoyable driving physics. The overall positive experience, including the handling model and the sense of speed, contributes to their satisfaction.
- Anger (weight 0.03): Players express anger due to issues with the EA app, controller support, and the requirement to pay for additional content. The game's technical problems and the perception of greedy practices by EA also contribute to their anger.
- Positive (weight 0.02): Players have a positive experience with the game, enjoying its arcade-style racing and online competitions. The variety in cars and parts, as well as the engaging multiplayer aspects, contribute to their positive feelings.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Some players find the game boring, especially at the beginning or after completing the main content. The repetitive gameplay can lead to a lack of engagement over time.
- Appreciation (weight 0.01): Players appreciate the game's graphics and physics, recognizing its improvement over time. The game's uniqueness and fun factor are also noted as under-appreciated qualities.
- Appreciation (weight 0.01): Players appreciate the game's map design and variety of cars, finding it enjoyable and well-made. The graphics and the overall fun factor contribute to their appreciation.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.01): Players are enthusiastic about the dynamic gameplay and sense of speed. They strongly recommend the game to others, especially fans of specific game elements.
- Negative (weight 0.01): Players have negative feelings due to the lack of certain features like decal customization and the inability to add friends. The preference for older versions of the game also contributes to their negative experience.
- Confusion (weight 0.01): Players are confused by the hate surrounding the game and find the title misleading. They struggle to understand the negative reception the game has received.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Players are surprised by the fact that the multiplayer still works and that the game was far better than initially thought. The positive aspects of the game exceed their expectations.
- Disappointment (weight 0.01): Players feel disappointed due to the lack of customization and story in the game. The absence of visual customization for cars adds to their disappointment.
- Disappointment (weight 0.01): Players are disappointed as the game does not meet the expectations set by the PS2 version. The lack of certain features and the overall experience fall short of their memories of the original game.
- Sadness (weight 0.01): Players feel sadness due to the loss of save data and memories associated with the game. The emotional connection to the game and the loss of a friend contribute to their sadness.
- Amusement (weight 0): Players are amused by the AI behavior and the actions of Most Wanted racers. The unpredictable and sometimes humorous actions of the AI add to their amusement.}