Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Released on November 15, 2005
The player arrives in Rockport City, driving a racing version of the BMW M3 GTR (E46). Following Mia Townsend (played by Josie Maran), the player proves his driving prowess as he is pursued by a veteran police officer named Sergeant Cross (played by Dean McKenzie), who vows to take down the player and end street racing in Rockport. Races seem to be in the player's favor until a particular group of racers, led by the game's antagonist, Clarence "Razor" Callahan (played by Derek Hamilton), sabotages and win the player's car in a race.
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 of the group. In the process, they will seek revenge against one of the groups who took their car, and develop a feud with the city's police department. 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. Upon its release, the game received acclaim from critics and became a commercial success, selling over 18 million copies worldwide, becoming the best selling game in the series. Its success led to a Collector's Edition, known as the Black Edition, which provided additional content. A PS2 Classics version was available for PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Store in May 2012, until it was discontinued the following year. The game was succeeded by Need for Speed: Carbon in 2006, which continues Most Wanted's story. A reboot by the same name, developed by Criterion Games, was released in October 2012.
