Is the PS3 retro? Possibly not but here goes anyway.

2012’s Need for Speed Most wanted takes the franchise closer to it’s roots than it’s been for a long time. Need for Speed games of old gave you some fast cars drive and maybe some police to outrun, there was mostly no story with an absurd amount of cutscenes getting in the way back then. Most Wanted is more like those old games.

The “story” such that it is involves you beating the 10 racers on the Most Wanted list. To do this you’re given access to every car in the game to use in whichever order you want. The only catch is you have to find them in the open world before you can drive them. However there is nothing stopping you from just driving around the world, which is fully unlocked from the start, and finding all 41 cars before doing your first event after the tutorial.

To earn enough points to take on a Most Wanted racer each car has 5 events to complete. These range from simple circuit races to escape the police challenges. The events for each car range from easy to hard with the majority of them giving me no trouble. There are few that will start to fill you with rage but persistence is key.

Races never seem unfair as such, just the occasional frustratingly difficult ones like the Speedrun time trial events which usually means having a near perfect run for the gold time.

Even retrying races isn’t a problem because practically every car in the game is fun to drive. Yes they all handle a bit differently, a hyper car being more of handful than a pickup truck for example.

As for the cars themselves there is no cosmetic customisation available. As you only use each car for 5 races it wouldn’t be worth the effort anyway. For completing events you will unlock performance upgrades including nitros, track and off/road tyres, stronger chassis and aero packages. Once unlocked these upgrades can be swapped out on the fly in mid-race.

There is no money to be earned in Most Wanted which means no grinding for those expensive parts or cars. Everything is just there for you to have fun with. Basically what we have here is Burnout Paradise 2 in a Need for Speed costume. It was even developed by the same team at Criterion. There is DLC to expand the game with a new airport to play around on and new cars but unfortunately the pack is the same £24.99 today as it was in 2012.

Strangely the game still has a healthy online community that is still playing on PlayStation 3. Which means those pesky multiplayer trophies are still obtainable and the people still playing seem more than happy to help out. I got all the multiplayer trophies in 3 hours and that was this month (June 2023).

If you’re bored of the story getting in the way of the fun in modern Need for Speed games and just want race some fast cars and take out some cops then 2012’s Most Wanted is definitely worth a look.

Reviewed on PlayStation 3.

Where to play in 2023

Need for Speed Most Wanted is available on a wide selection of systems. It can be played on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PS Vita and PC and is available both on disc and digital download on all systems except the Wii U, where since the closure of the eShop it can only be bought on disc. Depending on your system of choice a physical copy will cost anywhere from £5 for the Xbox 360 version all the way up to £20 for a boxed PS Vita cartridge.