G4TV

Street racing is a tough game. Less than a year ago Need For Speed Underground Rivals graced the PSP; that release was shadowed by Ridge Racer and followed in short order by excellent ports of Burnout, Midnight Club and even GTA, each with something unique to offer in addition to great races. That's stiff competition, and NFS: Most Wanted 5-1-0 isn't entirely up to the challenge.

From the Racing Guidebook

Mind you, there's still some solid textbook racing here. Unlike the console game, Most Wanted dispenses with the free-roaming city, instead offering a series of challenge races that lead to a sort of boss battle. Fifteen racers stand above you in the rankings, so the ladder is fairly steep. And though the AI isn't much better than we've seen from the series in the past, the basic race mechanics are as tried and true as in Underground.

The physics, tracks and upgradeable cars are all exactly what we've come to expect from the series. That is, utterly usable and almost as unremarkable. The tracks feature curves aplenty and several shortcuts each, but since the pack is limited to three other racers, it'll be a rare contest where you're really forced to work for a win.

(Not) Caught by the Fuzz

As each race progresses, messages will flash indicating that you've broken the law, by speeding, endangering other cars, and the like. Cops will spontaneously appear on the track and begin the chase; eventually the ones behind will try to slow your pace enough for the leader to get ahead and create a roadblock.

Cops have been a part of the series before, in games like Hot Pursuit, to good effect. But here they're not insistent enough and not smart enough to really be anything but a nuisance. In the console version, respect earned by beating cops really helps with progress through the story; here it's almost incidental. The Tuner takeover races are the only exception, where you get to sit behind the 5-0's wheel.

Sleek finish

The last installment was one of the PSP's best-looking launch titles, and EA has certainly followed through. It almost always runs fluidly, and together with a now-standard blurring speed effect, the engine delivers some excellent views. The licensed cars look true to life, and there's a good sense of depth in the backgrounds.

Much of the other road traffic had to be sacrificed to push the detail that is present, and in fact we'd rather the traffic was just gone altogether. One car every two miles makes the game look a lot emptier than it would with no other inhabitants.

HOV Play

An EA game can be counted upon for a variety of multiplayer options. Lately, EA also relies upon its lame online registration service, which bogs down the experience of playing online. Lag is as much an issue as with most of the company's PSP offerings-- it hits one-third to a half of the matches you'll play--but the ad-hoc options are entertaining. Given the routine AI, racing against friends is always preferable to taking on the computer.

There's nothing wrong with Most Wanted, exactly, but neither is there anything to make it stand out from the many good racers already available for the PSP. EA has missed a chance to redesign the game to make the portable cops versus tuners dynamic really take over; at least we know they'll try again next year.