9. Need For Speed: Most Wanted
When Need For Speed burst onto the gaming scene, EA couldn't put a foot wrong with the excellent racer. In 2003, under the development of the newly formed Black Box, EA changed the style of Need For Speed and embraced the new world of street racing. Taking inspiration from the wildly popular Fast & The Furious movies, this was a game built from the ground up to offer unrivalled car customization and slick racing through streets at breakneck speeds. Neon lights, vinyls, body kits, alloys and more options than the crew of Pimp My Ride have at their disposal, it was a budding car modders dream. After the original Most Wanted, Need For Speed took a nosedive. The stories got weaker, the driving stayed the same and gamers wanted something different. Something needed to change. When Criterion took over development of the Need For Speed franchise, it divided fans. Some loved the direction that they wanted to take it, while others just wanted a direct sequel (or HD reboot) of the original Most Wanted. Hot Pursuit brought speed back to the forefront adding cops and massive areas with stretches of road to rip through. Online was excellent too with auto-log redefining the whole aspect of challenging friends and rivals alike. Now while EA's latest racer shares a name with a previous fan favourite, that's where the similarities end. The driving feels more like burnout than ever before, even more so than Hot Pursuit. Customisation is completely gone as is a story mode of any sort. I always preferred NFS over Burnout so I don't know if it's a first day buy for me. Saying that, it could still sway me because it's just plain out fun. I was impressed with how smooth the game felt and there's no doubting this is a Criterion game through and through. The cops are back and better than ever, it's open world again, auto-log is vastly improved and the speed of the game is very impressive. I just wish the customisation was back. Is it wrong of me to want a bright pink Toyota Supra with blue neon lights and over-sized alloys?