nfs mw rev

You're cruising the downtown streets in a shiny new Lamorghini when – gasp – you spot an equally gorgeous Maserati tucked away down a side-street. What do you have to do to possess that delicious new motor? What challenges do you have to beat, races do you have to win, pockets do you have to pick? None, actually. Just pull up alongside it and it's yours for the taking.

Most Wanted's sprawlingly open world, Fairhaven, is a free-for-all. Every location, every nook and cranny – and all 123 vehicles – are accessible from the off, you just have to explore and discover. If that sounds too easy, the real challenge, as in Hot Pursuit, Criterion's previous entry in the Need for Speed canon, is beating your friends' records to creep up that leaderboard and gloat like the obnoxious owner of a German sportscar that costs more than most peoples' houses.

Almost everything you do in Fairhaven is cross-compared with your friends and other players, from highest jumps to how fast you fly past speed cameras. It's all updated in the blink-of-an-eye via Autolog 2.0, the second iteration of Criterion's social network designed to bring out your dark, competitive side