Thursday , March 28 2024
Need for Speed puts out three new DLC packs and make me reconsider my feelings on the delivery method.

PlayStation3 Review: Need for Speed: Most Wanted – Three DLC Packs

Every once in a while I’m wrong about something.  In my November 2012 review, I gave Need for Speed: Most Wanted four stars.  It deserved five stars… it deserves five stars. 

It isn’t that the game has magically gotten better, it’s that here we are, a few months later, and I’m still playing the game regularly.  I have clocked more hours, found more cars, gotten closer to that 100% completion, and I’ve even looked forward to DLC for the title.

For me, it’s this last thing that truly marks how I feel about the game.  I am not a big fan of DLC.  In fact, I’m regularly uninterested in it, but this time out I’ve eagerly anticipated its arrival.  

Downloadable content is becoming more and more popular, but I’ve always seen them as similar to deleted scene extras on a DVD and I would never pay more for a deleted scene.  Deleted scenes are removed from movies, generally speaking, because they’re not necessary to the tale and the film works better without them.  They may be interesting, they may show a larger intent, but they just aren’t needed. 

I am not now going to say that DLC is totally needed for Need for Speed: Most Wanted, but it has made me exceptionally happy, and that is probably enough.  All told, roughly $35 worth of DLC hit the PSN store for NFS:MW during the last week in February, and while that’s a pretty serious expense for someone to throw down on top of already having shelled out $60 for the game, it does make me oh-so-happy.

The $35 comes in the form of three different DLC packs – Terminal Velocity ($15), Movie Legends ($10), and Need for Speed Heroes ($10).  Terminal Velocity gives a new location, five cars, two new single player modes, two mods, and new milestones & achievements.  Movie Legends offers eight sprint events; new milestones & achievements; and five movie-based cars (like 007’s Aston Martin DB5), one of which is a Most Wanted car.  Heroes offers up five classic NFS cars, 25 classic liveries, a new Most Wanted event, and new milestones & achievements.

That is a whole lot of cars, a mess of achievements (trophies if you prefer), and a couple of nice new Most Wanted events.  Combined, it’s just a ton of stuff that allows people who have already unlocked nearly everything a whole lot more to do. 

Forced to pick a favorite, I’d go with the Movie Legends pack.   It may not have the most stuff in it, but the new sprint events are fun and there’s absolutely nothing bad about driving around in cars from famous movies.

All told, and despite loving these packs, I still have qualms about DLC.  I tend to feel like it’s not still terribly clear whether when people spend full-price for a game they’re going to get a full-game and not be forced to buy additional DLC in order to complete the experience. 

However, what these packs show me is that there is a place for DLC in this world – Need for Speed: Most Wanted has lots of content as a part of the main title and without the DLC it doesn’t feel incomplete (except for updates in the game that show where you could access DLC content if you paid for it… that does feel wrong).  Here DLC really does feel supplemental. 

Maybe part of my being more accepting of DLC here is that I do love the main title so.  And thus we reach the conclusion – if you’re heavily invested (and/or in love) with Need for Speed: Most Wanted, more is definitely better.  These three DLC packs provide just that.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted is rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) by the ESRB for Alcohol Reference, Comic Mischief, Violence. This game can also be found on: Xbox 360 and PC.

About Josh Lasser

Josh has deftly segued from a life of being pre-med to film school to television production to writing about the media in general. And by 'deftly' he means with agonizing second thoughts and the formation of an ulcer.

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