This product is like new. At NexWave Games, like new means:
Additionally, all discs at NexWave Games are carefully inspected and assessed for quality. When discs arrive, we do not accept any that are so badly damaged that they are unlikely to work. We only accept discs with light scratches at most. Discs with scratches are then treated in our professional disc repair machine. By warming the disc and polishing it with soft brushes, these machines can remove a very thin layer from the disc. This removes the layer containing surface scratches and improves the disc’s readability. This ensures the disc works properly, even on consoles with ageing lasers that have difficulty reading games! Great news for the player.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted for PlayStation 2
Need for Speed: Most Wanted for PlayStation 2 combines street racing, car customisation and police chases in the open city of Rockport. You begin a career in which you try to defeat rivals on the Blacklist. Before challenging an opponent, you work towards requirements involving races and pursuits. Progress therefore means more than finishing first: you also need to learn how to provoke the police and lose them again.
During races, you choose a line between traffic, corners and opponents. Nitrous helps with acceleration, while Speedbreaker temporarily slows the action to give you a clearer view of a difficult situation. Police use increasingly serious measures as a chase escalates. You look for gaps in roadblocks and use the surroundings to lose pursuers. You then need enough distance and breathing room to complete the escape. A familiar street can therefore serve a different purpose once the sirens begin.
In the garage, you modify the performance and appearance of real cars. You decide where to spend money and which vehicle to take into the next challenge. Alongside the career, there are single races and a series of separate challenges. On PlayStation 2, two players can also race locally in split screen. That gives the same routes a new opponent alongside the computer-controlled racers.
Region and language
Our PlayStation 2 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
Need for Speed: Most Wanted for PlayStation 2 includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Need for Speed: Most Wanted was released in 2005 for PlayStation 2, published by Electronic Arts and developed within EA Canada and Black Box. It followed Underground 2, which had given the series a freely explorable city and extensive tuning. Most Wanted retained that longer progression with a garage of your own, but brought police chases back as an integral part of the career. Rockport and the Blacklist connected both sides.
Two earlier directions of Need for Speed therefore came together: road races under police pressure and developing a car of your own. The rival list gave progression recognisable steps. You built a reputation before challenging the next opponent, so races and encounters with pursuers supported the same ambition. The story presentation used filmed actors, including Josie Maran, to place players within that street-racing scene between events.
EA released the game on several systems, with separate handheld versions and an Xbox 360 edition as well. This PlayStation 2 edition belongs to the original 2005 game. Carbon followed in 2006, shifting attention towards crews and city districts. The Most Wanted name was later reused for a different game by Criterion. Rockport, the Blacklist and earning back your position in the racing scene belong to this earlier version.
Similar games for PlayStation 2
Need for Speed: Carbon has you conquer districts of Palmont City with a crew and adds canyon duels. Support from a teammate can affect a race. Need for Speed: Most Wanted builds its career around a rival list and police requirements, so you also work deliberately on your reputation outside ordinary races.
Need for Speed: Underground 2 places considerable weight on exploring a city at night and customising your car. You seek shops, parts and new events. Need for Speed: Most Wanted retains an open environment and your own garage, but lets police chases determine more of your decisions and progression.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 combines real sports cars with separate road races and police interventions. You choose an event and vehicle more directly. Need for Speed: Most Wanted extends the contest through your garage, the Blacklist and a freely drivable city. A pursuit therefore becomes part of the same career as your next race.
Burnout 3: Takedown rewards eliminating rivals and lets you attempt an attack even after crashing through Aftertouch. Need for Speed: Most Wanted directs contact and escape more often towards confrontations with police. You also choose parts and cars for a career in an open city, with races serving as steps up the Blacklist.
Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition uses open cities and extensive modifications of real vehicles. Finding a route through junctions is part of a street race. Need for Speed: Most Wanted connects a similar free-driving environment to the Blacklist and longer police pursuits, so a route also gains value as an escape plan.
