 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Common Sense Media says
Exciting racer on wrong side of the law, teens up.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this game is about illegal street racing. This installment includes a new major game dynamic: smashing police pursuers and outrunning them. Other new feature: The game now has an online component, which Common Sense Media does not recommend for anyone under 12. In offline gameplay, players will encounter some light sexual innuendo as well as a fair amount of commercialism in the form of real-life cars and in-game ads.
What's it about?
NEED FOR SPEED: MOST WANTED turns freeways and neighborhood streets into racetracks. The single-player game is dominated by a Career Mode, in which players challenge a collection of street racers known as the Blacklist 15. Players must complete a series of driving challenges before they can compete with each member of the Blacklist.
Players roam freely, selecting challenges as they encounter them, and they have the option to simply jump to a challenge from a safe-house garage. The challenges include an impressive variety of races, such as head-to-head contests against other drivers and beat-the-clock timed runs along highways. Tangling with the cops adds "heat" to a player's car, making future chases more difficult but also winning bounty points and improving the player's reputation.
Is it any good?
Need For Speed provides a nice variety of customizable cars that look and sound great. Many have noticeably different driving characteristics. The sense of speed ramps up accordingly, and the controls are generally responsive within the absurd allowances of arcade racing (due to very noticeable "rubber banding," challengers are usually never too far away, no matter how well players drive).
The Career Mode is quite lengthy and should provide at least 15 hours of gameplay. But if players tire of it, they can compete in Challenge Modes (things like creating the costliest damage possible) or take the racing online. Flying through back alleys and across sidewalks produces plenty of vicarious thrills in this excellent arcade racer, but the game does celebrate illegal and dangerous behavior. Parents may want to think carefully before giving this one the green light.
Explore, discuss, enjoy
Families can talk about the dangers of street racing and irresponsible driving. When a high speed car crash left a Canadian man dead, a police officer made the game partially to blame. Do you agree? Does playing a game like this make illegal actions seem more attractive in real life? Should game makers stop glamorizing destructive and illegal activities?
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Teen, 14 years old
April 9, 2008
AGE
Its lots of fun on the Xbox360
Great gaphics and intense racing addictive and thrilling! not the best message you want your kids to see but if they know that this is just a game and if some one did this in real life it would be wrong. If you and you child have goten over this issue it fine
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Teen, 17 years old
March 14, 2011
AGE
Awesome game for the car enthusiast, might be bad for kids who consider damage great..
This is an awesome game for street racing fans and gamers alike. Great graphics, fluid controls, nice cars. It has a nice mix of realism and arcade. And intense police chases.
However, I feel the developers (EA blackbox) intended the game to be a cop smashing fest. Cop cars are totaled in very violent ways and their cars show stunningly realistic damage. And whats worse is when it gets into the hands of a kid who enjoys smashing things a lot.
cops, civilian cars, and property are pretty much all destructible, and what bothers me is that the game rewards you for it. With no opportunity to be the cop to balance it out (serve justice)..
the antagonists are your typical street thugs bent on sending you running by beating you in races,but you'll show them otherwise.
If you enjoy a games story and setting, you'll love this game.
Cop smashing is the real problem in the game. Its optional to the player, however it can get harder to avoid later on in the game, due to progressing police levels and numbers of vehicles trying to catch you.
What other families should know:
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Teen, 14 years old
July 4, 2010
AGE
The best NFS series since Need For Speed Underground 2.
What other families should know:
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Teen, 14 years old
April 25, 2009
AGE
Wow 13+? should be 10+
The only thing bad about this game is getting into high speed chases, smashing into police cars, and pulling off stunts, usually crashing into objects like gas stations and cars and jumps
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Kid, 8 years old
October 7, 2011
AGE
On common sense media it should be 6!
this game SHOULD be rated at E! i was 6 when i played this game and its FINE!
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Teen, 14 years old
October 2, 2010
AGE
U guyz have gone mad!
Hey u guys, just think it over. How does sum consumerism affect u? The game is totally mind blowing.
About educational value, do u really thing playing a violent game will affect the behavior. I play all the games which have intense violence in them. But instead of getting violent, i have become a little calm. Coz i can take out all my frustation on the game.
Sum of u guys must have played burnout. And the game is the best way to refresh urself, even though it involves just taking down cars.
I may recommend these game to all the players out there, both Burrnout and Most Wanted.
I think so that sum of the parents here are thinking too extreme.
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Kid, 11 years old
May 10, 2010
AGE
Perrrrfecto for E10+
This game I played when I was little. It is very violent and the cops go nuts.I agree with the person below. "The game is gud but i get prety [mad] when i get busted" But please don`t say that! But it`s true sometimes you get busted and it won`t happen like that in real life.
What other families should know:
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Kid, 12 years old
April 9, 2008
AGE
It's rated T??????????
This game is very fun!!! The only problem with this game is you have to do the same stuff over and over again to get more cars. But with the really fun car Chases it almost completly forgives that. I reccomend this to anyone who likes racing Games!!! Oh yeah and I can't believe this game is rated T!!!!!!!!!! It should have been rated E!!!!!!!!!
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Adult
April 9, 2008
AGE
Awesome Racing Experience
this game continues in the great NFS line by providing sweet rides, customization options (you can tune your ride on the fly) and a decent storyline. of course, the best part is racing the cars.
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| Platforms: | Xbox 360, PSP, Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox |
| Available online? | Available online |
| Genre: | Racing |
| Developer: | Electronic Arts |
| Release date: | February 17, 2006 |
| Price: | $39.99 |
| ESRB rating: | T for (PlayStation 2, PSP, Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360) |
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