Asphalt: Most Wanted (2009) (Wii/PC/J2ME/PSP/X360/PS3)

Asphalt: Most Wanted is a 2009 open-world racing video game, and the ninth installment in the Need for Speed series. Developed by EA Canada and EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts, it was released on May 11, 2009, for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation Portable, Microsoft Windows, and J2ME. An additional version, Asphalt: Most Wanted 5-1-0, was released in the same year for J2ME. The game focuses on street racing-oriented gameplay involving a selection of events and racing circuits found within the fictional city of Rockport, with the game's main story involving players taking on the role of a street racer who must compete against 15 of the city's most elite street racers to become the most wanted racer of the group, in the process seeking revenge against one of the groups who took their car and developing a feud with the city's police department.

Most Wanted brought in many notable improvements and additions over other entries in the series, its major highlight being more in-depth police pursuits. Certain editions of the game were also packaged with the ability for online multiplayer gaming. Upon its release, the game received positive reviews from critics and became a commercial success, selling 16 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best entries in the series as a result. Its success later led to a collector's edition, Black Edition, which provided additional content for the game.

Gameplay
In the game, players take part in illegal street races across Most Wanted 's setting, utilizing a variety of licensed real-world cars (available at the time of the game's development and release) that can be upgraded and customized with new parts while contending with the involvement of the police in their efforts to impede the player. Racing events feature a mixture of competitive racing across circuit or point-to-point races, and checkpoint, sprint and drag races. The game features three modes of play - Career, Quick Race, and Challenge Series - with a fourth mode allowing for multiplayer being available to players on certain console editions. While many of the racing events feature those used in previous entries in the games, particularly the Underground set of games, some events - Drifting, Street X, Underground Racing League tournaments and Outrun - are absent from Most Wanted, and replaced with two new ones. The first event is Tollbooth, a checkpoint-styled solo race, in which players must hit a set of checkpoints, each one within a set amount of time; reaching a checkpoint quickly adds the time left over to the timer for the next checkpoint. The second event is Speedtrap, in which players compete in a competitive checkpoint race, and must hit each checkpoint at their fastest speed; upon crossing the finishing line, each checkpoint's total speed is accumulated to determine the winner. Speed accumulated by the player or opponent gets deducted by 10 km/hr after an opponent crosses the finish line first; this is signified by intermittent flashing on-screen until the player (or the other opponent cars) crosses the finish line.

The game features a selection of stock cars to choose from, each of which can be modified during the game's career mode with upgrades to enhance its performance and visual appearance. Customization of the car's appearance is limited; the main emphasis of customization is to reduce the car's heat level rather than for reputation as in the Underground series - while some elements that were possible in the previous installments were removed, others received minor changes such as players being able to make use of whole body kits on cars, the use of only one vinyl for the vehicle, and exterior colours being limited to the car's main body, wheels and window tinting. Additional cars are also available for the player to use - most of which are acquired from the game's Blacklist Racers or unlocked after defeating a Blacklist Racer, while others are bonuses available from completing challenges; a number of cars available in the game are exclusives added in by the Black Edition copy of the game. Police cars cannot be driven in the game, except during special events in the game's Challenge Series mode. Most Wanted, like 2005's Hot Pursuit, avoids the use of major vehicle damage on all racing models, with only scratched paint and heavily cracked windshields constituting the whole of the racers' damage modelling. Police cars, on the other hand, sustain heavy damage when hit by the player's car or caused by the player to crash into other cars or obstacles.

During races and the game's Career mode, players can make use of Nitrous Boosts to help give them an edge against opponents. Unlike in Underground, which first introduced the gameplay mechanic, Nitrous Boosts recharge over time, thus allowing the player to re-use it when needed. Players can also use a second ability to help out in tough situations called "Speedbreaker" - when used, the ability slows down time (similar to bullet time), induces drift and momentarily increase the weight of the player's vehicle to make it harder to be pushed around, thus allowing players to maneuver their vehicle out of a difficult situation.

Police Pursuit
While the concept of players being engaged by police had been a feature of most entries in the series since the first Need for Speed title, the development of Most Wanted saw the gameplay mechanic enhanced and firmly introduced into the series through the employment of a complex system. When players become engaged in a police pursuit, usually from conducting a traffic offence (referred to as "Infractions" in the game) in sight of a police unit (such as speeding), their aim at this point is to escape from the pursuit by either evading or taking out pursuing vehicles. The game's on-screen HUD is modified during a pursuit, including highlighting pursuing police units on the mini-map, displaying the vehicle's heat level, and adding a Pursuit bar at the bottom detailing the number of police units in the pursuit, how many have been evaded, and how many have been taken out. The pursuit system calculates how the police handle the player via the heat level accumulated against the player's current car. Heat accumulates from committing offences and continually evading capture by the police, with higher levels of heat causing the police to be more aggressive, from employing additional tactics and tools (such as roadblocks, spike strips, and police helicopters), to involving stronger, faster police cars such as police SUVs and Federal units. If a player has only one car actively pursuing them, reinforcements may be called in and arrive after a period of time.

Players can lose the police through skillful driving, making use of their special abilities, ramming pursuing vehicles and utilizing "Pursuit Breakers" - environmental traps, highlighted on the mini-map, which when triggered cause a certain number of police vehicles to be taken out of action, such as smashing through a gas station. Evading and losing the police - either by disabling/immobilizing vehicles, gaining some distance from pursuers, or a combination of both - does not end a pursuit, once there are no more active vehicles. Instead, the player enters a "cooldown" period when this happens, which pauses the pursuit (and any reinforcements being called in), they must hide and avoid being spotted by police for a period of time. The length of time for this period is longer at higher levels of heat but can be decreased significantly if the player reaches and hides in special concealment spots around the game's setting, which are marked on the mini-map during this phase and are used to place them out of sight of police units. A pursuit fully ends when the player successfully escapes the police, or is overwhelmed and trapped, and thus "busted" as a result.

Career Mode
In the game's main mode, the objective is to race against each of the setting's major street racers (or Blacklist Racer) and defeat them. Initially, players begin by completing a tutorial sequence of events to ease players into the game, whereupon they must choose a car to use for the rest of the game. The selection available is limited, but more become available as the player defeats each Blacklist racer, including better performance upgrades for these, with players able to sell any car acquired at any time during the game - cars can be bought at car lots, while upgrades and customization parts can be bought at garages. Events in this mode are divided into two categories - Racing events, and Milestones. While Racing events focus on the game's main series of racing events which earn money rewards when won, Milestones focus on completing specific objectives, most of which usually involve being involved in a police pursuit and raising the player's Bounty - a form of currency detailing how much trouble the player has caused for the police in the game's setting, based on the number of offences and damage to property they had caused. An example of a Milestone can be the player being required to enter a police pursuit and then attempting to escape it within a set amount of time.

Police pursuits in this mode can occur in Free Roam, during a race, or from activating one in the game's pause menu - the latter can be done only if there are any Milestones yet to be completed. Although police units will mainly impede a player if they begin pursuing them in a race, they will attempt to arrest them when in Free Roam. If the police achieve this, the player is fined based on their heat level, which is reset, and their car is given an impound strike - if the player cannot pay their fines, or receive a third strike on their car, it is impounded and lost; losing all of their cars this way and having no money to buy a new one, automatically ends the game. If the player escapes pursuit, the car retains the heat level it accumulated but can lose this by either having its visual looks changed or by driving another vehicle for a period of time. Players can view a statistic screen at any time during this mode to view their records regarding infractions, the cost to state, deployed tactics and pursuit lengths.

To take on each Blacklist Racer, players must complete events and Milestones associated with them, whereupon they must win against the racer in a successive series of races - the number increases as the player progresses in the story. Defeating a Blacklist Racer not only unlocks the next opponent and a new series of events, along with new Milestones to achieve but also unlocks additional cars and upgrade parts as well, along with allowing the player to claim two rewards from them. Each Blacklist Racer has six rewards they can offer when defeated. While three of these rewards consist of special customization parts and unique performance upgrades, the other three, concealed from the player until selected, consist of the racer's personal car - a uniquely modified vehicle - and two randomly selected bonus functions - extra money; impound recovery of lost vehicles; a "get-out-of-jail-free-card"; the removal of an impound strike on any car. Any component Markers selected can be acquired by visiting the garages after returning to Free Roam. In addition, defeating specific Blacklist Racers also unlock access to the other districts of the city - the player has access to one district, to begin with, but unlocks more as they progress in the game, including additional safehouses.

Quick Race, Challenge Series and multiplayer
In Quick Race mode, players can enter any event they wish and use any car that they want, while opting to either make custom parameters for the event (i.e. the number of laps) or let the game create a random set of parameters. The number of events and cars to choose from depend on the player's progress in the game's Career mode.

In Challenge Series mode, players take part in a successive series of events, in which completing one unlocks the next event. While around half of these are focused on checkpoint races, the other consist of a mixture of pursuit events akin to the Milestone events in Career Mode, with each event tasking the player to complete its goal using a specific vehicle on a specific route/from a starting position, and beginning on a certain level of heat. Vehicles for each event are pre-tuned, and range from various cars available in Career mode to those not accessible such as dump trucks and police cars. Completing specific challenges rewards the player with bonus cars for use in Career and Quick Race mode.

Multiplayer in Most Wanted consists of online modes, which were available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Wii editions of the game. Up to 4 players can participate in an online race and can race in 4 game modes including circuit, sprint, lap knockout and speed trap. Furthermore, there is the option to enable Performance Matching in an online race - all cars in the race are automatically upgraded to match the performance (i.e. top speed, handling, etc.) of the fastest car in that particular race. However, as soon as the race is over, all modifications made to the cars by performance matching are removed. The online multiplayer lobby was shut down on November 26, 2017, though it is still possible to play the game in multiplayer, but through an unofficial modification called "Most Wanted Online".

Cars

 * Volkswagen Golf GTI '83
 * Nissan 240SX '98
 * Datsun 280Z '75
 * Volkswagen Scirocco '08
 * Ford Focus RS '10
 * Chevrolet Camaro RS SS '69
 * Ford Mustang Boss 302 '69
 * Pontiac Firebird '79
 * Chevrolet Impala SS '96
 * Buick Grand National GNX '87
 * Dodge Challenger R/T '70
 * Ford SVT Focus '04
 * Pontiac Solstice '06
 * Chevrolet Cobalt SS '06
 * Mazda RX-8 "Shinka" '06
 * Ducati Monster S4R6 '07
 * Ford Mustang GT Convertible '05
 * Chevrolet Camaro Concept '06
 * Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 '09
 * Dodge Charger SRT-8 '07
 * Dodge Challenger Concept '06
 * Chrysler 300C SRT-8 '07
 * Volkswagen Golf R32 '08
 * Nissan 350Z Roadster '06
 * Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 '99
 * Mazda RX-7 '95
 * Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 '99
 * Pontiac GTO '05
 * Audi RS4 '08
 * Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR '06
 * Ducati 999 R '06
 * Mercedes-Benz S 600 '08
 * Lamborghini Miura SV '71
 * Audi R8 '08
 * Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster '07
 * Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG '07
 * Chevrolet Corvette Z06 '07
 * Nissan GT-R R35 '08
 * Saleen S302 Extreme '08
 * Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder '06
 * Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster '04
 * Ford Shelby Cobra Concept '04
 * Ford GT '06
 * Saleen S7 '06
 * Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 '07
 * Chevrolet Bel Air '55
 * Buick Riviera '63
 * Chevrolet Impala '64
 * Chevrolet Malibu '65
 * Pontiac GTO '66
 * Chevrolet Chevelle SS '70
 * Land Rover Range Rover Supercharged '08
 * Land Rover Range Rover Sport '08
 * Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GT '09
 * Audi S5 '08
 * Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X '08
 * Cadillac XLR-V '08
 * Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG Black Series '08
 * Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG '08
 * Aston Martin DB9 '07
 * Ducati 1098R '08

OST

 * Tyquan - Touch On﻿ Me
 * Peaches - Boys Wanna Be Her (Tommie Sunshine's Brooklyn Fire Retouch)
 * Chromeo - Fancy Footwork (Guns N' Bombs Remix)
 * Yelle - A Cause Des Garçons (Riot in Belgium Remix)
 * Deadmau5 - Drapes!
 * Junkie XL - More (Junk O Flamenco Remix) (feat. Lauren Rocket)
 * CSS - Odio Odio Odio Sorry C
 * We Are Wolves - Fight and Kiss
 * Foreign Islands - We Know You Know It
 * Neon Plastix - On Fire
 * Junkie XL - More (Junk O Punk Remix) (feat. Lauren Rocket)
 * Deadmau5 - Darkspin
 * The Toxic Avenger - Escape (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)
 * UNKLE - Restless (feat. Josh Homme)
 * MSTRKRFT - Neon Knights
 * Datarock - I Used To Dance With My Daddy (Karma Harvest Remix)
 * Plan B - No Good (Chase & Status and Benni G Remix)
 * Wiley - Bow E3
 * Deadmau5 - For Now
 * Dude 'N Nem - Watch My Feet
 * Plan B feat. Epic Mac - More Is Enough
 * Airbourne - Blackjack
 * Avenged Sevenfold - Almost Easy (Chris Lord-Alge Mix)
 * Clutch - Power Player
 * Year Long Disaster - Leda Atomica
 * Junkie XL ft. Lauren Rocket - More (Junk O Rock Remix)
 * Bloc Party - Prayer (Does It Offend You, Yeah? Remix)
 * Digitalism - Pogo
 * The Rapture - The Sound
 * Klaxons - Atlantis To Interzone
 * DÚNÉ - A Blast Beat
 * The Horrors - Draw Japan
 * Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Kiss, Kiss
 * The Faint - Dropkick The Punks
 * TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me
 * Smallwhitelight - Spite

Tracks

 * Nassau, Bahamas
 * Chamonix, France
 * Cape Town, South Africa
 * Havana, Cuba
 * New Orleans, LA
 * Moscow, Russia
 * Tokyo, Japan
 * Los Angeles, CA
 * Reykjavík, Iceland
 * New York City, NY
 * Monte Carlo, Monaco
 * Shanghai, China
 * Rio de Janiero, Brazil
 * Detroit, MI
 * Hong Kong, China