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Need for Speed™ Most Wanted
The open-world action in Need for Speed Most Wanted gives you the freedom to drive your way. Hit jumps and shortcuts, switch cars, lie low or head for terrain that plays to your vehicle’s unique strengths. Fight your way past cops and rivals using skill, high-end car tech and tons of nitrous.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Data as of 2026-05-20.
What reviewers agree on
30 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“I don't know of any game with a better soundtrack, it's absolutely amazing. Moreover the map is incredibly rich, I've put well over 100 hours into this game across all platforms as I played on ps3, psvita and on the old…”
“Is this a good need for speed game? No. Is this game fun to go around doing stupid ♥♥♥♥? Yes. If this is on sale, it's worth the purchase, but don't expect a good need for speed game. I loved this game on the Xbox 360…”
“this game lowkey still holds up. the cop chases are the best part, once you got like 5 cars on you and a heli it actually gets stressful in a good way. driving feels simple but fun, you’re just cutting through traffic…”
15 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“It's the bestest game till now which i had played It has the best Graphics as per my laptop specifications”
“I really liked this game as a kid, and I'm really glad it held up pretty well. It still looks pretty and it's good to just turn your brain off. No story, no missions, no characters I have to worry about. An arcade NFS…”
“very cool cutscenes + very great performance”
9 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“I was disappointed to find out that it doesn't have achievements. Other than that, no complaints. I've played this for endless hours on the Vita and on the Xbox 360 and grabbed all of the achievements/trophies on both…”
“very cool cutscenes + very great performance”
“realistic game for low-end gPC , would recoment for high-end PC also , but the servers only work at night”
6 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Is this a good need for speed game? No. Is this game fun to go around doing stupid ♥♥♥♥? Yes. If this is on sale, it's worth the purchase, but don't expect a good need for speed game. I loved this game on the Xbox 360…”
“this game lowkey still holds up. the cop chases are the best part, once you got like 5 cars on you and a heli it actually gets stressful in a good way. driving feels simple but fun, you’re just cutting through traffic…”
“This game is just straight up fun if you’re not taking it too seriously. Criterion Games went full arcade with this one. Drifting is super easy, you’re boosting all the time, and the driving just feels fast and loose.…”
4 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“I don't know of any game with a better soundtrack, it's absolutely amazing. Moreover the map is incredibly rich, I've put well over 100 hours into this game across all platforms as I played on ps3, psvita and on the old…”
“This NFS in particular is very meh, not good but not entirely bad either, one that you'll pick up drive for 10-20 minutes then quit and play something else, my main gripes with it are, one the map in places sometimes…”
“Never played the original back in the day and went in blind. Had 12+ hours of fun exploring the map and winning the main races while waiting for the next Forza game. There's roughly 40 cars of various kinds (heavy,…”
17 of the 103 reviews raise this · 10 of them still recommend the game.
“This NFS in particular is very meh, not good but not entirely bad either, one that you'll pick up drive for 10-20 minutes then quit and play something else, my main gripes with it are, one the map in places sometimes…”
“Hassle to set up controller support, The in-game video options are severley lacking, The driving is not as fun as I remembered. I hope I can get a refund Also ♥♥♥♥ EA”
“Not the most wanted Most Wanted game :( Very, very, very, very underrated gem of a racing game. This game is unfairly judged because of it's name which loosley ties it to the older game released in 2005. Main reason for…”
12 of the 103 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“Hassle to set up controller support, The in-game video options are severley lacking, The driving is not as fun as I remembered. I hope I can get a refund Also ♥♥♥♥ EA”
“the game used to run horribly on my steam deck, the steering was stuck on left and i could not make it to work at all no matter what i changed i settings now the game would not run at all”
“The car controls are bad, the HUD is bad, the roads and map are bad. The only good thing I could point to is that the cars look nice but of course, you have to explore the map to unlock them. And don't get me wrong,…”
9 of the 103 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“I was disappointed to find out that it doesn't have achievements. Other than that, no complaints. I've played this for endless hours on the Vita and on the Xbox 360 and grabbed all of the achievements/trophies on both…”
“Can't even run on my device; says it is a VM when I do not have a VM. Seems to be a Microsoft laptop issue.”
“the game used to run horribly on my steam deck, the steering was stuck on left and i could not make it to work at all no matter what i changed i settings now the game would not run at all”
6 of the 103 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“SO EA ACTUALLY REMADE THIS GAME TO BE LIKE NEED FOR SPEED HEAT. this is no t need for speed most wanted. You cant even customise your carss you dont even get to rally drive with your own cars. They give a list spread…”
“The nostalgia of this game is worth the sale price of $5. I wouldn't recommend paying full price, especially when controllers aren't supported and there is quite a bit locked behind DLC. To get a controller working you…”
“This game is fun, although i just wish it had achievements. I only suggest getting this game on sale, cause this game has no story and has nothing to do with the original and asking for 20 bucks is a bit too much (the…”
6 of the 103 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“The car controls are bad, the HUD is bad, the roads and map are bad. The only good thing I could point to is that the cars look nice but of course, you have to explore the map to unlock them. And don't get me wrong,…”
“É um bom jogo, bon gráficos, nostálgico da época no 360/ps3, mas muito repetitivo e dependente de dlcs pra desbloquear carros e corridas”
“My summary, this just basically toned down version of Burnout Paradise. With less destruction elements and some cops. Is it worth to buy? Let me explain first before you buy. So NFS: Most Wanted 2012 or A Criterion Game…”
Counted across 103 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 77.3% positive rating · as of 2026-05-20
“Honestly? Only grab it if it's on sale. Don't get me wrong this is a pretty good game but overall it'd be a sideways thumb at best unless on sale. Pros: -Graphics: Absolutely gorgeous game even in 2026. Also will run on a toaster. -Physics: it's the standard critereon style…”
— a player, Steam review · 16 hrs played“Bro this game is fire, i bought it bc i had it years ago for the ps3 and now it seems like its even better. Its underrated and for some reason people say its the worst nfs game. Buy it trust me youre gonna love it”
— a player, Steam review · 13 hrs played“I bought this game on sale, but honestly it’s been pretty disappointing. The keyboard controls are terrible, and it doesn’t even support my controller, which makes it even harder to enjoy. I even had to remap all of the keyboard buttons just to make it somewhat playable. The…”
— a player, Steam review · 0 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live count fetched 2026-07-11 13:28 UTC · history via SteamCharts.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-07-24). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
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From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-20.
| Genres | Action, Adventure, Racing |
| Player tags | Racing · Multiplayer · Open World · Driving · Action · Competitive · Automobile Sim · Arcade · Adventure · Combat Racing · First-Person · Vehicular Combat (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Multi-player · PvP · Online PvP · Steam Trading Cards |
| Languages | English * , French * , Italian * , German * , Spanish - Spain * , Czech, Dutch, Japanese * , Polish, Russian * , Traditional Chinese * |
| Estimated owners | 1,000,000 – 2,000,000 (SteamSpy) |
| Official site | https://www.ea.com/games/need-for-speed/need-for-speed-most-wanted-2012 |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows Vista (Service Pack 2 and all available windows updates) 32-bit Processor: 2 GHz Dual Core (Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHZ or Althon X2 2.7 GHz) Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: DirectX 10.1 compatible with 512 MB RAM (ATI RADEON 3000, 4000, 5000 OR 6000 series, with ATI RADEON 3870 or higher performance) Storage: 20 GB available space Sound Card: DirectX compatible