Need for Speed - Most Wanted - Black Edition (USA)
Xbox
🇬🇧
Reviewed in 2005
84
✪ Reviewed on January 31, 2023
78
Improved NFS Most Wanted version with exclusive bonus content (extra cars, special missions). The version to own if you have the choice. Everything that makes the original excellent, with more. The definitive of this racing masterpiece.
Your verdict
Category
Racing1 player7+
Description
Exclusive Black Edition of Need for Speed Most Wanted with additional vehicles, bonus events, and an additional content disc. Published by EA Games, released in the United States in 2005. Includes the full original game with its epic police chases and Rockport City open world, plus vehicles exclusive to this edition, additional challenge events, and behind-the-scenes extras.
Need for Speed - Most Wanted - Black Edition review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
3/5
Story
★★★★★
"Solid"
The sub-series leaves the night for a washed-out daylight: a sepia filter over the whole image, low sun flattening the contrasts, suspended dust and blue flashing lights becoming the only pure colour in the frame. The city is therefore read against type, lit but grimy, exactly the reverse of the earlier neon.
The accompaniment is indexed to the police alert level: one car on your tail brings dry percussion, five bring a mass of brass and strings closing in like a vice. The music stops illustrating in order to inform, since reinforcements are heard arriving before they are seen.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
An open city to roam day and night, where you challenge a list of rival drivers while escaping an ever more tenacious police force. The large-scale chase, the wreckage and the rising notoriety deliver a constant thrill. Packed with licences and gorgeous to watch, an addictive arcade racer that weds speed, freedom and adrenaline.
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Sowing a swarm of police cars across an open city after smoking a rival sets up a thrilling chase tension where every race renews the urge to climb the most-wanted list. Upgrading your car and rising up the rankings feeds a constant progression. Repetition creeps in, but this thrill of the getaway and this rise in power stay gripping.
Complete: box, manual and disc/cart very clean. Lightly handled.
Q1 damagedQ6 completeQ10 new
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Collector interest
A Black Edition limited edition of Need for Speed Most Wanted, adding cars, races and a making-of to the series' cult entry. Its restricted run against fan demand makes it a markedly more sought variant than the standard edition, its price climbing. Its desirability lies in this mix of exclusive content and limited run of a beloved Need for Speed.
Is Need for Speed - Most Wanted - Black Edition still worth playing in 2026?
Released in 2005, Criterion and EA Black Box's entry imposes an urban and nervous police chase with a strikingly effective cinematic staging. The Blacklist and its vengeful tone give real dramaturgy to progression, and the handling lands a pleasant arcade balance. The car modelling and the tuning culture preserve a flavour of the era that has aged well. Visuals have aged and free roam replay value runs out. Recommended today for fans of open world racing and for nostalgics of Need for Speed's underground era on the original Xbox console hardware before the studio pivoted again.
