Need for Speed - Most Wanted U - A Criterion Game (USA)
Wii U
🇬🇧🇪🇸🇫🇷
Reviewed in 2013
86
✪ Reviewed on October 7, 2023
80
The best multiplatform port of NFS Most Wanted by Criterion, with exclusive extra content. Exciting open world racing. GamePad well integrated. A solid and accessible racing game for WiiU.
Your verdict
Category
Racing1 player7+
Description
The most wanted drivers flee from police while competing against rivals in this Need for Speed entry adapted for the Wii U. Published by Criterion Games, released in 2013 in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Wii U version with the GamePad for activity management, police radar, and car controls, over 50 open-world events in Fairhaven City, and online multiplayer.
Need for Speed - Most Wanted U - A Criterion Game review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
1/5
Story
★★★★★
"Anecdotal"
Criterion films its city in changing natural light, misty dawn, dazzling noon, wet night where the asphalt throws back the signage, and that variation alone renews journeys that are otherwise identical. The bodywork degrades visibly across chases, dented panels, stripped paint, a physical memory of previous races.
The soundtrack is made of licensed tracks rather than an original score, a choice that installs a car-radio atmosphere and leaves the player free to compose their own list. The mix lowers the music as the sirens close in, so the intensity of the chase is measured as much by the volume of the police voices as by the image.
Need for Speed Most Wanted U A Criterion Game, the expanded console version of Criterion's open-world racer, with added content and second-screen features. On a library poor in major third-party games, its desirability rests on this relative rarity of a polished port rather than established value, the Western run being harder to find. An interesting piece for racing fans of the console.
Is Need for Speed - Most Wanted U - A Criterion Game still worth playing in 2026?
A Wii U adaptation by Criterion Games, Need for Speed Most Wanted U offers an open world pursuit race with blacklist to defeat and exclusive Wii U police pursuit system. The sublime urban art direction, accessible handling and pursuit system make it an absolute arcade race reference on Wii U. For anyone fond of Need for Speed or seeking an absolutely essential arcade race, a warm recommendation still valid today without any hesitation on the Nintendo machine truly here indeed for any returning newcomer.
