Imagine this: You come home from school, excited about the new racing game you installed last night. You boot up your PC and your eyes and mouse cursor instantly lock on to the new desktop icon of the game Need for Speed: Most Wanted. As you open the game for the first time, you feel your blood rush rapidly as the intense opening cinematic shows a silver BMW tearing up the streets in a street race-turned-police chase. At that moment, you realize that you’ve been struck by a smooth criminal, perhaps a more gritty one from the city of Rockport. Snapping back to the present, you wrap your mind around that it’s no longer just imagination, but rather a glimpse of the past you yearn for.

Since its inception in 2005, Most Wanted has always been among fan-favorites in the world of Need for Speed. Still regarded as one of the most influential titles in the franchise, the game introduced a breath of fresh air into the street-racing genre as a whole at the time, particularly with a combo of a fitting story-line, and its revolutionary police-pursuit mechanics.

Rockport hit really hard.

Immediately upon the start of the career mode, the game establishes its 2005-esque gritty-hardcore-street racing presence in a set of races against rivals throughout Rockport City, where aesthetic differences were eminent compared to other titles. The shiny night-time glamor from Underground 1 & 2 is now taken over by day-time street racing, roads are now cracked, buildings are showing signs of rust and decay, with litter and graffiti everywhere within your cone of vision. And with nu-metal, hip-hop, and alt-rock soundtracks of the 2000s blasting away in the background, the game had a unique personality of its own, setting the tone for street racing genres at the time, now serving its life as a portal, peeping into the early 2000s.

A story to forget? Maybe not.

The game's storyline is simple but fitting, following a theme of redemption and ending with a satisfying conclusion. The acting in the live-action cutscenes, reminiscent of the cheesy-edgy style of the 2000s, effectively stirs up strong emotions toward the antagonists, adding to the satisfaction of causing their downfall.

As a newcomer to the local street racing scene, you and your iconic silver BMW arrive in Rockport intending to defeat the blacklist – the 15 most wanted racers – and make a name for yourself. Upon your arrival, you are met with a less-than-warm welcome by Cross, a sergeant of the Rockport Police Department, who is relentless in cracking down on street racing. You proceed to win races against the locals before challenging Razor, the 15th Blacklist racer, to a series of races, only to end up losing your car in a race after he sabotages your engine. Left without a means of escape, the police suddenly arrive and arrest you.

While in custody, Razor uses your BMW with the plate number M3 GTR to climb to the top of the blacklist. Eventually, you are released due to a lack of evidence against you. Mia Townsend, a prominent figure in the street racing scene, provides you with a safe house and your first car, giving you a head start on your mission to take down the entire blacklist and reclaim your car.

After defeating Razor, he refuses to return your car keys, leading to a confrontation in which Mia, an undercover cop, reveals her true identity. The police force then swarms in to arrest you and the rest of the blacklist. Amid the chaos, Mia throws you the keys to your car, helping you escape Rockport as you evade the police in a dramatic chase, cementing your status as the most wanted racer on the Rockport Police Department's list.

Best. Cops. Ever. (Or worse if you get caught. It’s “Most Wanted” after all)

The cop-chase mechanics in Most Wanted revolutionized the concept of police in racing games. The chases don't end when the races do; you have to evade the cops completely. The game adds intensity to the chases with high-octane adaptive orchestral themes and features five escalating heat levels. The cops become more aggressive as the heat levels increase, using tactics such as laying spike strips and deploying helicopters. The game also features an adaptive police radio that escalates audibly as the chase progresses, adding to the immersive experience of the game.

A breath of chaotic, but fresh air……… at over 200 on the dash.

Upon its release, the game introduced vastly different handling mechanics in the NFS franchise, establishing an aggressive sense of speed that sadly no other future NFS title could replicate. When paired with the visual and audio effects, the experience is best described as having total control of the vehicle, but just barely, where pushing over even 160 kph in a Lexus feels both scary and thrilling at the same time. However, the game was far from perfect. Races at times felt repetitive, some cars felt too heavy, some felt too slippery and a few were barely usable. But handling aside, the AI drivers were half decent compared to other games at the time. And although they didn’t have outstanding characteristics aside from rubberbanding out of the blue, the blacklist AIs drove similarly to their portrayed characters’ strengths and traits, preserving some form of variety in races as part of the career mode experience.

Sadly, the good times are short-lived.

Following the release of Most Wanted and commencing Need for Speed’s downfall as a franchise, EA added a sequel to the franchise with the release of Need for Speed: Carbon, combining Underground 2’s map-style, race-modes, and night-time racing, with only the lore continued after Most Wanted. But despite having better physics, visual effects, and more cars and variety in races, Carbon felt like a half-baked expansion of Most Wanted to many. And though it was a solid game on its own, it lacked overall novelty in comparison with previous titles and failed to match Most Wanted’s story and grittiness as a sequel. Adding insult to injury, EA released another Most Wanted in 2012, with only the game’s name bearing any resemblance to that of the original title. The game lacked a storyline, aggressive cop mechanics, no vehicle modding, and nothing notable that made it worthy of the name, spreading wildfires throughout the fanbase. And as of now, EA hasn’t made a single remake, nor are they showing signs of a sequel.And so, to this day, the game continues to thrive in the hearts of many as pirated copies on the web. There's a thriving modding community that includes online server mods and a multitude of fan-made animations. This serves as a testament to the loyalty of the MW '05 fanbase.