The image of the M3 GTR comes back to you...
You know this game if you like racing games...
You also know this car and the story behind it...
But do you remember what blew your mind as a child?
My personal experience with the game
When I first booted up the game, back in 2006 when my dad purchased the game for himself on the PC, I was amazed by the graphics and the sound of the BMW roaring in the first race... The soundtrack was spot on and the adrenaline rush made everything better. Since my first race, I've finished the game 4 times, first time with the Cobalt SS, Punto, Supra and, in my last run, Gallardo.
What's behind the success of this game and how did it manage to stick around in people's hearts?
First of all, I think one feature which made the game memorable was its story; even though it's hard to remember all the BlackList racers, it's easy to recognize the main characters: Mia, Cross and Razor. The story made you seek out revenge for losing you precious BMW in an unfair battle and dragged you in the underground culture of street racing... I really liked the idea of voice messages and voice calls where characters would provide you tips or taunt you in your next race. It really feels so... 2005. I still remember Vic taunting me before unlocking Camden Beach and felt like I really needed to beat this guy and all of Razor's intimidating voice calls.
This guy claims to be a gangster and his name is Clarence?! HA
Gameplay features
Gameplay-wise, the game felt very smooth and had great handling for an arcade game. Police chases were entertaining and could become serious if you weren't paying attention and got hammered down by the SUVs. The races were carefully designed and had some nice short-cuts (which could slow you down if you don't know how to use them). However, I miss the fact that they didn't include drifting in this game, which is quite a shame. I also found the new concept of tollbooth races to be quite interesting, but it was scrapped in the favor of checkpoint races.
The Cars
There aren't a lot of cars in NFS:MW, as in Forza and Forza Horizon, but most of them are legendary in the car culture. We could say that EA wanted quality over quantity when choosing cars, but I think they could've done a lot better.
Tuning
This has got to be NFS:MW weakest point; not that it's bad, but it's quite limited compared to other entries of the franchise, especially in the cosmetic category, where I often found the body kits to be quite ugly (and rice-y!). It's true, if you really loved cosmetically modifying your cars, you could spend a lot of time finding the perfect combination and make your ride look great. The performance tuning wasn't really complex, offering you the option to buy parts and tune your car in the main menu of the free-roam.
Aaand... that's about it. However, people managed to find extraordinary combos of tuning and made some record-smashing times around each track. Lots of hours were put into this game, and many knew it like the back of their hands.
The map
I think the map was neatly done, with lots of diversity, including twisty roads and high-speed highways. I think it's really well balanced.
Overall opinion
In the end, I think NFS:MW deserves to be named a gem in the racing genre and its following will stay loyal to it.