Need for Speed: Most Wanted - Empire City



Need for Speed: Most Wanted - Empire City (Abbreviated NFS:MW-EC) is an upcoming entry in the Need for Speed franchise. It is a direct sequel to 2005's Need for Speed: Most Wanted by EA Black Box and the third overall title to bear the Most Wanted subtitle, after the 2012 reboot developed by Criterion Games. The game will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X & Microsoft Windows.

Gameplay
As a sequel to the original Most Wanted, some of the original’s core gameplay mechanics are carried over in near entirety to Empire City. Like the original, players progress in the game by moving up the Blacklist, a list of the city’s most wanted and most sought after street racers, with the ultimate goal of occupying the top spot and becoming Empire City’s Most Wanted.

To challenge a Blacklist racer, players must complete a required amount of races and accumulate a set total of Bounty Points. If the player bests the Blacklist racer after three consecutive races, the player occupies that racer’s spot. The player also has a random chance of winning that racer’s car after each series.

Players can customize the vehicles they own with visual and performance upgrades as well as Pursuit Tech similar to those last seen in Need for Speed: Rivals. All of which can be purchased with cash they earn after races or Bounty Points if the player does not have enough cash (Purchasing with Bounty Points is recommended only as a last resort). Regarding whether to purchase Pursuit Tech or not, the player must keep in mind that police and Blacklist racers will have access to the same tech as the player moves up in heat level and the Blacklist, respectively.

Possibly more to come here.

Game Modes
The game prominently features seven race-oriented events (including the Blacklist Series) and three pursuit-oriented events. Police are integrated into every race event, including the Blacklist Series, with either a minimum, moderate or maximum chance of appearing. Pursuit events are the quickest ways to earn Bounty Points, although the race events award them as well if a pursuit occurs.

Race Game Modes

 * Blacklist Series - A series of three consecutive races featuring only the player and the Blacklist racer the player is challenging. A Blacklist Series can feature any of the other six types of events.
 * Sprint - A traditional street race traveling from one point of the city to another.
 * Circuit - A street race with multiple laps. Most of the circuits are two laps, although there are some with three laps.
 * Speed Challenge - A sprint race where the racer with the highest accumulated speed total wins the race. This event is similar to both the "Speedtrap" event from Most Wanted (2005) and the "Top Speed Run" event from Need for Speed: ProStreet.
 * More to be added here.

Pursuit Game Modes

 * To be added.

Empire City
The titular city is a large, open world environment that rivals Fortune Valley from Need for Speed: Payback in terms of map size. The city takes it name from the bonus track of the same name from Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit and Need for Speed: High Stakes.

From a design standpoint, the city draws slight inspiration from its track namesake and heavy inspiration from the cities of Boston and New York City and their surrounding areas. It also features many accessible regions as well as a wide range of roads.

Like its track inspiration, the city is presented to the player with the strong implication that it is a cyberpunk-like and overall dark environment.

Regions
To be added.

Architecture
To be added.

Blacklist
In NFS:MW-EC, the blacklist includes 20 racers, up from 15 from Most Wanted (2005) and 10 from the 2012 reboot. As nods to the rest of the series, specific characters from past NFS titles reappear as Blacklist racers.

Members above the player will begin to possess Pursuit Tech once the player becomes Blacklist member 15.

Vehicles
NFS:MW-EC features a total of over 95 vehicles that the player can purchase with cash or Bounty Points. Rather than one continuous list, the game uses the car classification system from the 2012 reboot.

Police
The Empire City Police Department maintains a fleet consisting of 11 types of vehicles that join pursuits at different heat levels. This fleet ranges from Ford Taurus SHO's (their main mode of police transportation) to high tier supercars.

The ECPD's system can be seen as an amalgamation of those from Most Wanted (2005) & Need for Speed: Rivals, as they have the aggressiveness of the former and Pursuit Tech similar to the latter. Unlike the original, players are capable of reaching heat level 6 if they drive dangerously enough. Police do not have access to Pursuit Tech as long as the player is under heat level 3.

Cooldown
The cooldown system is the same as the original Most Wanted. Players begin filling the cooldown meter by escaping from the police and by driving to hiding spots, which fills the meter faster.

Busted
The player will be busted if their busted meter is filled. This meter will start to fill if the player is not moving and has police units around their vehicle. Players that get busted will receive an impound strike and lose all Bounty Points acquired during the pursuit. If the player receives three impound strikes, their vehicle will be seized indefinitely by the ECPD. If all of the player's vehicles are impounded, the player will have to start from the beginning of the game again.

Pursuit Tech
To be added.

DLC
There are currently ? DLC packs available for purchase across all platforms. These packs award the player with new vehicles and new events among other perks. The packs have a combined price of $??.?? should the player purchase all of them at once.

More to be added here.

Soundtrack
The game features a soundtrack of 35 songs curated by LoganC22 that the player can listen to while driving. Similar to Need for Speed: Carbon, the soundtrack is split into three sections and dependent on the car class the player is currently driving. However, the player can choose to play all songs in the options menu. All songs are hyperlinked with their respective YouTube videos.

Trivia

 * While in a race with a minimum risk of police appearing, the player has a random chance of seeing a police helicopter idling in the sky, seemingly watching the player. This is possible by looking back and to the upper left of the screen. This is a direct Easter egg referencing the Empire City from Hot Pursuit & High Stakes, where the same thing occurred.
 * In similar fashion, while driving at night, the player has a random chance of seeing a Death Star-like satellite in the sky. This satellite is far off in the distance and only visible if the player looks very carefully.
 * More to be added.