NSF:MW

I have obtained a copy of Need For Speed Most Wanted! Unfortunately for me, I slept the whole day and woke up one and a half hours before going to work so I didn't have much time to explore the game much. Plus, there is no crack. I had to download all the CD images (there are four CDs), use Daemon tools to load it up to install the game, trawl the net for a virtual drive hider called SDHider and fiddle around with it until I could get it started. That took a while.

So far as I can see, the game is absolutely gorgeous graphics-wise. I'm starting to think that another graphics card upgrade is a very good idea now. Plus, there is a PC Fair less than a week away..... Hmmm.

Anyway, back to NFS:MW. It's brilliant so far! There are a few things that you can do, a few more things than the previous NFSes. There is your usual career mode, where you start out as a out of luck street racer with no money and you've just lost your very nice, modded blue-silver BMW 3 series to some asshole who cheated while racing with you.

I've just gotten to the part where I buy my first car, in this case a white Fiat Punto. I haven't driven around town yet.

The game's "levels" are represented by drivers on the so-called "Blacklist". There are 15 of them, the number one driver being the bastard who stole your BMW and is now using it to win races.

Before you are able to drive against a Blacklisted driver, you need to get a certain amount of reputation. You can do this by winning races and dressing up your ride, just like the old NFS games. And ....and this is what intrigues me.

You can get rep by causing trouble.

There are "landmark" events such as surviving a police pursuit for a certain amount of time. Another challenge is have you car tagged by a speed trap at a certain speed. There are other challenges I suppose, like the classic time trials and getting your car on DVDs and magazines. You can also get on the police wanted list by being a nuisance (I suppose).

These extra things are the things that really, really spice the game up for me. And did I mention there are cops in the game now.

There are 32 cars in the game. I know the Supra is there, the Mustang, the Nissan 350Z. I also know there is the Murcielago and the 911 Turbo. And the BMW M3, Fiat Punto, IS1300 and the VW Golf.

Also, beating a Blacklisted driver advances the story. I like the fact that NFS games have background stories. This time, your main helper is this girl named Mia, played my the jaw-droppingly hot Josie Maran!! She drives an Mazda RX-7 in the game, by the way.

I really hope 15 drivers mean 15 levels. I hope the game will be very big and will take a long time to complete.

This also means that I will have to either suspend or slow down my FM 2006 game. Which is too bad because in my current (3rd) season, my AS Roma is unstoppable and at the top of the table ahead of Juventus and Inter. The only team that has a reasonable chance of beating me right now is Juventus.

In the Euro Champions league, I qualified to the second round and my next game is against Benfica in Portugal. That game should be easy.

I'll come back and play again from time to time. And one thing for sure, when I'm done with everything else and have nothing to play on the PC, I'll go back to FM2006.

So yeah, I've been very busy....