Need for Speed aims to put an end to 'boring' racers

Criterion hopes that Need for Speed: Most Wanted will signal an end to 'boring' racers.

The latest game in the franchise launches this week with one of the main features being the ability to drive the best cars from the start.

Criterion said that grinding for hours just to get a slightly better car should now become a thing of the past.

"We want to challenge the convention of a racer," said producer Matt Webster in the latest issue of MCV. "Why can't consumers drive any car they want from the start? The answer is because 20 years of convention says we can't.

"We want to shake up racing games. It's boring. I am tired of driving around the same tracks, or grinding for hours to get the top cars."

Webster said that EA had given Criterion creative license to take the franchise where they wanted.

"No-one is telling us what we can or can't do. It is us being aware of its [Need for Speed's] history and trying to chart a new path for it, so Need for Speed can reach a new generation of players.

"We are our own harshest critics. And there's a healthy paranoia in our building to be the best that we can be.

"When we first showed Most Wanted to EA they said, 'Look, shake it up. Don't be afraid to take the risks that you want just because you have a picture in your head of what you think a big organisation wants from your game'.

"And that is liberating."

Check out a Need for Speed: Most Wanted trailer here.