It's time for another round of Pick One! This week, to celebrate the announcement of Need for Speed: Unbound, we thought we'd go back and look at the history of the series on Xbox, which extends to almost 20 years.
If you recall, we ran this poll last year when Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered arrived on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, with Underground 2 getting 28% of the vote, and Most Wanted (2005) getting 27% of the vote.
Will it be that close again?! Remember, you can only pick one!
Let's take a look at some highlights from the poll:
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (2002)
Need for Speed™ (NFS) is back and better than ever in Need For Speed™ Hot Pursuit 2! Engage in the next generation thrill of arcade racing with the successor to Need for Speed™ III Hot Pursuit.
Need for Speed: Underground 2 (2004)
Need for Speed Underground 2 challenges gamers to immerse themselves in the tuner culture, exploring an expansive, free-roaming city divided into five distinct neighbourhoods. Gamers will encounter rival racers who will initiate events, tip players off to the hottest racing spots, and show them where to buy the most sought-after licensed aftermarket upgrades.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005)
Wake up to the smell of burnt asphalt as the thrill of illicit street racing permeates the air. From the makers of the hit Need for Speed Underground series that has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, Need for Speed Most Wanted challenges players to become the most notorious and elusive street racer.
Need for Speed: Carbon (2006)
For the first time in a Need for Speed game, build a crew and race in an all-out war for your city against rival crews and opposing car classes. You'll risk everything to take over rival neighborhoods one street at a time.
Need for Speed: Undercover (2008)
You never thought it would turn out like this, an all-out chase where you’re the hunted. And the hunter. Now you must get behind the wheel and risk everything to infiltrate a ruthless international crime syndicate and take them down.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010 / 2020)
At the heart of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is a suite of connected features called Need for Speed Autolog that enables players to connect, compare and compete with their friends effortlessly. Exotic cars on the open road, the rush of the escape, the thrill of the takedown - this is Need for Speed Hot Pursuit.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2012)
As you speed through Fairhaven you’ll discover jumps, shortcuts and secret locations for you and your friends to use to escape the cops, or each other, as you battle it out in fast and furious races. Need for Speed Most Wanted also breaks the mould as you no longer need to unlock cars, they’re all there from the minute you start your engine, all you need to do is find them, once found, they’re yours to drive.
Need for Speed Rivals (2013)
Welcome to Redview County, where a street-racing rivalry between cops and racers never stops as both sides compete in an all-out war featuring the fastest cars, mods and technology in a gritty open road environment.
Need for Speed Heat (2019)
Hustle by day and risk it all at night in Need for Speed™ Heat, a thrilling race experience that pits you against a city’s rogue police force as you battle your way into street racing’s elite.
Let us know which of these Need for Speed Xbox games is your favourite below.
Comments 25
The only one I've played is NFS Heat and i did enjoy that game, Tbh this is probably gonna be blasphemy for some of you but i prefer it over Forza..
Bit of a tough one, but I’d go with Most Wanted (2005) on the 360. I think it was the first game I got 1000/1000 GS too.
Having played all of them I'd say Hot Pursuit 2 is the peak. Though just by a hair over the Underground games. Lots of up and downs but still one of my favorite franchises in gaming.
Underground 2 , pro street & most wanted 2005 (I think the Xbox 360 version is the best looking version of it even better than the PC version real shame it's not BC)
I still can't believe they made two games called Need for Speed: Most Wanted on the same generation of consoles lol.
I voted for Most Wanted (2012) because Burnout Paradise is the most fun you can have with cars in a video game, period, and Most Wanted is the closest thing we've got to a sequel.
Most Wanted (2005) has the most fun police chases, to this day. And, aside from the corny and forgettable "story", the rest of the gameplay is a lot of fun as well.
I've played every NfS that ever came out and the trend for me is, the games have gotten worse/too complicated over time (I'm looking at you Heat and that stupid day/night cycle).
Hot Pursuit 2 was fine for it's time, the Shifts were good games as well, and I had more fun with The Run, than everything that came after it.
The only other game for me to equal Most Wanted in terms of fun is High Stakes for PSX, which has a very fun campaign. The inclusion of the different cop cars (including local speech) was - for the time - an incredible feature and it created a fantastic atmosphere.
My top 3:
1. NFS Porsche Unleashed
2. Underground 1
3. Underground 2
Need For Speed: Underground 2 (2004) & had a lot fun with the Shift series too. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010) was the last one I bought but I was expecting too much of having a bit more Burnout flavor then it already had (Criterion). Probably wanted a new Burnout game (a la Burnout 3: Takedown). Lost interest in the series but I hope that the new NFS will surprise me.
Hot Pursuit 2 is an absolute legend, before the series changed forever, back when it still had it's original feel. All the OG NFS fans know what's up.
Nfs Carbon because it was the first and the best nfs game i played, and the other is Nfs Most Wanted 2005.
The original Underground and Most Wanted 2005. I miss those days.
Sad to see Shift 1-2 underrepresented. Both some of the best racing games of their gen.
Definitely interesting that Most Wanted is massively outscoring Carbon... Nostalgia winning again in the polls it seems. Carbon did everything Most Wanted did with more added on.
The first need for speed I played was the one on 3DO.
The original Most Wanted (2005) is by far my favorite one!
I also really enjoyed playing NFS II (1997) & Porsche Unleashed (2000) on PC.
@Bmartin001 same, played maybe one or two at friends over a decade ago but remember near to nothing.
Heat I could actually play from start to beginning on my own hardware and it was a frickin blast, I do prefer the actual street racing aspect of it compared to forza. The nitrous, tyre smoke etc are all staples forza doesn't have and probably never will sadly.
I did try the hot pursuit remaster and thought it was absolute garbage.
Probably even more blasphemous than you on that 😆
By far my favourite is one that I don't thinkit released on Xbox and is pretty much never talked about and it is Porsche Unlished. I absolutely adored that game back in the day and altough I played a bit of others never really liked any apart from that one
Voted for Hot Pursuit, as that was developed by the team that did the Burnout series.
I liked both Underground games.
Amazed the original 3do version isn't an option. The best by far.
Probably my top 3 is:
@SpecialT That was the first one I played, it seemed so realistic at the time. One thing that kind of annoyed me was that I think the game was streaming off of the CD instead of being loaded into RAM first because every few seconds it would have a slight pause. It was very distracting and just took away so much from the gameplay. I actually prefer the PlayStation 1 version because it did not have any of those problems and had better graphics. I do prefer the more realistic speed at which the 3DO version ran. The PlayStation 1 version was a lot faster and it was cool, but it feels like they sped it up to give it a more arcade feel.
Criterion's Hot Pursuit for me. Love the cops Vs racers battles and of course the autolog!
Need for Speed 3do is still the best.
'Hot pursuit' has a place in my heart that the others cant quite match.
Its not always been brilliant, but this series has really provided a lot of solid entertainment over the years. It will be interesting to see a new gen game...
Need For Speed: Shift is absolutely fantastic and hold up pretty good. Loved the crashes and how frantic the racing feels when going at high speeds.
My top 3:
Porsche Unleashed was so good,
Most Wanted 2005,
Underground 2
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