Need for Speed: Most Wanted

Police lights in the rearview mirror, the engine at its redline, and a single thought: get away. Need for Speed: Most Wanted is one of the most legendary entries in EA's racing series, and its 2005 Nintendo DS version brought the adrenaline of street chases to a handheld console.

Most Wanted became famous for fusing illegal street races with high-stakes police pursuits. The goal is to climb the list of most wanted racers, beat your rivals and at the same time escape an ever more aggressive police force. The DS version adapted this formula to the possibilities of the handheld, tapping into the touch screen and other features of the console to deliver a racing experience on the go, albeit on a more intimate scale than the big console release.

In terms of development, Most Wanted belongs to the era when EA was churning out Need for Speed titles for every imaginable platform and trying to make each main game available to handheld players as well. The DS version was thus created alongside the major release for home consoles and PC, which became one of the most commercially successful entries in the series ever and remains one of the most beloved Need for Speed games in history to this day.

Culturally, Most Wanted defined the era of street racing in the middle of the last decade, when tuning and the culture of illegal races were at the peak of their popularity. The atmosphere of fleeing from the police etched itself into the memory of an entire generation of players, and the Most Wanted brand later even got a reboot.

On the Nintendo DS, it is a solid way to enjoy street chases on the road. It is not the full-fat experience of the big platforms, but as a pocket-sized dose of Need for Speed adrenaline, it serves its purpose.

Why play it: A pocket-sized portion of the cult street chases from the police out of one of the most beloved Need for Speed entries, ideal racing for the road.