One of the main cornerstones of being a car enthusiast is racing video games. Even though they're all different in one way or another, they have something in common; they allow us to live out our car enthusiast fantasy that we either can't or don't want to do in real life. A lot of racing games offer a good time for beginners, and others are best left to the pros.
Though there have been many racing games over the years, few have made quite such an impact as the Need for Speed series. For almost 27 years running, EA's racing game franchise has delivered some of the best arcade racing experiences ever. Although there were some ups and downs, most Need for Speed games were excellent.
9 ProStreet (2007)
Following 2006's Carbon, ProStreet was released in 2007. As usual, EA Black Box was in the development seat, this being their sixth entry into the franchise. ProStreet dropped the previous few games' illicit street racing style for a plot that centered around legal track racing.
Unfortunately, the Black Box team had to be split in order for ProStreet to happen, as they were busy conceptualizing the ill-fated Undercover around this time. As a result, ProStreet had more than a few bugs and glitches that definitely upset the experience. Other than that, it had so much going for it; immensely detailed customization, great progression, a great car list and some very interesting game modes.
8 Heat (2019)
Released in 2019 and developed by Ghost Games, now EA Gothenburg, Heat was the final installment made by the Swedish studio before Electronic Arts demoted them to assistance duties. In some ways, it's unfortunate, because their final attempt to return the series to form happened to be the best.
Though not without its flaws, Heat was a surprisingly solid game. "Surprisingly" because the preceding Payback could best be described as a dumpster fire. The story, although disappointingly short, was very interesting and brought a level of emotion and character relationships that had never been seen before. The visuals were good, the physics were greatly improved compared to the previous couple of games, and the cars and customization were top notch. Not to mention, it was the first time the incredible Polestar 1 was featured in a video game.
7 Need for Speed (2015)
By the release of 2013's Need for Speed Rivals, fans of the franchise were absolutely fed up with the direction the series had taken. Through a fan movement spearheaded by racing game YouTuber BlackPanthaa, fans of the franchise clamored that Ghost Games, fresh in the development seat at the time, looked at the previous games in the franchise for inspiration.
This move paid off, as Ghost Games took 2014 off, delivering a total reboot of the series in 2015. While this wasn't a return to the true roots of the franchise from the 90s, Need for Speed fell just short of capturing what most people agreed was the best era of the series. It was a good game, and it received a few free content updates, but it's still pretty flawed.
6 Most Wanted: A Criterion Game (2012)
Easily the most controversial game in the franchise. The fact that it's here among these other releases of Need for Speed would be controversial in itself. Most Wanted: A Criterion Game was released in October 2012, and it was the second time they used the name of an older game in the franchise.
As it was discovered a couple of years ago, this was meant to be a direct sequel to the original 2005 namesake game. Unfortunately, that never happened, but the game we got in its place definitely gets too much hate. The progression was a little bit patchy, but the open-world, car list, gameplay and multiplayer features more than made up for it.
5 Underground (2003)
This is it. The exact point when the Need for Speed series changed for good, and where the "golden era" actually got started. After EA Black Box was given full development control of the franchise, they saw that tuner culture was getting big in the United States, thanks in no small part to the stunt-filled Fast & Furious franchise.
They decided to take a totally new direction for the series, and base their next game around tuner and import culture. The original Underground was such a huge success, everyone was trying to take the street racing game crowd in the following years, from THQ to Rockstar Games to indie developers. Although Underground is still a great arcade racer, and it's a very important part of Need for Speed history, it hasn't aged all that well.
4 Hot Pursuit (2010)
After Electronic Arts quietly killed off Criterion's brilliant Burnout series of games, they gave the job of developing Need for Speed to Criterion, and the series would alternate between a Criterion developed game one year and then a Black Box game the other.
The first example of this was 2010's Hot Pursuit, which got remastered and updated in 2020. Although it wasn't to a lot of Need for Speed fans' tastes, Hot Pursuit was a really fun game, with a good progression curve, great game modes, great multiplayer, edge-of-your-seat police pursuits and stunning visuals even by modern standards. We have faith in Criterion Games for the next Need for Speed game.
3 Carbon (2006)
Following on from the excellent Most Wanted in 2005, Black Box followed up with Carbon, released in 2006, and being the first Need for Speed game to be released on the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii systems.
The racing took place exclusively at night once more, and there were a lot of new gameplay features, including Autosculpt and the Crew Member system. Carbon is a very good game, and it still holds up well today, but some of its inherent flaws have held it back from being a lot of people's favorite.
2 Underground 2 (2004)
Released in 2004 as a direct sequel to Underground, Underground 2 is the majority's absolute favorite Need for Speed game, and in fact, favorite racing game in general. It's the one everyone thinks that the newer games should be based upon, and it's easy to see why.
The customization was taken to a whole new level, and it's something that pretty much no racing game that followed could match. There was an open world for the first time, as well as a more complex story line with some very interesting elements. Police chases were absent, but it's not something that seemed to upset a lot of people.
1 Most Wanted (2005)
Tons of arguments can be made about what Need for Speed games are good and which ones aren't. But, as soon as the original Most Wanted is mentioned, few beg to differ with the statement that it's the best game in the entire series.
Sure, some of that might be nostalgia, but basically everything about Most Wanted was done properly. The progression, the story mode, the game modes, the intense police pursuits, the car list, the customization, and of course, that legendary BMW M3 GTR. Even racing games today can learn a lot from this gem, and that's why it's widely agreed to be the best Need for Speed game of all time.