This Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 walkthrough explains how to find, race & shut down the Top 10 Most Wanted cars. We will guide you through the beginning to ending moments of gameplay with strategy tips for this open world racer on the Xbox 360, PC, PS3, PS Vita, Mobiles & next year Wii U.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted is an open world racing game. The game is the 19th release in the long-running Need for Speed franchise, but goes back to the earliest games in the series as players compete in races with police unified against them. Races have a set beginning and end point, with the open world game design allowing players to complete each using whatever path they can find. Additional features include a unique blend of Simulation and Arcade gameplay, social play options through the Autolog 2 feature, exciting multiplayer support, and a large selection of 40+ high performance vehicles.

Here’s an official strategy guide video showing how to best take on the Most Wanted List!

Please note that viewers must be at least 7-10 to watch, so no harm comes to those with innocent eyes. This game includes Alcohol Reference, Comic Mischief, Violence, and unrated user-generated content online.

Index of Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 Guides:

This Page: Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 Walkthrough
Next Page: How To Unlock All Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 Cars
Next Page: Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 Cheats
Next Page: Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 Jack Spots Locations Guide
Next Page: Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 Billboards Locations Guide
Next Page: Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 Speed Cameras Locations Guide
Next Page: Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 Collectibles Locations Guide
Next Page: Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 Achievements & Trophies Guide

Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 Walkthrough

Elude the Cops, and Competitors in Open World Racing Play.

To be “Most Wanted,” players need to outrun the cops, out drive your friends, and outsmart your rivals. With a relentless police force gunning to take you down, you’ll need to make split second decisions. Use the open world to your advantage to find hiding spots, hit jumps and earn new vehicles to keep you one step ahead. In true Criterion Games fashion, your friends are at the heart of your experience. In an open world with no menus or lobbies, you’ll be able to instantly challenge your friends and prove your driving skill in a variety of seamless multiplayer events. Your rivals will do everything they can to stop you from getting to the top. In this world, only one thing is certain – there can only be one “Most Wanted.”

Key Game Features:

Find it. Drive it. – Pick a Car. Make it Your Own. Earn the right to be Most Wanted. For too long you’ve had to wait to drive the cars you love. Not anymore. In Most Wanted, “Open” means more than just open world. Practically every car’s available from the start. Explore the world. If you can find it, you can drive it. Each car has a series of events, designed to showcase its unique qualities. Master each car in your own time, in any order to earn Speed Points and rank up. Score enough and you’ll earn the right to take on 10 of the hottest cars in the game – the Most Wanted Racers. Beat them all one-on-one to become Fairhaven’s Most Wanted. Swing the odds in your favor by modifying your car with such pursuit-busting delights as: Reinforced Chassis, Reinflating Tires, Impact Protection, Powershot Nitrous or Track Tires. Customization in Most Wanted is about gameplay. Every mod changes what you can do with the car. Get the drop on your friends, your rivals and The Law by experimenting with different cars and combinations.
Open World Action – Lose the cops, your way. Hit jumps and shortcuts, lay low, or shake the cops in surroundings that play to your car’s unique strengths. Freedom is everything. Drive anywhere with your friends, discover hidden gameplay or utilize your knowledge of the city to beat them in a never-ending supply of challenges.
Nonstop Multiplayer – Pick a car, hook up with friends and jump into a nonstop playlist of tight, competitive events. No lobby screens means the action never stops. Score big, rank up and earn endless rewards and upgrades. Keep the fierce rivalries going between events with endless opportunities to race, battle and explore in a huge open world.
Beat Your Friends – Autolog 2 ratchets up the intense competition with personalized race recommendations and feeds broadcasting all of your most newsworthy scores, speeds and times to your friends. Earn Need for Speed points at all times on any system as you try to out drive your friends and become the Most Wanted.
Racing Without Rules – It’s survival of the fastest as Need for Speed: Most Wanted fuses the franchise’s, authentic “real car” feel with the intense speed and aggression of Burnout. Power down, slide out, and battle your way past cops and rivals using pure driving skill, and heavy doses of nitrous.
The Best Performance Cars – Need for Speed: Most Wanted features the most high-profile performance vehicles around. A sampling of these include: Porsche 911 Carrera S, BMW M3 Coupe, Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4, Ford Mustang Boss 302, and Subaru Cosworth Impreza STI CS400.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here we’ll go over the basics and highlight features & modes in Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012 that you may have questions about…

FEATURES:

Most Wanted

The Fairhaven Police Department has a list of many of Fairhaven’s street racers, some only known by aliases. The top 10 elite of this select group are FPD’s Most Wanted.

To earn the opportunity to meet and beat these racers, you’ll have to earn enough speed points through competing in events and exploring the city.
Defeat one of the Most Wanted racers and you will have the chance to take them down and claim their car as your own. You have to do a Takedown on them because the cars these racers drive won’t be found on the streets until you have gone wheel-to-wheel and won them.

Busting

If the police trap you, escape before the Busted bar fills completely.
When you are Busted, you will be returned to the location of the Jack Spot most recently used, and lose any Speed Points which you earned in the Pursuit.

Evaded

Evading the police is all about breaking visual contact with pursuing units. Drive fast, handbrake around corners, jump through Billboards, hit drops, and look for shortcuts to get away.

The circle on your mini-map highlights where the police are searching for you. Get out of this zone and you will evade the police and enter Cooldown.

Tip: Once you’re out of sight, stop your car, click the analog stick for an even faster Cooldown.

Escape

Evade the police and you will have a chance to escape. Burn that Nitro, or park up somewhere to hide; whatever your chosen tactic, you’ll need to stay unnoticed until the pursuit is called off, and you have made your getaway.

Takedowns

If you feel like getting physical, then you can takedown other racers and the cops.
Taking down racers scores Speed Points and slows them down.

Taking down cops is one way to get away, but wrecking police units will increase your HEAT level too.

FreeDrive

Free Drive is open world freedom; it’s your chance to trigger a pursuit with the FPD, hit those Billboards, or simply explore the city of Fairhaven.

Cooldown

Once you have evaded the police and broken visual contact, you will enter Cooldown. This is the period of time in which the police will search for any fugitive that has escaped a pursuit.

GAME MODES:

Ambush

Surrounded by the FPD, you must race to escape.

Circuit Race

Multiple laps around key locations in the city.

Sprint Race

A point-to-point race, one-way as fast as possible: follow the checkpoints to reach the finish.

Speed Run

Maintain the highest average speed you can on point-to-point routes.

AUTOLOG:

Autolog 2.0

With Autolog 2.0 in Most Wanted, everything you do will earn you Speed Points that will take you up your personal list of Most Wanted list friends – from competing for best race times and racing for the highest scores in a pursuit, to grabbing the fastest time and more. Autolog powers the player’s way to the top of their Most Wanted list – automatically populating the map with challenges, helping locate Friends in-game, and tracking progress and accomplishments. Updating in real-time, Autolog 2.0 will tell you when a friend has beaten your score, when there’s an event waiting to be completed and it will also measure your performance against others who are out there challenging the streets.

If you want information and want it fast, Autolog 2.0 will keep you up to speed.

Autolog Recommends

Autolog Recommends, a quick-view guide to the events which are available to you.
Once you’ve unlocked an event, Autolog Recommends will show your score and those of your friends. Want to see if a friend is ahead of you, or if you’ve left them in the dust? This is the place to come.

Haven’t unlocked an event yet? Then look at the time your friends have set and get ready to take them on.

Speedwall

Speedwalls show you the fastest people on your personal Most Wanted list. Who jumped the furthest? Who has the highest speed through each speed camera? Who is dominating an event? Your Speedwall tells all.

Speed Points

To climb the rankings in your Most Wanted list, you need Speed Points. Do well in events, rank up online, or beat your friends’ times; all of these will earn you the points you need to seize that number one spot. Jump through billboards, log yourself as the fastest on Speed Cameras, takedown cops, drift those corners and build up that total.

EASYDRIVE:

Fairhaven is a big city and there are lots of things to see and do. For instant access on the move, activate EasyDrive. No need to stop the action, no maps, no wait, no problem. EasyDrive is designed to take you where you want as you drive.

Create a waypoint to guide you to each car’s events on your mini-map, or select the option to jump straight there and start the action right away. EasyDrive will also remember the last event you played and give you the option to replay it at any time.

Want to know the challenge in front of you? EasyDrive grades the difficulty of all the events and tells you the reward you can expect from completing it.

And that’s not all. EasyDrive also gives instant access to your Autolog Recommended events. It lets you select Multiplayer and jump straight into the gear shifting world of Most Wanted online. You will be able to get the latest info on your Most Wanted List and progress on the Most Wanted rankings. You also get fast access to all the vehicles you have discovered; simply select the one you want and you can jump straight to it.

Everything you need to know to become the Most Wanted, whenever and wherever you want, right away at the touch of a button… that’s EasyDrive.

The multiplayer option gives you the ability to join your Friends online, join other players in online Public Games, or create Friends’ Games where you can serve up your own Custom SpeedLists. More on those below.

FAIRHAVEN POLICE DEPARTMENT METHODS:

The nemesis of Fairhaven’s street racers; the Fairhaven Police Department has an array of different vehicles and tactics designed to take you down and end your race. You won’t be able to make your name without encountering the cops, and when you do, they will go all out to stop you.

Dispatch

The coordinating voice of the FPD, the police dispatch team give the FPD’s mobile units their orders, intel and directions.

Patrol Cars

The Crown Victoria is used by police forces across America. Combining speed, durability and reliability, these Patrol Cars are the frontline against street racers. Patrol Cops have Lemur, Charlie and Echo call signs.

Highway

Highway cars are upgraded Patrol cars specially modified to handle pursuits. Tougher, faster and with advanced drivers at the wheel, these units will be called out if their Patrol car comrades hit trouble. You are that trouble.

Interceptors

Interceptors are the fastest units in the FPD’s garage. Light, nimble, speedy SRT Vipers crewed by highly skilled drivers; these Interceptors are almost impossible to escape through pure speed alone. Interceptors all use ‘Indigo’ call signs.

Rhinos

The FPD’s heavy hitters; these specially designed Ford Interceptor SUVs are brought in to takedown street racers who just won’t stop for Patrol Cops. Rhino cops use ‘Romeo’ call signs.

Tactical Units

Large, armored police response vehicles; these mobile roadblocks are impossible to takedown. When a pursuit goes on long enough, the police will mobilize these units to make roadblocks, close side roads and reduce your escape options.

Roadblocks

Used to contain suspects, police roadblocks can be evaded or taken down. Try to avoid hitting cars around the engine blocks where they are the heaviest.Watch out for spikestrips, and if you see a tactical roadblock evade – these bad boys can’t be taken down.

Spikestrip

A chained set of spikes in a plastic cover; these devices puncture tires, slowing vehicles and making them hard to control. Deployed manually across roadblocks, or dropped from intercepting police vehicles, spikestrips have been the end of many street racers.

MODIFICATIONS:

Modifications (‘mods’) are upgrades for your vehicles. You can earn these by finishing 1st or 2nd in events. Once you have gained a mod, you can apply it to your vehicle through the modification option on EasyDrive.

Available mods include engine upgrades, tires for grip, aero packages, even improvement to the strength of your car’s chassis, all of which are designed to help you achieve the top spot on the Most Wanted list.
Want to know what the mod will do? EasyDrive will show the stats of your current car with or without the mods so you can choose a package that suits you.

Pro Mods

These special Pro mods are only available to the most dedicated of street racers, the ultimate upgrades available to Fairhaven’s racing community.
Master the streets, demolish those times and claim these Most Wanted mods.

* In the Single Player game, Pro mods have to be unlocked for each car individually.
* In Multiplayer, when you complete a Pro Driver Milestone for driving with a particular type of mod, all mods of that type are upgraded to Pro for all cars.

MAP:

This guide doesn’t just show the streets of Fairhaven; find a Billboard, discover a Bodyshop, crash through a Security Gate, and it will be shown on your map.

The more you explore, the more you’ll discover, and everything you find will appear here along with its Speedwall challenge.

Your map will also show all the events you can compete in, with every car you discover opening up more opportunities. Simply select an event and you can jump straight to it, or display a route to reach it.

Map Symbols

Want to locate the nearest Speed Camera? Wondering where there is a Billboard nearby? Then select the view you want to see it on the map.

Mini-map

Your heads up display (HUD) includes a GPS driven mini-map, capable of displaying all known race routes used in Fairhaven. The mini-map shows your current route, pursuing police units and allows you to plan your escape.

This modified police kit will also display the radius you must escape to evade the police and enter Cooldown.

MULTIPLAYER BASICS:

SpeedList

SpeedLists are the heart of Multiplayer – a specially selected set of 5 events that are played back-to-back.
The objective of a SpeedList is to finish the SpeedList as the Highest Scoring Player by earning more Speed Points than anyone else.

Quick Match

Online Multiplayer where SpeedLists are served up automatically and everyone competes to be the Highest Scoring Player.

Friends Game

Online Multiplayer between invited players, where players can join up to drive Fairhaven together.
Once players are together in a Friends Game, the player that set up the game can then opt to:
• Take the group of players who have joined up together into a Public Quick Match.
• Serve up their own Custom SpeedLists…
• Or kick off automatically served Criterion SpeedLists using the options that are available to them in EasyDriveTM.

Meet Up

Every event in a SpeedList starts with a Meet Up. Just follow the green line on your mini-map to the green diamond. Get there first for a Speed Points Bonus. Once everyone’s there, the event will begin.

Tip: If you run out of time or leave the Met Up location after driving to it, don’t worry, your car will automatically be relocated to the Meeet Up in time for the start of the event.

Custom SpeedLists

Custom SpeedLists are SpeedLists that you can create yourself with your favourite events to play in Friends’ games. To create a Custom SpeedList, access the Customize a SpeedList option from the Multiplayer Map Screen. In order to play your Custom SpeedLists, you must be the player that created the Friends’ Game.

Speed Level

Your Multiplayer SpeedLevel determines how much you’ve unlocked to play with. As you go up from SpeedLevel 1 to 70, you’ll unlock more cars, Milestone Lists, Sweet Revenge Awards and License Plates.
Your Multiplayer SpeedLevel is determined by the number of Speed Points you have. So if you have played the Single Player game and earned some Speed Points, the next time you return to Multiplayer, you’ll find your SpeedLevel has increased and unlocked even more cool stuff to play with online.

OTHER MULTIPLAYER FEATURES:

Milestones

Every car has a list of Milestones for you to achieve. Reaching these Milestones will unlock mods and paint for your car.
To unlock further mods for your car, complete the mod Milestones. These will require you to complete a Milestone with a mod you have already unlocked equipped to the car.

Milestone Lists

As you get to higher SpeedLevels, lists of additional Milestones will be unlocked. Complete these for Speed Point rewards, collectible License Plates and Pro Mods.

• License Plates – You can earn License Plates to show off to other players online by completing Milestones and other secret challenges, and once you reach SpeedLevel 15, you’ll be able to edit the 8-letter License Plate number on it too. To customise your License Plate, access the Customise License Plate menu from the Multiplayer Map Screen.
• Pro Mods – These special Pro mods are only available to the most dedicated of street racers, the ultimate upgrades available to Fairhaven’s racing community.Master the streets, demolish those times and claim these Most Wanted mods. In the Single Player game, Pro mods have to be unlocked for each car individually. In Multiplayer, when you complete a Pro Driver Milestone for driving with a particular type of mod, all mods of that type are upgraded to Pro for all cars.

These Milestone Lists and your progress details contained within the lists, can be viewed in the Milestone Lists section of the Garage.

Need For Speed N Symbol

A pre-selected set of cars for you to drive in Multiplayer.

These preset cars can be identified by the ‘N’ next to their name in EasyDrive. These cars come with a fixed set of mods designed to get you into online play and cannot be customized.

Custom Cars

Once you reach SpeedLevel 2, you’ll start unlocking cars that you will be able to customize. Each is unlocked with Stock components and a basic paint job.

To unlock mods to customize these cars, open up Customize Car in EasyDrive and check out the Milestones that are available. Complete the Milestone and the mod will be yours to equip to that car.

Tip: Once you’ve unlocked a milestone for a car, progress towards that milestone still counts if you’re driving the version of the same car.

Custom Rollouts

A personally selected set of vehicles to use in multiplayer events.

Car Restrictions

Sometimes a SpeedList will serve up an event that will require you to drive a certain class of car.
When this happens, access EasyDriveTM to select from the list of eligible cars you’ve unlocked for that event and drive to the Meet Up.
If you don’t get to the Meet Up in the right car in time, you will automatically be swapped into a default version of an eligible car before the event starts.

Switching Car in Multiplayer

Use the Change Car option in EasyDriveTM to change your car while in Multiplayer.

Tip: During a SpeedList, once an event is underway, you will not be able to change your car, so check to see what the next event is coming up and change your car on the way to or at a Meet Up.

Intermission

Between every SpeedList, there is an Intermission. This gives you time to Freedrive, change and customize your cars, and explore anything you might have unlocked during a SpeedList.

Highest Scoring Player

The Highest Scoring Player is the player who currently has the most Speed Points during the SpeedList events. Takedown the Highest Scoring Player for additional Speed Points.

Sweet Revenge Awards

If you are taken down multiple times without getting a Takedown yourself, a Sweet Revenge award is activated. These will give you the ability to drive the same car as the person who took you down, gain limitless Nitrous for a short time, be hardened against impact for a limited time, or get a one-touch Takedown ability.

To assign which Sweet Revenge Award you wish to be activated for the car you’re driving, access Customize Car in EasyDrive™.

Double Speed Points

The Limited Edition of Need For Speed Most Wanted™ grants you double Speed Points for a limited period of time, so get your car on the road and get ahead of the competition.

MULTIPLAYER EVENTS:

Multiplayer Races

Multiplayer Races begin at a Meet Up – there is no starting grid and no rules, so jostle for the best start you can and race through the Checkpoints.

Your finish position determines the Speed Points you get. If you fail to complete the race in time, you’ll get a DNF and receive no Speed Points.

Multiplayer Team Race

Arrive at the Meet Up to be divided into two teams.

The objective of a Team Race is to be the team that earned the most Speed Points at the end of the event.

Speed Points are earned from your Finish Position, from Takedowns and from Spot Bonuses.

A Team Race doesn’t finish until the last player has crossed the Finish or the Race Timer runs out.

So once you’ve claimed your Finish Position, seek out opponents, spot them and take them down to boost Speed Points for your team.

Multiplayer Speed Tests

Speed Tests are 90 seconds of intense competition where everyone competes to set the highest speed through a Speed Trap, the longest jump, drift or time.

Race to get your score on the scoreboard first for a Speed Points bonus, then protect that score by improving it or by taking down opponents to eliminate them from the Speed Test.

Eliminations are active during Speed Tests – this means that if you Takedown and opponent, their score is frozen and they are no longer able to set a higher score. If you’re eliminated, do all you can to Takedown opponents and protect your score.

Multiplayer Challenges

Multiplayer Challenges are multi-part events where everyone cooperates to complete a Challenge against the clock.

Check the Ticker for what you have to do and race to get your part of the Challenge done fastest, or make the greatest contribution for the most Speed Points.

Tip: In cooperative actions like Jump Over, working together is what’s important, so you’ll get an equal contribution for jumping over a car, as you will if you car is the one that’s parked up and being jumped over.

Tickets

If you do something unique in an event, you’ll get a Ticket issued at the end of it for a Speed Points bonus.

Tip: The Frenemy Ticket earns you the most Speed Points – awarded by beating the most Friends’ SpeedWalls in an event.