If Criterion could finished Most Wanted 2 prototype and released around 2013, this game would change the NFS franchise forever, bring back the old popularity but EA destroyed the chance again by rush the development.
No it's not. Because it's plot is something like Undercover and gameplay is completely copy-paste of Hot Pursuit. It's definitely not the best way to continue the Most Wanted.
@Torpedo666-pozhiloy No, the story plot was not complete to call as similar to Undercover, the gameplay was not a completely copy-paste of Hot Pursuit, the open world and another mechanics would give a major difference unlike Hot Pursuit which is very linear.
Micro transactions is what they're after in 2011 during the hype of COD MW and BLk opps DLC package. However Origin EA still survived for such causes for PC players.
Insane how people are finding stuff about it still to this day, Like i fr didn't see big chunk of this stuff till now. VERY glad this showed up in my recommendations. One of the best concepts ever made and i wish it became a thing.
For the Corvette C2, Jeep and Hummer It were featured in Mobile version Also fun fact: The Jaguar F-Type Concept were featured exclusively in "Chinese" Mobile version. Another difference to this Chinese mobile version is that it featured an Online Multiplayer mode. While the Global release of Mobile version doesn't have both the F-Type and Multiplayer. Extra facts: - MW12 Mobile was meant to featured a complete open-world map. According to the advertisements on some Gaming news sites. (which can still be found) It was also left in the gamefiles and can be playable. (Someone put a gameplay vid of it on RUclips. However he didn't tell how he did it) - Most of the assets of MW12 Mobile assets were taken from Canceled Mobile port of NFS The Run. There's - It was also possible that the Liveries featured in Mobile version was meant to be ingame too but there's no comfirmation about it. These are pretty much all stuffs I've discovered about MW12 Mobile.
it's still amazing how they managed to make a really solid mobile game especially during that time when the "best mobile games" out there were bad piggies and stuff, lol.
The co-founders of Criterion Games left Criterion and EA in 2014 which was odd considering that Criterion's NFS games at the time were selling like hot cakes. And their prior Burnout games were also selling extremely well. Yet the co-founders chose to leave the company to form a new studio just a few months after most of the people at Criterion moved over to Ghost Games UK. We'll never know what exactly led to Most Wanted 2012 to change so drastically from the beta to the final product unless someone from Criterion Games finally opens up about what happened. As much as I like Most Wanted 2012 I would have enjoyed the beta version even more.
Well, the reason because they saw the writing on the wall because they shifted development as a support studio for battlefield and Star Wars battlefront series and that’s why the cofounders left the company to form a new studio three fields entertainment while ghost games takes over the need for speed franchise
Very nicely done video! I think it's unfortunate that the idea of a modern, gritty urban racer remains on the cutting room floor. I hope that idea will be explored again in the future :)
The menu video seems to be actually a E92 3 series, non-M. You can see a lack of side vents on the front fenders, rear being not as wide, and the mirrors being different.
At 11:38 it's hard to read, but the lower right side shows some helicopter cams and the text mentions the player hacking into them, getting live info about racers and races they might take part in. This is literally shown in the Terrorfive menu
you left off a cut car, i only mention it cause i own one :D that being the 2010 Camaro SS. you can see it in the leaked 2011 builds of the game. was definitely replaced by the ZL1
+ the trailer also showed the very first version of the 2008-2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8, while the game uses the first facelift from 2011-2014 I mentioned it because it is my dream :D
It’s honestly debatable whether the Mustang, Challenger and Camaro were cut content or just placeholders… because all three of those cars were already in previous games (hot pursuit and shift) but it’s food for thought and I could just be rambling
As the android player version of the game of this game, Several thing that removed had been restored . As an example like takedown camera,removed Cars like M3 GTR E46, H 1,Jeep srt 8,Stingray Corvette. Only that i can feel what have been removed from the main counterpart.
I like alot the 2012 most wanted we got in the end, but the og version got so much good ideas and personality.... But unfortunaley with EA, NFS was everyone favorite....An annual release franchise....yeaaaah
I do wonder if there is a whole overhaul mod for this game that restores everything or try to recreate the concepts and ideas of the early rendition of the game Would love to see a group of modders actually do that so we can get the Most Wanted 2 that we were supposed to get
At this point, Criterion should drop whatever it is they're doing and just revive the original idea for Most Wanted 2012 and give us the real Most Wanted 2. It would break records if it were released today.
i doubt criterion is working on anything nfs related now since they've all been sent over to help with battlefield. only 4-5-ish people *just a guess* still work on unbound and managed to bring those great volume updates.
I wonder what would have happened if the game finished its development, because definitely a lot of things would have happened if the game came out as a sequel to Most Wanted
If there was a good storyline behind this game, well it could be one of the best NFS games ever made... even in 2025 it's much better than current NFS titles.
I've been a Criterion hater for so long for what they did to the franchise. By looking at the ideas that they had with the concept art and so on, they were on the right path to revive the Most Wanted name and possibly make the franchise regain traction. I know that they were trying to re-use the tech from HP:2010, but they could've scrapped that idea and come up with something new if they had had the amount of time needed. Now I know that it was EA's fault, and not Criterion's as I always thought. Watching these videos leaves such a bittersweet taste in my mouth: It shows you how awesome the game could've been, but then you realize that it'll never be.
yeah crunch times are a pain in the arse. ea's minds must be places, because all they do is crunch their developers and kill off their own studios for their own stupidity. golly gee, who would've thought that yearly releases would make the games have like 60% of their content scrapped before release? and now even with 2-3 years between releases the games that get put out are broken messes.
Just had a random thought while watching this video, but what if NFS Rivals wasn't only a experimental game for Ghost Games so they could see what they can do with the Frostbite engine for the next NFS, and it was mostly a mix of the concepts NFS Developers teams had while making the previous 2 games? I mean, since a long time I see NFS Rivals like a experiment due it's short production time (Something like 6 or 7 months), and most of the stuff shown in the video I already knew, but, now that I've noticed, there are huge amount of stuff that was reused from the concepts of NFSMW2 like the speedometer design and the garage videos, in addition of obvious stuff from NFSHP10, like the Police Technology and Gamemodes.
I played a ton of MW 2012 (and of course MW 05). It's unfortunate it kept the Most Wanted name, which created the expectation of a direct sequel. I think people would've been more accepting had it been given another name. Regardless, I think it was a really fun game, but I'm also a huge Burnout fan already. Hopefully the MW reboot comes true in the future. Maybe BMW making a real MW M3 GTR and Razor's actor stepping back into the light is a good sign? lol
Ever since discovering this whole most wanted 2 thing I always wondered if the licensed tracks were supposed to be for the beta concept or the final version of the game because imo the songs dont fit the gritty atmosphere the concept had.
@@prodbyshuri666 there’s some mods out there that restored the black m3 menu video and some even tried restoring the beta visuals. unfortunately no stuff such as weapons. i remember the spikestrip mod being a thing but the modder deleted it from the public due to people abusing them in multiplayer
This pretty much Burnout Hot Pursuit with licensed brand vehicles. It's a good game with hardcore police chase but even better if wanted more heat for players. I still love SL65 AmG Blak Series.
honestly i'm not that positive about a 2025 release. maybe an announcement sure but until the new battlefield gets announced i just don't have any hope.
I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t really care for the original Most Wanted and its direct follow-ups; A lot of its artistic and gameplay choices really didn’t jive with what I thought would’ve been the best direction to go in after Underground 2 (and I feel often made the games less fun to play), and the yearly crunch cycle EA had them under only exacerbated the issue. So I find it just as surprising as everyone else would when I say: “I actually might have enjoyed the theoretical game being presented here.” Everything on display seriously appeals to me. From the grungy filters and effects, to the more ominous tone the story was going to have, to the use of really cool pursuit tech (seriously, we need more stuff like this in modern racing games, even if it only appears in a cyberpunk setting)…it all looks and sounds fantastic. Alas…it wasn’t meant to be. Maybe someday we’ll get to see an indie project that attempts to fulfill the promises set forth by all this stuff. But for now, this is all we really have. And honestly…I’m willing to accept that. It was always kinda debatable as to whether or not the EA of 2012 would’ve been able to handle the production of this game correctly, and seeing what EA has become in the present day…I wouldn’t trust them to handle this game’s production correctly. (At least not without making some terrible overhead decisions that end up driving away the game’s potential audience.)
I felt this NFS most wanted showcase is kindly are horror racing game because of that E92 M3 picture. Can I tell you what happened what if this NFS game become a horror racing then action.
it's open for discussion honestly. what if criterion had more time, or what if criterion just decided not to take the "burnout" path and just continue working on a mw sequel even though they were a few months away from the game's release.
@@jeremy_halpert007 yeah i basically just take stuff from their article and turn it into a video format. makes it easier for people to get informed and its a win/win situation, i make a video, and they gain traffic from it.
the BMW in the background isn't actually an M3. I think it's a picture of a modified Polish or Russian 335i. The background image isn't even that well edited. None of the reflections on the car are moving and you can see the original sky from the rear window.
Explains why every other game has always been half arsed since 😂 look at unbound. Pathetic. There are literally 4 man crews doing more than the whole EA corporation but won't hire them to help their lazy asses
it's one thing to work on stuff by ur own without having a time limit and another to be sent over to help with battlefield over and over again, and then be asked to make a game in under 1 year. but i get your point, i'm frustrated by ea's poor decisions aswell. the thing is though, we must not blame the devs for ea's incompetence.
The song from 8:29 has been removed due to copyright issues 😵💫
What was the song originally?
@@wyattmunger5529 Powerman 5000 - Super Villain
If Criterion could finished Most Wanted 2 prototype and released around 2013, this game would change the NFS franchise forever, bring back the old popularity but EA destroyed the chance again by rush the development.
yeah i'm sort of in the middle when it comes to when a game should release. yearly releases were awesome, but the crunch was unreal.
No it's not. Because it's plot is something like Undercover and gameplay is completely copy-paste of Hot Pursuit. It's definitely not the best way to continue the Most Wanted.
@Torpedo666-pozhiloy No, the story plot was not complete to call as similar to Undercover, the gameplay was not a completely copy-paste of Hot Pursuit, the open world and another mechanics would give a major difference unlike Hot Pursuit which is very linear.
Micro transactions is what they're after in 2011 during the hype of COD MW and BLk opps DLC package. However Origin EA still survived for such causes for PC players.
Наверное. Но есть строгий срок разработки, если разработчики не успевают, то они сами виноваты, нужно уметь не переоценивать свои возможности
This game has some of the coolest concept art I've seen for a racing game
and criterion had to scrap it all away and basically leave it as an empty playground a few months before release
Insane how people are finding stuff about it still to this day, Like i fr didn't see big chunk of this stuff till now. VERY glad this showed up in my recommendations. One of the best concepts ever made and i wish it became a thing.
For the Corvette C2, Jeep and Hummer
It were featured in Mobile version
Also fun fact: The Jaguar F-Type Concept were featured exclusively in "Chinese" Mobile version.
Another difference to this Chinese mobile version is that it featured an Online Multiplayer mode. While the Global release of Mobile version doesn't have both the F-Type and Multiplayer.
Extra facts:
- MW12 Mobile was meant to featured a complete open-world map. According to the advertisements on some Gaming news sites. (which can still be found) It was also left in the gamefiles and can be playable. (Someone put a gameplay vid of it on RUclips. However he didn't tell how he did it)
- Most of the assets of MW12 Mobile assets were taken from Canceled Mobile port of NFS The Run.
There's
- It was also possible that the Liveries featured in Mobile version was meant to be ingame too but there's no comfirmation about it.
These are pretty much all stuffs I've discovered about MW12 Mobile.
it's still amazing how they managed to make a really solid mobile game especially during that time when the "best mobile games" out there were bad piggies and stuff, lol.
@@cxlciummmiv True lol
I like how most wanted 2012 came out ngl, just wish dreamshot and cinematic mode were kept in the game
Curse you, EA! Most Wanted 2012 could have been so much more!
The co-founders of Criterion Games left Criterion and EA in 2014 which was odd considering that Criterion's NFS games at the time were selling like hot cakes. And their prior Burnout games were also selling extremely well. Yet the co-founders chose to leave the company to form a new studio just a few months after most of the people at Criterion moved over to Ghost Games UK.
We'll never know what exactly led to Most Wanted 2012 to change so drastically from the beta to the final product unless someone from Criterion Games finally opens up about what happened. As much as I like Most Wanted 2012 I would have enjoyed the beta version even more.
Well, the reason because they saw the writing on the wall because they shifted development as a support studio for battlefield and Star Wars battlefront series and that’s why the cofounders left the company to form a new studio three fields entertainment while ghost games takes over the need for speed franchise
Very nicely done video! I think it's unfortunate that the idea of a modern, gritty urban racer remains on the cutting room floor. I hope that idea will be explored again in the future :)
thank you! yes, me too. i'm sick of festivals.
The menu video seems to be actually a E92 3 series, non-M. You can see a lack of side vents on the front fenders, rear being not as wide, and the mirrors being different.
At 11:38 it's hard to read, but the lower right side shows some helicopter cams and the text mentions the player hacking into them, getting live info about racers and races they might take part in. This is literally shown in the Terrorfive menu
yeah probo re-used from terror5
you left off a cut car, i only mention it cause i own one :D
that being the 2010 Camaro SS. you can see it in the leaked 2011 builds of the game. was definitely replaced by the ZL1
honestly i never batted an eye, thank you for pointing it out!
+ the trailer also showed the very first version of the 2008-2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8, while the game uses the first facelift from 2011-2014
I mentioned it because it is my dream :D
there's a 2010 Mustang Shelby gt500 in early builds,Too bad it was replaced by the 2012 Boss 302 in the final version
It’s honestly debatable whether the Mustang, Challenger and Camaro were cut content or just placeholders… because all three of those cars were already in previous games (hot pursuit and shift) but it’s food for thought and I could just be rambling
5:03 That nickname tho
🤣🤣
British devs doing bits (slang for doing well) not their fault the game ended that way
not their fault, they were crunched to hell.
I'd say it was still a fun game. Just... A "most wanted" game in the most superficial sense
As the android player version of the game of this game, Several thing that removed had been restored . As an example like takedown camera,removed Cars like M3 GTR E46, H 1,Jeep srt 8,Stingray Corvette. Only that i can feel what have been removed from the main counterpart.
Note:
DB9 had been Swallowed by a black hole😂
@@Jinty4777 yeah and plus the android port was pretty good especially for its time. sad we didn’t get anything like it anymore tho.
The garage its another element cut from the original versions.
I like alot the 2012 most wanted we got in the end, but the og version got so much good ideas and personality....
But unfortunaley with EA, NFS was everyone favorite....An annual release franchise....yeaaaah
I do wonder if there is a whole overhaul mod for this game that restores everything or try to recreate the concepts and ideas of the early rendition of the game
Would love to see a group of modders actually do that so we can get the Most Wanted 2 that we were supposed to get
the single biggest mod that i know of so far is one that brought back some of the menus and stuff nfsmods.xyz/mod/5260
oh why they delete these options , with this options nfs 2012 had 2005 vibe
rushed game development
EA wanted to keep the nonsense idea of release a new game per year, so Criterion removed mostly of the content.
@@Kinai78 and now all of criterion team working on battlefield
@@moovan7 yyyyyyyup
At this point, Criterion should drop whatever it is they're doing and just revive the original idea for Most Wanted 2012 and give us the real Most Wanted 2. It would break records if it were released today.
i doubt criterion is working on anything nfs related now since they've all been sent over to help with battlefield. only 4-5-ish people *just a guess* still work on unbound and managed to bring those great volume updates.
The game that could’ve been, hope they do something similar to this in a future project.
same, i'm tired of festivals
I wonder what would have happened if the game finished its development, because definitely a lot of things would have happened if the game came out as a sequel to Most Wanted
If there was a good storyline behind this game, well it could be one of the best NFS games ever made... even in 2025 it's much better than current NFS titles.
true
I've been a Criterion hater for so long for what they did to the franchise. By looking at the ideas that they had with the concept art and so on, they were on the right path to revive the Most Wanted name and possibly make the franchise regain traction. I know that they were trying to re-use the tech from HP:2010, but they could've scrapped that idea and come up with something new if they had had the amount of time needed. Now I know that it was EA's fault, and not Criterion's as I always thought. Watching these videos leaves such a bittersweet taste in my mouth: It shows you how awesome the game could've been, but then you realize that it'll never be.
yeah crunch times are a pain in the arse. ea's minds must be places, because all they do is crunch their developers and kill off their own studios for their own stupidity. golly gee, who would've thought that yearly releases would make the games have like 60% of their content scrapped before release? and now even with 2-3 years between releases the games that get put out are broken messes.
Robbed so badly from what MW2012 should've been.
Just had a random thought while watching this video, but what if NFS Rivals wasn't only a experimental game for Ghost Games so they could see what they can do with the Frostbite engine for the next NFS, and it was mostly a mix of the concepts NFS Developers teams had while making the previous 2 games?
I mean, since a long time I see NFS Rivals like a experiment due it's short production time (Something like 6 or 7 months), and most of the stuff shown in the video I already knew, but, now that I've noticed, there are huge amount of stuff that was reused from the concepts of NFSMW2 like the speedometer design and the garage videos, in addition of obvious stuff from NFSHP10, like the Police Technology and Gamemodes.
I played a ton of MW 2012 (and of course MW 05). It's unfortunate it kept the Most Wanted name, which created the expectation of a direct sequel. I think people would've been more accepting had it been given another name. Regardless, I think it was a really fun game, but I'm also a huge Burnout fan already. Hopefully the MW reboot comes true in the future. Maybe BMW making a real MW M3 GTR and Razor's actor stepping back into the light is a good sign? lol
those two things + some time ago celldweller posted a remix of shapeshifter. one can only hope
well at least the m1 is back in unbound
my mother in law owns a nissan versa of that extact year and type just black. i wouldve removed it too it is a pain to drive that thing
damn
i wish they added the nissan versa, would have been hilarious to smoke people in a traffic car
fr
5:38 😭😭
omg they said it
Explain pls
@@FOGoticusLook at the bottom left corner
Ever since discovering this whole most wanted 2 thing I always wondered if the licensed tracks were supposed to be for the beta concept or the final version of the game because imo the songs dont fit the gritty atmosphere the concept had.
who knows, either placeholder stuff, or they were meant for the next nfs title but ended up using them in this one
Another EA crunch special, seems to be a reoccurring issue with NFS games.
hell even the next nfs title [if we'll ever get one] is pretty much doomed since criterion's been on battlefield for the past 2 years or so.
it was abt time that i get to see this. and i still want to see ppl mod this game to be what it was before it got rushed.
@@prodbyshuri666 there’s some mods out there that restored the black m3 menu video and some even tried restoring the beta visuals. unfortunately no stuff such as weapons. i remember the spikestrip mod being a thing but the modder deleted it from the public due to people abusing them in multiplayer
@cxlciummmiv well is there a way to bring other weapons like the arclight into the game?
@ idk, i'm guessing if it's possible to get stuff from the proto builds over to the final game then i don't see why it shouldn't be possible.
@@cxlciummmiv they alr have the spikestrips onto the cars so im sure enough they'll mod the arclight into the final game.
This pretty much Burnout Hot Pursuit with licensed brand vehicles. It's a good game with hardcore police chase but even better if wanted more heat for players.
I still love SL65 AmG Blak Series.
solid choice, i love the challenge series black sl65 amg from nfs carbon.
I hate EA
same, with a passion
I hope Cretarion games make it now in 2025 or 2026
honestly i'm not that positive about a 2025 release. maybe an announcement sure but until the new battlefield gets announced i just don't have any hope.
This game followed the slogan of the older Top Gear: Ambitious but rubbish!
what is the song from beggining till 4:10? it sounds so familiar!
nfsmw 2012 main menu/options theme
@@cxlciummmiv oh thank you
Where did you find the portfolios for the MW12? 2 pictures i saw in the video i've not seen before
tcrf mw2012 prerelease article i believe
I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t really care for the original Most Wanted and its direct follow-ups; A lot of its artistic and gameplay choices really didn’t jive with what I thought would’ve been the best direction to go in after Underground 2 (and I feel often made the games less fun to play), and the yearly crunch cycle EA had them under only exacerbated the issue.
So I find it just as surprising as everyone else would when I say:
“I actually might have enjoyed the theoretical game being presented here.”
Everything on display seriously appeals to me. From the grungy filters and effects, to the more ominous tone the story was going to have, to the use of really cool pursuit tech (seriously, we need more stuff like this in modern racing games, even if it only appears in a cyberpunk setting)…it all looks and sounds fantastic.
Alas…it wasn’t meant to be.
Maybe someday we’ll get to see an indie project that attempts to fulfill the promises set forth by all this stuff. But for now, this is all we really have.
And honestly…I’m willing to accept that. It was always kinda debatable as to whether or not the EA of 2012 would’ve been able to handle the production of this game correctly, and seeing what EA has become in the present day…I wouldn’t trust them to handle this game’s production correctly. (At least not without making some terrible overhead decisions that end up driving away the game’s potential audience.)
I felt this NFS most wanted showcase is kindly are horror racing game because of that E92 M3 picture.
Can I tell you what happened what if this NFS game become a horror racing then action.
What's the music playing throughout the video
first song is mw2012's menu/options theme, the second is the pursuit ost from nfs undercover
Extremely interesting, love MW2012❤
What is the "what if" supposed to imply here?
it's open for discussion honestly. what if criterion had more time, or what if criterion just decided not to take the "burnout" path and just continue working on a mw sequel even though they were a few months away from the game's release.
We're these sourced from TCRF?
yup
Ahh i see. Been a frequent reader of theirs myself so reading it again in a different form is pretty interesting
@@jeremy_halpert007 yeah i basically just take stuff from their article and turn it into a video format. makes it easier for people to get informed and its a win/win situation, i make a video, and they gain traffic from it.
4:56 does this car is hard to drive?
maybe, i remember trying to drive the cop suv and swat van a really long time ago and they handled like 500 tons on the road.
So removed cars can be added for Hot Pursuit 2010 cars in that video by someone, the game has 45 cars is clearly downgrade
the BMW in the background isn't actually an M3. I think it's a picture of a modified Polish or Russian 335i. The background image isn't even that well edited. None of the reflections on the car are moving and you can see the original sky from the rear window.
of course. i'm guessing it's just a concept of what they wanted the main menu screen or something to look like.
🤓
Explains why every other game has always been half arsed since 😂 look at unbound. Pathetic. There are literally 4 man crews doing more than the whole EA corporation but won't hire them to help their lazy asses
it's one thing to work on stuff by ur own without having a time limit and another to be sent over to help with battlefield over and over again, and then be asked to make a game in under 1 year. but i get your point, i'm frustrated by ea's poor decisions aswell. the thing is though, we must not blame the devs for ea's incompetence.
Franchise was doomed with Criterions Hot Pursuit. They should've killed off NFS instead of Burnout