EA's Need for Speed series was on hand earlier this year for the PSP's launch with Need for Speed Underground Rivals. That game, along with other subsequent racers, like Ridge Racer, Burnout Legends, and Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, have all helped set a benchmark for how driving games on the platform should be. So it is with some disappointment that we find ourselves with Need for Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0, a fairly meek street racer that only does a marginal job of bringing the new concepts found in the latest Need for Speed game on consoles to the PSP. It's not all bad, mind you, as the game supports the full roster of multiplayer features for a PSP game, and there's quite a bit of content to play through. But if you were hoping for a step forward from what Rivals offered up, you won't find much of one here.

Street racers on the PSP are practically a dime a dozen at this point, a fact that makes Need for Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0 a less appealing product in the long run.

Regardless of what the subtitle might suggest, Need for Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0 isn't some kind of street-racing adventure set in the city where they shot The Mack. This is, at its core, a basic street racer with all the usual toppings, like a variety of unlockable cars, both performance and visual tune-ups, and rival street racers to duke it out with on the streets of...well, wherever it is that this game takes place. Most of this takes place in the career mode. This career isn't an awful lot like the one you might have experienced on consoles, mind you. There's no storyline to speak of, but there is a blacklist consisting of the top 15 drivers, and you have to beat each and every one to move up in the rankings. Unlike on consoles, there's no open-ended city to drive around in, though that's not necessarily a detriment here, since that could have made playing on the go a far more unwieldy thing. Instead, you'll simply play a series of event races before taking on the boss racer in a one-on-one duel.

Source: www.gamespot.com