It seems like we've been playing Electronic Arts' Need for Speed Most Wanted for months now. Every other week we seem to get our hands on an updated build of the highly anticipated racer. This time we put our pedal to the metal with the Xbox 360 build of the game, and things have progressed a bit since we last took a look at the title at the Tokyo Game Show.

For our most recent test drive of the game, we tried the Challenge Race mode. Our goals were to out run the police, while racking up a bounty of at least $50,000 within a set number of laps around the freeway. Sounds easy enough, but there's a decent amount of strategy involved here. To rack up the bounty, we needed to take out anything of value. That meant running head first into police cars, taking out innocent vehicles, rolling through toll booths, gas stations and road blocks, and really just causing mass hysteria. It was quite fun.

Our first run through the Challenge mode had us racing a bit more carefully than we should have. We were more worried about getting away from the cops and remaining unscathed than running up a high bounty. So in turn, we didn't hit the $50,000 goal and had to start over.

The second time we went through, we understood that playing delicately was not the way to go. So instead we went all out to rolled through anything that stood in our way (or tried to get out of our way for that matter). The results were considerably better as we racked up a hefty $60,000 bounty, taking out several police cars, every road block we could find, and a few random vehicles cruising down the highway.

Fans of Electronic Arts' other big racing franchise, Burnout, will be pleasantly surprised with Most Wanted. Playing through the Challenge mod really felt a lot like a race in the Burnout series. Of course, it wasn't quite as crazy as a Burnout race (what is?) but it's certainly very different than Need for Speed Underground. For those who may not like the Burnout series, there are other modes of play that feel just like the Need for Speed games of old, as well as the Underground series. So there's something for everyone in Most Wanted.

Graphically, there really wasn't much of a difference between what we played here and what we played at the Tokyo Game Show a little over a month ago. The game definitely looks good, but it's still lacking the polish of Project Gotham Racing 3. Still, it's the best looking Need for Speed title the franchise has seen, and the effects in the game really bring out a solid sense of speed. At higher velocities the scenery begins to blur, but not like the blur effect in previous NFS titles. This blur effect seemed a lot more realistic, instead of an afterthought effect.

When Microsoft's next generation console hits in just a few weeks, there will be a racing game for just about every kind of racing fan. Need for Speed Most Wanted will appeal to fans of the NFS franchise, as well as fans of the Burnout series. It's over the top racing design and underground customization features offer a unique experience that can't be found in PGR3 or Ridge Racer 6. EA is just finishing up with Need for Speed Most Wanted and we expect to have final impressions of the game within the next few weeks.