Pursuit | Event types NfS: Most Wanted Guide

Last update: 11 May 2016

Pursuits are an inseparable element of the Most Wanted. Not only do they occur during the free ride mode, but also in all of the other events which is quite understandable - the authority do not tolerate racing in the middle of the city. While in free ride, you can provoke the police by bumping into a police car, exceeding the maximum permissible speed limit, bumping into other vehicles or even by smashing billboards. All of that is possible on condition that there is a squad car around The police do not appear spontaneously each time you violate a regulation - even if you pass a traffic enforcement camera at a light speed. Escaping from pursuits is rewarded with Speed Points, and how many you get, depends on how long the pursuit was and on the damage you caused.

Intensity

The intensity of a pursuit rises on the bar next to your GPS, depending on how long it already lasts and on how much damage you cause. Reaching every next level makes the pursuit avoidance more and more difficult, as better and better squad cars join the fun. Apart from that, there appear more road blocks, road spikes are unfolded and, of course, more and more cars are after you. When the intensity of the pursuit rises, or at least it doesn't drop, the colour of the bar is red. If the intensity drops, the bar turns blue and it is the only opportunity to lose the police on your tail. With time, escaping police becomes easier due to the fact that you get better and better cars.

This is what you should expect, depending on the pursuit intensity:

1	Pursuit cars: Ford Crown Victoria Blockade cars: none Tactics: PIT maneuver
2	Pursuit cars: Ford Crown Victoria, Dodge Charger SRT-8 Blockade cars: Ford Crown Victoria Tactics: PIT maneuver, road blocks
3	Pursuit cars: Ford Crown Victoria, Dodge Charger SRT-8 Blockade cars: Ford Police Interceptor Tactics: PIT maneuver, road blocks
4	Pursuit cars: Ford Crown Victoria, Dodge Charger SRT-8, Ford Police Interceptor Blockade cars: Ford Police Interceptor Tactics: PIT maneuver, road blocks, head-on collisions, road spikes
5	Pursuit cars: Ford Crown Victoria, Dodge Charger SRT-8, Ford Police Interceptor, Chevrolet Corvette C6 Z06 Blockade cars: Ford Police Interceptor, Chevrolet Corvette C6 Z06 Tactics: PIT maneuver, road blocks, head-on collisions, road spikes
6	Pursuit cars: Ford Crown Victoria, Dodge Charger SRT-8, Ford Police Interceptor, Chevrolet Corvette C6 Z06, S.W.A.T. armored vehicles Blockade cars: S.W.A.T. armored vehicles Tactics: PIT maneuver, road blocks, head-on collisions, road spikes

Police cars and police tactics

To stop you, the police use various tactics. The first and the basic one is the PIT maneuver (Precision Immobilization Technique), that consists in pushing you off the road in order to stop you.

As the pursuit goes on, better and faster cars, for which it is be easier to catch up with you, start to appear. That's regardless of how fast your car is.

Alongside with the rise in the intensity of the pursuit, heavier cars will start to appear. These won't be wasting time on "knocking" you and try to pull off the PIT maneuver. These will be trying to collide head-on with you, in order to immobilize you.

When the pursuit itself turns out to be not enough, the police will start to block roads with, road blocks consisting of several squad cars. At first, these are going to be lightweight cars that it is easy to ram. With time, however, the blockades will be reinforced with heavier cars and attempts to ram them, at full speed, will result in smashing your car, which may, but does not have to, end up in you being arrested. On many occasions, road blocks can be successfully avoided, by going along the pavement, between police cars, or by taking a turn into another road. PRO TIP: The rear of a police car is lighter than the front one. That is why you should always aim at the back.

When regular blockades turn out to be ineffective, the police will pull the last ace up their sleeve - road spikes. Driving over these can drive you into serious trouble, unless you have re-inflates on. In the case when you don't, you should go to the nearest car garage for repairs.

Avoiding pursuits

The most basic method for avoiding pursuits is by getting ahead of the police and losing them, finding a hideout and waiting for things to calm down. What works best in this kind of situations is narrow alleys between buildings but also warehouses, container stacks, hangars and beauty spots somewhere far away from the main arteries. Remember to turn your engine off after you get there. Remember that police cars are not that effective on off-road routes so, whenever possible go off-road in order to lose the tail more easily. Be creative while running away from the police, change your direction frequently in order to avoid road blocks and police cars up ahead, get onto rails that go over viaducts, jump over terrain obstacles by using ramps for billboard smashing etc. The police have an advantage over you anyways (programmers' dirty trick consisting in the fact that the police catch up with you immediately), so do not make it easier for them even more, by driving straight ahead.

In Fairhaven, there are numerous Knocking Brothers car garages. When you see the text that reads " the situation has settled down", you need to find one of the garages and drive under the roof to change the paint and repair the car (what really matters here is worn tires, the rest of the damage is purely cosmetic). Changing the paint will do no good if you are within police cars' sight. If you do not lose the pursuers right after you change the paint, drive calmly as far away from the police cars as possible.

Another tactics of losing the pursuit is switching cars. Just like in the case of changing the paint, the situation needs to settle a bit and, when you are out of police's sight, switch cars to decrease pursuit intensity.

The first though in the mind of a veteran, who's had a lot of experience with the first installment of Most Wanted will be "I'll just destroy the squad cars that are after me". Unfortunately, in version 2012 this maneuver will only give you additional Speed Points, and the smashed car will be replaced with a new one, which is too bad.

If a cop succeeds at immobilizing your car, you will be "eliminated" for several seconds. After you watch a cutscene from the crash, you will be able to resume escaping. Note: as you are watching the cutscene, the other squad cars are probably surrounding you and the arrest meter grows. After the cutscene ends, try and get away from the police as far as you can to reset the timer.

When the police manage to immobilize you just for a moment, the arrest meter starts to grow. This takes a dozen or so seconds so, if you aren't completely blocked off in a dead end, there is still a chance to get away. If you fail to escape, you will be arrested and you will lose all of the Speed Points that you have earned during the race, and you will be transferred to the Jack Spot for your car. This is the only consequence of being arrested which, in comparison with the previous Most Wanted, is no consequence at all. The game itself encourages you to lay yourself wide open for 12 times, and offers a milestone and Speed Points in return.