You might be wondering if Need for Speed: Most Wanted for the brand-spanking-new-generation Xbox 360 is worth the extra $10 over its current-generation counterparts. Truth be known: it all depends on your setup.

If you're pimping an HDTV and a 5.1 surround sound set up, then yes, the higher price is big-time worth it. Conversely, if you're not big pimping, if you're just doing Xbox 360 on a regular TV and boring old stereo, then skip it and save your money for better use, like a layaway on an HDTV, because with the Xbox 360 here now, and the high-def PlayStation 3 in the oven, you need an HDTV if you have any interest in living in the 21st century.

Back to the game, NFS: Most Wanted is considered by some to be the best racing game available on Xbox 360. That might very well be true, but it depends on your expectations. If you're looking for a deep and delicious sim, then Project Gotham Racing 3 is the better bet, because Most Wanted is raw arcade goodness, about owning everyone in the city, doing an intensely improbable 190 MPH down the highway and making the cops look foolish in the process. So, in the huge racing hyperbole sense, yes, Most Wanted is clearly the best.

Makers of Grand Theft Auto take a note: Apparently it's okay to reward players with points for crashing cop cars as long as you have a pretty girl say "only do this in the game" every time the game loads up... How EA avoided bad flak for such obvious interactive cop bashing is baffling, but there it is. Rockstar and friends, a simple disclaimer like "don't hurt people in real life" should suffice in getting those indefatigable soap-box senators and litigious ambulance chasers off your back....

Back to the game, again, Most Wanted is pure fun no matter which mode your playing: shooting for "Most Wanted" status in the exceptional single player mode, racing with friends via split-screen or online via Xbox Live, spending hours upon hours customizing the licensed vehicles, exploring the huge, open game world in Free Ride mode, or provoking the cops then making a run for it using the destructible environments to your advantage... it's all good.

Beautiful graphics, sweet surround sound moments (like whizzing by a Semi doing 190), the thrill of the chase, customizing rides to no end, an addicting story mode, replay value galore via online and free ride modes, each is a complete and thoroughly competent component with the sum total making NFS: Most Wanted at least a must-have racing game, if not the very best the Xbox360 has to offer.