Scenes from the game. Telegraph pictures

Black Box Studios is making another addition to their free-to-play games by bringing out their first MMO racer since 2001’s Motor City Online.

This time, it’s a different approach, with cutting-edge technology available. This joins two of its most famous editions, Need for Speed Most Wanted from 2005 and Need for Speed Carbon from 2006.

Both cities of the previous editions Rockport and Palmont City have been joined to give players a huge playing area. There is also a bit of lighting in the nightlife areas of Need for Speed Carbon.

I was one of the few fortunate ones to be able to beta test the game, but now it’s out on their site and can be downloaded.

Designed to run on every type of rig, from high-end to lowly netbooks, it’s a treat for everyone who is currently in love with the Need for Speed franchise.

However, it is only free-to-play till level 10.

When you reach there (which took me only a few hours), you have to purchase the $20 starter pack. That means it isn’t really free-to-play.

You’ve only got about 30 grand and six cars once the game begins.

After you enter the “World”, you’ll have about three races to choose from and the game suggests that you play it on single-player mode. There are various power ups to be collected, which would have a different effect on the car and game itself. One, called traffic magnet, causes traffic to be thrown into the path of the race leader.

They can really change the outcome of a race and it is frustrating to use and be used against you, as the result is always random due to the random state of traffic on course. There's also a standard power-up you can use to quickly evade cops, and even a power-up that will take on an extra lap to the end of a race, giving stragglers that much extra time to catch up.

Whether you’re in a cop chase, racing, or simply exploring the city, there’s a branch of abilities tailored for each task.

Explorers can have a good time roaming around in the city but serious racers get active power ups such as nitrous boosts and Traffic Magnet.

A pursuit skill gets you the ability to make your car into a speeding cannon ball. Pursuits are fun and competitive around town. It’s quiet easy to evade them, especially when you are in the low-heat level, then the tough really gets going if you are on high alert.

There is, however, an exhilarating and addictive sense of speed, even when driving the most basic vehicles.

The racing mechanics are pretty solid with interesting courses and better handling cars. But due to the online nature of the game there are some problems.

The question that plays on my mind is that is there enough in the game to keep players coming back for more?

For me, it’s a decent multiplayer racer but if they find a way to put players in control of squad cars and turn the pursuits into full-scale multiplayer chases, this could be something special.

play on

Rating: 7.8 /10

Minimum System Requirements

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 at 1.6 GHz / AMD X2 4000 at 2.1 GHz

Video Card: 256 MB VRAM - nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX / ATI Radeon X700 Pro

Memory: 1 GB RAM

Hard Disk: 3 GB of free Hard Drive space

Direct X: 9.0c

Controls: Keyboard & Mouse

Installation: DVD-ROM Drive