Need for Speed Carbon
Rating:  -
Ah! Need For Speed in all its glory. Spend 3 minutes racing, spend 3 hours running from the police. At first glance it appears to be another gasp for air while the NFS series drowns in its sea of failure. However its much much more!
Finally! The art of ricing out cars is no longer limited to Honda's and Toyota's! No sir, now you get to deface once proud muscle cars with parking bench sized wings. Owning a 2001 Camaro SS myself, I was excited about seeing muscle cars in the game. However, they seemed to put no thought into what cars to add. Some of the cars, yes, were the best year to add. However, others, such as the 1969 Roadrunner were a bad choice. When people think of the Roadrunner, the one that comes to mind is the 1970, just like the 1969 model comes to mind when one thinks of a Charger. I wish EA did more research into what people like.
However, the flaws don't stop there. The accessories for these cars are a real issue. They don't have a sleek feel that muscle enthusiasts enjoy. They all have a riceboy feel to them, which is exactly what we don't like.
Now, for my REAL issue with this game: Police chases.
They are too difficult. You will find yourself racing all over the town trying to escape. When you finally evade, another car appears out of nowhere. It gets old very fast, and most likely, you wont even want to play anymore after the first 2 chases. It's very repetitive aswell, which really cant be avoided, but still, it gets very frustrating when you cant escape, no matter what you try. The best thing to do when you start getting chased? Give up. Just stop. You cant get away, no matter what you do, so give up.
I miss the good old days when NFS was fun. High Stakes was, and in my opinion, will always be, a legend among the NFS series. You can pick it up very cheap these days, and I highly recommend it over this game. The chases are more fun, the cars are better, the races more fun, everything.
The bottom line is that this game just isn't worth the money. Its not at all realistic, fun, and lacks replay value. Go with a better game, please.
Rating:  -
Gameplay: 8.4
Every car handles differently, every course is linked together in one massive world, and the controls will take you back to the days of arcade racers like Daytona USA. (Actual arcade racers - the ones with $5,000 cabinets all arcade owners dreaded purchasing.) The customization features are a little shallow, and the game is a little easy. Okay, a lot easy. But you'll love the ride while it lasts, and you're going to want to play through this racer more than once.
Graphics: 8
The cars look amazing. Every part of them is packed with realistic detail. Even the interiors are noticeably accurate. The cars reflect the city lights quite beautifully, and will do so differently depending on the type of finish that's been applied (chrome, matte, etc.).
Carbon's environments aren't nearly as memorable. The backgrounds aren't that far beyond what was possible with the old Xbox. Also, the cars, as gorgeous as they are, cannot be damaged. They can crash repeatedly, and abolish generic police vehicles. But your vehicles - which are from licensed manufacturers - are as protected as those in Gran Turismo, save for a few scratches every now and then (that magically disappear after every race).
I know that this is what most, not all, automakers want. But if some manufacturers are on board and others are not, maybe it's the supportive companies you should be focusing on - to give the gamer the most intense experience possible.
Sound: 7.9
Hurray for the return of full-motion video! First you get to see the actors, who look toward the camera when talking to the player's character as if you were actually in the story. The actors also appear in polygon form, with extreme realism to boot. Their polygon expressions are a little better than their real expressions, mainly due to the real actors' lack of believability.
The voices - they're better than most, but have a hint of "video game syndrome." It looks like a bunch of actors were hired to be in a video game. It doesn't look or sound like they were hired to be in a professionally written story. Which isn't too surprising. Carbon's characters only have one theme: "take my city and I'll hate you forever" (an exaggerated but truthful interpretation).
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Most Career mode races can be won on the first try. The external challenge mode provides additional races to conquer, but they're not enough to boost this game's difficulty.
Concept: 7.5
It's Need For Speed all over again. I'm not about to be one of those crazy people who say the series needs an overhaul to be great again. It doesn't. I love the direction the developers have taken. That said, it's not an original direction, just one of polish. But this series is meant to be a certain way. To make it original again would likely eliminate all the things we love.
Multiplayer: 8
Four for co-op; eight for multiplayer via Xbox Live. Some of the Career mode races are playable online as well for added challenges.
Overall: 8.2
A throwback to the good old, worry-free days of arcade racing. This is the kind of game you'll play after seeing The Fast and the Furious (or any other street racing flick). You might hate that series - you might think the third Furious is the worst movie ever made. But mark my words, if you're flipping through and it's on TV, you will drop the remote, grab your controller, and play this game.
Rating:  -
Alright, here's the deal. NFS: Carbon isn't the best racing game, and I'm not trying ot say it is. But, on its own merits, it's a great game.
Canyon racing is a nice little aspect of the game. I almost wish there were more places that you could go off the edge at. All boss races are decided by a final race on the canyon. It's honestly not all that difficult. As long as you don't royally mess up, chances are you won't lose, but by no means that that detract from the fun factor. Canyon races are all skill. No NOS, no speed breaker (which I've personally only used once, and didn't like), and the control is a little more loose. After beating the boss you get to flip over "cards" and you win bonus prizes. My first boss coughed up his RX-7 to me. Needless to say, I was a happy camper and immediately switched over to it.
Drift events are fun, and frustrating. Basically, you either nail it, or you don't. My only piece of advice is floor it, and don't stop.
Speed trap - Tally the speed that you hit each trap at, and at the end the highest total wins. However, if someone crosses before you, you end up losing points. If *you* want to win, your best bet is to bring a blocker, not a scout.
Wingmen - Blocker, Scout, Drafter. When you activate a blocker, they attempt to run into the person closest to them and put them into the wall, or just slow them down. You "activate" them to tell them when to go, so if they can't do their job, they're probably too far when you try to use them. Scouts have glowing trails that come off the back of their car to make it easier to tail them. They find shortcuts for you (which is good because many are hard to find yourself) and they almost always sprint ahead of you. (Which is where a scout should be.) Good for helping you win a race as they'll frequently finish before you, good for winning speed traps as well. As for drafters, when you activate them they get in front of you and attempt to allow you to stay close to them and draft them, and then when you deactivate them you shoot around the side of them. Honestly, I have no drafter wingman yet, but eventually I plan on it. Downside, wingmen do often get in the way. Especially the dang scout.
I enjoy unlocking single upgrades per race. There are some races that would otherwise be difficult if you didn't get upgrades along the way. And speaking of upgrades; being able to tune your car for acceleration versus top end, under-steer versus over-steer, NOS duration versus volatility... all very cool ideas. (I don't know if other NFS games do this or not.)
Also, speaking of unlocked, I like that there are out of career mode "unlockables". Side challenges that you can do to get extra things in career mode. The first thing I went for was pearlescent paint... and holy cow was that difficult.
Anyhow, very addicting game. Granted, I haven't played it 7 hours a day for 4 days straight and beat it... but unfortunately the game does feel a little quick. Next thing I do after that will be to create a new alias with a different car type. (The car type you select determines the unlocks you get... which is told to you at the beginning of the game.)
Rating: -
In this game there you can choose what car class you want to be. I prefer the mussle class because I need my Dodge Charger(The New One). The gameplay was like Most Wanted and Underground 2. The pursuit in this game was good but not as good as the Most Wanted ones. The graphics are about the same as Most Wanted. In this game there is a new gameplay, the cannon racing. I have not got this down but I will get it sometime. Overall it is a good game but I love NFS so I am going to get all of them.
Rating: -
The Need for Speed series sure has improved since its Playstation One days. This is seriously a very good game. I agree that a longer career mode and a softer challenge would have improved the game, but you really can't complain about any of that when the game offers so much more.
It's not just another racing game. I mean, I guess that's not true. But at least game makers are keeping them fun. This is a very fun game.
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