[Sharpshooter]

The Need for Speed franchise has always tried to keep pace with the newest trends in underground racing. NFS brought us drift racing in Underground long before most of us had even heard of it. It wasn’t until Most Wanted that NFS achieved a solid balance between racing trends and straight-up police evasion, culminating in the greatest title the series had ever produced. To follow up that success, Carbon brings another racing trend that is more popular across the Pacific Ocean than in the States in the form of downhill drifting. As seen in the latest Fast and the Furious, Japanese gear-heads have been tearing down hills with reckless abandon for a while. To go along with this new race type, EA Black Box has also constructed an entirely new career system that challenges players to conquer a city street by street. While these and all of the other additions add up to a solid racing title, Carbon feels more like a mix between Underground 2 and Most Wanted instead of a title of its own.



When players last saw the BMW M3 it was fleeing the police on its way out of Rockport. With Sergeant Cross, or rather bounty hunter Cross now, hot on his heels, the protagonist returns to Palmont after a five-year hiatus. With a busted ride and the tarnished reputation of a thief and backstabber, players will find themselves in the familiar position of rock-bottom with nowhere to go but up. The storyline is presented in hybrid FMV and CG, just like in Most Wanted, to varying success. When the actors that play these one-dimensional characters are half-way competent, the cut scenes are actually interesting to watch. More often then not, however, the acting is just as bad, if not worse, than Most Wanted.



Instead of working up a list or gunning for specific drivers, as was the case in Most Wanted, players will instead set their sights on conquering different districts of the city by challenging the controlling racing team and beating them. Players also run their own crew as well to help even the odds a little. As you knock off the last territory held by a rival gang, their leader will challenge you to a Canyon Duel (more on that later). This structure takes the best part of Most Wanted, namely, the boss races against supped-up vehicles, and marries it with a very open-ended “choose your path to dominance” mentality. This mode is addicting and provides plenty of content (in the neighborhood of 15 hours for players who don’t cheat by restarting after losses). You’ll even have to repeat races to defend your own turf while you conquer your rivals’, adding even more race opportunities.



Your crew, on the other hand, is a distant afterthought to the entire system. As players progress, they can hire new crew members to wingman for them in races. They come in three types: Drifters, Blockers, and Scouts. Crew members also have “passive” effects both on and off the street as well, where one may award extra cash for a win and others may unlock additional tuning options. On the track, however, they are largely useless and annoying. Drifters, for instance, are supposed to provide a slingshot-type boost by allowing you to follow them in their air stream. Staying in this air stream during a race, however, is nearly impossible. Scouts are even more useless as their job is to find shortcuts for you. More times than not, you’ll know exactly where the shortcuts are and will have no use for this option. The Blocker is the only wingman worth using since they can do real damage to a rival’s lap time by ramming them off the road. In all three cases, your wingman will often get in your way through turns. One time, I called my Blocker to take out a car behind me. When he stopped to hit the trailing car I rammed into the back of him, and the car I called to be taken out whizzed past unscathed. This is not an isolated incident, unfortunately, and the whole feature would have been better off scrapped in favor for something else.

The Canyon Duel and the returning Drift Race, which has been absent in recent years, are both exciting and engaging additions to the already impressive list of race types carried over from Most Wanted. The Canyon Duels that you must win after conquering an entire neighborhood consist of two rounds. In the first round, players must follow their opponent as closely as possible as they fly down the hill. In the second round, players must now try to outrun the other racer as the leader. This mode served as the source of much angst and frustration, but in that “oh, this is challenging and worthwhile” way. After winning a duel, you get a shot at winning the pink slip of the loser’s car, which is often much stronger than the one you have. Drift Races, both down the canyon and on drift tracks, are also a blast, though the control scheme is a bit puzzling. When entering a drift, hitting the accelerator pushes your car further up in the turn. In real life, and in the normal racing modes in Carbon, hitting the accelerator only causes more spin on the tires. Though it’s only a minor gripe, this inconsistent control scheme will confuse and frustrate more than a few players when they first try the new drift races.



Last, but certainly not least, is the addition of American muscle cars into the already-impressive roster of tuners and imports. While many will take a look at the new Dodge Charger or the Ford Mustang and scoff as they choose a tuner, I urge players to take a look at the true muscle in this class in the ’69 Charger or the 06 Dodge Viper. These bad boys will cream any and all other cars off the line with their vastly superior engine outputs. With more weight and more torque, these cars will over-steer and naturally drift through turns. Not only do these cars simply provide more variety to choose from, but racing in these muscle cars provides a racing dynamic that refreshes a near-stale racing model. Slipping and sliding through the city will make Carbon look more like “World Rally Racing Underground” than previous Need for Speeds, but it’s tough to deny the muscle car’s allure. Getting behind the wheel of these cars will make you feel like the guy at the end of Tokyo Drift in that slick Mustang Fastback, and you can feel a little patriotic at the same time by saluting American engineering. It’s win-win baby!

Though not a “graphical” enhancement in the truest sense, EA’s Autosculpting mode is the Tiger Woods “Gameface” of racing games. By allowing gamers to adjust nearly everything on their car, from the width of the spoiler to the height of the blower on that ’69 Charger, Carbon allows gamers to truly make their ride their own. Some options seem unnecessary, like the position of the creases on a bumper or side skirt, but they ensure that players can create any car they truly desire.



Other graphical enhancements are subtle improvements over Most Wanted. Blur effects off of taillights and street lamps are impressive, especially at high speeds, but the decision by EA to bring NFS back into the ever-lasting nighttime instead of allowing racers to see some sun is disappointing. Sure, illegal racing occurs at night, but isn’t it high time that we see some variable lighting effects from the sun on the street? I pray that the next title is a next-gen exclusive so we can get a truly breathtaking visual experience instead of a merely competent one.

To wrap this review up, I wish to address the downloadable content that is currently available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. While I would rather earn all of the upgrades available to download for money online by racing and winning, my real gripe is against the downloadable cars. It would be severely disappointing if EA is releasing cars on Live that could have been included in the game at launch and charging a few bucks per car. Gamers are already shelling out 400 bucks per system, 60 bucks for the game, and another 60 dollars a year for the online service. As it stands without the additional downloadable content, Need for Speed Carbon is as solid a racing title as there is out there. It may not be reinventing the proverbial wheel here, but by introducing new racing modes and a completely new way to drive in muscle cars, Carbon is easily worth the 60 dollar price tag.


Features:

Survive the Canyon—All-new Canyon Duel and Drift race modes are the ultimate test of skill and nerve, where one wrong turn could cost you more than the race.
The City Is Yours for the Taking—Race for control of the city block-by-block by taking down rival crews on their turf, then defeat their crew leaders in life-or-death races in Carbon Canyon.
Customize Your Dream Cars—The revolutionary new Autosculpt™ car customization tool gives you the power to design and tweak your crew’s cars in every way imaginable.
Represent a Class—Affiliate with the Tuner, American Muscle, or Exotic car classes and prove once and for all who makes the best set of wheels. A new physics model makes each class handle and drive differently.
Build Your Crew—Strategically choose your crew members and then use their skills on the road and in the garage to help you win races and customize your cars.
Race Online—Take your custom Autosculpted car online and challenge other live racers from across the world.

overall 4.5 great