Need for Speed Carbon


I thought I will be sentenced to death if I delivered a bad review for this game. The hype reached monumental levels and it probably established a few records of its own. On the other side, I watched with a prolonged interest that a large portion of the gaming community rejected the game as one of the worst and at least one of the lamest NFS titles ever. I couldn't believe the numbers of hostile opinions and most ironically, a lot of them were issued long before they have actually played the game.

Now it's a well established fact that EA Games have somehow managed to take the place of the gaming Antichrist. I'm not sure when this took place, maybe right after the 17th edition of NBA (and I'm not kidding) or after EA started to ruin a lot of promising franchises by releasing title after title, on a conveyor belt, with not regards to gameplay, story or any other parts that actually counted for something. The main goal was to become the biggest publisher in the world, ignoring completely of what the gamers wanted.

Some of the games published by EA escaped this fate and managed to improve more and more which each title. Need for Speed Carbon is one of this titles and I really don't care if I' stepping on some toes here, but I truly believe that this game is a major improvement and maybe the best so far.

Everyone will jump up and down saying that NFS 2000 or Porsche Unleashed was the best one ever made but I beg the differ. I don't even consider that game to be an integral part of the whole franchise mainly because it doesn't fit the profile of an arcadish genre. If we compare all the 15 games released so far in the series, we can easily place this simulator well outside the franchise. So, next time when you're trashing a racing game because you're hooked on a 6-year-old game, remember this fact.

Story:
Ever since the first Underground, the gamers are fed a chunky excuse for a story. This reiteration of what appeared to be the rip-off from the "The Fast and the Furious" movie was to actually give the player another incentive for winning the races. Now everyone could feel like a bad boy and a small criminal in the comfort of their own homes.

Over time, these stories have developed and transformed into a more evolved version of the same style and direction. The player takes the role of a powerful and skillful driver that just happens to lose his ride for the nth time. I may be the best driver on the coast, whichever that may be, but I really suck at keeping a couple of hundred thousand dollar car in my possession. I'm not going to reveal any of the plot twists, especially because there aren't any, but I am going to make a little introduction. Right from the start we're led to believe that the player is back in his town of origin and of course he has a huge debt to settle. The ex-girlfriend is extremely pissed for dumping her after a disputed race, but she's forced by the acting boss to reintroduce you in the big boy's game of this kindergarten kids that stole their fathers cars. I'm still waiting for someone to yell "I'm going to tell my mom on you".

Anyhow, one again we're served FMV powered story that even if will only satisfy people with an IQ below the average of a retarded institute, but it will serve its purpose of delivering the most beautiful and exquisite cars ever seen in a NFS game before. I may be exaggerating a little bit, but I'm sure that there isn't a single gamer that wouldn't admire the DB9 tucked away in the imaginary garage.

Concept:
Driving fast cars under the permitted age is the dream of every kid with a little imagination. The warning that accompanies the game for some time now is not really what it appears. It goes something like this "keep the racing in the game and drive safe in the real world". I believe it to be covert or subliminal message that actually says this: "this game contain fast cars and will make you go berserk on the freeway if you're not checked by a professional shrink. I bet you want to buy it now?" Well� the text is opened to suggestions but I guess you got the big picture.

The general direction of the series remained the same in Carbon, but now is a little more refined, especially after so many games that could be accused that they look alike. Anyone will feel right at home, as this version of NFS incorporates a lot of features from the first Underground like certain city zones that some of you have already recognized and a lot of components from Underground 2 and Most Wanted. They have managed to make Carbon the sum of all these games without succumbing to the god of compromising, of at least not too much.

Gameplay:
I don't think there are too many gamers that don't know what Need for Speed is or that haven't played or watched someone else playing (maybe the slow kids from the institute). If you've played the old versions, then you've already played Carbon. Then why play at all if it's nothing but some sort of expansion? What is that thing that makes it stand apart? At a first glance, the first two features that come to mind are the graphics, obviously and the "autosculpt" engine.

The name alone, autosculpt, is quite catchy. Basically, the player has the opportunity to influence even more the final aspect of the car by modifying the pieces that he bought. Every component has at least three parameters that can be changed like height, width and depth and a lot more depending on the part. This practically ensures a gazillion of possible combinations for the online car freaks that wish to take their car on a drive through the internet. The autosculpt feature is only available after you have hired some henchmen or sidekicks, whatever you want to call them.

Which brings us to another gimmick brought into the game. During the course of the game you'll find several individuals available for hire that can be separated in three different categories: drafters, blockers and scouts. You can only have three at a time, but during the race only one can help you. The principle is quite simple: the drafters will go really fast and if you step on their tale you'll get a speed boost, the scouts will find the best route including shortcuts and the blockers will try to block or ram the other competitors. Personally, I find this feature to resemble cheating way too much, but I am ashamed to admit I've used it myself in every race possible.

The fact is that the game's overhaul has touched more than one domain. The races - especially the drift ones - have suffered some improvements. This kind of race feels now a lot more natural and even if the physics engine is not the most brilliant one, it's a definite step forward. I can't be entirely certain if anyone will love this new "drift" because I had the necessary patience to grasp the concept behind this mod. It's possible that I'm not the only one to have had this particular problem and I believe there was a major keyboards order in the following days of the Carbon launch.

One last feature I want to mention is the boss and canyon race. The map is divided in smaller areas that are controlled by four individuals. After winning enough in a zone, the local dude will challenge you first to a street race and then to a dreaded canyon one. This particular course has its own rules: there isn't any time dilatation gadget available and neither is the NOS. The AI starts first and your only job is to follow him as close as possible. The situation is then reversed and you become the followed one. At the end, the scores are compared and the winner has the chance to pick the enemy's pink slip or some other useless part.

I saved the cops for last because their role has been drastically reduced. I only have had problems a few times with them. The zones I've mentioned earlier have separate wanted levels and they can be lowered by bribing or simply changing the appearance of the car. The single thing that the cops prove in this game is the ability of the developer team to implement damage on cars. I know that the license owners have a hard time allowing their cars to be smashed time and time again. In their twisted sense of reality this is somehow wrong. I'm not even considering going in that direction, but heed this warning: this title, even if it's one of the best released so far, has marked the beginning of the end for this franchise. Unless some major changes are done, like the damage model or something else, the next one will be a disappointment before its launch.

I realize now that I have completely forgotten about the biggest and the ugliest "feature" present in every game from EA, cheating. I would have understood some level of cheating on the AI level to give it a certain edge over the perfect human intellect of a school boy, but this is ridiculous. Let's imagine for a second that I'm actually a race car driver and I'm speeding in my Dodge Charger (Hemi) with over 200 kph and I encounter some traffic on the same lane. You might expect to get out of the way or at least to try to. They wait until you get close and suddenly take a quick turn right in front of you. The same rule applies with incoming traffic and with generated cars. If the AI is in the lead, you aren't going to see them crash or generally having problems with innocent civilians, but - when the player is in front - they start to pop out in the most uncomfortable place and I even found some of them smack in the middle of a shortcut like and abandoned tunnel, for example. I wouldn't be bothered so much about this if it weren't such an obvious insult to my intellect.

Video:
This is my favorite chapter of a review, because I get to use a lot of fancy words and technical expressions of which I don't have a clue to what they mean. I'm kidding of course (or am I not?), so when I say it doesn't take a lot of resources you should believe me. The game runs pretty smoothly on an average configuration mainly because there is a pixel shader option which comes in quite handy. A lot of people have reported tons of bugs and I have to say that - despite EA's reputation of making bad games - the stability of those games has never been in question. I wish I could rally to those complaints but I haven't had a single problem with it. Well, there is one, but it has nothing to do with the gameplay: the game refuses to exit and I'm forced to open the task manager to close it. Other than that, I found the game to be quite stable and visually impressive, much better looking than Most Wanted or any other racing titles on the market.

Audio:
The scenes that make up the story are filmed with real actors, so I'm going to discuss the quality of their performance here. They suck. Well� not all of them, but acting in games is a long walk from the Shakespeare plays and even from 8millimeter pornographic movies. Well, they are not that bad but maybe in the next 50 years when the games industry will play ball in the same court with the movie industry, maybe then we will see some well defined characters that can actually inspire fear, respect or even sensuality. They aren't all that bad and some might even make it to the next title, but either they make the entire movies with digital actors or they change those casting directors.
The voices and comments are saved by the engines and the car sounds. This part has suffered some major improvements and this is the first time I turned off the music so that I can hear the V8's roar. And speaking of music, this new edition has matured and placed aside the second-hand rappers and rockers. The main theme is now some techno beat that is a lot more suited for this kind of races and it fits like a glove on the first car you see in the game, the Audi Le Mans Quattro concept car.

Multiplayer:
As usual, the player has the possibility of going online with other seven wannabe drivers in any race from the career mode. The game has some lag issues from time to time but the overall performance makes it a great game for multiplayer fans. Too bad the race war option is not present here, mainly because of the technical limitations but hey, we can't have everything.

Conclusion:
I have no idea if I will ever play this game again. This is a definite minus for a game and especially for one that's bent on making you play it over and over again. There were times when I enjoyed the game so much that I went over the top with praises. The feeling didn't last too long and soon I found myself on a downward slope into the bored area. Even if the main plot - without the challenge and all the cars and parts unlocked - can be beaten in about 10 hours, I felt the game has the perfect length. More of it would have meant I would never finish it. Maybe I don't have the urge to play it all over again, but I'm left with only one curiosity: what will they do next and how will the series evolve? In any case, I am pleased with the outcome and I'm already saving money for the Porsche Carrera GT, at least for the virtual version.

System Requirements:
Windows XP Service Pack 2 (32Bit Edition only),
Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4
Intel Pentium 4 (or equivalent)
CPU running at 1.7GHz or higher
64MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (NVIDIA Geforce4 Ti/ATI Radeon 8500 or higher)
512MB RAM DirectX

Size: 4.21 GB

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