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This latest installation in the Need For Speed franchise is a hybrid of Underground 2 and Most Wanted with a few tweaks added in. The action once again takes place at night, and the city’s endless labyrinths of concrete are lit up with activity and lighted signs. The city’s many districts are each controlled by a different racing crew, and you must win races in order to sieze control of these districts. Once you take control of a large chunk of the town, that borough’s boss will come looking for you, goading you into a dangerous race down one of the city’s canyons to settle the score.

You also still need to evade the police, and you’ll accumulate heat levels and bounty just as in Most Wanted, but running up bounty and infractions is no longer neccessary for challenging “boss” racers. However, the police can still ruin your day; they will disrupt races, try to bust you after a race is over, and doggedly stay on your tail as you try to lose them. Getting your car impounded can mean a quick and unpleasant departure of hard-earned cash.

Another interesting change is the exotic/muscle/tuner angle. After your BMW gets totaled, you are prompted by Nikki, played by the lovely Emmanuelle Vaugier, to choose a new car. Your choice determines what types of cars will be unlocked as you progress through the game: tuner(such as a Mazda RX-8), muscle(such as a Ford Mustang), or exotic(like the Aston-Martin DB9). Each category has its strengths and weaknesses. Also, the cars are ranked in tiers; an RX-8 is a tier 1 tuner, while a Lotus Elise is a tier 2 exotic. The tiers of the cars determine what upgrades that car can receive; for example, a tier 2 car can’t recieve a tier 1 turbo, you will have to unlock it.

The last new game feature is the Crew. When you race, you’re no longer alone. AI-controlled team members will aid you, and they have three roles. A Blocker will look to knock out an opponent at your command, and Drafter will let you draft behind them for an extra burst of speed, and a Scout will seek out the shortcuts on a track to trim precious seconds off of your time. They will also shout out encouragement and warn you of racers attempting to pass you. Also, the crew gives you an extra chance to win; if either you or your teammate win the race, the win goes to your crew and you get the reward.

Sprint and Circuit races have returned. A sprint is one time from point A to B, and a circuit is several laps around a track. Speedtrap races from Most Wanted are also back; you must race along and hit each speedtrap at the highest possible speed, highest cumulative score wins. The tollbooth races from Most Wanted are also back, but without the tollbooths, now known as checkpoint races; you must make it from once checkpoint to another, with a time bonus for each time you beat the clock. When a boss challenges you, you take your act into a canyon, where you participate in the canyon pursuit race: you chase your opponent down the canyon, and the closer you stay, the more points you get. After that’s done, the roles are reversed; your foe chases you down, and if your points are depleted before you cross the finish line, you lose. If either racer overtakes the other and stays ahead for ten seconds, they automatically win. After a one-game absence, drift races have also return, and remain challenging. You can also race outside of career mode in a number of instant races, and take your act online to participate in standard and online-exclusive races.

Once again, you can modify your car’s performance and appearance in a number of ways. You can add engine upgrade, turbos, transmissions, suspensions, and other performance upgrades to make your ride a slick racing machine. Numerous hoods, spoilers, body kits, paint jobs, vinyls, and other modifications let you change your cars look till your heart’s content. The new Autoscuplt feature lets you alter the look of various aftermarket body parts to create a truly custom ride. The customization options aren’t nearly as numerous as in Underground 2, but you can still create a pretty pimped-out ride, or opt for an unassuming “sleeper” car.

Overall, I found this latest Need For Speed to be pretty enjoyable. As you progress, you’ll receive rewards cards that help you unlock special rewards. The catchup or “rubber-band” AI from Most Wanted seems to be gone, although your opponents can still catch up, particularly if you’re not on your game. The penalties for crashing are very severe; a crash robs you of nearly all of your momentum, so you have to be sharp in order to win. The slow-motion “speedbreaker” feature has returned, and is a great way to get around sharp corners or even avoid collisions. The game can be frustrating at times, and at times it seems like there’s that one guy you can never catch. But it’s not impossible, and with smart racing and good use of your teammates, you’ll conquer the streets. So hit the pavement and make a name for yourself and your crew.

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The graphics is a step down. While not neccesarily bad, overall the graphics are more cartoony. In-game, the player models look like zombies with brown teeth. These are graphics one associates with consoles games from before 2000.

Game is extremely easy and brief. There are essentially only 4 bosses — I beat this game in 2 days. You take over bits of subarea territory by taking over at least 2 of 3 races. When a full area is taken over (which can be done in about 6-8 races), you square off against one of the bosses, first doing an ordinary race and then racing on a Canyon. While I’m sure there are some circuits which I haven’t completed, and I haven’t done online or the Challenger Series yet, the central offline game just isn’t satisfying. Underground 2 was so much more coherent, and Most Wanted was exciting and varied enough — completing courses, getting bounty points, in a progressively more difficult scheme — and the graphics and else are excellent.

Now, if the graphics in Carbon are childish, the physics is… I don’t know. It’s either more realistic or just more boring. Driving cars in Carbon honestly feels like the way driving a garbage truck in Most Wanted feels. Overall, there is something 8-bit about the experience… loud unrealistic tire screeches and noises, slow accelleration, unresponsive turning.

The worlds of Most Wanted and Underground were large and sprawling. This game’s city scapes and roads feel small and repetitive with a lot of interlap. One doesn’t feel like he’s travelled much or in a coherent place as one drives around the city. Most Wanted, on the other hand, felt like a real city of its own. Carbon feels like a small-scale cartoon game. There are few short cuts, etc.. but nothing like Most Wanted- a world replete with golf course detours, stadium cut-throughs… and everything else. The world of Carbon simply doesn’t feel very 3d or real — there’s nothing to digest, learn, or remember for it — just drive, turn, left, right, accellerate, through the roads.

Some other cons: 1) Police communications and dispatch were recycled directly from Most Wanted — no new voices, no changes. There is no real tension in fleeing from police at any point in the game… If you evade, you evade… Police pursuits don’t add to the game’s aesthetic or gameplay value and only consume time. 2) The drifting courses are extremely hard to beat with beginning level cars. I was only able to beat them after I had advanced level cars souped up. But indeed since winning 2/3 races in a subarea is all that’s neccesary to take it over, one can play the game till the end without having to win any of them.

The pros: 1) The idea of having “wingman” drivers is good, but poorly executed. Most of the time I’ve found them useless. The fact that some of them are useful in sculpting body kits is a plus if you’re interested in that sort of thing (and are a bored artist), but nothing to write home about. I only like communications from them in races. I think there are about 6 (very boring and unvaried) different crew you’ll be able to hire, 2 “scouts”, 2 blockers, 2 boosters etc.. 2) Game has a more adventure feel to it than the other games, but is too deflated, acting too mechanical, and everything too small-scale (small maps, 4 bosses) to be truly interesting. 3) The concept of territory wars is good and part of the allure of the game, but once again poorly executed, and the game too easy. 4) When squaring off against bosses, if for example you crash in anyway, a small picture-in-picture screen comes up, showing the boss in his other car laughing. That adds to the game in princiiple, but again poorly executed… The same video comes up mechanically anytime you hit a wall.

There you have it. I couldn’t even mark down the pros of the game without criticizing it, and the thought occurs again… Why does this game suck? This game is disappointing in a bewildering way. It’s so unexpectedly bad it’ll leave you confused. Definitely not up to par with other NFS games. Worth playing only if you’re a diehard fan and have nothing to do over 2 days. Otherwise, for starters looking for good racer games ought to go for Need For Speed Most Wanted or Underground II.

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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.)