Need for Speed Carbon is a mix of the absolute best that the Need for Speed series has offered over the past few years. You get solid racing along with police chases and some of the best customization options around all in one pretty looking package. Carbon is better than Most Wanted, and that is all you really need to know.
Quick Hits
- Title: Need for Speed Carbon
- Platform: Xbox 360, Xbox
- Publisher: EA
- Developer: EA Black Box
- ESRB: “E” for Everyone
- Genre: Racing, car customization
- Pros: Nice graphics; great customization options; great car lineup; fun gameplay all around
- Cons: Short and easy career mode; not enough drifting; achievements weighted heavily towards online play
Gameplay
EAThe gameplay in Need for Speed Carbon is just like the last couple of NFS games. Very arcadey, your car doesn’t take damage, and it is very fast paced. Carbon changes things up by introducing the concepts of racing teams where different AI drivers specialize in different things. Some allow you to drift behind them for a speed boost, others will block your opponents, and others will lead you to shortcuts on the track. Your opponents also have these specialists, and nothing is more obnoxious than trying to run a race with at least one driver who does nothing but passes you and immediately slams on the brakes. You get used to it, though, and very quickly you have a fast enough car you don’t really need to worry about them anymore.
Another improvement is in the track design. There aren’t as many 90 degree turns as in Most Wanted and there are far less little edges and obstacles on the sides of the road that reach out and grab you like in previous games. The tracks are designed for pure speed, and I greatly prefer it this way.
The other change is to the drifting events. Unlike Underground 2 where you were in complete control, the drifting in Carbon is basically automatic and you just have to keep your finger on the accelerator and try not to hit walls. I was not a fan of this in the demo version, but in the final game where you can build fast cars and really whip around the drifting events, they are amazingly fun and earning high scores is very addictive.
Customization
Customizing your car was one of my favorite things about the Underground series, but it was toned down dramatically in Most Wanted. Thankfully, customization is back and better than ever in Carbon and I can guarantee you that you’ll still be making new cars and goofing off with this game for months to come. You have a lot of different paint choices (gloss, metallic, matte, etc.) in any color you could want along with a huge number of vinyl graphics you can apply in several layers to make truly custom designs. For body work, you can buy standard bumpers and side skirts for your car, or you can use the autosculpt feature to make pretty much any design you want. The autosculpting is a double-edged sword, though, because while it allows you to make some nice parts, it also gives you free reign to make the ugliest wheels and hoods and other parts imaginable. I can just imagine that we’ll be having ugliest car contests on Xbox Live in the future.
As far as customizing the performance of your car, it is still mostly a matter of just equipping the best engine or transmission or tires that you have unlocked and you are good to go. One nice touch this year is that you can adjust each part to make the car perform the way you want it. You can adjust your transmission towards better acceleration or top speed, or your brakes so they work more in the front or the back. These little adjustments aren’t necessary to enjoy the game, but they can make a big difference if you know what you are doing.
Online Play
Online play is a major component of Carbon, and the majority of achievements are gained by playing online. There are several different race types to play and as many as eight people can participate. Some interesting events include pursuit tag where one players is trying to outrun the police played by the other racers and pursuit knockout which is an elimination race where the last player turns into a cop and has to take out everyone else. All of the online modes run surprisingly smoothly and are well done. Showing off your custom ride online is fun, and like I said, making the ugliest car possible and showing it off is just as fun as making pretty ones.
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