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Too short, but still challenging

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game is good, I loved every minute of career mode. Only problem was, I wished for more minutes of career mode. I bought it wednesday, started playing thursday, by sunday, the career mode was over.Oh, yeah, I barely played at all friday.....For the upside, some of the races were really challenging, having to play them numerous times to win. Especially some of the later races. Even with the SLR McLaren completely modded out, i still had to race Darius way too many times. They certainly give you a challenge racing the main man. But then again, if they didnt, it wouldnt have been as fun. I love cursing out games for nearly an hour to beat one race. Fun game overall, buy it if you are a die hard fan or want something to learn on. If you want something more challenging though, go with NFS: Most Wanted if you havent already. It is way more challenging and difficult. No bounty requirements in career mode in Carbon. Also, crewmembers can get in the way if you arent paying attention and even if you are, they will still slam on their brakes on the slightest of corners.

Backward Evolution

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

My NFS background: I was never a big fan of NFS. Underground 1 reused tracks too often, and the "short cuts" were a joke... NFS:MW sucked me in. The tracks were decent, the car models well done, good pursuits and a crisp UI - really, the game had a durable feel that made it worth investing time in past beating the storyline. As of today, my Most Wanted bounty slightly exceeds 113 million with 100% game completion.

Fast forward to NFS Carbon and you basically forfeit every decent aspect of Most Wanted. If you heavily enjoyed Underground 2, you should like Carbon, as it will give you a consistent feeling of deja vu.

Music - Horrible. They don't even bother to tell you who made it - mostly because you wouldn't care.

Graphics - I have to agree, it's either equivalent to Most Wanted (they even kept some of the same trucks, modified in minor ways), or slightly below. On the off chance it's equal, the feel is a bit more cartoon-like. I must say, however, the city itself is pretty detailed - though you are driving at night, so that may impact the difference.

"Take it to the Canyon" - Okay, I expected a lot from this hyped up concept... What I found was a narrow road, the loss of both speed breaker AND nitrous, and basically it works in 2 phases, 1) you tailgate him, 2) he tailgates you. Whoever earns more tailgating points wins. Of course, he always does a better job - which one would think gives him a win - yet some how, it doesn't. This is not to say you can not lose, but at the end, I think you will agree, you too, didn't deserve to win.

Short Cuts - Think NFS:Underground 1. "Oh look, a sharp turn I can cut through, weee!" That's about it. Everything you thought they learned from Midnight Club, which they implemented in MW, is now gone. Out of about 15 or so that I've used personally, only one was more complex than cutting through a simple parking lot, or walk way - nothing impressive.

Unlocking - Personally I preferred the MW way: beat a boss, unlock a bunch of stuff. Here, each race unlocks something - paint, wheel covers, tranny, etc. The advantage is that you can choose what to unlock, the disadvantage is more often than not, it's simply a paint color.

Upgrading your car - This has a funny feel to it for me. Cars come in three categories: Tuner, Muscle and Exotic. Each category has three tiers. Each upgrade fits only the specified car type and tier. So if your riding an exotic, and unlock a muscle mod, you get nada for your exotic. This raises a bit of confusion when it comes time to buy a new car, as it's hard to tell what you unlocked the most of (though your choice will probably reflect your opinion of the cars brand, not the options available for the car).

Feel of your ride - Most of the handling seems equivalent to MW standard. Out of about 20 races I lost 2, for one very distinct reason. Picture a tractor trailer with the size and speed of a race car... This is how it will feel when you hit them, or they hit you - mainly, that you go flying. While this isn't a big deal, it does feel like a slap in the face when one of them (and you can have over 7 of them) loses control on a turn and blocks you from turning at all.

Police Pursuits - I've only engaged in two pursuits but I've noticed 2 things: 1) the streets aren't set up to make quick turns to lose cops (most are long curvy roads with few streets intersecting), 2) the police "smell" you - that is, they stop if they can't find you, then head directly for you. As a veteran of MW, commonly getting 3mil or more per pursuit, I'll be sticking with MW for cop chases.

Wingmen/Scouts/etc - This sounds great on paper but executes like flat tire. Wingmen are supposed to hit other cars (I think?) and knock them out for you - they don't do it well, and commonly say "Uh oops, couldn't get that one..." or something similar. Over all, they seem more distracting than helpful, but I may be using them improperly. Scouts on the other hand, help, some what... They pick out short cuts for you (because in the blinding darkness it's hard to spot debris littered parking lot entrances) and highlight them in green on your minimap - they also talk to you, which is helpful. The one confusing part about scouts, though, is they generally finish before you. So if they're so good, why work for you?

Your territory is under attack!! - Prepare for a long race that pays next to nothing. Aside from that, there's little to tell about this. The last one I encountered took me 7 minutes to complete, with 2nd place about a minute behind me and last place closer to 2 minutes. Normal races yield $15,000... Territory wars yield $700... Don't spend it all in one place.

Rubber-band - This is the one (possibly only, *cough*) improvement over MW. Rubber-banding, for those who don't know, is this: When you are far ahead of them, they speed up, don't get into accidents and arrive some where shortly behind you. If you get way behind, they sort of slow down, you try not to hit everything in sight, and probably still don't catch up (depending on why you were so far behind in the first place). The presence of rubber-banding means there is no reason to distract them, just race, they'll catch up anyway. A reviewer on NFS MW had inquired something to the effect of, "why distract them? or hit log trucks? they just catch up anyway!" Apparently his 8 second lead wasn't worth much when they rubber-band over. This, I believe, also plays a role when playing against friends, I believe the cars were scaled to properly direct a similar outcome.

Overall - If you liked Underground 2, buy this, it's Underground 3. If you preferred MW, I'd wait a month for the price to drop another $10.

Personally, I have two theories why this game is the way it is:
1) Rockstar didn't make a Midnight Club sequel. Midnight club rules the road, NFS has the licensed car names, MW is a fusion of both, Carbon is what you get when EA has no one to copy off of.

2) No competition. Outside of Midnight club and NFS, most racing games are for the birds (unless you like the excitement of driving in circles, in which case you own NASCAR). I could only imagine the lack of quality reflects their opinion of your purchasing choices for racing games (by that I mean Carbon or nothing) and their value of us as customers. Honestly, I think they'd have been better off making an expansion for MW, which is what this feels like, but instead, they made it into half it's own game.

Backward evolution at its finest - Enjoy!

Good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

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.

need for fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: November 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

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.

Pretty dang fun.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: November 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

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.)

Who came up with the drift engine?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: November 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Alright for starters I would like to complain about the drift engine. U play underground 2 for about 20 mins drifting and then you go to this and its like wtf??? I took me 3 days to get used to the engine for the drifting but after you get used to it, its like walking. I dont like the engine for the canyon drifts. It takes like 20 mins for the drift engine to kick in long after you hit your buttons the drift. I gave up trying to learn to master the engine for it. The only race that made me buy a new controller was the race with the lamborghini cuzz I was using my lotus elise. The one thing you gotta get used to is when ur getting ready to win a drift and the computer comes out of nowhere and pulls like a 30,000 drift. That made me so mad that I had a friend do it. I still dont think I wil ever get used to the canyon drifts. too long to respnd. And the reward cards should only be attempted if you got a mouth guard and a good dentist cuzz ur gona be grinding ur teeth and cussin on the hard ones. One of the requirements is to get a drift score of 500,000 in any drift event...... Who the heck can get 500,000 in drifting? Im barely pulling 400,000.

Am I having fun yet..?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: November 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

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.

Hmmm...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

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.

Disappointing

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 6
Date: December 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I am very disappointed in this game. I loved the others in the Need for Speed series, but I find this game lacking.

Speed Demons

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: December 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

For Sony, they are very close to ending all games for their Playstation 2 system, and place more work on the PS3 system. That note has also been shown with a lot of racing games that have either thrived, or fell flat on their feet. There have been plenty of them from Crash Tag Team Racing, and others lesser-known driven games. That has been at one time the case with Need For Speed. Although the franchise has recently thrived over the past few years with Underground 2, and last years Most Wanted, many gamers have wanted a bit more from their racing haven. Now, another one has risen, probably the last one for the Playstation 2. Can this Need For Speed thrust over new racers?

Need For Speed Carbon for the Playstation 2, tackles out all the hype from the Underground series, witn a bit of elements from Most Wanted. The gameplay is simple, you and your crew have to work your way towards the finish line, inorder to get back what was stolen from your credibility. The gameplay features tracks from sprints and checkpoints (similar to tollbooth tracks from Most Wanted), to the return of drift races from Underground 2. The game also features new tracks such as the infamous canyon duel, where you have to keep your duel meter flowing, and close to your opponent, inorder to take the prize. There are also returning cars from previous games like the Toyota Supra, Mazda RX-8, and others. The graphics for the game bring out the nightlife well, but the manuverability on some of the cars could definitely be improved with a bit of tweaking.

All in all, I am mostly satisfied with Need For Speed Carbon, but I was expecting a little more. Still, if you are a fan of the racing game series, you'll definitely love this game a whole lot, and that thrill is still with the need for speed.

Graphics: B+

Sound: B

Control: B 1/2-

Fun & Enjoyment: B

Overall: B 1/2+

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