Starting Fresh I'll say that the Need For Speed series, especially Most Wanted, has marked it's territory as being one of the best free-roaming racers to date. Seamlessly going from one district to the next without any loading times, speeding your way through waves of traffic, escaping cops is basically creating an atmosphere of complete open-endedness. And combining customization for your car, unlocking new ones - well, this is definitely an arcade racer's dream come true.
Having only a year to rethink what they wanted in the Need for Speed series, EA Canada has shown us their true colors. Most games usually build upon current ideas, but this time around it seems like EA Canada has completely rebuilt the gameplay ideas from the ground up and to say the least these new installments are impressive. And we aren't even digging beneath the surface just yet - why don't we do just that for Need for Speed: Carbon?
I was curious why in the world the game was called this, and while I was thinking that they would create a Most Wanted 2, I am glad that EA Canada went to the drawing board once again. Why? Of course Need For Speed: Most Wanted is a superb game and certainly there is no exaggeration about it. However, for EA Canada to go through the extensive research and new design elements, such as your crew, canyon racing (actually performed illegally in the east) it finally shows that there is passion in EA's projects. And I can personally say that I have been seeing it across many of their games this year.
Talking Features There's so much brand new features in this game it is so difficult to explain them all. Many of you were able to get a bite out of the action from the Xbox Live Marketplace demo. Even online in CoD2 comments of the demo were in the positive and that is some good news. The best review can only come from the community and they are usually dead on.
Different from Need For Speed: Most Wanted is a slew of new vehicles, separated into three distinct classes: Tuner, Exotic, and my favorite, Muscle. I have been begging EA to put this in their NFS title since Most Wanted and it is finally here. From the past edition, this time Carbon introduces us to well over fifty vehicles and some are incredibly surprising. How EA got the license to include the vehicles is mind boggling, but they managed to put in some goodies that you'll be surprised about.
The horizon has also been detailed not only with new cars, but with the way they handle. It seems like, although Carbon is indeed an arcade racer at heart, there is so much more physics involved when jumping from the various styles of cars. While tuners definitely handle the best, on the opposite side you'll notice that the game's muscles are hardly the same. They can easily spin out if you take corners too fast and your brakes will actually lock up. It can be difficult going from one style of handling to a complete mirror image, but it is realistic. Odd to be in an arcade racer is not what we were thinking; instead, we believe it is a welcoming addition.
We dare not say that the handling is sim-like, because drifting is back in form - taking on it's own new mode. We'll go into detail about that later on. What EA Canada showed us was that you'll definitely be experimenting with different vehicles. For example, when playing with a tuner it smoothly took the corners nearly at top speeds, although braking into corners was required. When we did the same with muscle cars, we spun out easily and went back to thinking our strategy. After awhile, I began to take the corners by hitting the handbrake and easing my way out of corners. I found it extremely useful to even boost out of corners, which immediately centered your muscle car plus added that extra speed.
Razor is Out and the Canyon is In Scratch the blacklist. It's no longer a factor here. Instead, you'll be dueling it out for territories within this massive city and each territory has a different boss, set of races, cars - you name it. The variety keeps coming in the gameplay too you know. When we were told by EA Canada that territories had been thrown into the game we loved the idea. But after all of your hard work, you'll have to finally race a "boss," in the canyons. I'll be the first to admit that I was a skeptic of this entire idea, but once the actual canyon duel began it was an addiction.
The entire premise lies with the fact that you have to stay as close as possible to the car in front (it's one on one up here in the canyons). If you are skilled or lucky enough, you can pass your competitor and if staying ahead for around ten seconds, you automatically win the race. What happens if you don't pass him/her? Well, you end up as the lead car in round two and have to try to pull ahead as much as possible, not letting the same competitor pass you or get as close as you were to him previously. Not only is the whole thing brilliant, but it is nothing short of being intense - besides, if you say lock up your brakes, you can easily go over the cliff.
The Crew is Here to Help Think Rainbow Six but with cars. I always thought that a "squad-based" car game would be awesome and here it is. Indeed, EA's NASCAR titles have had squads in them, if you will, but not like this. There are blockers, scouts, and drafters - all playing a key role. First, you can only activate one particular wingman in a race at a time - so choose wisely. Starting with blockers, these guys can be ruthless and are willing to scrap their car for the benefit of the race. You activate any of the wingmen by pressing Y and in doing so, your blocker will ram into a car causing considerable mayhem so you can take the lead. It is especially useful on circuit tracks, especially if you fall behind and need to call your blocker to duty. You'll have to be reminded that, like your boost meter, after activation it takes time for your blocker to regain activation. A meter in the top left screen refills.
Drafters allow you to pull behind them for a period of time and this actually gives you a speed boost so you can whip right around him and hopefully your competition. They are especially helpful in the straights, so you don't have to worry about weaving around too much. Scouts, by far my favorite demonstration by EA Canada, don't have to be activated and have a streak of color behind them when racing. Their role is to find shortcuts, which in most cases, are not displayed on your map. With this particular wingman, you'll have to be incredibly attentive but at the same time don't want to get "stuck" on them. Besides, you'll want to pass the finish line yourself, won't you?
Autosculpting and Graphics With what EA Canada has shown us, the game is looking absolutely stunning. The car models are beautiful and spectacular, to say the least. On top of this, more stunning is that you can take any aftermarket part and completely mold it to your liking. For instance, you can install a side skirt, adjust it to be lower, wider, deeper - whatever. It is sensational. I love messing around with the spoiler, to get it to my exact specifications.
Along with the cars looking gorgeous, the city of Carbon Canyon takes place all at night. We hope that daytime fans are not disappointed, but illegal street racing usually takes place in the shadow of the night. We hope in the future that EA Canada implements an entire night and daytime cycle. And we hope that it is implemented for the next installment. With that out of the way, the city is beaming with colorful life, some sections tented in blue, others in various colors - all reminiscent of none other that SSX 3. That's right. The game takes on a definite artistic feel something that a lot of titles are missing or lacking.
Cops are Back and We're Looking Forward to It In the end, we are looking forward to the refurbished drift mode, canyon duels, the countless online options, and of course escaping the cops. There are more reasons for cops to come after you, so they won't do it without purpose. Most importantly, the game seems to shape up as one of the best free-roaming Need For Speed titles to date and boy are we excited about it. Click here to view the latest screens of NFS: Carbon.
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