Need For Speed series has been something which I never dared to miss. My desire was to write on Most Wanted, but there didn't exist a topic for the PC version. I had been taking the NFS challenges on right from the beginning, and it has now reached Carbon, and the street racing of the previous ... Read review
With a large map and plenty of races to keep you occupied, this effort from EA shows you ... more
fighting to take over the territory, with fast paced challenges from rival crews or set out races from drifting to grip, this game will keep you fighting for complete control up until the very end. The release date of Need for Speed Carbon was the 31st October 2006.
Advantages: Stylish cars, Drifting, Great graphics and cutscenes Disadvantages: No Drag race, Unable to beat Most Wanted, Too dark
Need For Speed series has been something which I never dared to miss. My desire was to write on Most Wanted, but there didn't exist a topic for the PC version. I had been taking the NFS challenges on right from the beginning, and it has now reached Carbon, and the street racing of the previous series continues in this one. NFS Most Wanted is still prefered by me over all the other available titles, and Carbon just gives me a chance to have a race ... ...Most Wanted. As we have seen throughout the history of NFS, almost all the titles have lived upto the hype, and so has Carbon, but for the first time, NFS asks for an external graphics card.
REQUIREMENTS
Windows XP/2000
Intel Pentium 4 1.7GHz or higher
64MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card
NVIDIA Geforce4 Ti/ATI Radeon 8500 or higher
Supported chipsets required
512MB RAM
DirectX ... more
Need For Speed series has been something which I never dared to miss. My desire was to write on Most Wanted, but there didn't exist a topic for the PC version. I had been taking the NFS challenges on right from the beginning, and it has now reached Carbon, and the street racing of the previous series continues in this one. NFS Most Wanted is still prefered by me over all the other available titles, and Carbon just gives me a chance to have a race at the night. But for everything else, I prefer Most Wanted. As we have seen throughout the history of NFS, almost all the titles have lived upto the hype, and so has Carbon, but for the first time, NFS asks for an external graphics card.
REQUIREMENTS Windows XP/2000 Intel Pentium 4 1.7GHz or higher 64MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card NVIDIA Geforce4 Ti/ATI Radeon 8500 or higher Supported chipsets required 512MB RAM DirectX compatible sound card 5.3 GB of HD space 8X or faster DVD Drive Keyboard and Mouse
ANOTHER ONE FROM EA Here comes Electronic Arts with another NFS game. Once again, you will have to race to gain fame and cash as well as to own a number of territories which are controlled by a number of rival gangs. These territories can be won by winning a number of races, but these gangs may challenge you again to win those territories back. There will also be boss battles, where you are to go against the leader of the gang to gain control of that territory completely. Just like the other NFS games, the rules are simple, race and win.
The new addition to the game is that you will be able to appoint some crew members in the game for some cash. But you will be able to use only one of them in each of the races. They will help you throughout the game, in finding shortcuts to win the game and blocking your opponents. Another option is Drafting in which they can help you to speed up by following them. But they will be effective only upto an extent, and you will have to manage the rest of the race all by yourself and your nitros. But still Carbon is not that hard a game, as long as there is no confusion created by these crew members.
SOME GOOD AND BAD NEWS The good news for the NFS gamers will be the return of the Drift racing which was missing from Most Wanted. This was the one reason which could have rated that one lower. This mode of racing involves sliding with the car without hitting the walls to gain points. The one with the most points after a certain number of laps, will be the winner. This was one of my favourite game modes, and my least favourite game mode will be the latest adition to the game, called Canyon racing.
These Canyon races can result in sudden endings because of the regular crashes down the canyon. It involves the player following the opponent first without falling behind, and then vice versa, and consider the points scored by keeping close to the leading vehicle. But if the following vehicle manages to overtake the leader it will result in an instant win for the overtaker, or instant win for the leader if the following vehicle falls too far behind.
The Drag race is eliminated from this version, even after so much success in the previous versions, and it was one game mode which required lots of concentration, and perfect timing for those shifting of the gears. I wonder if any other mode can be as quick and as interesting as this one had been in Most Wanted. But Carbon has managed to have a number of game modes of previous versions here, and they haven't undergone any evolution. Carbon has even taken over the speedbreaker effect to slow down the action from its predecessor, but I don't think that the option fits a racing game much.
The Circuit racing which involves racing for a number of laps, and Sprint which involves racing frrom a point to another point, are the two simplest of game modes. There is also the checkpoint mode to go through a number of checkpoints in a certain amount of time. The speedtrap involves being the fastest at certain points, but your score will be reduced if you are too slow to finish. Race Wars is another type of Circuit races to take part in this version. There are the cops after you almost all the time, and your chance to get busted comes again.
A FEW MORE TO ADD The car customization still exists in the game with the factors like engine, transmission, suspension, tires etc, and there are some of the most stylish cars to choose from, and to modify them. The unlocking of cars is considerably slow though. The use of police cars, SUVs and trucks to race from the quick race menu is quite interesting. As there is still no damage factor added, the user can just keep modifying and no repair. All the statistics will be stored this time, and the wins and losses record is always kept in the game to be accessed from the menu. This means that winning has just become more essential in the game to keep some better records.
The actor models used in the game remains impressive. This makes some good cutscenes through out the game, but I hate having too many flashbacks. They have changed the lead girl once again, but I prefered the previous one all the time. The graphics of the game is fantastic as one would expect, but in this case too, I prefer Most Wanted. The dark environment of the game doesn't make the game better, and there will be some areas where you won't be able to see the road clearly. This can be quite frustrating in those Canyon races, where one wrong move can end the game. The night factor makes this one look like racing at night in Most Wanted. The soundtracks are rocking and so are those sound effects.
Carbon is a very exciting way to spend your leisure time, but the game really lacks innovation. There is not much variation from Most Wanted, and the people who buy a new graphics card just for this game, will be disappointed. The game does keep the gamer engaged, but mose patience will be needed, and be prepared for the experience of driving in the darkness. I am rather confued if I should be recommending this game, but the NFS fans won't be able to avoid this one. Anyways, here is another game which could have been much better, and I am hoping for a big evolution in the NFS series next time. But I have managed to take some better screenshots from the game this time.
Advantages: Novel twists on some racing genres (if you haven't played NFS Most Wanted), good to unwind, decent soundtrack Disadvantages: Can be frustrating, you need a decent machine to really enjoy it, gets samey after a while
I love the Need For Speed series. I own pretty much all the games, and I love tricking a car out so that it performs really well. So it was with great glee I got my grubby little paws on Need For Speed Carbon around Christmas time. The game basically picks up where Need For Speed Most Wanted left off.
You start the game with a cut scene with Cross (the cop from NFS Most Wanted) chasing you to get the bounty. This is basically just a prologue to ... ...but trust me you will need a really meaty graphics card.
The game has similar cut scenes to NFS Most Wanted. A lot of them are rendered on the fly and this is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your system. They usually end up with a short video sequence that is pre-rendered, but for some of the minor cut scenes they can look appalling on low end machines. The acting in the game is kind of cheesy but this adds a kind of nice touch and ...
ayanayuk 26.02.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Need for Speed: Carbon (PC)
Advantages: Better graphics than it's predessors Disadvantages: Not as good cop chases, too dark
Need for speed carbon is the next in the series of street racing and pits you in a new city to take over. It blends many of the ideas from the previous games (most wanted and the undergrounds) and forms a condensed version for you to play through.
Gameplay:
The gameplay of need for speed carbon is very similar to that of most wanted (the previous game in the series) and the cars all handle in a similar fashion as before: Once you have upgraded ... ...handling of the cars in need for speed carbon is variable- At the start of your new career, you must choose a class: Muscle, Tuner or Exotic. I found the muscle car to be a complete waste of time; they may go fast but they really don't steer. I found the tuner category the easiest of the 3 to use as it strikes a balance between handling and speed. The addition of a crew is a bit strange. You are allowed to take a friend into a race to either provide ...
Mudchild 02.01.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Need for Speed: Carbon (PC)
Advantages: GRaphics, sound ,extras Disadvantages: high min req, and a bit dark
EA gaming….every guy's private time probably gets wasted infront of a Pc with an EA game running at full graphics and speakers/headphones are on full blast, this is not to hear the nagging of you know who but to enjoy the most out of whatever you are playing….lol
Well EA games launched their new game not to long ago NFS Carbon, and herewith my review of the every so talented EA studio game NFS Carbon.
First things first, let's look at the REQ for ... ...1.7GHz or higher
64MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card NVIDIA Geforce4 Ti/ATI Radeon 8500 or higher
Supported chipsets required
512MB RAM
DirectX compatible sound card
5.3 GB of HD space
8X or faster DVD Drive
Keyboard and Mouse
With computers running in the league of 2.8-4.0 GHz this doesn't look that bad and you would think that your Pentium 4 2.0 GHz would run this game, and that on-board graphics card should be fine, wel al the best ...
mariush123 23.06.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Need for Speed: Carbon (PC)
Advantages: New modification features, usual polished product Disadvantages: No damage engine, police chases better in Most Wanted
...played a lot of the Need for Speed games, (including the PSP variations there have been 16 games so far), and I have enjoyed them all. Back in 2000, I spent hours playing Porsche Unleashed, buying performance parts to squeeze an extra second or two from my lap times. All of the models through the history of Porsche were there, and approved by the manufacturer, there was a decent damage engine.
Unfortunately, more recent Need for Speed games have ... ...but this is the only game that does it.
All in all, a good game but not as great as it could have been. Roll on Need for Speed Pro Street, which I haven't played yet. When I do, I will write my review of that too. ...
Danneey 24.12.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Need for Speed: Carbon (PC)
Advantages: cool music, graphics, effects, tunable cars, many modes and race type, user friendly Disadvantages: simple line of story, rapid map of another NFS, rather difficult to gain money.
...to use wingman ability we need to fullfill the wingman bar. When we use the ability, the bar will be decreased, but when we deactivate and speeding, it will increased by it self. but, we must make sure to get close with our wingman to get the advantage effectively.
Actually, in this game we can go to the racing event by driving our car, or we can just jump to the event using the map. (same with going to safe house or car lot).
so much features ... ...have playing another series of need for speed, you will notice that some spot of the street in the cities were seen the same in the other NFS.
And I think the story lines rather simple. But, I don't care, it's fun to ride in the city with high speed (I have galardo with NOS,etc.) And police hardly catch me now. (I've been caught many times before, because the police using blockade and spike. I hate spike so much, it will blow our tires so it will ...
dragonex09 30.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Need for Speed: Carbon (PC)
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Reviews which might be of interest for "Need for Speed: Carbon (PC)"
Advantages: open-ended gaming on a portable device Disadvantages: very similar to NFS: Most Wanted on the PC
I bought this game at a kids' store in New York for about $40.
Last Christmas, I bought Need for Speed: Most Wanted Black Edition for the PC, and I must admit that while this game (Carbon) is thoroughly enjoyable, it felt extremely similar to the previous game (Most Wanted).
Sure, the cars are more or less the same, the body kits look fairly the same (with minor modifications), the rims are the same, the options for paint are somewhat limited and the overall map of the city is virtually identical to the one from Most Wanted.
However, in terms of the gameplay, this game does have its very strong points.
For one thing, there is a story line - predictable, but a story to follow, nevertheless.
Also, unlike Most Wanted 5.1.0 for the PSP, there is a "Free Roam" option, where you can just choose a car and drive all over the city ...
Product Information for "Need for Speed: Carbon (PC)" »
Product details
Age
3+
Publisher
Electronic Arts (EA)
Genre
Racing/Driving
Manufacturer's product description
The battle for the city is won in the canyon as Need for SpeedTM Carbon immerses you in the world's most dangerous and adrenaline-filled form of street racing.
For the first time in a Need for Speed game, build a crew and race in an all-out war for your city against rival crews and opposing car classes. You'll risk everything to take over rival neighborhoods one street at a time.
Each crew member has unique skills that you trigger during races to give you the winning edge over opponents. Call on a Blocker to create a distraction and slow down other racers or a Scout to lead you to shortcuts on the track.
As the police turn up the heat and force the races to the outskirts of the city, the battle ultimately shifts to Carbon Canyon, where territories and reputations can be lost on every perilous curve.
Use your creativity to design your crew's cars with the revolutionary new AutoscupltTM car customization tool that gives you the power to turn every vehicle into the car you've always wanted.
Represent your car class, your crew, and your streets in Need for Speed Carbon, the next revolution in racing games
Features:
Survive the Canyon - Leave the streets to battle rival bosses in the canyons outside the urban center. All-new Canyon Duel and Drift race modes are the ultimate test of skill and nerve, where one wrong turn could cost you more than the race.
The City Is Yours for the Taking - Race for control of the city block-by-block by taking down rival crews on their turf, then defeat their crew leaders in life-or-death races in Carbon Canyon.
Customize Your Dream Car - The revolutionary new AutosculptTM car customization tool gives you the power to design and morph your car in every way imaginable.
Represent a Class - Affiliate with the Tuner, American Muscle, or Exotic car classes and prove once and for all who makes the best set of wheels. A new physics model makes each car handle and drive differently.
Build Your Crew - Strategically choose your crew members and use their skills on the road and in your garage to help you win races and customize your cars. Designate any member of your crew as a wingman and trigger his special skill to knock out your rivals.
Over 50 Real-World Licensed Cars - Every car is tuneable so you can customize their look and performance to suit your crew.