I'm into cars, computing, ten-pin bowling, films. Varied musical taste, and I tend to like particul...
I'm into cars, computing, ten-pin bowling, films. Varied musical taste, and I tend to like particular tracks than a particular artist. I live in Durham, UK. Would like to move to the States in the not too distant future if I can wangle it. Have fun.
Member since:24.09.2002
Reviews:47
Members who trust:2
I have 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 not had a damage engine, bar the odd scrape and cracked window. I can't help but think that the car manufacturers put there foot down and said that they didn't want to see there cars getting damaged.
Carbon continues this theme, and the police chases are not as good as in the earlier Most Wanted title. What Carbon does introduce, is the addition of Crew Members, now you are not just a loner amongst the racers. Each available crew member has a particular skill, and whilst active, allow particular modifications to your car.
Skill set:
Blocker: A blocker will be obstructive to other racers.
Scout: A scout knows the shortcuts throughout the course
Drafter: A drafter will drive directly in front of you, sharing the air resistance so that both of you are faster
Cars:
Exoctic: Predominatley European cars, Aston Martin, Lambo etc.
Muscle: Predominately American, Mustang, Chrysler etc.
Tuner: Predominately Japanese, Mazda, Mitsubishi etc.
As in earlier titles, each zone has a Heat level, the higher the heat, the greater the police activity. What I don't quite understand is that the police cars get damaged throughout the chase, yet you can drive 100 mph into a wall and your car suffers a scratch. In Most Wanted, the police chases were a bit better.
In order for your crew to acquire new territory, you have to win races, of which you have following:
Sprint: Straightforward race from one point to another Circuit: Laps, normally two, of a circuit to race Checkpoint: Lone race through checkpoints in a time limit Drift: Score points by drifting around corners Speedtrap: An accumulation of speed recorded on cameras
In Carbon, the drag race is missing, but a new addition is the Canyon race which is a one on one race done in two stages. Firstly, you are following your opposition, as closely as possible without touching, or overtaking if possible. The closer you are, the higher the points you are given. In the second stage, the roles are reversed and you have to try to gain ground over your opponent. If after the two stages, your score is higher, you win.
The musical style in the game depends on the type of car you are driving, but the choice of tracks is a little limited.
With Carbon, the Autosculpt feature was introduced, giving you a little freedom to customise your modifications. If this feature was developed some more, I could see it being a killer app.
Maybe that the game doesn't work well with the x64 edition of XP, but the game keeps dropping the power on my PC, there doesn't seem to be any pattern, 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.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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.
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.
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
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