Need for Speed: Carbon (Xbox 360) Review
Posted by Chris McCarver on 11.09.2006
Fill your NOS tanks, boyos, for EA's seminal street-racing series returns.
Platform: Xbox 360 (also available for Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube, and PC)
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Black Box
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Violence)
Release Date: October 31, 2006
Review by CHRIS McCARVER
Since the 2003 release of Need for Speed Underground, EA's seminal auto-racing series has been forever entwined with the tuner culture that inspired that particular entry. Thus far, all three titles following Underground (two with handheld spin-offs) have adhered to this theme, adding onto it with sandbox-grade gamescapes and new sort of races to gun your tricked-out economy clunker through. We now focus our attention to the latest iteration of the NFS franchise, Need for Speed Carbon. And while I am going to pick this game apart to see what's under the hood, I'm not going to try to figure out what the name means.
Graphics
The graphics will likely be the first thing most will notice about this game, as this title is damn pretty. All the car models in this game look authentic to their real-life counterparts and utterly beautiful in their own right, especially on the 360. New to Carbon is the addition of musclecars and exotic foreign sportscars. So, yes, your tricked-out Mazda RX7 can go nose-to-nose with a '67 Camaro or an '04 Lamborghini Murcielago. In addition to all of the external body modification you can subject your car to, the game comes equipped with an "autosculpt" feature that allow the player to morph portions of the car's body, which significantly adds to the uniqueness of each player's ride.
The cars look even better when not in park, as watching these machines tear through the gamescape has a sense of speed coming just shy of rivalling that of their sister racing series, Burnout. The game's graphics engine rattles the camera and blurs the surroundings at high speeds, making the player feel as though they really are hauling tailgate through West Coast suburbia at 140 mph with your thumb firmly jammed on the NOS. If I had only one complaint about the car models, it's that, once again, damage modeling is kept to a minimum, usually only involving scratched paint and cracked windows, and that's after I ran a race like Michelle Rodriguez after happy hour just to see how the damage modeling would hold up.
Continuing a trend commenced in Need for Speed: Most Wanted, the game's cutscenes are a combination of CG imagery with real-life human actors added in. The meshing of live-action and computer graphics is a bit less forced this time around but still reminds one of those earlier (and often crappy) attempts at throwing FMV into a video game. At least the actors are of a bit higher of a calibre this time around, with a cast headlined by model-actress Emmanuelle Vaugier and Tahmoh Penikett (Lt. Karl "Helo" Agathon from "Battlestar Galactica"), even though many of them look a little too blow-dried and catalog-model perfect for being street-racing gearheads. The characters don't only make appearances as their flesh-and-blood selves; occasionally the cast does voiceovers for very nicely animated CG character models.
The background environments are fairly nicely detailed, but, in a departure from Most Wanted, all of the levels are portrayed in the nighttime hours, though thankfully devoid of the rainy street gloss Underground made infamous. Also, in addition to the standard suburban and inner-city environs, the game now allows you to race on canyon roadways, and yes, you can accidentally end a race very quickly and unfavorably by running your ride off a cliffside.
Gameplay
This game might well have simply been called Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2, because Carbon is a direct continuation of the storyline from Most Wanted. You take control of the same nameless, voiceless street racer from the previous game through whose eyes you view the cutscenes. In apparent addition to all the mayhem he caused in Most Wanted, the driver has apparently stirred up a hornet's nest in a whole new den of street-racing scum called Palmont City. Upon your return following a dodgy end to a race that caused you to earn the scorn of nearly everyone in the circuit, you find yourself in hock with Darius (played by Penikett), one of the local race bosses, after he rescues you from Cross, the relentless cop from the previous game who is now a bounty hunter after losing his job on the Rockport police force. Darius and his girlfriend Nikki (Vaugier) charge you with restoring your reputation (and paying Darius back) by facing all of the local street-racing gangs and taking over their territory.
The story, which is actually somewhat addictively engaging, acts as a framework for the game's career mode, in which you have to complete a number of races of various types. Winning each race nets the player a wad of cash and the unlocking of modification parts for your car that enhance either his mechanical performance or outward aesthetics. By now, you're likely saying to yourself, "So, Chris, isn't this just what every Need for Speed game has been since Underground?" Yes, but EA's not from the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of game development.
The big news here is the addition of racing crews, members of which you unlock during gameplay. A single member of your crew, at your selection, will join you in the race for the purposes of aiding you. The crewmembers come in three flavors: "blockers" that ram opponents off the road on command, "scouts" that find every hidden shortcut and triggerable obstacle on the course, and "drafters" that travel the optimal line in the course. And in case you're worried about your wingmen winning the race and dumping you in second place, fear not. As long as either you or your crewmember finish first, the cash and unlockables are still yours. In addition, certain crewmembers offer gameplay bonuses such as modifiers to cash rewards or your nitrous meter. Only one downside to the crews: quite frankly, the characters themselves can be quite annoying to listen to. And with as much audio chatter as you're going to hear from them and as few game modes wherein they aren't present, that's a lot of annoyance.
The selection of race types has been altered a bit. In addition to the traditional circuit and sprint races, drift racing makes its return to the franchise (having not been offered since NFS Underground 2), as do checkpoint and speedtrap races, the former previously called "tollbooth" races in Most Wanted.. Knockout and drag racing appear to be excised from the lineup, but an interesting new race format, called "canyon duel," has taken their place. Canyon duels, confined to showdowns between gang bosses, involve a two-heat run wherein first the player plays follow-the-leader with the opponent, racking up points according to the distance closed between them. In the second heat, the opponent follows the player's car with his distance from the player being deducted from the player's point total. The player wins if he can build up enough points in the first run and the opponent doesn't drain those points to zero in the second. Also, if in either heat the follower overtakes the leader for a minimum of ten seconds, the leader automatically loses the event.
The local constabulary once again poses something of a detriment to your street-racing goals as, both in the middle of races and just roaming around the city, the cops can be alerted to your presence and start dogging you. The longer they pursue without you evading them, the worse the pursuit gets, up to and including spike strips and increasingly larger and more aggressive police vehicles. Fortunately, players get the option of triggering traps, such as collapsible scaffolding and so forth, that can halt the pursuit. Evading the police in this game is equal parts skill and luck, and sometimes the amount of manpower being sent after you is so bloody ridiculous that you'll quickly get tired of running and be begging to just get it over with.
Sound
The soundtrack of this title is something of a departure for the usual NFS batch of licensed techno, rock, and hip-hop. While the game's music selections do contain a fair chunk of those genres and the selections are wide and varied, those tracks are confined to playback during free-roam mode. During actual races and police chases, the game's soundtrack switches to an instrumental score somewhat reminiscent of a Jerry Bruckheimer action movie. The race music actually enhances the experience somewhat and further perpetuates the cinematic feel of the game. Also of note in terms of the game's music selection is that one of the FMV cast is J-pop performer Melody (who portrays crew member Yumi), who also contributes a remix one of her songs to the game.
As stated earlier, flesh-and-blood actors perform most of the cutscenes, but there is a fair amount of voiceover work during the races. Your wingmen will shoot out quick audio bites during a race, either to encourage, to deride if you're lagging behind, or to offer advice as to incoming racers or hidden shortcuts. The acting is above average even though the dialogue scripting is fairly cliched and substandard, despite the capable crafting of the game's plotline.
Lasting Appeal
Carbon's offline career mode is fairly varied and extensive, and the racing is challenging enough to keep people going from race to race. The game will undoubtedly appeal to completion gamers who want to unlock all the game's available cars and parts. In addition, NFS: Carbon has a rather addictive and engaging storyline with a fair amount of mystery and plot-twisting, even if the characters' dialogue is a bit hammy. The combination of gameplay variety coupled with a surprisingly interesting storyline for a racing game makes for a lengthy level of appeal, which is to say nothing about the game's online capabilities.
Most of the game's race modes, including running from the cops, can be played in multiplayer format over Xbox Live. The game's XBL functionality includes two exclusive game modes, Pursuit Knockout (the last-placer in each lap becomes a cop car who must take down the other racers) and Pursuit Tag (everyone drives cop cars except one who's "it"; whichever cop car takes him down becomes "it" and switches roles). In addition, players can take snapshots of their cars to be submitted via XBL to EA's NFS: Carbon website for pure show-off purposes.
Fun Factor
Need for Speed: Carbon is actually a very deep racing game with a lot of variety in the selection of cars, styles of racing, available cars, and ability to modify those cars to your heart's content. The story is something of a draw and a bit less over-the-top than Most Wanted, though those just looking for a decent racing title may find the narrative more of a hindrance than an asset. One might also argue that the sacrifice of the previous game's drag and knockout modes is a bit of an unfair trade-off, even if the canyon duel is a rather nifty innovation. And on a personal note, I loved the hell out of playing the traffic cops all the way back in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, and I think it's a bit of a disappointment that bit of gameplay has been excised from the game's offline career mode.
The 411
Need for Speed: Carbon is yet another entry in a franchise that has become for street-racing what Madden has for football. (No snickering, please.) Carbon manages to keep the core gameplay of the previous games while adding a few new innovations. While arguably the crew element and the storyline in the game's career mode is something players could do without, the driving action is the best this side of a Vin Diesel movie. It's not the brightest or best street-racing game, but it will undoubtedly make someone's top five.
Graphics
9.0
Brilliantly authentic car models, cutscene FMV a small step up from the last game, sense of speed enhanced by visual effects
Gameplay
8.5
Huge variety of race modes, high level of car modification, crew element adds a new layer of strategy
Sound
8.5
Nice licensed soundtrack in addition to action-movie style score during races, capable voicework despite sometimes hammy script
Lasting Appeal
8.5
Lots of unlockables, variety of game modes extends to XBL play, above average storyline for a race title
Fun Factor
8.0
Deep and fast-paced, story may be too over the top for some, some game modes from the last game failed to make the cut
