NASCAR Thunder 2003

"NASCAR at its best!"

Ah, finally, this game has come. This game has been eagerly anticipated by me. I have had high hopes for this game, and it delivered in every way possible. EA did it again, they have become the best sport making game company out there. This game is loaded with features to keep everyone happy for a long time. You have your basic Race modes, like Quick Race and season is there. Career mode is back. This is where you take control of a racing team and control every aspect for 20 years and try to set up your Dynasty. Lightning Challenges are where you are put in a situation and you must complete what you objective is. This is also where you unlock secrets for the game. The options let you tweak the game on how you like to race (3 different difficulties, Rookie, Veteran, and Legend, pretty much self explanatory) and everything like that. Create-a-car is wonderful, you can customize everything, even the sponsors you will bear on your car. And also, for single player, a 43 car field, YES! I am in love with this game, and by the end of this review, you will be ready for it also. ONWARD!

GAMEPLAY: 10/10

This game gets it done. It simulates NASCAR perfectly. You feel like your driving at 190 when your going 190. The sense of speed in this game is great, you will feel a difference when something is wrong with your car. Speaking of that, you will encounter problems in the game if you don't race right. Say you take contact, you will be affected by it and might not go as fast as you would with no damage. This is very important to understand because you may think it is great to spin someone out, but the damage you take, you will soon see cars flying past you and you will get mad. (please, take my word, not fun hint hint) Also, sometimes it won't be you making the mistake, when you pit, maybe your pit crew has something go wrong. Yes, that's right, your pit crew can screw up. Everything else along the lines of gameplay are fantastic, the best ever done, so far. If you like crashing, you won't be disappointed here. The crashes in this game are amazing and look very real, they look just like one from a real NASCAR race.

GRAPHICS: 10/10

WOW! This game looks great. The cars and everything look tip top. The tracks are beautiful, cars, the people, everything! It just looks amazing. When you crash, you get the full effect, you see the cars flying by and flipping or spinning, you get smoke that looks like real smoke in your windshield, they look great. the graphics here really add to this game, making it better, and I usually don't care for graphics.

CONTROLS: 10/10

What can I say? I had doubts about how this game would handle the Gamecube controller. I put those doubts to rest when I got the game. They are perfect. This game is very responsive, so when you turn to left, you will see your car turn to left immediately. No complaints.

MUSIC/SOUND: 10/10

The music on the menus, I love, they set the mood for a race. Nicely done here EA, nicely done. The sounds are tremendous for this game. Your engine sounds just like a real race cars. When you shift up and down, you here the sound change in the motor. When you hit the breaks, you can hear a change in speed. When your spinning and in a crash, everything is down perfectly. You hear the screeching, the sound of metal against metal, rubber burning, even fire crackling. It all sounds legit. Another plus to this wonderful game.

STORY LINE: 10/10

I guess you can call the lightning Challenges a story. And since you can, They are great. So they get a 10 too :P.

RE-PLAYABILITY: 10/10

This game will last a long time for me. I love it, there is so much to do, it's going to take a long time to get everything. Multi-player is great also. Up to 4 players. A 19 car field, not as good as 43, but oh well, that's tough to do on a console. This game is great and you will play for a long time.

Buy or Rent

BUY. You will not regret the lost 50 dollars you spend, as it is worth every penny. Even the casual racer, not just the hard core NASCAR fan, will love it. So go pick it up.

LAST WORDS

NASCAR THUNDER 2003 is a wonderful game, that plays just like real NASCAR. This is a must have. So go get it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/25/02, Updated 09/25/02