Need for Speed Carbon

"Fun for a while but loses that... edge"

Alright I'm gonna try not to reveal too much storyline (not that there is much of one)

-- Graphics 9/10
The game looks wonderful. That much is true. The main storyline characters are wonderful. The cars are wonderful. Everything thing else is... okay.
More then a few times my screen was covered with a piece of junk on the road I hit (and this part bugged me) the textures on them were extremely sub-par. For something I'd be checking out often I'd expect at least a halfway decent texture.

-- Sound 8/10
Unlike most EA games (with about 80 songs in their play list.) Carbon only had about 8 songs in each genre (three genres in all) and 90% of the time your listening to the "EA composed music" which they play during pretty much all the races and pursuits.

-- Difficulty 7/10
In the beginning of the game you can win pretty much every single race without trying. Midway through the game. You can still win without trying. Last few races of the game. Damn near impossible. It doesn't even have a build to the difficulty. Just goes from too easy to European Extreme.

-- Storyline 1/10
This is the part the irked me the most. The game starts off with some intense action. You total your car. and are left with nothing. That's pretty much how it begins and ends. The story is spit at you every 20 races or so and then left behind like a dead squirrel.

-- Gameplay 7/10
Let's see... Less traffic on the roads (six cars if your lucky and I mean six cars at all) Tacked on Police Chases, A one in a thousand chance of seeing another racer for a free roam challenge, and the autosculpt is over-hyped.
But it's still fun somehow. The game just has a flow to it.

-- Conclusion
Rent this game. DON'T buy it. It gives you about 2 hours of game play.
Maybe 4 if you spend 2 hours in just free roam.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/21/06