Need for Speed Carbon

"Great customization and ideas for racing, but lacking some things"

I've played every Need for Speed so far, and my favorite remains to be Hot Pursuit 2, because it was the most recent game that allowed you to be the cop. Then there was Underground, which lacked cops, but was big on customization. Then there was Most Wanted, like a combination of Underground 2 and Hot Pursuit 2. Like Most wanted was a combination of the two series, Carbon is too (with a couple new features), but honestly, it's more towards the Underground series (customization).

Story (9/10):
Not much is known or revealed about your story in the game that fast. All you know is that Cross is still after you from Most Wanted, and apparently, you started your career in this city (Palmont City). The story was interesting because you had to think for yourself what really happened, and who did it, and there were many twists and turns along the way.

Gameplay (7/10):
I found the gameplay most lacking in this game. Sure the new Canyon races and duels, the new drift system, and the better customization is all fine and dandy, but there are some things missing. The police pursuits are horrible; the fun of running away from cops and trying to outsmart them in Most Wanted barely goes over to this game. The highest pursuit level is 5, and honestly, there's not much difference between 4 and 5; they both have spike strips and rhinos and roadblocks, but 5 doesn't offer anything new, just faster police vehicles. That means no more police helicopters. The one part of pursuits I did find enjoyable was being able to drive even after hitting the spike strips, which usually didn't help anyway. The customization is good, but there are still plenty of things that could have been done, such as custom color window tints, change headlights/taillights, etc. And the autoscuplt is kind of lacking, because you'll never get near to any of the body kits, only because you can't widen your car with autoscuplt. The new canyon racing was also fun, but I was disappointed when they replaced the breakable yellow barrier in the canyons with stone walls during canyon sprints and canyon checkpoints, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of it. The new drifting system was also good, because now you can still get points if you crash, and can multiply your score up to 20 times. This game also improves the performance upgrades from Most Wanted, meaning that your starting car will never be as powerful as, say, a Lamborghini. The crew was also a nice addition, what it basically does is you employ a person to do a task in a race, ex. you employ a person to take out the opposition, or to find shortcuts. Free Roam was kind of disappointing, mainly because it would great if the highway went in a big circle, like in Most Wanted, for better pursuits, but it doesn't. Either way, Free Roam is bigger than in Most Wanted. The challenge series was also kind of disappointing, because most of the challenges were races, as opposed to the bigger balance between races and pursuits in Most Wanted.

Graphics (9/10):
Good, especially when they do the previews of the canyon you're about to race in, but other than that, it's everything you'd expect in this type of game: smooth cars and a smooth road.

Sound (5/10):
One word to describe it: horrible. The music in Most Wanted was much better, because at least they had some better-known bands, but in this game, I have neither heard of any of these bands nor liked any of this songs, except maybe one or two (just slightly). Definitely not the music you'd want to race to.

Replay (6/10):
Not much point in replaying this game, because there's not much you can get done in your second run that you didn't get in your first run, except for pink slips or some reward cards. You can, however, start with a different car, but eventually, you'll still be able to shift between different car classes, which means you don't have to stay "loyal" to your class.

Overall, I'd rent if you haven't played Most Wanted, but just buy if you have, because you probably won't be as disappointed in some things as me.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07