NASCAR 2001

"The popular NASCAR series makes its way to the PS2"

The very popular NASCAR series by Electronic Arts has finally made its way to the PS2. Fans of the series will be pleased with the in-depth gameplay, realistic graphics, and incredible replay value that NASCAR 2001 has to offer.

Gameplay (8/10):

NASCAR 2001 consists of three difficulty settings: Rookie, Veteran, and Legend. Rookie difficulty is perfect for a first time owner of this series or for people who want to get a feel for the racing controls. Veteran difficulty is a great for the seasoned veteran who has mastered the rookie difficulty setting or for someone who want to jump right into highly competitive racing action. Legend difficulty, I feel, is a little too hard to race. The only tracks that could be won on Legend difficulty is Daytona or Talladega. All others are almost impossible to win. One advantage of playing on Legend is the opportunity to race against the other drivers that make decisions based on real-life tendencies and abilities.

Electronic Arts have added the most popular track, Daytona International Speedway, to NASCAR 2001. They also included 11 other NASCAR Sanctioned tracks such as Darlington Raceway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, and Bristol Motor Speedway. The only downside is the number of tracks. Electronic Arts left out many trademark tracks that have made NASCAR the most popular spectator sport. Pocono Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, and North Carolina Speedway are some of the popular tracks they left out. They also included 35 of the top NASCAR drivers in this game.

The damage physics in NASCAR 2001 are great. As you bump and grind your way during the race, you will leave doughnuts on the opponent's door panel. Parts of your race care will actually fly off. For example, hard contact between the wall and the right-front of the car will result in the quarterpanel being torn completely off. Damage also affects the car's top speed and handling. A crushed front end won't be good if you're racing at Daytona or Talladega. Also, your car's engine could breakdown and catch on fire and send tons of smoke in the air.

One characteristic that hurts this game is the unrealistic crashes. For instance, I was racing at Daytona and I crashed with Dale Earnhardt Jr. . He was flipping end-over-end down the front straightaway. He was still in the race. In fact, he didn't even go a lap down! I was very disappointed with this lack of realistic racing.

On a different note, the addition of a 20-car field puts NASCAR 2001 well ahead of the competition. Hopefully, in the next installment of the NASCAR series, there will be a bigger field of cars on the track to simulate the feel of real NASCAR action.

Graphics (7/10):

The biggest downside to the great car graphics was the frame rate slow down. During a race, if you decide to look at your rear-view mirror, the frame rate drastically slows down. It slows down to a point where the game looks like it has PSOne graphics. This is definitely the biggest downfall of the game.

The game looks incredibly good when you race with the In-car view. The camera view is perfect. A ton of detail has been put into this camera angle. Included in the drivers seat is part of the roll cage, steering wheel, car information on the dashboard, plus many other things.

The Interactive Pit Stops are back once again. After you select your pit options, your pit crew goes to work on your car. Electronic Arts has even added detailed pit crew animations such as the gas man switching gas cans or the jack man adding wedge to the car. This year, there isn't a way to get your crew to work faster. Last year's edition allowed you to press certain button combos to get out of the pits in first. It was a clever way to make pit stops challenging but, obviously, Electronic Arts thought different.

For the first time in the NASCAR series, NASCAR 2001 offers night races at several different tracks, such as Daytona, Richmond, and Bristol. The racing action at night looks just like it does on TV.

The lighting effects on the race car were good up to a point. At night, the cars reflect the light from the series of lights atop the grandstands. During the day, the sun reflects off of the cars. It truly is a spectacular site. Although those effects look beautiful, the light that is reflected off the damaged part of the car look unrealistic. Sure the damaged sections of the car are highly detailed, the light that is reflected looks the same as if it weren't damaged. Another mistake by Electronic Arts.

Sound (9/10):

The sound effects on this game are great. The sound of the engine, the squeal of the tires on the pavement, and the banging of sheet metal. The music on NASCAR 2001 are just a bunch of country songs. The type of music that was on the other NASCAR games in this series.

Replay Value (8/10):

The unlimited amount of seasons you could play on this game makes the replay value high. You could play as many seasons as you want, plus you could play a season in two-player mode on the game. The features of NASCAR 2001 should keep you playing for months or until the next edition of the NASCAR series comes out.

Rent or Buy?:

This issue all depends on the type of person you are. For the die-hard race fan, this is a must buy. For the average fan, I suggest that they rent the game to see if they enjoy it. It's better to spend $5 to rent than to buy it for $50 and find out you don't like it.

Overall Rating (8/10):

Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 9/10
Replay Value: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/20/01, Updated 06/20/01