NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup

"EA overhauls the NASCAR Series"

It was only three years ago that NASCAR Thunder 2002 came out and overhauled EA Sport's NASCAR games. I guess EA wasn't happy enough with the results of the Thunder games, and we now have NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup.

Gameplay - The car handles well enough. Papyrus fans are going to complain about how unrealistic it is, but when you're dealing with a game controller, and not a steering wheel, physics will have to be made more arcade-like. One problem that people have is that once you start Fight to the Top, you cannot change the difficulty settings in it.

Story - This is the main thing that has changed this year from the Thunder series. In 2002, you bought upgrades in career mode. In 2003, that was advanced a large amount, and you had to do Research and Development to build a better team. 2004 brought us Shop Additions. This year, we get 3 new series, an overhauled interface, and pretty much nothing is the same as it was last year. You start off in a race against Ryan Newman in Dodge Vipers, if you win, he will sign you to drive for his Featherlite Modifieds team. This is where you start your fight to the top. It continues on from there, you can sign to drive cars, start your own racing teams, hire drivers, and more.

Graphics - Not much of an improvement in the graphics department over last year. The most noticeable change is the clouds now appear more three-dimensional. Papyrus fans will complain about the graphics, they aren't quite NASCAR Racing 2003 Season caliber.

Sound - The sound isn't great, but it's a major improvement over last year. They hooked up several microphones inside a car to record the engine sound for this game. They did this with each individual car in the game, all four racing series, and the eight production cars.

Replayability - This game will definitely keep you busy for a while. Fight to the Top will take you at least two seasons to get a NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship, and that's if you are winning almost every race. If you are winning every race, it's going to get boring, bump up the difficulty level.

Recommendation - If you are a Papyrus fan, or hate EA, rent it first to see if you like it. If you aren't a big NASCAR fan, I would also recommend renting it. If you are a hardcore NASCAR fan, I would recommend buying it. I've been waiting on this game since April, so I ran out and bought it. Keep in mind that this is the first year for the new NASCAR games, so things are still being tested. Think of this as a beta year. Things people dislike and things people want will probably be added for NASCAR 2006.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/13/04