Twenty0ne

Despite a lot of negative opinions floating around about Need for Speed Carbon, I decided to pick up the game to check it out for myself. That was a decision I won't soon regret.

Onto the Gameplay. The customization is great; there is a very large number of parts and accessories to customize your car with. It seems to be second only to Midnight Club: Dub Edition in this aspect. I was also very pleased to see more cars in Carbon than in Most Wanted. Many people disliked the cut scenes in Carbon for being too "corny," but I felt the opposite. They seemed to get me more into the game, and make me want to beat my rival racer, Darius, even more. They also kept me playing the game to see how the story would pan out in the end. Overall, it was nice to play a racing game that had a story line of some kind. Next, I liked what EA did with the new "crew mechanics." During almost every race in Need For Speed Carbon, you will have a crew member that will race with you and either set blocks, show you short-cuts, or let you draft off of them. This idea was pulled very well into the storyline, and I liked having some help during the races; whether setting a block so I could cruise into first before the finish line, or drafting to get enough speed in a "speed trap race." The sound in the game was as expected, and the soundtrack, though not as spectacular as Most Wanted, still lived up to expectations.

Need for Speed Carbon isn't a perfect game, however. To put it plain and simple: the police chases were worthless, and not as well integrated as in Need For Speed: Most Wanted. In Carbon, it seems like you work hard to evade the cops and in turn rack up a lot of "bounty," but your bounty is worthless and doesn’t help you in any shape, way, or form in "career mode." As in Most Wanted, the random pink slip marker got on my nerves. I always hate working my butt off to beat a boss, and have to start over because I didn’t pick the pink slip marker that weilds the rivals car. The tier system also felt somewhat broken. In Carbon, cars were seperated into three tiers based on their stats, and I found it hard to transition between the three. For instance, sometimes in the game you would have a tier two car and race tier three cars, which made it hard at points in the game to get enough money to purchase a solid tier three car. But despite its downfalls, Need For Speed Carbon is still a decent follow-up to Need For Speed: Most Wanted, and a must-buy for fans of the series.