[11/28/2006] Need For Speed Carbon: Own the City

[Mooney]

Game: Need For Speed Carbon: Own the City

System: NDS

Emulators: NDeSmuME (Partially playable)

 

 

It seems EA has released yet another Need For Speed game with an ghetto/underground theme, proving that no matter how many ghetto racing games there are out there, more are always on the way. It's kind of getting to be like WWII games; there are so many, yet so few of them are worth playing. This latest game does not in anyway break away from that stereotype.

 

The story of NFSC: OTS is based around a car crash that involved you, your brother, and a mysterious car that no one can identify.It is kind of hard to tell from the rather poorly arranged and seemingly random cutscenes what was happening, but from what I could understand I believe that you and your brother were invloved in a 1 on 1 street race in which you were neck and neck for the win. Then, suddenly, another car raced up to you and caused you and your brother to crash. Apparently, you went in to a coma for 6 months, and came out with amnesia. Your brother died, and the mystery car got away. This is where your journey starts, on a quest to find out who it was that caused the crash, and to regain the territory lost after the "Lucky 7s," the group formerly led by your brother, broke up.

 

 

Graphics:

 

Have you played any other NFS game for the DS? If you have, then you have seen all there is to see graphics-wise. I'm not saying that the graphics are bad, I'm just saying they have not really changed them at all, except for the fact that everything looks darker. Sometimes, however, it gets too dark and some crazy shadow effect covers the road and you can't see where you are going or what's around you. Not that you're missing much; the buildings mostly have very simple colors and textures, but some have (rather annoying) flashing neon signs. The cars look fairly nice, especially when they're all pimped out. NFSC: OTS's set of cars is exactly the same as from NFSU2 with almost the exact same visual accessories. Still, you can make a car look pretty damn good. My only complaint with the accessories is for the hoods. Instead of getting cool things like scoops or scissors doors on your hood like you do in console versions, you just get covers that make your hood look like either red or gray chain-link fence. That's it. Those two. Other than that, though, they give you enough to make a cool car. The cut scenes comprise of slightly animated pictures which look like they were taken directly out of a Tony Hawk game. They're really not worth watching, unless you really really want to try to follow the story. The only new and/or cool thing in the game is the ability to customize your dash, the lower screen. You can choose between 3 styles for the general layout, a variety of instruments for measuring speed, nitro, etc., and your choice of speakers or toys. These things have no apparent impact on anything, other than they look nice.

 

 

Sound:

 

Don't you hate it when you're driving along, listening to music, getting into the groove, and it suddenly changes? Get used to that happening a lot in this game. The soundtrack, which does not stop playing or change once from the time you load the game till the time you shut down. Also, all of the songs seem to be either 1 minute long or shorter. After you have played the game for about 10 minutes, you have already heard every song at least twice. They are arranged in no distinguishable reason, so one minute you'll be listening to a hip-hop song, and the next an alternative song. Very few of the songs are good driving music, as they do not have good beats. The sound effects of the game are not great either. Most of the time your engine will make the same, annoying sound throughout an entire race. You'll randomly hear another car behind you, but when you look back or on your mini-map you won't see anyone for miles which is quite confusing.

 

 

Controls:

 

The controls seem to be much improved over the last few games. Either that, or I've gotten good enough to not hit the wall at every turn. The cars respond nicely to your commands, which makes it a heck of a lot easier to drive faster. Even when using nitro you have almost complete control over your car's movements. For the most part, you only use buttons for controls. The only time yo use the touch screen is when you want to call on your wing man. The only problem is that any button that was not assigned a function seems to have just been made into a brake button. You'll be reaching for nitro and you'll accidentally brake. Overall, however, the controls are laid out nicely and rather easy to understand.

 

 

Gameplay:

 

In the latest installment of the NFS series, EA introduces a number of new things. For game modes, there are still the classic sprint, circuit, and elimination races, but now there is also hunter, in which you slam your opponents to get points. It is clear that not much attention went into this mode, because the collision detection system is very poor. Sometimes you will hit your opponent side-on, which should give you 20 points, but instead it takes away 30. The next time you do the same thing, it'll give you 20. Wing men were also introduced in this game. Your wing man is either an "attacker" or a "drafter." An attacker will attack, as the name implies, any opponents who have managed to get ahead of you. A drafter will try to get ahead of you, then let out a trail of light that, if you follow it, will give you a boost of speed and refill your nitro. The annoying thing is that your wing man counts as a participant in the race, so if you call on him near the finish line, it will count you as finishing in, say, 2nd instead of 1st. Usually though the wing man is quite useful. The last new feature is your car's visual impact. The more stuff you put on it (spoilers, vinyls, etc.) the more bonus points you get after each race. Other than those, the gameplay is the same as in every previous game. It gets really repetitive after the first zone, and the game is only kept alive through the different tracks. The only real challeges are to avoid traffic and make the turns. The AI is not done very well, so you don't really have to fight for 1st. I see no reason for anyone to buy this unless it would be your first hand-held NFS.

 

 

 

Controls: 8

Gameplay: 6

Graphics: 8.5

Sound: 4

 

Overall Score: 6.5

 

Grade: D+

 

Overall I'd give this game a thumbs down.

 

P.S.

My 900th post!

Edited November 29, 2006 by Mooney

[L.S.D]

Lol, this game is worse than the PSP version.

 

And PSP version is already crap!

 

EA should just go flock themselves.

[Smilee]

Had no idea that they actually made it for DS. Good review by the way.

[Agozer]

Wow, I didn't think it would be that bad. Then again, it's on the DS so... btw, is Carbon good on any system?

 

Good review nonetheless.

[ken_cinder]

Yeah, nice review. And I doubt Carbon is good on any system, I have it for Xbox and the game SUCKS ASS! Carbon was just a money grab, there was no effort involved in making it. The graphics are a step down from previous games (I still think Underground 1 looks the best) and the driving goes over 3 notches to the ARCADE level, even drifting requires NO skill now.

[Smilee]

My brother has the 360 version and from what I can collect of it, it just has great graphics. Although I like seeing some of exotic cars in the game with body kits.

[Lucandrake]

Went to a friends house to play carbon for a bit, I still consider the series a POS.

[L.S.D]

POS?

[GodPigeon]

Good Review Mooney, I ALMOST bought this game but then i got to play Most wanted for the DS and saw that the graphics suck a$$. And now im sure of it. Thanx

 

POS?

Peice Of Sh1t

Edited November 30, 2006 by GoRDoOnE