Races are split up into the classic Circuit, Drift, and Duel varieties which play out in territories which are split into several sub-territories. In each of these sub-territories you’ll participate in something like four races which need to be won to progress further in the game. Like most racing games you just race the same race over and over until you win. After all the races are won in all of a territory you then face a boss who has some new tricks up his sleeve.


Emanuelle Vaugier held captive.
Then there’s the new Crew feature. Drafters help you boost during a race, Scouts find shortcuts, and Blockers actually block opponents during a race. None of them are particularly helpful and for the most part ruin some of the fun that is NFS. A lot of the time their AI screws up and keeps you from winning and other times they make a race so easy it feels like cheating. It’s an interesting experiment I hope will not appear in next year’s version.


All about the Crew.
Coming off the heat from this year’s Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift, EA has seen fit to include drifting into the game this time around. It’s odd when you enter these races because the entire physics engine changes and you truly feel it. It goes from the NFS slightly upgraded arcade like physics to those of a slightly more refined racer. Thankfully though, if you hate these kinds of races you won’t see many of them in Carbon.

In the online arena those with next-gen machines win this time around as they get to race online with up to eight opponents. You can play in two types of matches with a large amount of variations. Also there are a few four player co-op courses to try your hand at that really spice up the online play.
Graphics & Sound PC vs PS2 vs XBOX 360
On the PC and 360 things look extremely crisp and on the cusp of being next-gen. All the cars look amazing both stock and Auto-Sculpted. Environments have a lot of realism by way of mountains and foliage. The effects also add a whole other level of realism. On the PS2 everything here is present just in low-poly and heavily filtered texture form. From the effects from the cars to the voice-acting everything sounds great on all three platforms.



Nice and smooth... at least on the car.

Overall it’s a great addition to the series for fans and probably a decent rental for most. While things have been upgraded and new elements added on, it’s still NFS and it still gets repetitive and boring after awhile. It’s like EA’s Madden of racing.

• Online racing for next-gen
  
• Upgraded graphics
  
• The ladies

• Still repetitive after awhile
  
• Crew is retarded