Generalities

The new NFS Carbon carries the high adrenaline police chasing from Most Wanted, although the cops aren't so aggressive as before, and if you choose to play by jumping to the major events via the map, you will encounter it only several times. Over 30 licensed models are offered to the player, cars you can buy if you earn sufficient fonds or win different events. Three is the number of car types, from which the player can make a pick, and they are: tuners, exotic and muscle. Each type of car is divided into three tiers (tier 1,tier 2, tier 3 ), with "tier 3" bringing you the fastest car lot available and the most advanced tuning parts.

Cars

In the career mode, which still remains the core of the game, you can choose at the beginning from the three car types enumerated above (muscle, exotic, tuners). Depending on your initial choice, as you progress in the game you will be able to unlock different cars and parts predominantly from the initial selected car type; but you will also be allowed to buy stuff from the other two types. The biggest difference between these classes of cars, is the handling. Being an arcade racing game you cannot demand a realistic handling, but still some major differences in handling between these cars are necessarily. So if you choose tuners type, you will have the best cars from the handling point of view. From Mazda 3 to Mitsubishi Eclipse, Subaru Impreza, every important Japanese constructor is represented. Choosing an exotic model, you will get cars that handle like in Hot Pursuit 2 , with cars being heavier and more powerful than tuner models. An impressive display of these cars is offered to the player, ranging from Mercedes 500 CLK to Lamborghini Murcielago, Porsche Carrera GT.

The last category to choose from is the muscle type; a unique type of cars in NFS series. If in NFS Undergound 2, EA decided to introduce the SUV class (without any success), in Carbon different gameplay is offered through muscle cars. These cars have the worst handling in comparison with the other two classes of cars, but this not necessarily means no fun is involved driving this bucket-fuel-eater at one go. For those of you who are used to play rally games, the handling of muscle cars is similar to that type of driving (you have to corner before the curve starts and you will exit the curve almost every time with a huge slide). These beasts are the toughest but also the most powerful cars from the whole game. You can find here classics like Chevy Camaro SS and Plymouth Barracuda or new models like Chrysler 300 and the Dodge Challenger Concept.

Autosculpt

The concept of tuning is present again in this latest sequel of NFS, and feels more evolved than in Most Wanted. Although sometimes, the aftermarket parts are looking more refined than any autosculpt part, the latter gives you the opportunity to change the length, width and angles of different components. This feature can really show its power on the rims design and the multiple designs that can be achieved from a single part. In the beginning, the idea behind autosculpt was to fabricate unique parts, and the way you do that is to modify basic parts by changing different parameters, and that makes kinda big the word "unique".

Racing

So what can you do with these cars? The answer is, racing around a new virtual town called Palmont City. The good part is that you can jump automatically from one race to another on your map, rather than be forced to drive from one race to another like on past occasions. This makes the career to last aprox. 15 hours of gaming, but if you wish to unlock all the parts and vinyls and cars, you must find all the hidden races in the city and complete all the races in challenge mode. Besides the circuit, sprint and checkpoint races, there are also speedtrap and canyon races. Now the speedtrap races were first seen in Most Wanted so it's not something new, but canyon races is what Carbon is all about. These races take place in the Carbon canyon and are different from classic ones especially because of the track design. The road is much narrow and full of hairpins. These tracks require more attention because your car could exit the road ( race over). On the canyon roads you must race against others or against their boss, with a third party factor the canyon itself. The goal of the race is not necessary to overtake your opponent but to score as many points as you can, which can be done by keeping the distance to minimum from your opponent and taking into consideration that you start the race way behind your opponent. If you can overtake him and resist for 10 seconds, then you have won the duel. If you couldn't overtake him, but you have scored enough points, you can continue to the second race of the duel, where you start in front of your opponent. While the canyon tracks are quite tricky, the opponents are not so aggressive on these tracks. You will get the chance to overtake them if you have a good car. Let's not forget the drift mode, which again is present with a new look. In this mode the handling of the car is different from what you have tasted before ( even the view angle and physics are different). Try completing a drift race with a tuner car and one with a muscle car. The experience will be totally different. The different class cars imply different skill levels and also the score is different from Underground 2. If you hit the wall, you will lose the combo bonus, but you will gain the points earned till that point. So the drift races are not so frustrating anymore.

Crew

Instead of polishing the good parts, EA likes to come up with interesting adds to every new release, even though the usefullness of them is not always perceived. For example, in Carbon, a new experimental feature is implemented ,codename (wingman). Taken from Juiced, the idea is to hire a crew who supposedly should help in winning certain events. Every crew member has a special competence; one can be a blocker, one a drafter, one a scout, and you can use just one of them in the race from the available three hired. The blocker can block the opponents, the drafter will run in front of you to help you gain more speed and the scout will show you alternate routes. At a first glance the idea seems to be very clever, but you will realize that in the end you don't need them and you will race on your own. The drafter is almost useless because the tracks don't have too many straight lines, so you cannot use them at their full potential. The scouts sometimes, are way back behind the pack, and cannot help you. The blockers are the most useful wingman. Running almost near you, he can block efficiently the way of the other opponents. Unfortunately, there are situations when he will get even in your way and these moments can be really frustrating.

Race locations data
It seems that the fans didn't like too much the daylight environment, so Carbon unveil itself in nighty environments on this occasion too, which is perfect for this kind of races. The city, where the racing takes place, has more similarities with the one from Undergound 2, than from Most Wanted, which is a bit weird. This time around the streets are wider, more undulated, denser overtaking areas, which is why I thought the races are somehow a copy of the first Underground. Even the view angle is identical with the one used in the first Underground.

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Gameplay: 84%

The game is really consistent, taking in consideration the canyon duel races and the new drift mode; so a few testing days will probably be enough. But the lack of a damage system and real driving mechanics drop the overall value of the package. The tuning feature is still an important component of NFS Carbon, although not as elaborated as in NFS Underground 2, whilst Autosculpt should have made the difference (which it doesn't), proving itself just a new commercial trick.

But perhaps the most chated and discussed feature of Wii's Carbon version, is the control and steering of the car. The classical joystick movement that we are used to on other consoles is substituted in this case with a more complex, real and elaborated simulation control scheme. Thus, you will have at your disposal five different schemes that involve the use of Wii remote alone (tilting the controller will give the needed steering) or accompanied with the nunchuck, for the remaining four configurations. In these latter configurations the Wii remote plays the role of a gas and break pedal (moving it in a 90 degree interval), while the nunchuck gives the steering of the car ( through the joystick or by moving it sideways).
The Wii remote alone configuration is probably the easiest and the most productive, that's probably why my progress in the career mode was getting the feel of a “dozen driver” while using the other four configurations.
Your can also alter the sensitivity at which the emulated steering wheel turns (oversteer, medium, understeer), and if you want an instant oversteer just push the “A” button while steering.
So although there are some glitches (not fully operational Wii remote in some instances), the new control scheme introduced by Nintendo is original and not to complicated getting used to it.


Graphics: 75%

The graphics are similar to Most Wanted, but a bit more coldish and that's mainly because of the blue tones and metallic effects presented. Although the Wii version is similar to the PC in terms of content, that isn't the case from the graphics point of view. Lots of unpolished textures, the new blur effect isn't that well replicated, the cars are not that great looking comparing to the other platforms counterparts, while the frame rate fluctuates pretty much even at its native max resolution of 480i. I just think it is a bit to much for the Wii's hardware.

Multiplayer: 65%

It's a shame the Wii version of Nfs Carbon only features split-screen multiplayer mode and no online modes like Xbox 360 or the PC version, especially considering the multiplatform compatibility (XBOX 360, PC and PS2 at once) on EA servers. So this added with other misses like in the visual interface ( Wii Ir sensor not used at all while navigating menus or maps) give the impression of a rushed portation to Nintendo's newest console.

Sound: 92%

This is the only feature that is valuable in NFS. From the first Hot Pursuit and finishing with Carbon, the sound got better and better, a memorable feast of engine sounds. While the Brera sounds like a bee, the Murcielago is roaring like a beast with engines even choking at high rpm's. Try making a drift with a Corvette Z06, and you will hear every combustion cycle of the engine in race trim. The sound is really dynamic and with added echo effect to prove that you race in the canyons, it shows that this aspect of the game was well taken care off.