Generalities
Every tier will bring you faster and more powerful cars and of course tuning parts. Based on the same idea as the cars, the tuning parts will become much more powerful and expensive with every new tier.
Cars
In the career, which still remains the core of the game, you can choose at the beginning from these three classes of cars. Depending on what class you have chosen in the beginning, you will discover different cars and parts, especially from that type. Along the game, you will be able to buy also cars from the other two types, so you will be able to experience all three classes. The biggest difference between these classes of cars, is the handling. Being an arcade racing game, you cannot claim a realistic handling, but still some major differences in handling between cars are necessarily. So if you choose tuners, you will have the best cars in handling. From Mazda 3 to Mitsubishi Eclipse, Subaru Impreza, here there are present every important Japanese constructor. Choosing an exotic model, you feel that the handling is somehow similar to Hot Pursuit 2. The cars seem to be more heavier than the tuner ones, but more powerful. Here you can find the most beautiful cars around the Globe, from Alfa Brera and Mercedes 500 CLK to Lamborghini Murcielago, Porsche Carrera GT.
And the last one to choose is the muscle type. A unique type of cars in NFS series. If in NFS Undergound 2, EA decided to introduce the SUV's class, but without any success, in Carbon the muscles cars create a different approach of NFS games. The handling is the worst from all three types, but this makes all the fun while driving these beasts. For the ones 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 ones like Chrysler 300 and the Dodge Challenger Concept.
Autosculpt
The concept of tuning is present again in this latest part of NFS, and much deeply implemented than in Most Wanted. The autosculpt feature is a unique way of creating new shapes on tuning parts. But being a lot of aftermarket parts in the game, autosculpt cannot be used to its full potential by the gamers. Sometimes the aftermarket parts are looking much better than any autosculpt part, although this feature gives you the ability to change the length, width and angles of different components of it. That's all about autosculpt. This feature can really show its power on the rims design. There are several designs that can be achieved from a single model. In the beginning, the idea behind autosculpt was to fabricate unique parts, but actually you just modify basic parts by changing different parameters.
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Race
Ok, so what can you do with this cars? Racing around a new virtual town called Palmont City. But at last you are not forced anymore to drive from one race to another. You can jump automatically from one race to another on your map.
This makes the career to last aprox. 10 hours of gaming, but if you wish to unlock all the parts and vinyls and all the 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 involve more attention in driving you car because you can now fall from the road. That's because in nasty curves, the road guard can be broken if you hit it too hard (only in duel mode).
On the canyon roads you must race against others or against their boss. The race against the boss is actually a duel between you both and the canyon. The goal of the race is not necessary to overtake your opponent but to score as many points as you can. This can be done by getting as closer as you can to your opponent. That's because 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 and the show continues. 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. The handling of the car is different from the whole game. Even the view angle and physics are different. The car slides more, giving you the opportunity to create longer drifts. 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. 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.
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Crew
Instead of polishing the good parts, EA always includes new things in their games. Some of them are useful, some of them are not. For example in Carbon a new experimental feature is implemented. The wingman. Taken from Juiced, the idea is to hire a crew which will help you in the race. Every member has a special ability. One can be a blocker, one a drafter and one a scout. You can use just one of them in the race, and you can have only 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 get really frustrating.
Environment
It seems that the fans didn't like too much the daylight environment, so Carbon takes place again only in the night. For this kind of races, night is the perfect environment. The atmosphere is similar to Underground 2. Even the city has more similarities with the one from Undergound 2, than from Most Wanted. You get the feeling that you are somewhere in Los Angeles this time. The streets are wider, that's why I always thought that the races are somehow a copy of the first Underground.
The tracks are more undulated, but with more places where you can overtake. Even the view angle is identical with the one used in the first Underground. The graphics are similar to Most Wanted (it's the same engine) but with some new blur effects. This motion effect can be seen in its beauty only on a high-end system. Otherwise the graphics seem very cold. It uses a lot of blue tones and metallic effects. If you choose to paint your car with a chrome based color, the car looks extremely flashy. It's hard even to recognize the color of it.
Conclusion
If Carbon is just a copy-paste work, from the previous versions of NFS, you decide. Anyway the game has so many racing modes, that every racing fan will find something interesting in it. Unfortunately for the hardcore ones, this is just another NFS game.
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Gameplay: 84%
The game is really consistent, taking in consideration also the canyon duel races and the new drift mode, you might say that everybody can find something funny in it. But the lack of damage system and simulation makes it not so valuable. The ability of tuning cars is still an important feature of NFS games, but it's not so detailed as in NFS Underground 2. Autosculpt should have made the difference, but is just a new commercial trick. If you decide to buy a force feedback wheel to play Carbon, believe me, is not a good idea. The pedals for acceleration and brake, cannot be set on different axes. This means that you cannot set the sensibility of the pedals. Pushing just a bit the acceleration will make the car burn the rubber. So the effect is exactly as playing with the keyboard.
Graphics: 82%
Oh God, I hate those blue tones.
Only the blur effect creates a sense of movement and a more realistic approach, but you need a high-end system to see this. The graphic engine is the same as in Most Wanted, but it looks not so nice anymore. Maybe because the game has now a night environment. All the other graphic effects creates a sense of deja-vu from other episodes of NFS, including also the design of the city.
Multiplayer: 74%
The multiplayer includes the complete list of racing modes, but the lack of hints makes the first five minutes somehow annoying. When I first started testing this game, I tried it on an online session. I was disappointed of the numerous lags on their servers. Anyway, the game is compatible online between XBOX 360, PC and PS2 versions. That means that a XBOX 360 user can play online with a PC user or PS2 user. Because of the many visualization changes that you can apply on any car in the game, there is an option that gives you the opportunity to take a photo of that car and send it online. Unfortunately this option is not available for the PS2 users. Online you can play also beside the law. You can be a policeman and catch the others. Or you can play in cooperative mode in different races. There are not so many hints regarding the new online racing modes, causing the gamer to be confused in the first five minutes of playing. Again the LAN support is out of question.
Sound: 92%
This is the only feature that is valuable in NFS. From the first Hot Pursuit to Carbon the sound got better and better. There is a huge concert of engines. While the Brera sounds like a bee, the Murcielago is roaring like a beast. The engine even chokes itself at high rpm's. Try making a drift with a Corvette Z06, and you will feel every explosion of the engine On the canyons, the sound is really dynamic and with some echo effect, to prove that you are in the mountains. If you have also a 5.1 sound card, you will get every sound effect at high quality.