Stop me if you've heard this one before: You're a young, hotshot driver whose job it is to build up his street rep by taking down his rivals, impress girls with a pimped-out ride, and avoid the police by any means necessary. Yup, the underground racing game storyline archetype is getting as long in the tooth as the epic RPG narrative that pegs you as "The Chosen One" in search of the only weapon powerful enough to destroy the ultimate evil. But hey, lack of a novel plot hasn't stopped us from crawling around dungeons, so why should it keep us from going 120mph in a 35mph zone? EA's Need for Speed Carbon, the latest in the NFS series, may not be the most original racer you've ever gotten behind the wheel of, but it does make for some compelling single-player action.
In last year's Need for Speed Most Wanted, your job was to creep up the Black List by taking out your enemies one at a time. This time, it's more of a territorial thing. Defeat the gang that controls a territory and it becomes yours. Of course, once you take over a place, it's ripe for a challenge from another gang. Think of NFSC as being like playing the board game Risk -- only with spoilers and NOX. The game's setting has shifted, too, and it's a better fit this time around. Racing is done in mainly urban settings, with the occasional scary and winding canyon road thrown in to keep things interesting. (The "Carbon" of the title refers to Carbon Canyon, the setting for the game.) Too much of Most Wanted was spent on rural roadways. There was something incongruous about trying to live the outlaw lifestyle while driving around in what looked like a quaint New England town.
What hasn't changed is the size and scope of the playing field. The story and the racing unfold over a vast interconnected map of roads and highways. You can jump from event to event and to the car dealer and your safe-house garage from an onscreen menu, but if you plan on knowing the roads well enough to lose the cops on the many pursuits you'll be involved in, you'll want to spend plenty of time just driving around in the Free Roam mode.
Just as in Most Wanted, the story is pushed along with FMV sequences -- creepy FMV sequences. At first, you'll think you're looking at some incredibly sharp CG cutscenes, until you realize that what you're looking at are real actors tweaked to look somewhat computer-generated. It's a weird effect and it makes the hokey and clich�d script seem even more goofy, knowing that an actual human being is saying the lines.
One of the new wrinkles in NFSC is that now you have wingmen helping you out. Just like in your fave Tom Clancy-branded tactical shooter, you now have a crew to watch your back. On the road, there are three types of wingmen -- blockers, drafters and scouts. Blockers are the hockey goons of the road. Single out an enemy target, hit the triangle button, and out of nowhere, your blocker will zip out and slam into your rival. If you find yourself behind your drafter, activate him and you'll be able to whip along at lightning speed in his draft. The scouts don't need to be activated, but keeping an eye on them will show you where all the shortcuts are in any given race. It's a cool concept and one that theoretically should add a slight strategy element to things, but I found myself usually deciding to go things alone. Too often, my blocker would just be in my way when I was trying to pass someone or he'd conveniently take out a rival car so directly in front of me that it'd end up taking me out as well. You're not penalized for not using your crew -- unlike in the PSP version, where they level up based on usage -- so you may only use them when you're absolutely desperate and are willing to risk becoming a casualty.
Another new addition is the inclusion of drift racing. The powersliding done here isn't as loose as it is in Ridge Racer, but it is a different animal when compared to the other racing modes. You know that anxiety dream you have where you're trying to run away from the circus clown, but you're sliding all over the place and you can't seem to get any traction? That's what the drifting is like in NFSC. It's a nice break from the circuit and sprint racing, but not something you'd want to spend a whole lot of time doing.
Maybe the coolest new feature is Autosculpt. In addition to just being able to trick out your vehicle with high-performance parts and funky paint jobs and vinyls, the Autosculpting feature lets you tweak the size and shape of just about any aftermarket doodad you buy. Adjust the height and width of your spoiler, the shape of your grill, and the overall niftiness of your roof scoop. It doesn't affect the way your car handles on the street, but you will spend a mess of time fiddling with the sliders that affect how your ride looks.
Need for Speed Carbon for the PS2 is a prime example of what you're going to see more and more of as we head deeper into the next-gen era. On the plus side, the game includes a few new innovations -- wingmen, Autosculpting, etc. -- that the developers came up with in an attempt to make the PS3 version leap out as an early must-buy game. On the negative side, with the future belonging to the PS3, the 360, and the Wii, corners -- like online play -- will continue to be cut on games for last-gen consoles. That said, if you're looking to get a few more hours of fun out of your aging black box, Need for Speed Carbon isn't a bad way to do it.
