Your Thoughts about NFSC...

vellu · Post by **vellu** » 05 Nov 2006, 10:36

Having played about one third through the career and a couple of challenges I'm somewhat pleased.

Graphics & storyline, ditto with TheStig. I don't mind fewer cars in career, but the order in which they are unlocked (or are classed Tier X) is silly indeed.

Customizing rules in all areas, but the interface has a few minor/annoying problems. For instance when you want to try out a part before buying it and jump to photo mode and back, the part menus reset. So if you were trying to look at some Work rim for instance which is way the heck down the rim list you need to browse all the way down again... Also the vinyl editing functions are a little bit on the slow side, especially moving. There also should be a function to select on which side of the car you want to start editing the vinyl, atleast for the vinyls that can't be mirrored. Takes time to move a manufacturer vinyl to the otherside of the car and then rotate it around aswell.

Overall gameplay seems more challenging which is good thing my opinion. Career is super short though. I'll most likely be done with it tonight. Try going through UG2 career in two nights....not gonna happen. Also a small thing I liked, the whole city is open straight from the beginning in career free roam. Open races in one territory only obviously, but atleast you can check out the scenery.

No opinions on Online yet, and I won't try unless/untill the trainers have been blocked out there.

SliM_880 · Post by **SliM_880** » 05 Nov 2006, 10:50

Ok my review:

Graphics:
Much better than most wanted... most wanted ps2 version was bad, but carbon's graphics are much better...

Story:
Much better than most wanted... i like it

Cars:
I think all cars should be involved in the career... in carbon, only half of the cars are in the career

Customizing:
Very cool, although the autosculpt abilities were exagerated... i had the impression that there would be more bumpers to autosculpt... or at least more aftermarket bumpers...
But customizaton is awesome here... specially wheels...

Pursuits:
Very very nice... although very very similar to mw, here i think u can reach the next heat level quicker i think... and roadblocks are put more often, which is cool...

@TheStig: there are pursuit missions in the challenge series after u finish the career...

Online
No online in ps2 :'(

Environment: Awesome... much better than mw... there are long straight roads like in mw, there are places with tight turns n stuff like from underground...

Two-player (Split Screen): much better than mw... mw sucked in this...

I would give it a 9.1

xALFAxGT · Post by **xALFAxGT** » 05 Nov 2006, 11:06

I got the CE edition for PS2 on Friday after work but have only played it for a couple of hours so far (c. 16%).

Started with the Alfa and I have to say, the car feels like it drags a bit on the ground.

Relatively impressed with the game so far, although the drift is gonna take some time to get used to (but then I always sucked at Drift).

I think some people may have expected too much from the game. Remember, its an NFS game and as such I think Carbon fits the bill.

EVO_VIII · Post by **EVO_VIII** » 05 Nov 2006, 12:02

Graphics:
Very nice. Better than the graphics from MW.

(But my gfx sux tho:()

Gameplay:
The career mode is easy. You can beat the first boss using a 100% stock car.
The "Race War" is fun, but the track is too long, takes forever to finish one lap. AI use cars like Ford GT, Murcielago, Gallardo, Viper while Player is still using Tier 2 cars. Drift is very cool, just need some time to get used to that counter steer thing.

Story:
It's OK, I don't like the ending.....
The ending is too simple.....it should have a pursuit like the one from MW.

Cars:
Too many cars are considered as bonus cars.......

Every car should be available in the car lot. It would be cool if the R8, M3, CCX, LP640 are available in the car lot without hex-editing. One good thing is, different classes have different handling.

Customizing:
Autosculpt is good. But there's are only a few choices on rims.....
Body kits look better than the ones in MW.

Pursuits:
They put roadblocks everywhere, which is good. But you need to crash around before u start a pursuit(MW has a menu to get into a pursuit).

Abrams · Post by **Abrams** » 05 Nov 2006, 16:08

Any of you guys can comment the free roam? Any changes? Are cops still actually fun to run from? I mean i read Stig`s post and he say that theres no bonuses, apart from that all stayed same? Roadblocks and other stuff?

Also those cars that you dont see in career can you use in free roam?

p.s. Still havent got what does that EA downloader mean, searched their site even...ah well i really dont think id use Zonda anyways..

vellu · Post by **vellu** » 05 Nov 2006, 18:17

Yeah, the pursuits are still fun they just don't affect the progress of the game anymore. Same style though; heat levels, tougher cars at higher levels, roadblocks/spike strips, propably helo aswell but haven't gotten high enough heat yet.

Which is definitely a good thing imo. In MW you had to do insane pursuits late in the game to get ahead in the game, which basically lead to near Carmageddon style driving (hit everything and anything in sight to gain more heat/more bounty). Totally unrealistic and boring eventually.

In Carbon you only "have to" do pursuits if the cops spot you racing (either during a race or in free roam) which leads to more sensible situations (cops see you break the law, instead of you just ramming the nearest cop car to get his attention). Whether you win or lose the pursuits doesn't matter as fas ar career progression goes (well, if you lose a lot it will).

Post by **TheStig** » 05 Nov 2006, 20:17

well the pursuits are basicly the same style as in MW, but I have the feeling that the cop cars are made heavier, before you could ram into a roadblock without much trouble and get away with a decent speed without using speedbreaker.
Now I got stuck 2 times when hitting a road block and got to a complete standstill.
wich is more realistic so I don't mind that.

The pursuits feel like the ones in MW, but I have the feeling the heat rises faster then in MW. and the pursuit breakers are further apart then in MW, in MW they where often in groups. in Carbon I haven't found any close together.

Abrams · Post by **Abrams** » 06 Nov 2006, 18:14

For those who dont have game and curious about car tier`s, I have updated Wiki with each tier for each car on the list:

Wiki

Danyutz · Post by **Danyutz** » 06 Nov 2006, 18:36

Another thing I've seen and liked, was the Crew Rival Challenges, when in freeroam mode, it happends to meet other crew members, and they challenge you, and it's a sprint based system, you can choose where the finish line is, and if you reach there 1st, you get an amount of money, it's quite cool, it's a way to earn money, and drive freely throught the other areas.

blue7 · Post by **blue7** » 06 Nov 2006, 18:45

i just recently bought the game and it's great... one thing though -- in the video settings can't you change the visual treatment because mine's stuck in low and it almost looks like crap!!

does upgrading to directx 9 from version 8 improve things?

Abrams · Post by **Abrams** » 06 Nov 2006, 21:46

Well apparently DirectX version 9.0c is a must to run any game nowdays. Since like at least year?

Stereo · Post by **Stereo** » 06 Nov 2006, 23:08

Career mode was really easy. I beat it in 3 days. (around 3 hours of playing each day)...

It's way too simple.

Skroting · Post by **Skroting** » 06 Nov 2006, 23:12

Stereo wrote:Career mode was really easy. I beat it in 3 days. (around 3 hours of playing each day)...

It's way too simple.

Career mode was indeed quite easy, but I'm glad they didn't try to make it harder by making us do pursuits where we have to 'tag' 30 police cars, or by incorporating flying AI (like in NFSU1).

Danyutz · Post by **Danyutz** » 07 Nov 2006, 02:22

It's quite easy, yes, but EA ment to do that, if you throw a peek @ the reward cards, and what you have to do for all the unlockes, the game suddenly becomes harder

EDIT: i really like all those available paint tiers, I like the Candy one

Dagon · Post by **Dagon** » 07 Nov 2006, 12:39

You might need to watch some car test driving video, lotus lacks power seriously. Yap, Lotus is very very nimble due to it's weight at around 700kg, but it has only 120hp !. Its engine is refined for shaving off serious weight, but it's vulnerable to serious tuning. In other hand, Rx7 weights around 1300kg, but it has 280hp stock with alot of tuning capability. Comparing stock to stock, Rx7 has a better power to weight ratio than lotus. Due to its limited tuning capability, it's impossible to make a Lotus to attain a faster top speed and acceleration comparing most of the heavier car out there.

Speaking of lotuses, the newer Exiges (the 'serious' version of the Elise) have 243 horsepower which is a hell of an improvement for a similar weight. Also, comparing it to an RX7 is an unfair comparison since you're comparing a rotary engine to a standard engine - rotary engines have generally about 50 horsepower on their standard fourstroke counterparts but take a hell of a lot more fuel. If you got Lotus to design a new car with a similar size and weight to the RX7, you could more than likely bet on it that it'd be superior in most ways - though anyone with a streak of fanboyism will probably spaz out at the idea of this, it seems to me that Lotus is one of the best euro car manufacturers out there, particularily when it comes to handling and suspension though it seems to be allergiac to making a car weigh more than one ton or using an engine over 2 litres.

Anyways, in more real-life measures the argument is somewhat limited given that the size of the cars means it's kind of like comparing a mini cooper to a dodge charger; it'd be more fair to compare it to the MX5 which'd be easily buried by the Exige. It's more or less a rule of the thumb that the bigger a car is, the more power it can essentially put out since it can mount larger engines - while some of the modern technologies and such available today can increase a car's speed significantly, the old formula of bigger being faster is still generally proving true (so long as you don't bring any of those old Citroen engines into the equation).

l2k · Post by **l2k** » 07 Nov 2006, 16:33

Dagon wrote:Speaking of lotuses, the newer Exiges (the 'serious' version of the Elise) have 243 horsepower which is a hell of an improvement for a similar weight. Also, comparing it to an RX7 is an unfair comparison since you're comparing a rotary engine to a standard engine - rotary engines have generally about 50 horsepower on their standard fourstroke counterparts but take a hell of a lot more fuel. If you got Lotus to design a new car with a similar size and weight to the RX7, you could more than likely bet on it that it'd be superior in most ways - though anyone with a streak of fanboyism will probably spaz out at the idea of this, it seems to me that Lotus is one of the best euro car manufacturers out there, particularily when it comes to handling and suspension though it seems to be allergiac to making a car weigh more than one ton or using an engine over 2 litres.

Anyways, in more real-life measures the argument is somewhat limited given that the size of the cars means it's kind of like comparing a mini cooper to a dodge charger; it'd be more fair to compare it to the MX5 which'd be easily buried by the Exige. It's more or less a rule of the thumb that the bigger a car is, the more power it can essentially put out since it can mount larger engines - while some of the modern technologies and such available today can increase a car's speed significantly, the old formula of bigger being faster is still generally proving true (so long as you don't bring any of those old Citroen engines into the equation).

Doesn't mean to bring out an argument here, and it's off topic as well. I just wish to point out some facts about the power/weight ratio. Lotus produced some fantastic car i admit. Anyway, don't bash too much pal, nfs is still an arcade game anyway.

Dagon · Post by **Dagon** » 07 Nov 2006, 17:23

Yeah, I guess it is kinda off topic; I just noticed your post on it while I was checking through the thread, decided to post a reply as part of my reply to the thread and then forgot what I was originally going to post. -_-

samurilos · Post by **samurilos** » 07 Nov 2006, 17:29

I'll be playing this tonight, so i'll add my review of it 2morrow, so far the short career mode seems to be the most common issue, anyone tried it over lan?

DarrenR21373 · Post by **DarrenR21373** » 07 Nov 2006, 19:55

Just completed the game, found it pretty enjoyable.

Favourite things have got to be the customization over MW (that candy paint is kick-a*se IMHO), muscle cars handling and the Canyon Drifts - particularly in the old fully modded Charger R/T.

I didn't find Career that easy to beat - OK, the first three areas were not too bad (when I tuned my car correctly - got creamed by Angie (my first Boss, as I was playing the Muscles route) near the finish line twice with incorrect tuning, then beat her on the 3rd attempt by about 35 seconds! Who said the AI don't crash $\:D/$ ) but I found Darius an absolute pig. Must have tried about 20 times to beat the Canyon Duel with the EVO and failed, but did it on my second attempt with my trusty Corvette Z06.

I have to agree with those who said the ending is lame. I won't spoil it for those who haven't completed yet, but it sure wasn't a patch on MW.

Most annoying things:

1. The random crashes to desktop (played for 3 hours straight one time, no problem. Another time, loaded up, went to resume career and crashed straight out. About 10 seconds of uptime - is this some sort of record?).

2. May just be my PC, but it's completely the opposite of 1. above. When I try to exit the game, it just hangs and won't close. Have to open up Task Manager in XP and end the program manually. Then get that annoying Windows message about closing a non-responsive program, do you want to send the detail to Micro$oft, etc.

Overall 8/10.

blue7 · Post by **blue7** » 07 Nov 2006, 20:02

it would have been cool if the pursuit tag and the pursuit something would be available for play offline. i don't have broadband internet and i feel deprived that i can't play in those modes ...

Danyutz · Post by **Danyutz** » 07 Nov 2006, 21:06

DarrenR21373 wrote:When I try to exit the game, it just hangs and won't close. Have to open up Task Manager in XP and end the program manually. Then get that annoying Windows message about closing a non-responsive program, do you want to send the detail to Micro$oft, etc.

Same here ...

I beat the game too, but I'll still play for the rest of unlockes, the most recently is the M3 GTR. I took a peek onto the Bonus Cars, OMG, there are a lot of them, even got the IS300(modded/unmodded) .. but no GSX.

SuperString · Post by **SuperString** » 07 Nov 2006, 22:28

OK, people, here is my opinion:

I finished carrer mode today, and I must say I'M BADLY dissapointed. Really don't know where to start.

OK, gfx. Nice, but programing could be done A LOT better. For XBox and PS guys is irrelevant, but to run it on my machine I have to lower some details. Funny, since MW had the same gfx engine and that game litteraly FLYS with full details at 1024*768. But has anyone noticed that on some parts the gfx details is lowered? Remember the trees in MW? They where partialy volumetric in that game, where in Carbon they are sprites! It feels like we're back in '90.

Not just that, the road reflection is also a bitt mixed up, but since it's night time (crap, if you ask me) it doesn't bother so much.

Storyline is pretty cool at beginning, somewhat movie like atmosphere. But what the hell is with that "who did it" stuff, and "yeah, I was there too and I saw something"? Columbo movies are better made. I mean Darius has "Badguy" written all over him. It's just sad, like the script was written in 15 min. The positive thing is that you learn about badguys (and girl) a little bit more than in MW, so they feel like humans not cars. And cutscenes are nicer made than in MW + a lot more of them.

Gameplay, this is where the game fells deep.

First, the city. I don't know how about you, but I find it totaly strange. You don't actually need to free roam, and the races DON'T cover up the whole city, so, that designer crap videos about 4 thematic city parts are useless. Really, you WON'T find it cool, but frustrating. You barely see the difference between section. Everything is gray and black, and the orientation, FORGET IT. In MW you learned the city map in races, and in last part you really felt like it's your home (which is needed in order that higher level pursuits are fun, not frustrating). In this game, NOT THE CASE. This has another dissadvantage. Pursuits. HA, in WHOLE game I got chasen 7-8 times. Even in areas with Heat Level 5 you got like 50% chance of being chased.

And since you don't learn the city good, pursuits are rubbish, just boring, you'll wish just to end the pursuit fast as possible and get on with the races. A LARGE MINUS! Wingman mechanic can be some fun, but they are mostly useless (except maybe Blocker and Drafter in late course of the game) and sometimes make game even easier (espetialy when you use a fully tuned scout). And 95% of races are damn easy. As for the race types. You have the speedtrap, sprint, than checkpoint run (like toolboth in MW, but much lamer since your checkpoints are nnothing but flares), curcuit, drift (closed and canyon) and canyon runs. The last two are interresting but dirfting (although looks alot cooler than in Underground) is the EASIEST racing type in the game. I drifted lousy and NEVER lost a drift. Canyon runs with boss is interesting also, but I finised at least 3 canyon runs with "overtaken" in first 50% of track (Am I too good for this game?) so this fun factor is largely reduced. Mind to think, is this game made for 10 years old? And there are too few bosses (only 4, MW had 15)!!! But their taunt videos are very good, response very natural, just look when kenyi lifts his eyebrows when his ride breaths behind your neck (just like his trying to say "Ha, tuffguy, you were saying something", reaaally cool).

Cars. Large nummber, but like Stig wrote, Why the hell can't I have all of them in carrer mode. I mean, I took exotics (since I'm not a fan of muscle POS, and there are only few Japanesse cars I like), but in the end of my carrer I hadn't got all exotics. 911 turbo, Lotus Europa, 911 RS, BMW, Koenigsegg, Jaguar, LP640 were locked! WTF??!! Not to mention a bunch of muscle and tuner cars where locked also. And I raced ANY and I mean ANY race you can race in the city. BAD EA, Very BAD! Cars are veeery good modeled though and can be moded visually very well (let me refrase that - riced). Autosculpt feature is nice, although unpractical, at first it's gonna be very cool, but with time it'll just become boring, because you'll wanna spend more time on the streets than in garage. *dough*

This vehicle category is also nice thought, but has large CRAP on it. Let me make that clear for you. Drifting (maybe canyon) is best for muscles, city racing will be far superior to exotics and canyon runs are designed for tuners. Try it if you don't believe me. But since the game is hell easy, it really doesn't play a large roll which car class you'll take. Personal taste. And like Stig said. Stock Tier3 car faster than Fully tuned Tier1-2 car. HA HA HA HA

Not to mention a Supra handles better than Lotus. Ah EA...

Sound is the only really good thing in the game. The engines sounds MUCH better than in ANY racing game you can buy. Voiceover works also splendid. But Soundtrack is a little bit dull, there aren't any really memorable songs in it. ("We control" form MW rocks my ears even now). If anybody from EA is reading this, bring for next NFS BT, Hyper and Nickleback, and Cris Verna/Nine Inch Nails also.

At the end, Stig, the game isn't going to get better over time. You'll keep noticing even more of bad stuff. Maybe the online gaming can fix some of the problems. But this NFS won't be as one of the better NFS games. More like NFS2 was or U2. It will sell good. But that is where EAs enorm commertialism is going to strike. I give this game 7.5 grade, but ONLY cause of respect to MW.

Peace!

Chuggernaut · Post by **Chuggernaut** » 08 Nov 2006, 00:47

Well, I had beaten the game this morning at about 1am and I was about to gripe about the same things as the Superstring above. But let me organize it a bit and include some more problems:

1)Crashing:
Now this can actually take two meanings. One, my game has crashed numerous times, one of which was after kicking the shiznit out of Angie on the canyon. I had to race again, and I can't skip the damn cut scene where the boss says something stupid before getting raped on the pavement. Oh, and the frustration leads me to the next problem, crashing in-game. Now, I mean I'm not saying I'm an NFS god and shouldn't make mistakes, but this was ridiculous. This was mainly due to lighting. I'd see something and be like "oooo, shortcut" only to get pwned in the face by a badly lit wall. Oh, and did anyone notice there wasn't as many cut-through turns?(you know, at the sharp turns in MW, there was a series of tables or something covering a less ridiculous way through it) There was like one in the entire city. eventually I knew shortcuts, but the city was so similar everywhere I still didn't know whre the hell I was going.

2Customizations:
Autosculpt is half-assed. Seriously. It's reused body kits from NFSU2 that u can stretch and stuff, but you can never make them as cool as the after market ones that many of which were repeats of MW body kits. But the MW body kits rocked. they didn't let you autosculpt everything, in contrast to what their advertising would lead you to believe. Oh, and one of the reasons I looked forward to this game was the car selection, I'd finally get to customize my 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse. C'mon, I can customize the original charger, but not a 7 year old tuner? Not to mention other cars that could have easily been customized. C'mon, EA, with all these cars already available to customize(including the jag, which i used plenty in career mode), how bad is like 10 more(the "custom" car count is higher, but I'm not counting the stupid variants, which are ugly tuned versions) Most wanted had a few cars you couldn't customize, but they were usually ugly tuned versions, which I don't care about, and old msucle cars, because, putting a body kit on the original camaro just looks retarded. Oh, and no heat lowered with customization? that's keeping me from making an army of uber-sleepers? Wait, no its not.

3Career
The Crew thing is firetruck stupid. Another hyped up feature to look forward to that ends up being underused, and useless when it is used. Oh, and the only crew members I get come to me through the story. Why can't I find crew members in free roam?(damn good motivation to free roam I tell you) it would be a lot cooler if a lot of characters were in the city driving around and if u happened to find them u could hire them. Oh, and drafters and scouts suck. Drafters are better, but most of the time you follow them into a sharp turn and crash, losing your boost, or they slow down and ur stuck behind them. Blockers are great,a s they don't get in your way, tell you when someone is passing and kick the shiznit out of who they can. The crew system is dumb and you can't customize all the cars. Thus makes career lackluster. Oh, and only 3 bosses? That was like the best part of MW, and now its gone.

If I find any more problems Ill post 'em, but I think that's a good enough rant.

SomeKindOfMonster · Post by **SomeKindOfMonster** » 08 Nov 2006, 03:46

I thought this game was just as good as MW, oly played it for 2 hours so far, but enjoyed it. The muscles are great, been hanging out for a game where we can roam in carby-fed glory. Also happy with the layout of the city, plenty of area to Free roam. Only gripe is the lack of realism in Drift. I get a nice wide curve, just brushing the break zones (get more points that way) and go to countersteer to enter the next turn, but end up pointing the other direction almost instantly, and then when I go to correct this, it throws the car again?? I know its only due to lack of practice, but any time i've drifted in real life, countersteer/counterdrift movements are the only way to go

vellu · Post by **vellu** » 08 Nov 2006, 04:03

True, drifting takes a little practise since the game "helps" too much. Very subtle control is what is required. Also at times it seems you actually have turn "into" the drift (when the game flips your rear almost automatically), not towards the opposite lock which is what you would do in reality.