Need For Speed: Carbon

[DigitalSpace]

Another year, another Need For Speed game. This time around, it's titled Need For Speed: Carbon. Here's some details from Games Asylum:

EA have been silently working away on Need for Speed: Carbon for the past year, and have granted The Official PlayStation 2 Magazine the first "low(ered) down" in the latest issue. That's their pun, not ours, if you're wondering.

There's a bit of confusion as to where the subtitle originates from. Obviously there's the whole carbon fibre thing, but as well as a large urban city to roam freely around, there are also three canyon environments including one based on Carbon Canyon - a popular location in California for "motoring enthusiasts".

The developers are looking to include between 50 and 100 vehicles, incorporating some that are yet to be unveiled by their manufacturers and, for the first time in a NFS title since 2000, a range of Porsches.

The cars aren't the only stars though, as effort is being made to create a stronger feeling of a society by being able to build up a crew. Every character, including rivals, have their own skills and talents such as blocking off slip roads and fall into one of three categories - tuning, muscle and exotic. If you're into tuning then a team can be formed with expertise in that area, or if customisation is your thing then drivers also into "tricking out" can be chosen.

Trackside railings now bend and buckle when hit (which should make for some entertaining police chases when zooming down a mountain at 150mph) and there's also talk of tilt sensor support for the PlayStation 3 version.

Formats? The magazine only states PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and PSP, but undoubtedly it's going to be a multiformat title. We'd be surprised if it made it onto GameCube however, as not only is Carbon due to be released around the same time as the Wii (this winter) but EA have also wordlessly dropped Superman Returns for Nintendo's aging block.

Also, Game Informer has posted a trailer of the game here. It doesn't show much, however:

Link (click on "Media")

[Sothy]

tokyo drift 4 lyfe

I hope theres lots of tailfins and shitty neon lighting

[Oobgarm]

This tops my 'Most Wanted' list. See what I did there?

I saw the Game Informer spread on it, and it looked pretty impressive. I have high expectations for this one. If I can drift in a Dodge Challenger, color me excited. But the drifting mechanics had better be done right!

And it had better come out on the 360 or I'm gonna be pissed.

[Slimedog]

I would guess the Carbon stands for 'Carbon Copy'.

[nik]

This tops my 'Most Wanted' list. See what I did there?

I saw the Game Informer spread on it, and it looked pretty impressive. I have high expectations for this one. If I can drift in a Dodge Challenger, color me excited. But the drifting mechanics had better be done right!

And it had better come out on the 360 or I'm gonna be pissed.

Of course it will, it sold well on the 360, the "most wanted" and I enjoyed it, nice racer, but once I was done I didn't feel the need to go online, still, very fun, I'll pick this one up, they never seem to do wrong.

[Pedro Lambrini]

Seems like yet another driving game not doing much different from its predecessors. The railings are now destructible? Hold me back... :P

[exit]

Only Need for Speed I liked game was the one on PSX and that was only because of the police chasing fun. I would get lost during the race in the others and then I'd quickly turn the game off.

[Iron Draggon]

WHAT? The next NFS game is NOT Most Wanted 2? What are they thinking? We got it right again, so let's screw it up again? It doesn't sound bad, but I can't believe they didn't follow up with Most Wanted 2 first! Maybe that's what Most Wanted Black was supposed to be. But it needs a sequel!

Glad to see that Porsche is finally back again. But what was up with them sitting out for so long anyway? Are there just not enough people racing them in the street racing scene?

I hope that Carbon makes it onto the PC too. Surely it will.

[ProgrammingAce]

Glad to see that Porsche is finally back again. But what was up with them sitting out for so long anyway? Are there just not enough people racing them in the street racing scene?

Porsche wanted too much money for the rights for the cars. They came to there senses and realized that games are also a marketing tool, so they want back in.

[Iron Draggon]

Good Lord, and Porsche Unleashed didn't convince them? Plenty of licensed Porsches in other racing games since then, so must be that they were just too greedy with EA.

[jdc]

I'll approach this one with caution.

I just wimped out and traded in my copy of Most Wanted 360 after making it to #5 on the list and getting tired of the mandatory evasion level-up crap. EA seems to put too much "hip and trendy" crap in the NFS franchise now. It gets in the way of the racing. I'm tired of annoyingly cheap AI and 900mph nitrous runs through blurred graphics.

Hurry up and give me a Turismo styled sim for the 360. An EA F1 game would be nice as well. Where the hell have those been for the last few years?!?!

[Anthony1]

Ya know what? People can bash EA all damn day, and normally I'm leading the chorus, but I must say that the Need For Speed series has typically meant quality racing games. It all began for me back on the Panasonic 3DO, and the original Need For Speed, and then there was NFS III on the Playstation. The next big one for me was Need For Speed: Underground. (I honestly feel that the first need for speed Underground for the Xbox 1, was one of the most awesome games of the recent generation of gaming. I thought that NFS:U2 was a very much uninspired dud. But Most Wanted on the 360 was a damn good game. If I could buy a used copy for $20 snaps shipped, I probably would.


Is the whole Need for Speed thing tired as hell? Of course. But still, normally the NFS games are damn good, and I say make one every single year, and it seems that every other year or so we get a real sensational one. Maybe Carbon will be as good as the first Underground, if that's the case, then I'll be very pumped about it.

[nik]

I'll approach this one with caution.

I just wimped out and traded in my copy of Most Wanted 360 after making it to #5 on the list and getting tired of the mandatory evasion level-up crap. EA seems to put too much "hip and trendy" crap in the NFS franchise now. It gets in the way of the racing. I'm tired of annoyingly cheap AI and 900mph nitrous runs through blurred graphics.

Hurry up and give me a Turismo styled sim for the 360. An EA F1 game would be nice as well. Where the hell have those been for the last few years?!?!

Forza 2 is in the works.

I found Most Wanted to be really rewarding.
One of those games you just plug in, race around and get in a massive chase for fun, one of the funnest 1000 gamerpoints I've gotten.