Genre: Racing
Publisher: EA Games
Developer: EA Canada
Release Date: October 31, 2006

In a crowded launch lineup that featured three solid racing games, Need for Speed: Most Wanted for the Xbox 360 was a surprising breath of fresh air. I had expected little more than a gussied-up port of the Xbox version, but what I got was an excellent port that featured enhancements to both the graphics and gameplay alike. It was the less-rigid, arcade-style alternative to Project Gotham Racing 3, and the more-exciting, less-repetitive substitute for Ridge Racer 6.

Nearly a year has passed since the launch of the Xbox 360, and the racing market is more crowded than ever. In the last several months, we have seen the brilliant port of Burnout Revenge, not to mention the unique Test Drive Unlimited, a casual cruiser that brings commerce and community into the fray. A number of other titles, including Full Auto and MotoGP 06, have taken the basic racing mold in other directions with varying amounts of success.

It does not shock me one bit that the EA sequel machine has created a brand new Need for Speed entry in just one year, and I am similarly unfazed by the fact that it is very solid and stylish. However, while the core mechanics of Most Wanted are largely present and accounted for, Carbon's abbreviated Career Mode significantly shortens the single-player experience, while many of the "big changes" merely lead to frustration.

The narrative in Need for Speed: Carbon seems like a discarded script for a Fast and the Furious film, which means fast cars, over-the-top dramatics, and a little bit of double-crossing from the supporting characters. Following the conclusion of Most Wanted (in which your nameless, faceless character skipped town), you find yourself outside of Palmont City, one of your former stomping grounds. After being picked up by a bounty hunter (Cross, the now-disgraced police sergeant from Most Wanted), an old buddy intervenes and offers to sponsor you as a racer in an attempt to take control of the city from rival gangs.

The frequent cinematics are created in the same style as the previous title, in which real-life scenes are filmed and later glossed up to create a surreal visual experience. The dialogue is often canned and ridiculous, though the acting is not especially bad – just eccentric. I doubt that the filming budget was especially high, as each character wears the same outfit throughout the entire game. Silly as that may be, the scenes are even nicer than the ones in Most Wanted, and a number of fresh in-game cinematics contain surprisingly realistic character replicas for scenes in which actors were not filmed.

Palmont City is split into four districts, each of which contains either five or seven smaller neighborhoods. Each neighborhood typically has two or three race events available to the player, and many of the major event types from Most Wanted make an appearance: Sprint, Circuit, Speedtrap, and Checkpoint (formerly Tollbooth). Completing events allows you to take over neighborhoods, and once you rule every neighborhood in a district, you can challenge the local boss to a pair of races. The first is a standard Circuit race, while the second is a Canyon Duel, the infuriatingly frustrating new addition to the series.

Each Canyon Duel has two rounds, with the first having your character tail another vehicle to earn points, which are awarded for maintaining close proximity without contact. Should you make it to the end, your opponent then has an opportunity to gain all of those points back by following you down the mountain. The key distinction here is that each of these courses features several points in which you can crash through a barrier and fly off of the mountain. One false move, and it is back to round one, even if you are on the final turn of the second round.

It may not be a terrible idea, but a number of small issues keep it miles away from glory. First off, your counterpart always seems to have a better car than you do. During one race, I was passed before we even got to the first turn. Not only does that suck away an immense amount of points, but falling behind for 10 seconds means the duel is over. The winding courses are very unforgiving, and you can bet that your race is through if you happen to wind up head-first against a concrete barrier. The computer racers are too good for any reasonable comeback to occur. Without the 10-second rule, the Canyon Duels would make for better boss battles, not to mention less controller-tossing at my house.

The miserable Drag racing mode from Most Wanted has been replaced with the Drift mode, which was previously seen in Need for Speed: Underground. Drift racing in Carbon finally simulates the theoretical question, "What would happen if you replaced the back tires of a car with sticks of butter?" True, the cars may not use actual sticks of butter, but the wheels have little traction, and your car will slip and slide around a closed track or canyon course in the hopes of racking up points without hitting a wall. While it may be a more interesting diversion than Drag was in Most Wanted, it still is just that: a diversion. Thankfully, you can get through the entire Career Mode without ever playing it.

On that subject – getting through the Career Mode is no longer the great accomplishment that it was in Most Wanted. It can be completed in roughly 10 hours, which is truly stunning in the wake of the epic Career Mode of its predecessor. While police chases are still a part of the game, they no longer factor into the objectives of the Career, which seems to have significantly lessened the amount of required gameplay. Seeing the credits roll just two days after starting the game made for a bit of a disappointment, considering the weeks I spent tackling Most Wanted.

The other big change to the Career Mode involves the addition of crew members, which have three specific roles – Drafters, Scouts, and Blockers. Drafters will jump in front of you and block the wind resistance, allowing you to slingshot past them. The winding streets of Palmont City make them the least helpful of the bunch, but you may get some use out of them. Scouts jump ahead of you and find shortcuts, but their notifications were not nearly helpful enough, and I often missed the intended path. The Blocker's role is to knock out other racers, giving you less competition with which to deal.

While the Blockers are theoretically the most effective members of the crew, they ended up hurting me more than they helped. I can recall at least a dozen times in which one would slam on his brakes directly in front of me, causing both of us to fall behind. On several other occasions, he would turn right into me at the starting line, slowing us down before we could really get anywhere. It feels like a half-baked idea that was never fully tested in time for release. To make things worse, your active crew member will often finish in front of you. It may count as a win for you, but it certainly cheapens the victory.

The vehicles of Need for Speed: Carbon are separated into three classes: tuner, muscle, and exotic. Each class has three tiers of cars, and you can unlock a heap of upgrades for each tier in the Career Mode. Customization is more detailed than ever, as each category has a number of upgrades that can be tweaked based on your individual preferences. The biggest visual change comes with the addition of Autosculpt, which is essentially a create-a-player mode for car parts. Using slider bars, you can customize the shape and size of a number of parts for the body, allowing you to create the bizarre fantasy car of your dreams.

The online multiplayer experience has been significantly improved, with two new modes and an experience points system. In addition to the standard race types, you can play Pursuit Tag or Pursuit Knockout. Pursuit Tag challenges one driver to evade a number of police cars (controlled by the other players) in an open setting, while Pursuit Knockout is a more straightforward race mode with a catch: the last-place driver at the end of each lap becomes the police officer, and must attempt to take down the other racers for points. Achievements and exclusive cars and parts can be unlocked for raising your Online XP level. Challenge Mode also makes a return in Need for Speed: Carbon with three tiers of events, featuring both single-player and online objectives.

Nearly 30 licensed songs are included in Need for Speed: Carbon, with contributions from Ladytron, Eagles of Death Metal, and Wolfmother. Two of the better hip-hop tracks of the year, Lady Sovereign's "Love Me or Hate Me" and Pharrell's "Show You How to Hustle," make the cut in an edited form, though I did not know either was present until I saw them listed in the credits. The Career Mode tended to make use of the tracks from the "Electro" category, almost entirely ignoring the "Rock" and "Hip Hop/Grime" tracks. I had to turn off most of the other tracks to hear the ones that I liked.

Need for Speed: Carbon appears to run off of the same graphics engine as Most Wanted, though with a bit more detail and frame rate stability. The motion blur effect is very well done (especially at high levels), and the lighting and weather effects are impressively portrayed despite the nighttime setting of the game. The vehicles of Carbon, including models from Dodge, Porsche, and Toyota, are superbly rendered, and the cars take on a level of damage similar to what was seen in the Xbox 360 port of Burnout Revenge. Though the visuals are very well done, many of the textures and environmental aspects appear to be cut-and-pasted from Most Wanted, which sometimes gives off a déjà vu feeling, despite the locale change.

EA Canada's attitude towards the development of Need for Speed: Carbon seems to mirror that of a real-life tuner toward his or her car: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it; just modify it." Ultimately, despite the new setting, storyline, and structure, Carbon does not represent a major departure from its predecessor. Sadly, the few major gameplay additions hurt the core experience, especially the poorly executed crew system. Even with these flaws, Need for Speed: Carbon is a worthwhile pickup for fans of Most Wanted or the Underground titles. It still manages to excite like few other racers can, though the slightly muddled experience is over far too soon.

Score: 8.1/10