Need For Speed: Carbon Copy

[gfoot]

I just saw an advert for NFS:C on the TV, and aside from still wondering why on earth they chose to put "Carbon" in the name, rather than something cool-sounding like "Titanium", I have to say it looks really slow. Maybe that's why it's called "Need for Speed", I don't know.

Is the game actually any good though? I've always assumed it's not, but maybe that's unfair. It's kind of trendy to look down on popular franchises where I work, especially if they're racing games. :/

--

gfoot - enough music TV for one day

[miffy495]

I never had a problem with NFS until they jumped on the urban-izing bandwagon. They always seemed like solid little racing games that, though it wasn't my genre of choice, were a nice little diversion for a while. I have particularly good memories of playing NFS3: Hot Pursuit with a friend back when I was 13. We'd trade off being cop and outlaw over and over and wasted a whole day in this manner. Then we did the same thing the next week. Then we got kind of sick of it, but it served it's purpose. I can't speak for the new incarnations, as I stay away from most "Underground" games on principle. From what I've heard though, they at least hold up the quality of the previous games.

[elmuerte]

the last NFS game I played and enjoyed was Hot Pursuit 2. Although they also kinda fucked up that game for multiplayer. MP was only simple racing, no pursuit mode, no traffic.. nothing.

I liked NFS for the great arcade style racing, but that became much less since the underground shit.

[Wrestlevania]

In my opinion, EA have never been able to better the NFS franchise beyond Porsche Unleashed -- which is still just as superb today as it was when it was released years back.

And the term 'carbon' only makes your trousers explode if you're a committed petrol head, race fan and mod freak. But then, those people will all be playing [ahem] decent racing games anyway, not this year's dull iteration of a long-past-best arcade racer. So... meh.

I do, however, like the fact that EA have cleverly worked in a real-world location to justify this car-nerd subtitle though; bonuses for everyone in the marketing department!

Anyway, my $0.02-worth.

I liked NFS for the great arcade style racing, but that became much less since the underground shit.

I played Most Wanted for a while and that was entertaining enough as a simple arcade racer. It also looked beautiful and the sprawling location was varied and immersive. I've mentioned it before, though; the free roaming / spontaneous police chase mode just wasn't robust or challenging enough to reignite the fun of Hot Pursuit. The only interest I have in Carbon is to see if the developers have addressed this problem -- if they have, Carbon might well be worth renting at least, if not an outright purchase.

[elmuerte]

I played Most Wanted for a while and that was entertaining enough as a simple arcade racer. It also looked beautiful and the sprawling location was varied and immersive. I've mentioned it before, though; the free roaming / spontaneous police chase mode just wasn't robust or challenging enough to reignite the fun of Hot Pursuit. The only interest I have in Carbon is to see if the developers have addressed this problem -- if they have, Carbon might well be worth renting at least, if not an outright purchase.

Most Wanted had aweful support for a stearing wheel and pedals, couldn't configure it properly and was therefor unplayable.

and the invisible walls sucked big time.

[Wrestlevania]

Most Wanted had aweful support for a stearing wheel and pedals, couldn't configure it properly and was therefor unplayable.

I played using an Xbox 360 Controller for Windows and had no problems at all.

No damn rumble though, same as every other force feedback-enabled Windows game I've played using it. You would've thought MS wrote fully DirectX compliant drivers for their own hardware, but apparently not.

Update: Rumble is supported, but you have to use hacked Xbox 360 Controller for Windows drivers to get it working. I'll give these a try sometime shortly and see if they fix the problem.

It's the only bad point for the pad in six months of using it. And I bet my ancient Sidewinder FF Steering Wheel still provides feedback in modern games -- just need to dig it out of the loft and banish Mrs. W. from the living room for the evening...

and the invisible walls sucked big time.

Not if you glanced at the mini map in the corner whilst driving they didn't -- not for me at least.

[Salka]

It's kind of trendy to look down on popular franchises where I work, especially if they're racing games. :/

(It was kinda funny when guys at work started playing Shadow of the Colossus/Okami/Final Fantasy and realised how pointless the past two years of their life had been...)

Anyway I'm sure I remember having a discussion with somebody about the name before... It's just to look COOL INNIT? But the thing is... there's nothing really cool about Carbon. But it SOUNDS cool. Carbon. need for speed CARBON.

I never understood "Most Wanted", though. It sounds like the Top Ten Singles list of a radio station, or the ten most popular items on eBay at the moment or something. It sounds rubbish.

[BooJaka]

When I first saw it I thought it was "Need for Speed: Cabrón" as if it had some kind of Mexican slant on it...

I was mildly disappointed

[twmac]

Well at least EA have finally started being honest.

Can't wait for the Battlefield, Madden, Fifa, NHL, and NBA Carbon Copy versions of last year's games.

Mini-rant:

I played Final Fantasy once or twice, it reminded me of why I have a DVD player to watch Anime, and a console to play games and not a horrific hybrid of the two. I swear you have to press more buttons to play a DVD than to play a final fantasy game.

I'd never put that franchise in the same category as Okami or Shadow of the colossus.

[Salka]

I didn't. They just happened to be the games that were knocking around the office to remind us how worthless our lives were