bit-tech Shopping: Electronic Arts Need for Speed: Carbon (PS3)

Rating: 8

Time with product: 3 Months

Strengths: Graphics, racing

Weaknesses: Short

Summary: Need for Speed: Carbon is a worthy sequel to the beloved NFS: Most Wanted. Graphics is excellent. The cars and environment look very realistic. It's almost like playing behind the wheel except without G forces. Drifting is great in this game. Although drifting is not realistic but it adds a lot of fun factors to the game. Sound and music is working very well too.The only complain is that this game is rather short. You can probably complete it within half a week.

Rating: 4

Time with product: 1 Days

Strengths: Graphics are better than PS2's; the premise of the game is a little different from other driving games

Weaknesses: Graphics don't fare well against today's PS3 games; game feels average all-around

Summary: I was pretty disappointed with this game, but the problem might be more with my expectations. I believe Need for Speed: Carbon was a PS3 launch title. In other words, it came out way back when the PS3 first came out, which was over a year ago. It probably wasn't a bad game back then, but the bar has been raised since then by games like Motorstorm and Burnout: Paradise. For example, the graphics in Need for Speed: Carbon are definitely better than the graphics in old Playstation 2 games, but they also clearly pale in comparison to Motorstorm's graphics and Burnout:Paradise's graphics. After seeing those games, Need for Speed: Carbon looks a bit grainy to me. The premise of Need for Speed: Carbon is still unique, I guess. There's a map of territories and you race rival gangs to take control of each territory. After taking control of a territory, you may still have to race to defend it from challengers trying to take it back. In the end though, it's still just racing, and, as an arcade-style racer (not to be confused with simulation racers like Gran Turismo which takes everything hyperseriously), it's simply average. Cars within a respective category don't really feel all that different from one another. It's like they're just different looks for essentially the same vehicle. The cars handle ridiculously well, taking most corners at very high speeds without much problem, making the races maybe too easy. I pretty much got bored of this game right away and haven't played much of it since. In fact, I don't think I've gone back to it at all. Again, this game might have been good in its day, but, for a good arcade racer these days, I recommend Burnout: Paradise way before I recommend this. I would also recommend Motorstorm before this, even though, yes, I know Motorstorm (being offroad) and Need for Speed: Carbon aren't exactly the same types of racers.

Rating: 8

Time with product:

Strengths: Good Graphics, online

Weaknesses: missing some little but nice features

Summary: Need for Speed Carbon is a great racing game for the PS3. The graphics is good, especially when you are driving at over 120 mph. It is nice that they removed the free roam feature and you can now just jump straight to the race events. Moreover, it is really fun to play with other people online. But there are some little but nice features missing in this game, such as drag, replays and the cars that couldn't be as customizable as they were. Overall I am still satisfied with it.

Rating: 10

Time with product:

Strengths: Great Game, Great Graphics

Weaknesses: none

Summary: I like it very much. It is really a great game. The graphics looks good on my HDTV. Depending on the skill level, the further you go, the harder this game will be. NFS Carbon had a sense of style, a great storyline, but most importantly was quite fun and diverse. The storyline is rather unique and gives you a personality. You are a character that you never talk or have a face. It would have been nice if they allowed players to personalize that aspect more. This game's career mode actually goes by pretty fast since you don't have to race a whole lot or run from cops to scoring points to get to the boss

Rating: 8

Time with product: 2

Strengths: Great graphics and cool cars. Online gaming is nice also.

Weaknesses: Some may consider the game too short, but still tons of fun regardless.

Summary: This is a very fun game with lots of sweet race options, including drifting. The graphics are really good as is the sound. There are a lot of cool cars and the ability to customize them is great. Some say the game is short, but I really enjoy it and can spend countless hours playing. I'm looking forward to the next releases due out.