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IGN Review of Need for Speed: Carbon - Own the City
The Need for Speed franchise is no stranger to any platform, having appeared on nearly every console and handheld gaming system in the past decade. Its starring roles have numbered four on the Game Boy Advance, each installment handled by the same programmers at British developer Pocketeers. Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City marks their fifth and likely final lap around the GBA track, and their experience behind the wheel makes this one a pretty smooth ride.
Territory is the portable Carbon's objective - gaining territory, piece by piece, until you "own the city." Starting out, you've got nothing. No car, no respect, no memories. The storyline casts you as a racer recovering from a hospital stay, amnesia keeping you from fully recalling what happened in the high-speed crash that sent you to the ER in the first place. What you do know is that your brother, involved in the same wreck, is dead. Winning races around town will earn you influence and respect in the street racing scene - influence and respect that will hopefully lead to answers about what really happened the night your brother died.
The story comes off as more than a little illogical - after nearly dying in and losing a brother to a collision, I doubt anyone would jump right back into illegal street racing fresh from intensive care - but it sets up the zone-to-zone progression around the city and the relationship with your in-game friends. Your pals provide you with a loner ride and take you on a few test laps to get you comfortable with driving again (the in-game tutorial). Later, they arrive during races to lend a helping hand.
The Need for Speed name comes from a memorable line in 1986's Top Gun, and further strengthening the game-to-film connection is a very jetfighter-esque addition - wingmen. Attacker wingmen are purely offensive, ramming their cars into your opponents. Drafters are more strategic, positioning themselves in front of you so that your nitrous can have time to recharge. Utilized properly, these friends can be a big help in getting to the finish line first. The execution of calling upon them is difficult, though - they're just as likely to crash into you as they are to help.
Similarly tough to deal with is the design direction for the NFS control scheme. The game boasts officially licensed cars from a variety of manufacturers, and each model handles differently. But that handling falls somewhere in a grey area between realistic simulation and an arcade experience. Need for Speed isn't Gran Turismo, nor is it Grand Theft Auto. Its control is a hybrid of the two that does well to bring a real sense of speed into play, but may leave you scratching your head if you're new to the series - it can be a confusing and compromising balance.
No compromise is needed in the title's visual presentation, probably the strongest positive aspect of this release. Pocketeers' development team has had years of experience in getting 3D NFS right on the GBA, and it shows. Other racing games on the handheld are plagued by choppy framerates or polygon clipping - not this one. The game flows smoothly in each race and your immersion will never be interrupted by oddities in the environments.
A few unique touches made their way into those environments, and you'll find hidden shortcuts and alternate paths in several areas if you have a keen eye. That kind of detail elevates these races above some other, strictly linear games on the system - it makes the city you're trying to own feel more interactive and interesting.
Interactivity done well goes a long way towards keeping you in the game for the long haul, and there's a lot to discover if you stick with Carbon through to the end. Multiple new tracks, vehicle models and wingmen are unlocked as you progress through Career Mode. The licensed cars, though not handling exactly as they would in real life, promote a completionist attitude - who wouldn't want to play long enough to access James Bond's signature Aston Martin?
©2006-11-09, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Territory is the portable Carbon's objective - gaining territory, piece by piece, until you "own the city." Starting out, you've got nothing. No car, no respect, no memories. The storyline casts you as a racer recovering from a hospital stay, amnesia keeping you from fully recalling what happened in the high-speed crash that sent you to the ER in the first place. What you do know is that your brother, involved in the same wreck, is dead. Winning races around town will earn you influence and respect in the street racing scene - influence and respect that will hopefully lead to answers about what really happened the night your brother died.
The story comes off as more than a little illogical - after nearly dying in and losing a brother to a collision, I doubt anyone would jump right back into illegal street racing fresh from intensive care - but it sets up the zone-to-zone progression around the city and the relationship with your in-game friends. Your pals provide you with a loner ride and take you on a few test laps to get you comfortable with driving again (the in-game tutorial). Later, they arrive during races to lend a helping hand.
The Need for Speed name comes from a memorable line in 1986's Top Gun, and further strengthening the game-to-film connection is a very jetfighter-esque addition - wingmen. Attacker wingmen are purely offensive, ramming their cars into your opponents. Drafters are more strategic, positioning themselves in front of you so that your nitrous can have time to recharge. Utilized properly, these friends can be a big help in getting to the finish line first. The execution of calling upon them is difficult, though - they're just as likely to crash into you as they are to help.
Similarly tough to deal with is the design direction for the NFS control scheme. The game boasts officially licensed cars from a variety of manufacturers, and each model handles differently. But that handling falls somewhere in a grey area between realistic simulation and an arcade experience. Need for Speed isn't Gran Turismo, nor is it Grand Theft Auto. Its control is a hybrid of the two that does well to bring a real sense of speed into play, but may leave you scratching your head if you're new to the series - it can be a confusing and compromising balance.
No compromise is needed in the title's visual presentation, probably the strongest positive aspect of this release. Pocketeers' development team has had years of experience in getting 3D NFS right on the GBA, and it shows. Other racing games on the handheld are plagued by choppy framerates or polygon clipping - not this one. The game flows smoothly in each race and your immersion will never be interrupted by oddities in the environments.
A few unique touches made their way into those environments, and you'll find hidden shortcuts and alternate paths in several areas if you have a keen eye. That kind of detail elevates these races above some other, strictly linear games on the system - it makes the city you're trying to own feel more interactive and interesting.
Interactivity done well goes a long way towards keeping you in the game for the long haul, and there's a lot to discover if you stick with Carbon through to the end. Multiple new tracks, vehicle models and wingmen are unlocked as you progress through Career Mode. The licensed cars, though not handling exactly as they would in real life, promote a completionist attitude - who wouldn't want to play long enough to access James Bond's signature Aston Martin?
©2006-11-09, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved