Need for Speed: Carbon
Added August 31st, 2006 by Dakota Grabowski
Let’s get this out of the way: Need for Speed: Carbon isn’t intended to be NFS: Most Wanted 2 or NFS: Underground 3. EA Black Box took a look outside of the box and found they needed a new form of racing. Gamers have become weary of street racing; cop chases are commonplace in Need for Speed titles; and car customization isn’t anything brand new either. What in the world could they bring forth in terms of innovation and originality that hasn’t already been done? Two words are all that is needed to describe EA Black Box’s feature they are heralding as the new “it” mode: Canyon Racing!
Canyon Racing is finally being introduced to video gamers world wide in Need for Speed: Carbon. If you have no clue what Canyon Racing is, it’s not as complicated as some of you may think. Two racers speed through the tight curves of the canyon as fast as they can. One racer’s objective, the tailing car, is to stay as close to the front car for as long as possible without hitting the opponent. The closer the tailing car stays, the more points they will earn for the final tally. After the run is concluded, it’s time to switch positions - the front car becomes the tailgater, staying as close as possible, in an attempt to beat the opponent’s previous set score. Keep in mind that, at any time, you could be sent flying off the cliff if you don’t precisely turn the corner or flat out have too much speed. Canyon Racing is the ultimate test of skill and will, it will introduce racers to a high stakes form of racing that only rally car racers know of.
Canyon Racing is finally being introduced to video gamers world wide in Need for Speed: Carbon. If you have no clue what Canyon Racing is, it’s not as complicated as some of you may think. Two racers speed through the tight curves of the canyon as fast as they can. One racer’s objective, the tailing car, is to stay as close to the front car for as long as possible without hitting the opponent. The closer the tailing car stays, the more points they will earn for the final tally. After the run is concluded, it’s time to switch positions - the front car becomes the tailgater, staying as close as possible, in an attempt to beat the opponent’s previous set score. Keep in mind that, at any time, you could be sent flying off the cliff if you don’t precisely turn the corner or flat out have too much speed. Canyon Racing is the ultimate test of skill and will, it will introduce racers to a high stakes form of racing that only rally car racers know of.
To top it all off, EA Black Box has actually taken the liberty to travel down to Carbon Canyon (hence the name) in California. They wanted to feel the adrenaline of canyon racing in person. While talking with a few of the developers at EA Black Box this past weekend (August 24th-26th), they mentioned that Canyon Racing is an illicit and dangerous sport that only the best drivers ever try. They also put in their two cents that “the Need for Speed series drives culture as much as culture drives Need for Speed.” Pretty much, EA is trying to stay on the cutting edge of what’s new and hip in the racing world, making sure they are up to date on what’s fresh in the world of racing and its culture.
To stay on subject, Canyon Racing won’t feature any sort of traffic. When this mode was in testing with traffic inserted, it was just too difficult to overcome the odds of dodging traffic and keeping up with the front car for the tailgater. Too many times the tailgater was sent flying off the cliff and ended up losing the race. Therefore, it’s easy to understand why the traffic was removed from this particular game mode. There is some good news for those who are disappointed with the removal of traffic. When playing through the Canyon Racing mode, the computer A.I. will actually, at times, fly off the edge of the cliff. There are a few race events that can occur within the canyons – there’s ‘Canyon Duels’, ‘Canyon Sprints’, and ‘Canyon Drifting’. Canyon Drifting is the definitive test of skill in my own opinion since almost every curve lurks with danger of skidding off the cliff and losing the race.
Speaking about drifting, EA Black Box made the decision to bring back the Drift Mode for this year’s installment after taking a year off. A new physics engine and scoring mechanics have been inserted to reintroduce the mode to gamers. The key to Drift Mode is speed, which is represented with a bar at the top of the screen letting you know how fast you are going and the rewards you’ll receive for how fast you are driving. If you have the bar in the blue, you are driving at the right speed to earn the highest points for your drifts. There will be multipliers included to linking drifts one after another, along with bonus scoring zones if you are closer to the walls. If you happen to hit the walls, there will be penalties tacked onto to your score and you’ll lose the run you currently have going if you were linking up the drifts. The bonus scoring zones work when you have two or all four of your tires in the zone. On top of all this mayhem of drifting around corners, you are allowed to your use your Nos to speed up your car.
To stay on subject, Canyon Racing won’t feature any sort of traffic. When this mode was in testing with traffic inserted, it was just too difficult to overcome the odds of dodging traffic and keeping up with the front car for the tailgater. Too many times the tailgater was sent flying off the cliff and ended up losing the race. Therefore, it’s easy to understand why the traffic was removed from this particular game mode. There is some good news for those who are disappointed with the removal of traffic. When playing through the Canyon Racing mode, the computer A.I. will actually, at times, fly off the edge of the cliff. There are a few race events that can occur within the canyons – there’s ‘Canyon Duels’, ‘Canyon Sprints’, and ‘Canyon Drifting’. Canyon Drifting is the definitive test of skill in my own opinion since almost every curve lurks with danger of skidding off the cliff and losing the race.
Speaking about drifting, EA Black Box made the decision to bring back the Drift Mode for this year’s installment after taking a year off. A new physics engine and scoring mechanics have been inserted to reintroduce the mode to gamers. The key to Drift Mode is speed, which is represented with a bar at the top of the screen letting you know how fast you are going and the rewards you’ll receive for how fast you are driving. If you have the bar in the blue, you are driving at the right speed to earn the highest points for your drifts. There will be multipliers included to linking drifts one after another, along with bonus scoring zones if you are closer to the walls. If you happen to hit the walls, there will be penalties tacked onto to your score and you’ll lose the run you currently have going if you were linking up the drifts. The bonus scoring zones work when you have two or all four of your tires in the zone. On top of all this mayhem of drifting around corners, you are allowed to your use your Nos to speed up your car.
The last thing I want to talk about is the Autosculpt EA is establishing in Carbon. Autosculpt is their new method of customizing your car to a whole new level. The players will have full control of the size and shape of all your car parts. Did you want decals and a unique paint job? That’s easy since I can almost guarantee that no two cars will look the same as long as you have a designer’s outlook of creating a cool car. With the ability to stretch, shrink, pull, change colors, and even determine the position of the details you place upon your car, the options almost seem limitless. The great thing about Autoscuplt is that EA has acquired real after market companies to lend their parts to Need for Speed: Carbon. Each car class will have its own unique kits and sculpting zones to separate it from the other classes. There are three car classes included in Carbon – ‘Exotic’, ‘Muscle’, and ‘Tuner’. The Autoscuplt is going to be a great asset for car tuners worldwide to create their dream car.
More will be revealed on Need For Speed: Carbon in the upcoming weeks when time sensitive information becomes available to the public. You can bet that TalkXbox will be among the first to report it to you, so check back with us for an updated report on Need for Speed: Carbon. For now, check out the new media and chat with us in the forums about how crazy you are for Carbon in the forums.
The Outlook:
Need for Speed: Carbon is definitely not Underground 3, but it closely resembles Most Wanted in almost every viable way. This isn’t a negative rip on the game from our stand point, we loved Most Wanted for its crazy cop chases, even if they were a little over the top. If EA is able to nail down the online portion and multiplayer (both of which EA Black Box didn’t present at the meeting), I am confident that Need for Speed: Carbon will turn out to be another racer’s haven for customization and high stakes racing.
More will be revealed on Need For Speed: Carbon in the upcoming weeks when time sensitive information becomes available to the public. You can bet that TalkXbox will be among the first to report it to you, so check back with us for an updated report on Need for Speed: Carbon. For now, check out the new media and chat with us in the forums about how crazy you are for Carbon in the forums.
The Outlook:
Need for Speed: Carbon is definitely not Underground 3, but it closely resembles Most Wanted in almost every viable way. This isn’t a negative rip on the game from our stand point, we loved Most Wanted for its crazy cop chases, even if they were a little over the top. If EA is able to nail down the online portion and multiplayer (both of which EA Black Box didn’t present at the meeting), I am confident that Need for Speed: Carbon will turn out to be another racer’s haven for customization and high stakes racing.
