Need for Speed Carbon (Sony Playstation 3, 2006)

After rebooting the franchise with Need for Speed Underground, EA has continued to produce some solid street racers under the Need for Speed banner. Last year's Need for Speed Most Wanted, which featured hilariously over-the-top live-action cutscenes and seriously tense police pursuits, proved to be a high watermark for the franchise. Now it's being followed up by Need for Speed Carbon, which downplays the role of the police chases, introduces some simple team-racing mechanics, and occasionally takes the action off the city streets and into the outlying canyons. The new gameplay doesn't always improve the experience, but the racing can still be quite intense and still has a pronounced sense of style.
Carbon continues the story where Most Wanted left off. For those just tuning in, Most Wanted ended with you recovering your stolen car and bailing out of the city of Rockport while the overzealous, anti-street-racing Sgt. Cross continued his pursuit. At the start of Carbon, you're making your way to Palmont City when Cross, now a bounty hunter, catches up with you and totals your car during the chase. Before he can collect his bounty on you, though, your old friend Darius steps in and pays off Cross. You are then put to work, taking over the turf of the other rival street-racing crews in Palmont City. It seems that you've got a history in this town that predates the events in Most Wanted. And during the course of the game, you'll learn more about that fateful night you skipped town. Different characters will give their takes on the night you supposedly ran off with a big red duffle bag full of cash. And by the end of the game, you'll not only find out what really happened, but you'll have taken over all of the street-racing territory in Palmont City.

Outside of the actual gameplay, one of the more endearing aspects of Most Wanted was the way it used live actors in CG environments for its story sequences. These sequences invariably featured plenty of actor/model types, trying a little too hard to talk tough and failing spectacularly at it. The technique remains the same in Carbon, though there are more story sequences now and a slightly more self-aware tone. The heavy use of flashbacks is an interesting idea, but the story ends up being kind of muddled. And none of the villains come off as particularly menacing. Although it's hard to really qualify any of it as sincerely good, it's just over-the-top enough that folks who enjoy stuff like The Fast and the Furious, ironically or otherwise, should get some enjoyment out of it.

Most Wanted had you racing to raise your visibility with the police and take on the most notorious street racers in Rockport. In Carbon, it's all about turf. Palmont City is divided into four major territories, each of which is predominantly controlled by a different street-racing crew. Each territory is then further divided into zones, and within each zone, you'll find starting points for a variety of different race events. Winning at least two events in a zone will put it under your control. And once you've taken over all the zones in a given territory, you can take on the head of that crew. As you continue to extend your reach across Palmont City, rival crews will come back and try to retake territory the same way you took it from them, forcing you to accept their challenge if you want to maintain control. Having to go back and rerace events that you've already won is kind of a pain, but the open-world structure is n

Incredible game , I am only half way through it .
To truly see and view the graphic's which are amazing and so realistic you need a 1080p TV .

The graphic's and gameplay are stunning , need for speed throw's in a different twist . This time your racing for territories , same race style's drift , sprint and such . There is one new race style called speedtrap you race against other racer's and whoever gets the total top speed wins . Through out this race there are speed meters that take your speed ( say 100mph ) and add it to your speed through a different are on the track . By the end of the race your speed will be 500mph or more or less .

You achieve cards and unlocks liek the old style game . But this time you can build a crew and fight for territory everyone on your crew does somethign different and can help you out in races by drafting or blocking or showing you short cuts .

There are cops in this game which is so much fun . They can chase you through the streets if your just driving around or they will chase you during a race . I have yet to get busted so I don't know what happens if you do get caught . But sometimes they're relentless and you hafta hide and get away or have fun crashing them into stuff once they crash they're out of the chase .

The only bad thing so far about the game and maybe I havn't figured out how to use it yet is there is no auto save . So everytime you accomplish something it will ask you do you want to overwrite this file blah blah blah .

The game is incredible , so many new things in the worlds and the changes they made are so worth it . I have rented every game for the PS3 so far and this is by far the best play yet .

Cuztomizing your car's has never been more in depth . Pick something you'd liek and you can modify it yourself with the create my own feature you actually mold and sculp whatever body part you want on your car . If you don't want to go this in depth creating a body style you can pick and choose body styles like always .

The cars so far are awesome , they offer different car's and genre's for everyone . It's not just a tuner game anymore . Muscle cars and so much more are included and just as amazing .

The game is incredible and they scored another hole in one .

I wish I could truly tell you how awesome this game is but this is the best I can think of telling you . Hopefully it help's in your decision about the game .

OK graphics,not enough customization option .Not enough car models available to upgrade, paint schemes are skechey and speed and handling options are limited.Response is ok when using the control,track options are limited also. Better choice game is Gran Turismo 5 wgaming which has a lots of optins to cutomize and create cars.Online gaming is ok and responsive. This game is geared towards a younger players who are just wanting to race and enjoy OK graphics but for a serious gamer it is not recommended. Price is good on ebay and you can pick this up for less than $20.00 dollars.

The storyline is rather unique and gives you a personality. This game is not overly challenging and features well designed courses. There are various race types that if one doesn't challenge you enough another will. I seem to do pretty well it just about every race style. Except for drift racing which is very challenging and requires great timing. This game adds a new aspect called a wingman. This character will help you in just about every race. Whether it be to block another race or bring home first place. As you progress in the game you can personalize your vehicles more and also earn newer faster vehicles. That is not only important for career racing mode but also online play. As I have noticed the competition out there is excellent. The game also has added a card collecting goal. This game gets you rewards for collecting four cards in each category. The physics of this game is excellent and the speed is furious. You really feel the speed of the cars out there are quickly understand the capabilities of the car you are driving.

Overall, the game is a great racing game since you can customize your ride even more in this game...no other racing game so far for the PS3 allows you to customize your ride to this extent. Great game to play online since it's also free to race online or just with a couple friends over at your place. If you want a good racing game...grab this or rent it.

This game is much better for the PS3 than the XBOX360 and i got it for both platforms.This game is awesome in all the meanings of the word.The graphics are incredible and the game control is just perfect.Sound effects are even better than previous editions of this game for any console.The game is really fun on any of he's modes but the career mode and on line gaming are something else. Rating: 8.5 out of 10.