Re: Need For Speed: Carbon, next in the NFS Series
Great! The blur effect looks phenomenal in the Canyon race. Too bad my 5200 can't enable Motion Blur as the option itself has been grayed out. Wonder if we will find a patch around it or maybe force it through the config file. I will try to do it later on. Right now I am concentrating on the game play elements.
Racing is the normal one. Nothing new there save for the team thingie but then I didn't really get to see them in action...or maybe I was so far out leading the pack that I couldn't see what they were upto. From the radio chatter. I think they were doing something, like maybe blocking the path of the other racers but I can't comment on it until I have tried that race a few more times.
Drift racing had always been my nemesis. Atleast UG had a difficulty selector to let me decide how frustrating I want it to be. So initially I was shocked to see a drift circuit with no difficulty settings in sight. Predictably, the first three runs saw me at the bottom of the heap. However, by the fourth race I began to get a hang of it and by fifth try, I built up such a massive lead with the first lap itself that no one could equal me. Drifting mechanics remain the same i.e. build up speed, drift, avoid walls and try to drift on the outer line. One thing that I noticed was when you bang the wall after getting a good score, you dont loose it (Yay!). Sweet for someone like me who seems to have a great affinity with the wall during the drift races.
Now finally for the canyon races that had everyone so talking about. I cant make up my mind as to whether its frustrating or addictive. Till now, it has been the latter. Its probably the most difficult form of racing you have encountered in the NFS series, at par with the Drivers career mode in Porche Unleashed. The track is very, very unforgiving. Slightest error would see you shoot off the track, through the side barriers and to the depths down below. Canyon races are broken up into two parts...one where you race after the opponent till the end of the track. You get points for keeping as close to your opponent as possible. Crashing into him during this deducts points. After that the role reverses, with you being pursued. Points are added if you bang into him at this stage. Points keep getting subtracted from the total that you had build up as long as he keeps on your tail. You can instantly loose if your opponent overtakes you and keeps the lead for the next ten seconds. Racking up points while racing after the opponent is not as hard as trying to keep them and the lead while you are the one being chased. Your opponent is awesome in navigating through the winding and treacherous twists of the canyon. So you will have to battle out all three together, i.e. your opponent, your dwindling points and the canyon! The race is so tough that it would have newbies tearing out hair in frustation. Hell, it would give the veterans a run for their money anyday. I might just get the game only for the canyon races. And oh, did I say that the soundtrack during the canyon races adds to the atmosphere? Just drum beats that have your pulse quickening as you slide in to that next turn, not knowing if you can make it through or its hello cliff bottom for you!
