Last year EA sent out on a mission with Nascar 2005. This year they seemed to take a step back.
The first thing you will notice about this years game is the new start where you have a video of two of the race teams racing head on to win the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Superspeedway. Right off the start you will see driver #48 Jimmie Johnson crash in a pretty graphical fashion and the game will introduce one of the most interesting and for sure the best new feature this year.
You will have to switch drivers using the right analog stick into your team mates care and win the race for the team. The only problem is that this first race is not that easy for someone new to Nascar games and it will even give a weird feeling to those who have already played Nascar 2005.
The feel of the action in this game is kinda slow compaired to last year. The only way to fix this is to go to options in the pause menu and turn the FOV (framerate) up and the game will feel a bit faster.
The graphics seem to be improved this year and there is brand new crash physics this year as well. Over all the graphics look good on the cars. Some things that need to be improved is the shaking on the grass when your sitting still in the infield. It's not that pretty.
The same old modes as last year are in this years game. There are still Skill Points which you use to buy "Plates" so you can unlock different drivers and tracks. There are lots of things to unlock which really brings the value of the game up.
Now I will explain this new squad feature in a bit more detail. The feature is mostly about using a USB headset (PS2) to communicate with your team and to give commands to team mates and to your crew cheif as to what you are going to do next. For example you can tell your team mate in front of you that you want to go by and they may move out of the way for you. But be aware that if they can't move there not going to crash into another car just so that you can get by. You can also change the settings for your car during pit stops so that you don't have to change it when you get in there and mess up. The last good thing about this is the fact that if you crash you can always switch cars with a team mate to win the race and get points for your team.
The same old Fight To The Top mode is back in this years game and it's better than ever. You will start off in the Featherlite modified series all the way to the Nextel Cup series and eventually you may be able to get into your favorite drivers car and drive for them. You can even buy your own racing team.
The online play this year has taken a bit of a step down from last years great experience. Right off the bat to say some people can't race against each other. Sound weird? Well it's true! When you get online you will find that some users won't be able to connect with each other in the same room. You will have to kick the person (or be kicked) for the race to continue. Over all the online is pretty good to play and it works well if you can get into a good race. It also seems that a lot of people do not have Head Sets this year so watch out for wreckers on the track.
Well really that's all I have to say about this game. Mostly it's the same old thing as last year and they did not need to try something this different. If they would have made a copy of last years online and gameplay with the new features this year they would have been O.K.
I will also give some specs so that those of you that want to pick it up know what there in for.
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1-2 players
313 KB of memory to save.
Analog Control
Vibration
Pressure Sensitive
Progressive Scan compatable
PS2 USB Head Set compatable
Online: 2-4 players.
Good luck and happy gaming!