Need for Speed Carbon summarizes the success of racing games on the PSP.
The game`s story seems quite dull and maybe could have been abit better, however, there are some light twists that could keep some people interested. You are basically trying to takeover the city while finding who killed your brother, and really it plays like a classic Nintendo game where the leader of that particular clan didn`t kill him and you have to keep going until the end. The ending scene will surely answer all your questions, but overall i could have had this story written by my 6 year old sister. However, it is impressive that a racing game has a story line the story is told in little scenes similar to some of the metal gear games. Though the storyline may not be extremely impressive, the real jewel of this game is in the gameplay.
As always you will start out with the worst cars in the game and progressively get better ones, and customize them as you get money. There are so many cars and so many possibilities in customization that it`s seemingly endless. Once you`re on the track you have several game modes to choose from and these are all tied into your campaign. There is a free roaming segment to the game where you can go all across the city just driving randomly, but there is not too much you can get from there. Wingmen will help you in your race, there are a variety of different kind of wingmen each who help you in different ways, though if you are any good at the game you shouldn`t have to use them too often there is of course multiplayer, which is quite pleasing and brings all the single player action to the network.
Graphically this game is quite pleasing. There are little complaints about frame rate, and cars look great. There are occasional issues with the background appearing. However this game does a very good job of making it feel that you are going 350 km an hour. Backgrounds have a fair amount of detail and look pretty real, and pleasing to the eye. It is quite a nice looking game and it sounds just as good.
Need for Speed delivers in the audio, with all your basic racing sounds, but pushes them to the max. There is a fully licensed soundtrack and plenty of other audio effect goodies.
Essentially NFS Carbon is quite the enjoyable experience, packed with all the features you`d want from a racing game. With a great amount of licensed cars and a good soundtrack and eye pleasing graphics all packed into a great racer WITH a storyline, you can`t ask much more from this game except to get it perfect next time. Thanks Very Much Need For Speed Carbon, an 8 out of 10