good idea but poorely delivered
The car selection is good but is presented poorly. With the tier system. There are 3 tiers which you unlock thorugh the game. But you will only ever use 1 car from each tier. And it is unrealistic that a Nissan 350Z is as good (in the game) as a Porsche Carrera GT or a Mercedes Mclaren SLR.
The city is big but again poorely presented as well. There are very few interesting jumps no ring road and unlocked in massive chunks when you beat a boss. However what is really good are the Pursuit Breakers. returning from Most Wanted, the idea being to drop various objects on the cops or your opponents. You can drop numerous hilarious things such as giant cement, Ice Cream Cones and donuts. The cops return pretty much the same as well. The same cars and heat levels etc. The main differences are the helicopter are no longer around and you can only build bounty by smashing cop cars. These are 2 stupid changes. But other than that the cop chases are great fun and challenging at times to.
The best thing in carbon though is the graphics. You can see every crack in the road every dent in the car and every wrinkle in the characters faces. And Im told the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are even better! And this really makes the Canyon Races very tense with canyon music and little light they are fantastic. Sadly though there is a lack of canyon races. Only 6 0r 7 at most throughout the entire career mode and then 3 more in he challenge series. They are a fantastic edition and with more this game could match up to Most Wanted or other great racing games. But it doesnt because its way to short crudely presented, easy, a lack of the games best features and a very dissapointing ending.