Need For Speed Carbon is a great game for any lovers of the Fast and the Furious series, but may not appeal to everyone.
GRAPHICS === 8/10
First off, this actually happens to be the first next-gen game that I bought - period. It also happens to be my first X360 game that I ever purchased. It was a wonderful way to start off this generation, as its graphics far exceeded the expectations that I had developed from last generation. The graphics were just crisp and enjoyable, especially in HD. Though it is noteworthy that they weren't anything particularly memorable once I had made my way through other next-gen games.
GAMEPLAY === 8.5/10
The game itself is actually quite fun and addicting. You can play a variety of racing modes, including Sprint, Circuit, Drift, Checkpoint, Speedtrap and a special boss battle mode that is a special race which you must go through without the use of NOS.
These special boss races expect you to first beat the boss in a standard race, before moving on to a race similar to the one illustrated in Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift - you will find yourself in the hills/mountains racing against the boss without NOS. The first time through, your goal is to stay as close to the boss as you can, and the second time through you are leading and you are to get as far ahead as possible.
You will make you way throughout the world conquering areas. You begin by choosing one of 3 types of cars, Exotic, Muscle or more street-like cars. These partially impact the cars you unlock throughout the game, but in the end, you will get to see the beauty of supercars if you brave the game.
The game isn't that difficult, though I did have a few problems with the drift challenges. The thing that drags down the gameplay the most in this game is the police chases. The first few times it is enjoyable escaping from the cops that are chasing you, but then it builds up to ridiculous amounts of cops that aren't even fun to escape from, just a hassle. I hated this aspect of this game after a while.
STORY/SOUND/UNLOCKABLES === 6.5/10
Honestly, the story is abysmal. Throughout the campaign, as you take over zones, you will slowly uncover pieces of your own story. This story is broken and hardly enjoyable - luckily for you, people buy this game for the racing, not the story! There are a few good songs spread throughout this song, but several get annoying and repetitive. Several of the race tracks are quite similar to one another and you might feel a sense of repetitive play, but it is nothing severe.
There is actually quite a good array of unlockable cars. Don't expect to see as many as you would from a Forza game, but the cars are enjoyable nonetheless.
BOTTOM LINE === 7.5/10
This game is worth a look at if you are a fan of racing games or the Fast and the Furious movies. It will keep you entertained and is very fun the first time through, but after one playthrough the main story, you will probably only use it to play when your friends are over.
Don't be discouraged though, this game has enjoyable, though sometimes annoying gameplay, that helps to capture the unrealistic racing-game mode well. By unrealistic, I mean that it doesn't pretend to be Forza and shoot for realistic simulation, but rather sticks to the fast and furious pace we all love. Overall, Need For Speed Carbon is a fun game, and didn't disappoint me overall as my first next-gen game.