While NASCAR 06 is a great stand-alone racing game, it lacks the freshness that made the early games so great.....
Gameplay: 7/10 - NASCAR 06 is the latest in the long line of NASCAR games by EA Sports. In it, you can drive cars in any of the four major series of NASCAR while competing in various different race modes.
NASCAR 06 is all about replicating the feel of real NASCAR racing. In the game, you can pick from almost any major NASCAR track (along with a few fantasy ones), and race on it with any car from the four major series of NASCAR. The series included in the game are the Featherlite Modified Series, the Craftsman Truck Series, the Grand National Series, and, the biggest and most competitive series, the Nextel Cup. All of the four series contain real life drivers with their actual cars, and most of the events are included in the game. You can drive the way all drivers do in real life, such as drafting other racers, intimidating other racers, passing, and using teamwork skills (explained later) to help get to the front. For the game modes in NASCAR 06, you get the regular Race, Season, and Online aspects of the game. Also thrown in the game is the "Fight To The Top" mode, which is basically an advanced career mode, in which you sign contracts with teams and advance up through the multiple series of NASCAR. To round out the game modes, NASCAR 06 also includes a scenario mode and a training mode for a neat little diversion from the regular racing action...
As with every EA NASCAR game, there is always a new feature added. In 2004, EA introduced grudges and alliances. In 2005, EA showed us the intimidation feature. Now, in 2006, EA gave us a new way to look at NASCAR. That would be the new "Squad-Based Racing" feature, or team communicator. With the right analog stick, you can command your teammates to do numerous tasks to help you win the race. You can let them do anything from asking them to block for you, or go to the extremes and swap cars with them. This is all good in thought, but in execution, the teammate feature comes up short. It makes the game too easy. You can just keep swapping cars to see which of your teammates are closest to the lead, and literally win the race. If you're not swapping cars, your teammates will rarley respond to you anyways, which makes this feature practically useless if you aren't using the right analog stick to swap cars. In all, the team communicator was a good idea, but it just doesn't work well enough to make it the star attraction of NASCAR 06...
As for the small features in NASCAR 06, there have been a lot of improvements to the gameplay. Fight To The Top mode has been completely redone. Instead of the weekly schedule, you are given all of the events on a monthly calendar. This works really well, as you can plan out which races you want to participate in. Also, the mode has a better mail box, and you can even participate in a Fantasy NASCAR league, which is a basic "Pick-Em" mini-game. The mail box is more organized this time around, and the email's are split up into catagories. Fight To The Top is a lot better this time around. The rest of the features are merely okay. The game has a new physics system, which incorporates "Blow-Overs" into the game. However, the physics make the cars a lot harder to handle, so don't expect to master this game in a few minutes. Also, the damage model has been redone, but the cars don't look as good as they did in NASCAR Thunder 2003. The Dodge Challenges and the Speedzone mini-games are back this year, and nothing has really changed. Some of them are really hard, and I still haven't finished all of them yet. Both modes do get tiresome after a while, so i wouldn't suggest buying the game mainly for those features. The grudges and alliances are back this year, and better than ever. When you help a driver, they'll be nice to you and let you pass them. However, if you're out to kill, many drivers will often block you. Thankfully, this has been toned down from the Demolition Derby drivers that were in the past few games. To round out the features, a pole meter has been added in qualifying to show you how well you are doing on each section of the track.
NASCAR 06 is a feature-rich racing game. The main career mode and side modes (see above) should keep you busy for about 20 hours as you advance up through the ranks of NASCAR. There isn't really a ranking system in NASCAR 06, so you never know how well you are driving. With all of the modes, it should really keep you busy past it's due date. The multiplayer is okay in NASCAR 06, but you can't use the team communicator at all, which makes it feel like an EA game from 2 - 3 years ago. I do not know how online is, since I don't have XBOX live. Unlockables come in the form of Thunder Plates, which you can purchase with points you earn by racing properly and doing in-game tasks. You can unlock events, paint schemes, tracks, and even little cheats to keep up the replay value of the game. The game also includes a Create-A-Car feature, but because it doesn't use a color palette, it becomes hard to match the exact color for your car. In all, NASCAR 06 is a game that you're likley to enjoy for a little while, but it won't hold your interest for a long time.
Graphics: 8/10 - The Graphics in NASCAR 06 are solid. All of the tracks are detailed exactly like their counterparts in real life, and all of the cars have the correct paintschemes. The track textures are done very well, and look real. Finally, EA got the Monte Carlo body style right this year. The lighting for each track is done very well, and each track's weather looks just like it should. In all, the graphics in NASCAR 06 are very well done.
Sound: 7/10 - NASCAR 06 has some pretty lousy sound. The music in the game is bland, with almost no actual music, and the engine roar sounds muffled. It doesn't sound like NASCAR at all. Even though you can have custom soundtracks, it just doesn't sound like NASCAR.
Final: 6.9/10.0 - NASCAR 06 stands in the shadows of it's former self. While it does bring new and "exciting" feature into the series, it doesn't warrant another purchase if you already own previous games in the series. While it's mainly a roster update to EA's NASCAR series, there's just not enough new and innovative material to separate NASCAR 06 from earlier games in the series. In all, while NASCAR 06 is a great stand-alone racing game, it lacks the freshness that made the early games so great...
Rent Or Buy: RENT - Because NASCAR 06 is mainly just a simple roster update with a few new features added, it's just not enough to pay the full $60.00 for. Even if you are a die-hard NASCAR fan, it's best to make this one a weekend rental...