'You are cast as an established racer who got involved in the blacklist shenanigans of Most Wanted, and you're now returning to the game's city to right a wrong that was done to you.'
-Now is it just me or are EA's script writers starting to run out of ideas, oh no wait...that was a long time ago.
'Obviously, taking on racing crews will present a sizable challenge that is more than one man can handle. Fortunately, you'll be able to recruit a posse of wingmen to help you out in your quest. The wingmen will present a unique new twist to the gameplay, as each will offer unique abilities you can call on during a race to give you an edge. What we've heard of so far are blockers, scouts, and drafters. So, for example, you could call on a blocker wingman to help you get past or slow down an opponent. Where things get really interesting with the wingmen, though, are the abilities they'll have outside of a race'
-Blockers? Scouts? Drafters?
'The canyon races are unique two-stage competitions that find you testing your skills against a boss for points. The first leg of the race finds you trying to follow close behind the boss as he races to a finish line at the bottom of a hill. Your goal is to stick as close as possible to him, as you'll earn points based on your proximity. The second leg of the race finds you in the lead, and you'll be trying to put as much distance between you and the boss as you tear down the route again. This time out your points are on the line, as the boss will be draining points from you to varying degrees depending on his proximity to you. Your goal is to reach the finish line with some points intact. Though extremely challenging, the races offer the potential for instant victories if you can manage to meet certain conditions, such as staying in front for a certain amount of time or getting a sizable lead when being followed. You can also lose just as fast if you happen to collide with some of the destructible barriers that are set on parts of the track.'
-Seems slightly interesting...
'Need for Speed Carbon will also feature the return of the drift races that were absent from Most Wanted. This year's take on drifting varies a bit from its previous incarnation, as speed and momentum are the key to insane scores here. As before, you'll test your skills on courses and be required to do all manner of crazy drifting. However, this time, the key to victory are the long, controlled skids that rack up points. You can add multipliers by swinging your back end around as before, but you'll want to do so sparingly so that you maintain momentum.'
-Something Underground 2 beat Most Wanted on.
'Another returning feature with a fresh twist is customization. This time out, Carbon is poised to offer all the expected features seen in previous games. Although the ability to tune your cars isn't quite as deep as that offered in Need for Speed Underground 2, there's a crazy new aspect to that ability here. The big twist this year is "auto sculpting," a Fight Night-esque method of morphing the elements of your car in reality via sliders and the controller's analog sticks. Your wingmen's out-of-race abilities play a part here, and if you have some wingmen that possess the fabricator and mechanic abilities, you'll be able to do more to your cars.'
-Perhaps EA has actually done something right here?
'The dev team took a different approach to making Carbon than the one used for Most Wanted last year. Whereas Most Wanted on the 360 wound up being a beefed-up version of the current-gen game, this time out, the team planned the features for the next-gen titles first, and then scaled back as needed for the current games. This has led to a better fit on the 360 and a pretty ambitious offering on current-gen systems as well. While the team hasn't opened the kimono on everything the game will offer across all the platforms, from the sound of things, no version is going to be maimed or left wanting. As far as the PlayStation 3 and Wii versions go, the team would only say that, in those cases, the distinguishing features would revolve around the features of each platform.'
-By the sounds of things, one of the multiple platforms NFSC will be released on is the PS3. 👍
