technoid
11-04-06, 06:39 AM
After playing the demo I didn't think much of NFS Carbon, but since NFS has always been my favorite racing game I couldn't pass it up when Best Buy had it for $29.99. I've been playing it for two days now and thought I'd share some emails I wrote to my cousin about it as a mini game review. I hope no one minds but I cut and paste both emails below so you can see my First and Second Impressions of the game.
For reference I'm running the game on a P4 3.4, 2G Memory, 6800GT, at 1280x1024.
FIRST IMPRESSION EMAIL
I installed NFS Carbon last night and it took 5.3 Gig on the hard drive. The NoCD patch I got worked so I'm all set.
First Impressions
Last night after I installed it I played a couple of quick races and didn't think much of them. I turned on FRAPS and the frame rate seemed the same to me as the demo so I think the guy answering the questions in the email I sent you yesterday was just saying it was better to get people to buy the game. But like you said if you don't have FRAPS on the races seem okay so I'll quit worrying about that part.
This morning I started a Career and the beginning movie was really cool. I don't know whether to tell you about it or not because it would be a bit of a spoiler if I do. So for now I won't and you can tell me if you want to hear about it or want to wait to play it. But I'll just say this, the intro movie made me want to play the game.
I've been playing it all morning and have a few things unlocked already. I tried out the Muscle Car in a quick race last night but didn't like the way it handled so I picked the Tuner Class when I started a Career this morning. It starts out with you in an RX-8 so that's pretty cool since I liked it so much in Most Wanted.
I will say all the elements we don't like are there and mess it up some but the racing is okay after you accept the dumb stuff. The story in this one seems to be played out a lot more because there's been a lot of cut scenes, which so far has been pretty cool.
So all in all I'm glad I got it. The graphics are definitely not as good as Most Wanted but they're "okay" so I think I'll enjoy playing it.
SECOND IMPRESSION EMAIL
I just got through playing NFS Carbon again and wanted to update you on it. There's mostly good news.
Second Impressions - First Point
I just got through with another race and it was pretty good to me, not to easy and not to hard. But the cool thing about it is during the race the Cops showed up and started chasing me, then several of them was on me. Then after the race was over they were still there just like Most Wanted and I had to keep running from them and ran through a Road Block too. After the Road Block I went around a corner and just sit there for the Cool Down period but right at the end of it a Cop came up and started after me again. So I had to run all over again, very cool. Then after quite a while I seen a place to run into and it was a hiding spot with the circle and everything just like Most Wanted.
So right now I'm liking it pretty well and I think you will too.
Second Impressions - Second Point
I think I've changed my mind about the graphics. I think they are better than Most Wanted and that's why the game runs slower. I was looking at the buildings in the city while I was racing just now and they looked better detailed. So at the moment I think the graphics detail might have when up and that takes more power so the game runs slower. Some of the graphics doesn't look as good to me and some of them looks better.
The Good - The Bad - And The Lockup On Exit
Several times the game locked up when I tried to exit. The game screen just sits there and you can't do anything. I used the Windows Key to get the Task Bar, then used Control Alt Delete to bring up the Task Manager, and then Ended The Task. But I had to do it several times to get it to stop. But so far I've never had to reboot my system. So they need to do a patch to fix that. I've heard they're working on a patch to fix some on-line stuff so I bet this will be fixed in it too.
For reference I'm running the game on a P4 3.4, 2G Memory, 6800GT, at 1280x1024.
FIRST IMPRESSION EMAIL
I installed NFS Carbon last night and it took 5.3 Gig on the hard drive. The NoCD patch I got worked so I'm all set.
First Impressions
Last night after I installed it I played a couple of quick races and didn't think much of them. I turned on FRAPS and the frame rate seemed the same to me as the demo so I think the guy answering the questions in the email I sent you yesterday was just saying it was better to get people to buy the game. But like you said if you don't have FRAPS on the races seem okay so I'll quit worrying about that part.
This morning I started a Career and the beginning movie was really cool. I don't know whether to tell you about it or not because it would be a bit of a spoiler if I do. So for now I won't and you can tell me if you want to hear about it or want to wait to play it. But I'll just say this, the intro movie made me want to play the game.
I've been playing it all morning and have a few things unlocked already. I tried out the Muscle Car in a quick race last night but didn't like the way it handled so I picked the Tuner Class when I started a Career this morning. It starts out with you in an RX-8 so that's pretty cool since I liked it so much in Most Wanted.
I will say all the elements we don't like are there and mess it up some but the racing is okay after you accept the dumb stuff. The story in this one seems to be played out a lot more because there's been a lot of cut scenes, which so far has been pretty cool.
So all in all I'm glad I got it. The graphics are definitely not as good as Most Wanted but they're "okay" so I think I'll enjoy playing it.
SECOND IMPRESSION EMAIL
I just got through playing NFS Carbon again and wanted to update you on it. There's mostly good news.
Second Impressions - First Point
I just got through with another race and it was pretty good to me, not to easy and not to hard. But the cool thing about it is during the race the Cops showed up and started chasing me, then several of them was on me. Then after the race was over they were still there just like Most Wanted and I had to keep running from them and ran through a Road Block too. After the Road Block I went around a corner and just sit there for the Cool Down period but right at the end of it a Cop came up and started after me again. So I had to run all over again, very cool. Then after quite a while I seen a place to run into and it was a hiding spot with the circle and everything just like Most Wanted.
So right now I'm liking it pretty well and I think you will too.
Second Impressions - Second Point
I think I've changed my mind about the graphics. I think they are better than Most Wanted and that's why the game runs slower. I was looking at the buildings in the city while I was racing just now and they looked better detailed. So at the moment I think the graphics detail might have when up and that takes more power so the game runs slower. Some of the graphics doesn't look as good to me and some of them looks better.
The Good - The Bad - And The Lockup On Exit
Several times the game locked up when I tried to exit. The game screen just sits there and you can't do anything. I used the Windows Key to get the Task Bar, then used Control Alt Delete to bring up the Task Manager, and then Ended The Task. But I had to do it several times to get it to stop. But so far I've never had to reboot my system. So they need to do a patch to fix that. I've heard they're working on a patch to fix some on-line stuff so I bet this will be fixed in it too.