Need for Speed: Carbon

The successor to Need for Speed: Most Wanted brought a continued storyline and new race types, but now with a lesser focus on police chases.

Mac

Wii

Overview

Need for Speed: Carbon is a racing game and the tenth game in the Need for Speed franchise. It is a direct sequel to Need for Speed: Most Wanted and is the first Need for Speed to be released on all seventh generation consoles.

Plot

The game begins after the events of Most Wanted with the player on the road back into Palmont City after having left some time ago. While driving the player flashes back to the events that happened on the night the player left but the player's flashback is rudely interrupted by former Sergeant turned bounty hunter Cross, who rams the player's car and chases the player until he wrecks his BMW. Cross corners the player but before he can detain him, Darius, a former ally, shows up with his crew and your ex-girlfriend Nikki (Emanuelle Vaugier) and pays him off. Darius leaves Nikki to update the player on the current situation in Palmont City. The player is then tasked with regaining his lost reputation by winning races, acquiring territories and beating the bosses of the resident street racing crews (Kenji, Angie and Wolf). As the crews are defeated, various former members come forward and offer further details about the night the player left.

Once the player owns all three districts, Darius asks the player to meet him, where he reveals that he was just using the player to gain territory and leaves the player to be arrested. However, Nikki shows up to rescue the player and reveal the whole story behind the night the player left. It was actually Darius that framed the player by switching the bag containing the money and allowing the player to escape the police raid. Nikki finally agrees to team up with the player to take over Silverton and take down Darius and his Stacked Deck crew. Before the player can take on Darius in the Canyon, they must defeat the previous three bosses.

Once the player has defeated Darius, Darius hands the player the keys to his Audi Le Mans Quattro and agrees to leave Palmont City. He leaves the player a final warning - "Enjoy it while it lasts. There's always someone out there who's a little faster than you are. And sooner or later, they're going to catch up".

Gameplay

In Need for Speed: Carbon you race against rival street racing crews in a quest to conquer territories and districts. The player is in charge of its own crew and can hire specialists that can provide the player with much needed help both during and off races.

Race types

Drift - Drift racing makes a return in Carbon, a mode that was made popular i n Need for Speed: Undergroundand Need for Speed: Underground 2 but was cut out of Carbon's predecessor Need for Speed: Most Wanted.
Canyon Racing - This mode involves four different type of races, Canyon Duel, Canyon Race, Canyon Checkpoint and Canyon Drift.
Checkpoint - Similar to the Toolboth races in Need for Speed: Most Wanted.
Sprint
Circuit
Race wars

Customization

Carbon introduced a more robust car customization to the series and included a feature called "Autosculpt" where you could adjust sliders to different parts and they would morph freely from one size/design to another, allowing for seemingly unlimited control over exactly how you wanted something to look - getting away from a set list of defined choices in previous games.

Parts from real world manufacturers were also included and could in most cases be "sculpted" as well. The inclusion of an improved layers system called "vinyls" allowed the player to further customize the car with various shapes and characters, allowing some skilled players to make wildly complex designs using primitives as the building blocks - something that would become a major feature of later games in the genre.

Car List

Muscle Cars

1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454
2005 Chrysler 300C SRT-8
1971 Dodge Challenger
1969 Dodge Charger R/T
2006 Dodge Charger SRT-8
2006 Ford Mustang GT
1969 Plymouth Road Runner
2006 Pontiac GTO
2005 Vauxhall Monaro VXR
2006 Chevrolet Camaro Concept
2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2008 Dodge Challenger
2006 Dodge Viper SRT-10
1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
2007 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
1970 Plymouth Barracuda
2005 Ford GT

Tuner Cars

2004 Lexus IS300
2007 Mazda 3 MPS
2003 Mazda RX-8
1992 Nissan 240 SX
1999 Mazda RX-7
1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT
2005 Renault Clio V6
1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S (AE86)
1992 Toyota MR2
2006 Volkswagen Golf R32
2004 Infiniti G35
2006 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX MR
2006 Nissan 350Z
1999 Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R
2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI
1999 Toyota Supra

Exotic Cars

2006 Alfa Romeo Brera
2005 Mercedes-Benz CLK500
2004 Aston Martin DB9
2007 Jaguar XK
2004 Lotus Elise 111R
2006 Lotus Europa S
2005 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG
2006 Porsche Cayman S
2007 Audi R8/LeMans Quattro
2003 BMW M3 GTR
2006 Koenigsegg CCX
2006 Lamborghini Gallardo
2004 Lamborghini Murciélago
2006 Lamborghini Murciélago LP640
2004 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
2006 Pagani Zonda F
2006 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2006 Porsche 911 Turbo S
2004 Porsche Carrera GT
2005 Ford GT

Location

The game is set in the fictional city of Palmont and in 3 canyons that surround the city, East, West and Carbon. The city is divied into 4 main parts. These are Fortura, Downtown, Silverton and Kempton.