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The racing genre is one developers seem to have jumped on for Wii's launch. With the variety of choices on the market, new titles need features that help them stand out from the crowd. Need for Speed: Carbon does so by offering a large variety of modes, vehicles, tracks, unlockables and customization uncommon for a launch title.
Need for Speed: Carbon can be best described as a street racing simulation. Players trick out their cars and race through the city to gain street cred and expand their crew's territory. By participating in races, players rise through the ranks until they face rival crew bosses and put territory on the line. The game takes place in a fictional city the player has the freedom to drive around at will. Rather than just navigating through a menu where one selects tracks to race, players can choose to simply drive around the city getting into trouble and outrunning the cops, or find and participate in races to earn enough cash to buy new cars or improve existing ones. Players can purchase better engines, body kits, paint jobs, hood vents and much more. The free-roaming element common in sandbox-style action games like Grand Theft Auto is a feature that separates Carbon from other racing titles.
 Customize your car and track down rivals.
There are five different control schemes at your disposal. The default control scheme involves steering the Wii Remote like a steering wheel - a scheme that seems to have become the defacto standard on Wii. I don't particularly like this scheme as it lacks a clearly defined range of valid input. In other words, it's far too easy to oversteer. To compensate for this, Carbon places a steering icon along the bottom of the screen which indicates how far a player is steering in either direction. While a helpful addition, I still find the control too loose.
My preferred control scheme uses the Nunchuk, where you steer with the analog stick, but apply the gas by tilting the Wii Remote forward as if one were stepping on a gas peddle. By pulling back on the Wii Remote, players let off the gas; if it's pulled ninety degrees, the car will go into reverse. The Nunchuk also serves as the emergency break by pulling back on it. I really enjoy this scheme because it gives a visceral feeling to pulling the emergency break to slide into turns and allows control over one's speed that holding a button cannot accomplish.
 One of the five control schemes available.
Carbon employs a reward card system for unlockables, with each card comprised of four portions. Once you accomplish the tasks required for each portion, you receive the reward. Some of the tasks range from avoiding the police, to winning a certain number of races. I personally like how this system presents the conditions for unlockables up front so players can attempt the tasks that lead to desired rewards rather than just randomly having new tracks or cars available as you progress.
Need for Speed: Carbon has a very slick presentation with a unique set of cutscenes that blend CG with live action. Fans of the series will remember them from last year's Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Actors are blended with computer-generated backgrounds and are layered over themselves with an almost cel-shaded appearance. It's difficult to describe, but the style is very distinct and matches the game's tone and graphical style very well.
 Flashy cars, but where are all the pedestrians?
The game offers a multiplayer mode in addition to the single-player campaign and challenge modes. Unfortunately, this mode is limited to two players. I suppose the action would get too squished in a four-player split-screen, but having the option would have been nice. Players can choose between a few different types of challenges such as the typical head-to-head race, or a drift challenge in which the vehicles are placed on a track coated with butter and each turn causes them to slip and slide out of control. I don't quite understand this mode because the handling is so ridiculously out of whack that it's unplayable. Another mode is a race that has one player trailing another through a winding canyon; how well one stays on the other player's tail without passing or falling too far behind determines who wins. As you might suspect, regular racing is the best out of these modes.
So far I'm enjoying Need for Speed: Carbon more than I initially anticipated. The seemingly open-ended gameplay came as a surprise along with the wide variety of options for vehicle customization and crew-building. Join me for stage 2 where I'll see how well the novel concept holds up over extended playtime.
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