[asyikarea51]

That's true, but I think it'll be harder to win if there was damage, especially when one goes against the pros who do have tactics in cripping the rival and ending all chances of winning (they don't just play rough with skills/tactics, they can run really fast in timed laps too).

It's an arcade game btw... and nowadays, it's already very difficult to win if one doesn't play rough at all (Not impossible, just very difficult). With damage, methinks the newbies (as well as the more experienced players who still play "fair" to a certain extent) will just get cheesed off... To compensate for some of the cars being too weak (as well as some of the really brutal attacks that sends the opponent airborne), there was a patch that made the cars behind catch up really fast... and then players had to train their blocking skills so that they wouldn't lose the pole position just because someone overtook them while being only 5-10 metres away from the goal.

Besides, there's always the occasional "fun game" where every race becomes a slam fest... LOL...

Well, just my opinions on it...

[Fineus]

The demo is out!

That's right guys.. the PC demo is out. Check out the list of mirrors here: http://www.nfsunlimited.net/carbon/demo

Be warned that a lot of people are interested in this one, so the servers are fairly full. I'm getting mine from the EA FTP but a lot of people have complained about the speed there (I'm getting between 10 and 50kbps, estimated time is around 9 to 4 hours).

Anyways... get get 'em.

[Deepblue]

Wow, that took a while.

So yeah, to reiterate:

circuit racing: meh-cool

drift-racing: masochists unite!

canyon-racing: exciting premise, but too easy to stay on the road.

[asyikarea51]

Yeah, got it and played through it.

Funny how I got INSTANT WIN the first time out, then I couldn't repeat it...

Grrr, why are the muscle and exotic classes so annoying to use in the drift and canyon races...

[Fineus]

Sorry to bump but I just got hold of it myself.

A few things to note:

1. I like the intro to the storyline this time around. The tutorials for wingmen and the new/different features work very nicely. I didn't feel bored doing those and very quickly learnt how they all work.

2. The graphics are very nice, though I do wish they'd optimise them a bit more. They still feel somewhat jerky in high detail and I don't think they should.

3. Which leads me onto 3. The game crashes, just like it used to in Most Wanted. I got around this by dropping the resolution from 1280x1024 to 1024x768 but I really don't like having to do that. I know my system can run it at the higher resolution so why the game feels the need to crash to desktop is beyond me. I gather other people are experiencing the same thing... EA should know better by now?

4. Overall I think it's a nice addition, but they seem to be holding off from going "all the way". There's no good reason not to have full day and night cycles and so on. Also it'd be nice to see some more obvious additions like in-game MP3 support (rather than having to run Winamp in the background).

[Fury]

Carbon was the easiest NFS game ever, the last NFS game I actually finished before getting bored was Hot Pursuit (NFS3). I never finished Undergrounds or Most Wanted because they just had silly amount of races, so I got bored before the final races.

Carbon favors tuning class rides though, I first picked RX-8, then RX-7 and finally Skyline GT-R (all tunings) and with Skyline I overtook the last boss with ease.

Looks like EA learned the lesson from Most Wanted and kept the number of required races humane this time. Decent game and the canyon races were a nice touch, still overall an average game.

[kode]

It's a short, easy game.

I started out using exotics, but when tier 3 became available I got myself a lancer. hardly surprising if you knew me - in racing games where there's a lan-evo available, I drive it. It runs circles against the opponents in the last (4 races in a row) battle.

now, I could go back and finish the few races I skipped (can only stand so much drifting in one session), and the challenge series, but that sure ain't gonna happen.

[Fineus]

MMm, I'm already 10% in and I only got the game yesterday. Not enough races perhaps?

Oh, and drifting is a piece of piss. It's so rediculously easy I don't even know where to start.

[asyikarea51]

Oh, and drifting is a piece of piss. It's so rediculously easy I don't even know where to start.

Odd. I think it's hard to drift in the exotic or the muscle cars. Or maybe that's because the cars lack power in the demo (I'm not buying the full game until I can upgrade this sad old comp, unless EA rushes NFS Island out the door before then).

Though I have one question to those who cleared the game: Is the Koenigsegg available in the "regular" version of the game, or is it a Collector's Edition-only car?

Crap, now I wish I had some cash; head over to the arcade and play some Maximum Tune. Authentic JDM cars for the win!

[Fineus]

I found that NOS makes a huge difference in drifting. If you find you're getting a bit slow or too close to a corner then NOS will save you. I'm not sure what constitutes a "good" score on a drift race but I think my highest was over 200,000 points in a Lotus Elise. That said, tuning and parts do make a big difference to your car so perhaps that's why you're having trouble - the demo really is stripped down.

Also, the Koenigsegg is collectors-edition only. I imagine someone, somewhere will put it up for download though (not that I encourage such things, but I'm frankly irritated at EA producing a collectors edition at the same time as the regular version with a few more features that they could've been nice and put into the regular version, but chose to squeeze some cash out of people instead).

[Colonol Dekker]

Drifting annoys the heck out of me on Underground, Does Carbon still have the best mode, Drag?

[asyikarea51]

Also, the Koenigsegg is collectors-edition only. I imagine someone, somewhere will put it up for download though (not that I encourage such things, but I'm frankly irritated at EA producing a collectors edition at the same time as the regular version with a few more features that they could've been nice and put into the regular version, but chose to squeeze some cash out of people instead).

Yup, my friend who knows squat about EA's current policies screwed himself by purchasing the standard edition. Probably doesn't matter much to him though, since he's not an enthusiast like I am... plus he still factors in the extra cost of the CE over the regular edition (which is a valid point that I agree with). I wouldn't even think twice - I'd get the CE straight away.

I ended up ranting and cursing and swearing and whatnot (not at him though) half the time in an MSN conversation with him... Of all cars, the Koenigsegg...

As for nitrous, no argument there. It does help in drifting, but again, the demo's nitrous shots were too short. It did save me on a few occasions though. Maybe they should've reused UG1/UG2's drift physics or something, I heard those were more realistic? But you couldn't use any nitrous in UG drift events... At least I think so.

[BlackDove]

Err.

What's so hard about drifting?

They've made it REALLY easy to win.

Just..... make sure you're in a proper car, that you're exiting the corners with as much speed as possible, and that you're close to a wall when you drift. You should also attempt to chain them, which is easily possible seeing how the tracks were made for it.

I won them with huge point differences every time.

[Fury]

Drifting annoys the heck out of me on Underground, Does Carbon still have the best mode, Drag?

Drag is out of the picture in Carbon, and I like it that way as I never liked drags.

[kode]

Drifting annoys the heck out of me on Underground, Does Carbon still have the best mode, Drag?

as said before, it's not. and the muscle cars would pwn there, mostly, since there's not much turning involved. what always annoyed me about drag was that it was never a proper quarter mile.

they remade drift for carbon, too. it's a bit better now, tbh. I just get frustrated since I always hit the damn walls when I shouldn't (like when I've got the multiplier to 15 and would rake in a couple of hundred thousand points if I hadn't hit a wall). I set my cars for drífting in normal races, and of course that means there's no grip what so ever on drift courses.

[Fineus]

Trouble is I don't think the main courses were really made for drift. There's a good number of switch-back turns but there are also plenty of long straights and shallow corners that you want the car to really hug the road for.

[asyikarea51]

I thought UG's drift physics was better, especially UG2's.

No way can you drift an E8 GSR right in Career mode without setting up the suspension first... Some realism for the win... O_o

Might be just me though. But I'm surprised that Carbon has no drag. Makes me feel bad for the muscle cars, even though I'm not a fan of them myself.

[kode]

Trouble is I don't think the main courses were really made for drift. There's a good number of switch-back turns but there are also plenty of long straights and shallow corners that you want the car to really hug the road for.

meh. I named the profile "Takumi", so he ought to drift.

[Fury]

meh. I named the profile "Takumi", so he ought to drift.

Oh yeah, I've been re-watching Initial D lately. Only 12 episodes from 4th stage left. Damn, it takes way too long for 5th stage to air. Still, I wish Takumi would lose to something else than engine blow and to Impreza driven by his dad for a chance.

[asyikarea51]

Some people who I know, and were once strong ID supporters have since stopped watching the series, and cut the number of times they went out to play Arcade Stage (they just play to keep their skills in check).

They all claim the series is too long and some even complained that Takumi is just too uber. He really does need to lose a bit more for realism's sake. I'm not surprised that Wangan Midnight's regaining its popularity after over a decade of obscurity... but IMO the arcade games mostly played a role in that series' reprise... most of the ID players moved on to the Maximum Tune arcade games, seeking something different from ID I guess...

I just hope WM doesn't follow the same fate as ID when it comes to series length. WM has a fair chance of following the same fate (i.e. too long)...

4th stage is already done with over here. No clue as to when the next stage is coming out, but I've lost track. I boycotted the series after reading the 14th volume of the translated comic books anyway...