Need for Speed: Carbon... 15 Years Later

why was there never a sequel to need for speed most wanted the game received universal approval from players and critics its tongue-in-cheek gritty presentation has been parroted long after release the police chases were unrivaled in sheer intensity and commercially it is need for speed zenith breaking the sales records of underground at 16 million units sold that's more than the four latest entries combined the next generation came with it a new generation of need for speed thing is most wanted did receive a direct follow-up one which promised to combine the tuner culture and darkly lit streets of underground with the exotic vehicles and police of most wanted alongside cruise customization and life or death duels on the canyon cliffs and yet this successor to the franchise's top selling product received half the sales beginning black box's journey from the developer that helped put this series on the map to remaining on the hard shoulder just two years later need for speed carbon is a game i was hyped for and yet have never played since despite having distinct memories that i'll be sharing throughout it's only fair to return to palmont city to find out why [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] hello this has got to be one of the most repetitive questions i've read over the years in gaming communities but shockingly it was never raised by electronic arts on first inspection you could calculate from a business standpoint that need for speed had set a precedent for back-to-back releases within sub-brands underground was ea's previous best-selling game at 15 million units but its sequel released the very next year sold less than half that what's easy to forget however is the ea we know today wasn't the ea of january 2005 when carbon started development while referred to by some developers as the borg and angering fans with the closing of studios like westwood electronic arts hadn't become notorious yet if anything they were turning a new leaf from 2005 to 2011 ea invested heavily in a whole heap of original ip distancing themselves from the reputation of licensed products combining with their sports games so while neat for speed games were set to release on an annual basis the developers retain full creative control the team at blackbox prided themselves on striking the zeitgeist repeatedly and you only do that through evolving the series underground exploded via the popularity of import tuner culture and most wanted dominated through its exclusive pursuit gameplay that only gta could match but most wanda was also made in part because undergrounds one and two both cut the police and putting the core gameplay essentially on hold to develop the pursuits was required in order to bring that vision to life creative control by itself doesn't erase the challenges and constraints of harsh deadlines all new platforms large teams and high ambitions what you intend in what you create are often very different and carbon was no exception what i've come to understand is this franchise's development cycle has such a vast collection of concepts tones and material that even for developers at ground zero it's become a total blur for instance in 2008 a group within black box were illustrating need for speed terror five where the creative goal reads how can large-scale street racing take place in a post-9 11 u.s city yup at one point need for speed was conceptualizing a street racing game where your crew are labeled as terrorists unfortunately we don't have such raw information on need for speed repo man the game conceptualized alongside most one it's pre-production mentioned in the previous need for speed year's later video all that exists are concept images done by al kang and one mention of the game's world l5 ra in most won its ps2 demo and this is where the confusion begins in the concept art for repo man there's a game called the santiagos with tuner car marked in brackets it sounds like cruise in carbon an early drafted the bushidos but then you look at the concept art for carbon and it doesn't look like the game at all in fact it resembles undercover so what did knit for speed repo man become did it turn into need for speed carbon with its crews in the canyons or did it become undercover with its high speed highways the answer is both the repo man label in that most wanted demo file is most probably an oversight or placeholder as the game officially started development as need for speed carbon on january 3rd 2005 scheduled for release in november 2006. this development cycle lines up with other games in the series ea officially discussed their ecosystem with need for speed pro street where they pulled 20 people from the carbon team in 2006 to get started on pro street that hints to the next piece of this puzzle when people discuss ea black box they're often referred to as a single studio which they were but with three teams constantly shifting size in accordance to which games demanded priority so at one point need for speed repo men might have led to the concepts that would appear in undercover but under the name carbon before the team assigned to the project shifted their approach to the nighttime cities crews and canyons that the finished game is known for i apologize for this initial head spin but from here on out we'll be discussing need for speed carbon's development as the game you know not undercover pro street terrified or repo men just carbon now while the carbon team potentially shifted interest they did not lower their ambitions by this time over 600 people were being credited in these games in most one it took an extra amount of effort pulling developers from the james bond games to assist in pushing the game to xbox 360. and remember while most wanted innovated massively in its pursuit system and art style little else was advanced from customization to online functionality and core gameplay for carbon they were creating an all all-new open world revamping customization renewing drift mode implementing crews designing territories importing a new category of vehicles facilitating canyon races adding new online modes doubling the cutscenes using face capture and developing for two next generation gaming platforms to say black box had their work cut out for them is a gross understatement and remarkably they pulled it off need for speed carbon was revealed at e3 2006 releasing game plan cinematic trailers together and later detailing the game further in game informer's cover story as a 12 year old kid i was legitimately hyped for this game the idea of fighting for territory over cities with your car type of choice that settled on the most dangerous roads was very compelling to the modern eye it's easy to picture shadow of war but cars with this format a dynamic sandbox that vary each time you play and that might have been what the team dreamed up there were multiple clans fighting for territory not just the big four hinted at with crews like lee samurai placing their markings throughout certain districts all wingmen had tier 1 and tier 2 vehicles whereas characters such as nikki in the final game only had one crews used to detail all six members with their age height car and personality but behind the scenes developers were working round the clock to slim carbon down into a shippable product multiple circuits canyons and story beats were changed or cleaved from the game entirely presumably in the name of deadlines but what that unfortunately meant was many of the game's ambitions needing to be reined in crews would be effectively fixed with the big three representing each car class and stackdeck being a combination of them while shooting multiple cutscenes where nicki is portrayed explicitly as the protagonist lost love confirmed by the actress's interviews um i play nicki who is essentially the player's girlfriend and uh the player disappears for or the hero disappears for about five years and comes back and um everybody's sort of pissed off and especially me i don't know just vanished out of nowhere nearly all of these elements were edited out including an ending that involved a race with nikki the final frame of this story being the two of you driving off into the distance side by side drifting would return but drag racing would be dropped as did online play for last generation consoles but what wasn't cut content is this map san juan having sifted through heaps of theories rumors and concepts i feel it's just as important to bust some myths about this game's development there's concept art of palmont city that exists before the game's name was even finalized that fits the released map almost exactly right down to san juan being isolated from the rest of the city while there could have been more events conceived it's within reason to say that this was designed to be the tutorial zone from day one this concept map also puts a dent into the theory that the map itself was meant to be far bigger than conceived or that the canyons would be part of the free roam environment and finally just because black box's plan at one point was to alternate between pursuit and tuner games that doesn't mean carbon's name was originally underground 3. according to the people i've consulted it's nothing more than a placeholder for an xbox live rich presence test and as said pro street lifted 20 people assigned a carbon during development meaning that original plan had long since been dropped blackbox then had by all means done it again they released another next generation need for speed game innovating its style gameplay pillars and features set on all new platforms from scratch with a sense of pride and relief all that was left to be done was witness its reception on october 30th 2006. as a child i'd take a ferry every other weekend to meet up with my father who lived in the city away from my home of bowen island it was during one of those weekends that we went straight from the ferry terminal in horseshoe bay to eb games at park royal my dad normally making his way through the tedious traffic and cursing produced from it to see a smile on his son's face knowing the game purchase would entertain me and possibly himself for the months to come so when i beat the 70 dollar ps2 need for speed carbon collector's edition the very next day you can guess his reaction if there's one issue from most wanted that isn't repeated in carbon it's the game's overstretch campaign but it feels less like an improvement and more tipping the scales from one end to the other it's not four hours but it is notably shorter than most games in the series let alone its competition however i have a strong preference for three hour games i'd play three times then 30 hour games i'd play once or even just the 3 hour game i'd play once and remember the quality of those hours is what matters and in carbon's favor the enjoyment starts right from the prologue reuniting with your m3 gtr crosses corvette and most one it's green screen glory just before hosting a first vehicle choice that's more intriguing than is-300 punto or cobalt progression is important but carbon understands that we're not here to start with gran turismo's snot boxes need for speed should start fast and carbon does but the improvements hardly stop there today almost all arcade driving games involve ridge racers style break to drift mechanics where navigating turns at ludicrous speeds is as simple as tapping the left trigger and letting the vehicle flow as effortlessly as water down a pipe need for speed didn't do this prior to criterion's hot pursuit their arcade flavor came from obscenely grippy cars allowing one to maintain high speeds if chaining together the fastest lines of a circuit that's the upside the downside is that underground and most wanted paired slow vehicles with this handling making their initial hours a real slog hopper suit ii controlled as it did to compensate for piloting ferraris against eight competitors and police units not to drive an unmodified punto on the freeway carbon strikes a balance its three starting vehicles would have appeared at the three hour mark previously and their feel is more distinguished especially if you picked muscle the more varied handling model comes to play immediately the camaro slides but not with elegance tapping the brake and steering with the expectation of flowing like water will only put you into the wall it's honestly a bit of a pig but that makes sense it's a 60s camaro these shouldn't steer like the mustangs and monaro's and most wanted basically tuners that rumble these should be about positioning yourself at all times to maximize the glorious and gutsy v8 engine during the straights which in carbon it is i'd be lying if this handling didn't cause moments of hair pulling oddly enough it suffers the same issue as a set of corsa competition power slides endure for far too long with little or no ability to correct them but that frustration is somewhat self-inflicted as it's a trade-off for the fastest accelerating cars and for those uninterested in the exchange they can buy and or spec a different car this is the need for speed which began what's become a series staple grip and drift builds performance upgrades are no longer just a linear progression in statistics they come with decisions that you feel directly while playing and it does wonders to keep the game engaging as every vehicle is notably different and so too are every player's modifications a cynic would correctly point out this is just vehicle tuning something that is itself a standard in driving games but not only is it more of a rarity in arcade titles i'd be willing to bet most players don't engage with these settings when viewing a menu like this i only assume i'm going to make everything worse by messing with settings and stick with the defaults or when allowed hijack other people's setups however attaching simpler values to the parts you purchase is an ingenious way to make players think about what card they're actually building and because you're seeing these values one at a time you don't feel overwhelmed or intimidated it's something that i'm glad has managed to stick around after all these years in the need for speed series it dawned on me how many of heat's best components planted their seeds here it emulates underground 2's goal of expanding customization beyond how cars looked and went but how cars felt this was likely also done because racing has a much bigger emphasis than previously i know a racing game where the primary mode is racing real hard-hitting analysis but that actually hadn't been neat for speed's major selling point in the last two entries those were given to the open world in cop chases so in a game where both of those are expectations rather than innovations it made black box refine the core gameplay rubber band ai will always exist to a degree but it's far less egregious here than it most wanted i wasn't being overtaken by audi a3s in lamborghinis shortcuts don't appear on your mini-map as in most wanted being more akin to hopper suit 2 and in a good way those shortcuts become something you're actively thinking of and deciding upon rather than your eyes defaulting to whichever pathway is the shortest on the lower third what has been retained from most wanted is the sense of speed you're not crazy for thinking the speed itself is slower than that game it's been confirmed by various people i've spoken to but it's not without reason i've said neat for speed is especially enjoyable at 120 to 140 miles an hour through tight urban streets and coincidentally or intentionally carbon's optimized for this speed palmont is littered with sharp turns steep inclines shortcuts and varying widths of the road to maintain most wanted speed with more varied handling in more varied streets with more competitors is even conceptually too chaotic that style's best left to midnight club so the options were to slow the game down a hair or make the courses less complex and considering this game's selling point i'm glad they chose the former canyon racing was in during this era even fast and furious depicted it that very same year only this game was able to build an even bigger more fantastical tribute to it it acknowledges the roots in japanese toge racing via its score while mapping out american hills this form of competition had expanded to it's easy to throw on initial d's eurobeat and view this as an unofficial entry in the demerol series but i think carbon's tone make it a lot more exciting in the moment canyon races aren't treated with fluff but life or death battles where you're eyeballing the enemy and the environment unlike almost all other forms of racing in this game canyon duels aren't about crossing the line in first but maintaining and setting the pace two rounds are spent dividing these goals between the contestants you follow and are followed with a meter constantly scoring both performances you stick close enough to your opponent to accumulate enough points for withstanding their own attack both rounds are a unique form of pressure the meter scoring every milliseconds made even more pronounced by the banning of nitrous disallowing any fast recoveries from mistakes these roads are packed with steep inclines blind corners undulations tight bends and most importantly weak guard rails that should you go through result in an instant loss requiring both rounds to be done from the start canyon races were to carbon what police chases were the most wanted and what's humbling is how much of a spectacle this mode is to play despite being so much less of one by comparison on the surface but it succeeds for the same reason pursuits did in most wanted it's where everything in the game comes together there's the game mode itself holding everything you do under a microscope there's the handling allowing you to take chances where you couldn't in a more realistic game there's sound design pushing the engine wars tire screeches and collisions that bit beyond reality without being obnoxious and then there's the aforementioned [Music] score [Music] when you're on the verge of losing it keeping your pedal to the floor as the guard rails get closer and closer with these music stings blaring at their highest carbon is in a class of its own even to this day because nothing's aimed to replicate the canyon duel's sins its closest analogs are showdowns in the run or events in horizon the former emphasizing visual spectacle rather than gameplay and the latter being enjoyable but elaborate time trials carbon's duels aren't completely authentic opponents while i don't believe to be scripted are immune to collisions leading to occasions where they're driving into you and building speed it's obviously done to prevent you from cheesing the duels by pushing them over the edge as this tray carries over to multiplayer but those occasions don't feel any less fair in the moment but that's not the reason these duels have been abandoned despite being carbon's most memorable gameplay i might have compared canyons to pursuits how both formed their game's respective strengths into a harmonious whole but there's a major distinction the majority of time and most wanted was spent in pursuits carbon's duels amount to four events in total you do revisit these canyons in both race and drift events but not only do they appear with seemingly no rhyme or reason clicking icons in the city that teleport you to the hills they're also far less exciting because races don't feature any weakened guard rails and drifting is well do you remember kneeperspeed nitro another memory of this game that stands out is how much i hated these drift events as a kid i liked drifting in underground and was excited to hear of their return but i had no understanding of game engines or physics systems back then so it confused 12 year old me as to why it felt like drift events came from an entirely different game now i understand that it effectively is the driving model used for drifting is completely overhauled from the main game with its own set of physics acceleration and steering that truly does feel like a precursor of what was to come because these physics are insane you're drifting in six gear it's here where the initial d comparisons are unavoidable i hated it back then but i must admit replaying it now this mode would have been its own bundle of fun if it weren't for one thorn in its side the difficulty all of your opponents are glass joe you don't even need to drift in drift mode because the scores are so pathetic you'll obtain enough points even when taking corners quickly rather than stylishly in adding to the point of this game's best content being a rarity you spend more time drifting than dueling that means the bulk of success relies upon racing pursuits in the open world carbon's races are more in-depth and enjoyable than most wanteds thanks to the improvements made in vehicle tuning rubber banding ai and shortcuts but that doesn't mean it's flawless and unfortunately one of the problems stems from a new feature wingmen considering the attention most want to gain for its over-the-top characters and cut scenes it's not surprising the developers wanted interactions beyond text messages that's where wingmen stand in not only are these characters involved in the main storyline they assist in gameplay via three types blockers drafters and scouts each do what you'd expect from their names hold up competitors grant speed boosts and find shortcuts it's a great concept but unfortunately the end result leaves a lot to be desired for one thing the rubber banding from previous games still exists it's merely inherited by your companions than competitors scouts most egregiously because they must lead you to shortcuts they're always tasked with being in front no matter how perfectly you're driving even when you're not ordering them to the game is not subtle about it and while it's sensible for races your wingmen wins to count towards progress as you're meant to be a team it drains excitement from the races the extra opponents on screen more challenging handling and ai improvements are all wasted when you're in second place doubly assured in events in the bag with your wingman leading as even if the ai's car were to explode you'd just take their place the abilities themselves aren't that inspired either i don't hold much against the developers in this regard being that there's not much you could do within a series that has some grounding in reality dropping spike strips or firing emps would be crossing the line in this game as not even the police do such a thing we'll get to it blockers are more accurately torpedoes and drafters have their fun building speed but sadly the game so rarely utilizes its highway network during races their benefits often can't be used to the fullest and they lead to the same rubber banding issues of scouts what could have made this gameplay more interesting overall is if rival clans also work together with their wingmen using the same abilities but that's never done in fairness the blockers would have to go in that scenario i mean imagine covering around the final corner in first place only to get you know when riders unintentionally force themselves into a corner they can't escape without sacrificing one of their figurative limbs the same thing can happen in game design and carbon's a prime example the game's premise is building a crew to take over other crews until you're king of the hill it wouldn't make sense to race by yourself as a crew hence the wingmen but the wingmen at best repeat lines of dialogue throughout the campaign and at worst make the racing legitimately less exciting but you have to keep them because if you don't every single player will make mention of how silly it is to be a crew of one person even if doing so would ultimately make the gameplay more enjoyable there is one area where you are alone however the open world unfortunately it's only for a couple seconds at a time because unlike most wanted and underground 2 there's absolutely no reason to engage in it this actually isn't surprising because within just two games the series eased off its presence of the initial hype of underground 2. as it turns out driving from shop to shop separated by multiple miles of road you've seen dozens of times in and outside of races isn't much fun and most wanted understood that hence being able to jump to events and challenges but at least that game's open world came alive in the chases allowing you to do things that just weren't possible in hot pursuit carbon however has no crew or territory challenges connected to bounties so getting into pursuit chases only gives external rewards beyond the story and it highlights how much of a pushover cops are in the initial phases especially when bonuses multiple crewmates give relate to lowering the presence of the police of all the pursuits in my career for this video not one of them lasted beyond a single heat now you could do this and most wanted as well but you'd be preventing progress in the career mode without that incentive there's no reason to ignore fast traveling to events which is probably why the game's run time is so brief carbon has about the level of content of previous games i know it definitely has more than underground one that game repeats one layout five times in its opening hour alone but unlike the last two entries there isn't a component to pad that run time customization is the place where hours could be lost to building vehicles customizing parts and creating liveries to make something stand out there was an innovation for customization in carbon autosculpt rather than doubling down on aftermarket parts which ea presumably needs to negotiate licensing fees with blackbox's solution was to put custom parts in the hands of players unlocking multiple blueprints that players could adjust components of to make hood roof scoop or spoilers completely their own similar to wingmen it's a brilliant idea but it unfortunately only presents itself to the most persistent players ones who will bother to unlock everything fiddle with multiple sliders over six parts that are quite slow and ignore body kits which accomplish the same job in fewer clicks carbon wasn't willing to push people towards its innovations like its predecessors did people complained about the star ratings in underground 1 but it ultimately existed to make people use the customization system that no other racing game offered at the time people remember underground's customization they remember underground 2's open world they remember most wanted police chases very few remember autosculpt or wingmen or canyons because they're present but not often enough to be distinct building a slimmer yet more flexible experience could have been a good thing if the core gameplay itself was firing on all cylinders but it doesn't at least not for most of that time but the ultimate irony is this most wanted shelved its racing customization and ai to overhaul its pursuits in the very next game it's so filled with new mechanics the police pursuits are lifted entirely from most wanted right down to radio chatter ai vehicles and paul linford's score that has absolutely no business in a neon nighttime metropolis based off of california's major cities there's not even any helicopters most likely because it wouldn't be mapped to palmont's layout without top quality races pursuits or open world design that leaves one avenue for carbon to excel in story as minor as most wanted story was it left a massive impression becoming part of the game's iconography imitated and parodied for years afterward so it only makes sense black box invested more into its sequel with bigger stars in longer cut scenes that build to a greater plot line i mentioned carbon starts brilliantly and your reunion with cross is part of that sit down how you been it's time to settle a little score from rockport you think the acting is gloriously over the top and everything reinforces it the dark comic book lighting cheesy dialogue and music all fit within need for speed's now established camp what quickly becomes apparent however is there's something less fun about the presentation and i think it can be quickly explained with this this introduction is so charming it's a guy who thinks he's so goddamn cool yet looks like a complete idiot and as it turns out that was the point remember the band there was a song out at the time and it was about a guy uh um trying to be cool so he got like a tattoo but he got a tattoo of 31 instead of 13. he went up for the audition that's what i put in so all my gestures and everything we're just like trying to that i think is part of the magic ronnie wasn't intended to be the way he is but he's better for it the plot and the places most wanted went were completely bog standard but the presentation was unlike anything games had seen at the time part of that was the technology but it was also the acting carvin carries that first torch but not the second wolf kenji and angie are not ronnie or razer they're completely forgettable antagonists in large part due to them being almost indistinguishable in their interactions they might have in-depth bios concept art and costume work but all have the same encounters before dueling on the canyons and whimpering one pathetic line before never being heard again they technically appear once more with stacked deck but i suspect it wasn't originally planned because they don't offer any new lines or cutscenes when ronnie pulls up i laugh when any of these three pull up i roll my eyes i don't know what's more pathetic your crew or your car the lines aren't funny quippy or memorable they're just lame and it makes me wonder how most wanted would have been had it followed the original direction as closely as carbon seemingly has though that is potentially unfair because as mentioned the cutting room floor is thick with material much of which could have given this game's story more energy cross in carbon doesn't match his best scenes and most wanted because he's sidelined almost immediately but originally in that opening scene he pulled a move and ante up on keying your car last time my bad romeo i understand why it's cut the scene does move more efficiently without it but that hints to a greater problem the story penned here requires more characters and exposition but it doesn't leave room for those scene-chewing moments interestingly the closest we get is elias tufexus adam jensen himself in his first video game role as someone you wouldn't at all expect him to play today may i introduce stella hi um nikki said that you might be looking for a new wingman you don't know me but i know you i'm a i'm a big fan i've seen all your races and on that note i'll be out of here just like cross is one good scene though this is the only moment we get of sal the cast is actually quite extensive with multiple characters capable of carrying what saul demonstrates but they're wasted on developing the game's main plot a paint by numbers who'd done it it's not all bad and like colour shed production said there's one aspect i'll give full credit for the game's story takes place before and after most wanted yet you don't need to have played that game to understand what's going on that's an impressively rare trait for a direct follow-up though perhaps its possibility is due to the events of both games being so limited prior to rockport the hero character was involved in a palmont street race interrupted by a police ambush you were given what was thought to be the prize money but there's nothing in it and you're forced to bail the city with only a car it turns out you were let go on purpose the police avoided your car opened an exit and swapped the bags who would have the motivation and established power to do such a thing darius yeah it's darius it's not upsetting the villain is spotted from a mile away the actor even claimed to deliberately seeking out villain roles after playing the goody two shoes on most television shows he's having fun with it what's upsetting is how much time is devoted to explaining the plot rather than endearing us to any of the characters the wingman's introductions are also placed very poorly in the campaign after neville and seoul each crew member is taken from another gang met after you defeat their boss by force actually the game won't let you do anything after a boss fight until you've met them however you never see them prior to this so when they're speaking like you've known them since the game's flashback it's hard to relate i can help you guys out i'm one of the best drivers in this city and you know it who the [ __ ] are you the most notably wasted character however is nikki imagine cleaving alex vance and half-life 2 anna and metro exodus or these two in cyberpunk and you've got the gist of what happened here whether the game was written or performed well enough to convincingly portray a love interest that's a separate topic few had even attempted the concert in a mainstream game by 2006 but carbon tried there's multiple deleted scenes of nikki growing from a heartbroken ex to the hero's partner in crime even going as far as concluding the game with the two of you racing the cut content goes beyond just cleaving a character's entire storyline but changing carbon's conclusion itself that deleted scene is why the game's ending doesn't feel like an ending at all darius just drives off no final race or chase like before just a fade to black where it was originally supposed to cut to nikki obviously nervous from a controlling ex leaving to proposing a final drive with warmth characters are often defined not by their normal behavior but their atypical actions tally gets drunk on your ship once verrick cries in your arms once panam screams at her leader once yet they're part of why people care about them so much these are the moments that stand out in people's memories if nicki had lines about her connection to the player that generated some empathy any amount of it while minor in duration it's massive in impact and the end result is someone who's left to be another cart on the exposition train rather than someone who could have been unique not just in need for speed but gaming in general the story of carbon isn't awful but it is objectively more invasive taking up more screen time within a shorter game without the entertainment to justify it [Music] it's been said by electronic arts that while the hd generation of gaming had started with the xbox 360 most wanted and carbon were both developed for the ps2 xbox and gamecube first then updated and upscaled to 7th gen consoles pro street was the first time this process would be reversed by undercover the sixth generation was all but abandoned by blackbox and left to outsource studios to complete even extending to the nintendo wii as per usual what you've been seeing for the most part is the pc version though without any mods to assist beyond widescreen support i tried texture mods but couldn't get them to perform reliably not that the game desperately needs it carbon like most wanted before it still looks impressive particularly when it's built for 6th generation consoles it lets down in one regard though playing underground 2 for this video i couldn't understand why it seemed more visually pleasing until i realized what it lacked filters carbon didn't always have its purple blue tint the e3 footage looks notably cleaner without it and while my monkey brain immediately distinguishes it from most wanted brown my monkey brain also prefers variety in color so despite its character models and scenery being far more detailed i find underground 2 to be more visually appealing it might also contribute to palmont not being the most memorable of need for speed's open worlds though it is populated with beautiful architecture and distinct zones that are uniquely fun to navigate rather than just look at racing darius through a las vegas inspired strip before taking it to the canyons with music more reminiscent of ghost of tsushima is eclectic yet seamless and speaking of music this game's score is seriously underrated paul linford's pursuit music and most wanted was dynamic flipping through a variety of tracks to fit whatever the player was doing carbon brought this to the races trevor morris is at the helm and there's seemingly nothing he left off the table horns scents drums tambourines and guitars it's all here [Music] do there's another fascinating component the score is led by trevor but it's combined with extract [Music] i always wondered where mass effect 3's purgatory music came from in carbon and it's not in menus but the races they brilliantly serve to give these events levity trevor's epic anthems aren't dominating the soundscape to carbon's detriment it's an expertly crafted score and deserves both more credit and attention hence why i devoted the time here and it's something every console in pc retains though in terms of pc ports it's not the best settings often default to the lowest textures mac controls will change axes of my controller and there's some visual bugs it's also lacking the enhanced graphical effects that are exclusive to the ps3 version happily there's no frame rate restrictions performance issues or lacking feature sets meaning it also included the multiplayer that didn't appear on xbox ps2 and wii while it's not a lavish experience multiplayer finally included some unique modes once you get the suspicion were intended for most wanted their pursuit tag and knockout the former is what you'd expect an open-ended map with one player escaping from everybody else designated as a cop the latter is also what you'd expect knockout racing only the last place driver of each lap becomes an officer the chaos of seven cops chasing one player is just fun to watch so multiplayer absolutely contained value for the overall package you can still play it today lobbies are available on ps3 and there's a discord server for pc though there's a tedious part of the process this game came out long before origin so the accounts required for online access are strictly old ones created when carbon was relevant you can't make a new identity meaning there's a limited number of accounts that exist it's possible to play but you might log someone out and vice versa this thing [ __ ] drifts oh come on i didn't all tab someone logged in yeah that's probably what happened for those unwilling to go back to 30 frames per second the pc version is a solid way to relive your carbon experiences but for those who aren't 60 fps or bust the ps3 xbox 360 and even 6 gen versions are all enjoyable the ps3 port could be considered the definitive version of this game thanks to its graphics it was also advertised to feature 6-axis motion support where tilting the controller sideways would give your steering an extra push having tested it myself i felt nothing there's no options for the menus no mention of on the box or the manual nothing strange considering ign were talking about it in their ps3 impressions article released just two weeks prior to launch either way the game controls just fine without it and the lack of six-axis gimmicks in a ps3 launch title is actually quite refreshing the other next generation console however has lots more in common with its last gen counterparts with one obvious exception now i do own a wii but it's in boxes downstairs and i don't have the space for it on my already cluttered tv so we'll be emulating carbon over dolphin and experiencing the motion controls via a third party sensor i'd love to use exclusively my footage but it for some reason looks like this so youtube it is what's shocking is how effective the controls actually are they far exceeded my expectations whether you're using the wii remote itself or one of the many nunchuck configurations little is sacrificed on the wii in gameplay terms drifting is where i had trouble with the tilt controls but with the remote controlling the acceleration and brake and the nunchuck's analog stick steering it was easy and felt totally natural other than that it's effectively the same game as the gamecube version which aside from minor differences is like the ps2 and xbox versions now carbon doesn't have the clarity of older xbox racing games things like rally sport challenge or project gotham racing hold up surprisingly well and lots of that has to do with the smoothness and purity of the image carbon meanwhile has so much motion blur and distortion at this low of a resolution output it's like swallowing edibles with whiskey the motion blur is apparent on pc and next-gen as well but it's much easier to see where you're going with a high resolution image aside from the varying fidelity and control methods however the game itself is the same on all six platforms missing grid girls or civilian vehicles aside what's really different are the handhelds and a console no one's ever heard of need for speed carbon owned the city is carbon's equivalent of most wanted 510 or underground rivals a game developed from the ground up for the psp meant to capture the spirit and essence of its console counterparts with its own team and takes on designs story and gameplay 510 was horrendous it was a game cobbled together out of complete desperation being scheduled to release alongside its console counterpart despite already releasing a need for speed game for psp that year thankfully team fusion were given more time for own the city enough to allow them a serious reimagining of carbon with its own story characters crews wingmen and open world that last part was something the team were especially proud of as this is a reimagining though carbon's terrific opening doesn't carry over own the city's introduction is awful forcing you on the same stretch of highway three times to showcase the different abilities your wingmen have two of them are more extreme versions of the console versions and one of them is from criterion's hot pursuit dropping spike strips brawlers are blockers with anger management issues full-blown murdering somebody else's car drafters are the same only their cone of speed is even more overt and fully controls your steering as some have found out even when they're going backwards canyon races don't exist and the open world is actually more like rockport than palmont the blue filter did not translate but thankfully the sense of speed and solid driving model from underground rivals did poor introduction aside the pacing is actually decent you get more interesting circuits much earlier than most wanted seemingly endless highways and there's better variety within events rather than the takedown mode being isolated it's now played in the main career mode it still doesn't match the various modes of rivals but it is an improvement from before there's also escape which is basically marked man from burnout paradise in delivery races of following the arrow rather than a closed circuit i can't say own the city for psp is a bad time all in all it's a perfectly functional and rather effortless experience especially with a 60fps hack on an emulator which is what you've been witnessing however there are two very notable things about this game the first its statistics are astoundingly stupid a lotus elise does not handle worse than a ford mustang top gear could have told you that the second is its story and its twist in this game's original story you're racing your brother mick when all of a sudden both of you crash after six months in hospital and developing amnesia you wake up to mix girlfriend sarah who explains he was killed in the crash it's theorized that he was murdered and it's your goal to get to the bottom of who did it starting with finding the driver who ran him during that race after conquering enough territory you get a lead on someone named buddy a lead that's confirmed by someone else named ex and an explosion happens outside it's supposed to hint that sarah was killed in the explosion but it's not communicated clearly and not helped by a completely unrelated race starting immediately after it happens the cutscenes have no connection to the gameplay you're purely playing the game to unlock animated comic panels later on you find buddy who says he was ordered by ex to kill your brother and you submit that evidence to someone else named mk who's actually an undercover cop and gets ex arrested justice has been dealt but hold on sarah arrives to give a plot twist ex set up buddy to kill mick because you ordered ex to do it no john you are the demons turns out mick was actually a raging piece of [ __ ] to you and sarah so you plotted to kill him this is an e10 rated need for speed game about street racing where you unironically play as a murderer and the game concludes with you hugging sarah against the sunset with triumphant music what the own the city is one of the most bizarre games i've ever witnessed for this reason alone it's made doubly bizarre by how conservative the rest of the game is it's a competent and enjoyable if slightly underwhelming racer for the psp that contains one of the most tone-deaf conclusions to a video game the twist itself isn't the head scratcher it's one that's been done for decades what kills me is how this game seems completely unaware of how messed up sarah and your character actually are yet it hints that because you're a better person after getting amnesia in the wreck that it's fine and you deserve mix watch because you're a better person even though he was an [ __ ] and you're a murderer i'll be honest my motivation for exploring these other versions of the game became are you also a murderer are you a murderer on the game boy advance yes yes you are own the city wasn't merely a psp game it stood in for all the handheld editions of it despite that the versions still play very different to one another though in the gba's case it's almost exactly the same as the system's previous games because own the city bothered with a story mode there's now brief stills summarized in the voice acted panels of its psp counterpart but other than that its graphics driving and customization is all like most wanted which is not an awful experience it's just outshined by far better games on the system and are legitimately enjoyable in their own right frankly this is the real question is the ds version just as bad as most [Music] wanted it's good like properly good what's going on here as it turns out rich development history is a thing even when it comes to handheld ports of real games most wanted ds was developed by sensory sweep studios sounds like one of my awful video titles a handheld developer that attempted to break into the xbox live arcade market before filing for bankruptcy however it only made two games under ea tiger woods o5 and need for speed most wanted for the ds in other words this studio's output was so awful even ea couldn't stand to retain them own the city for ds was instead done by exient entertainment who would help ea with handheld mobile last gen and wii console ports until 2010 and when it comes to core gameplay exient entertainment evidently had talent the effort they put into this isn't just evident via gameplay it comes through in the customization options where the surprisingly good looking dashboard integrating all of the ui elements can be altered now i shouldn't get carried away the rubber banding ai's appalling at times layouts start to repeat themselves even in the early hours and the campaign's just as ridiculous as its psp counterpart even the handful of cut down songs really started to wear thin in my play time but i can't say it's a bad game if i had this on my ds as a kid i wouldn't feel gypped in the slightest no bad emotions reserved for people who could only play knee for speed carbon on the zebo the zebo was an online base console released exclusively in mexico and brazil that managed to convince activision capcom namco disney id software and yes ea to release games for being that ea released games for the gizmondo just a year prior however it's not surprising the company wanted to scrape any market feasible for need for speed its system debut is a butchered version of own the city on psp cutscenes have no voice acting frame rates miserable and the graphics themselves had to be downgraded from sony's handheld i'm not lgr or abgn so i'm not going to hunt down a physical system myself but for those whose only option for knee for speed carbon was on the zebo i kinda feel for them though it could be worse they could have had 510 instead mods i love them you love them everybody loves them and judging from the mods being created for games that are 20 years old the need for speed community loves them too sadly most games don't have the proper tools for modders to really go crazy there's no equivalence of counter-strike daisy or galactic warfare here but there's options for carbon cut content beta mods updated visuals texture packs vehicles but what really caught my attention was a career mode overhaul called battle royale it's not what you're thinking trust me developed by max how wa carbon battle royale is a wombo combo of previous mods assembled into one convenient package with it you get new map zones new challenge series events 100 plus new races new event types like city drifts and canyon speed traps dozens of new vehicles increased difficulty across the board and what caught my interest a new story and structure that final edition's apparent from the beginning where you don't watch the prologue race you play it just like the prologue and most wanted this is awesome immediately i already felt more connected to the inciting incident just by the virtue of controlling darius's borrowed supra personally it leads to the same predicament but rather than disappear for five years you only run to rockport for one day and coming back you stay out of palmont and stay in san juan building your new crew reputation and vehicle collection there as you witness the map get conquered by the big four dynamically this is so much more like what people imagined for carbon a territory map that's influenced to go a certain way but not fixed you even witness one of the major gangs lose territory to someone smaller and need to fight for it back but the overhauls don't end with the story and map it further applies to vehicles and events rather than tuner muscle and exotics classes are boost race and drift within these classes vehicles have been made even more pronounced you can do speed traps with a race car rather than boost car but lacking top speed and quick acceleration is a serious disadvantage as is bringing a boost car with inferior handling to city street races more importantly this means your garage is diverse from the beginning in carbon the three vehicle types were more about preferences rather than pushing you towards particular styles of gameplay here you need a drift build to win these events this leads to the other component while carbon races weren't the cakewalk they were in prior games they were still pretty easy overall so when looking for something different when installing this mod of the three difficulty options i picked the hardest but be advised if you do this you better be awake there are races with certain cars and specs you simply can not win you'll be exiting to the menu multiple times to find another race that's beatable or one that unlocks parts you need to upgrade for those more challenging events but this absolutely comes with positive effects for one thing the high scores of opponents in drifting forces you to engage in the unique drifting engine and god damn when you chain events at speeds to make ridge racers squirm it's a total rush as are the races where wingmen truthfully win you races and you feel naked and vulnerable without their support in others your vehicles are encouraged to be highly specialized in one field rather than being jack of all trades assuring you maximize the game's mechanical depth and this sheer number of new races is a total breath of fresh air there are routes and roads i never experienced before despite being very familiar with palmont's layout the original game simply didn't squeeze every inch of road and things like canyon speed traps or city drift events are welcome additions that add all new challenges to the game you wouldn't expect bringing muscle cars to these winding bends to maximize their speed in the briefest of sprints is exciting and charging intersections sideways is a different rush compared to the enclosed drifting circuits this mod is quite the marvel for a 120 megabyte file that mostly tweaks what already existed and just needed to be repackaged for big fans of carbon who are looking to experience it in an all new way this mod should absolutely be considered but i wouldn't go so far as to recommend it over the original for as much as i love a good challenge especially in events that were previously pathetic battle royale is uneven to the point of frustration there's times where you'll chain together impossible races back to back desperately trying to identify the one that puts down the whip and grants a proper challenge it's not helped by the fact that rubber banding which carbon originally improved has come back with an absolute vengeance now in fairness this is the hardest difficulty so if this was the only issue with battle royale the solution would simply be to lower it the less challenge wouldn't remedy being unable to swap cars without going to the safehouse when the career now all but requires jumping from ride to ride constantly these faults aren't so much to do with the designers but limitations of the mod itself there's only so much those designers can do they can open up san juan but they can't resolve its texture pop-in or lack of connection to the city there's also something that depending on who you're talking to is a good or bad thing because you're battling more territory over more events and more game modes the career is much longer than before for those massively disappointed by carbon's brevity that sounds like a relief but it's obvious the original game wasn't meant to have duels so spaced out nor were wingmen supposed to repeat their lines for so long battle royale is fresher yet rougher it's why i wouldn't recommend it to those who have never experienced the core game or just play the series casually but for those who have got that need for speed itch revisiting one or multiple entries routinely this mod might be exactly what you're looking for it's challenging it's refreshing and most importantly it's complete there's not much more in terms of content you could ask for here this mod is immensely impressive and all of its contributors should be proud of themselves if you'd like to download the mod yourself links are in the description my memory of carbon has endured for 15 years and it wasn't exactly positive the game wasn't bad but it was hard not to feel a little let down by its brevity or lack of meaningful innovations compared to the previous leaps however playing so much of this game for the past two months i've come to greatly appreciate it far more than i ever did because i never stopped to think of why i finished the game in two sittings the game was quicker sure but there's plenty of 10 hour games i've not put one hour into racer's very much included this genre is one of the most fundamentally repetitive out there it's almost inescapable as part of its enjoyment is the mastery that comes from its repetition yet carbon managed to maintain such a balance such an unobtrusive experience that i couldn't stop playing until there was nothing more to play very few games can pull that off carbon did and much of that enjoyment is still there today maybe the issue with carbon is that it was too smooth for its own good that there existed so few highs that were so brief players couldn't carry an hour of significance with them after turning the game off there was too little to remember it's often speculated that carbon originally intended to take its concepts much further shadow of mordor with cars fully dynamic map playable openings but that's just speculation there's never been any confirmation black box were dreaming so big and part of the tragedy is even if they were it would never happen restrictions often ensure creativity but it doesn't stop people from dreaming big and when a game like carbon packs so many vast concepts into one package it's hard not to imagine what black box could have done with a blank check instead of another solid entry the next year most wanted success could have been the excuse to take a year off and build anticipation for the ultimate entry that doesn't skimp on anything and excels at everything but saying that out loud it even sounds fantastical there would be no benefit for ea's business to do this while carbon sold less than half of most wanted it was still one of the best-selling games of 2006. it did its job it didn't need to do anything more and as for blackbox they're not infallible taking that year off to create a supposed masterpiece could have easily failed and put them on the sidelines even faster than the decline from most wanted undercover did it's even likely the goal of capturing the essence of car and street racing culture every year is what inspired things like canyon races in the first place as you can tell i've been conflicted with what this game is and what it could have been what i've grown to accept however is what it could have been would have never happened making me grateful for what it is [Music] can you buy me some gme and amc well this q a isn't gonna age well why am i dumb have you seen your means have you tried opera yes chrome is better if this doesn't make the next video i'm unsubbing there's another question will you ever play phasmophobia with kalisag why haven't you played phasmophobia with kalisag does you do nothing with kalasag why do you only watch bad anime because i'm an uncultured normie i truly do aspire to your weedness wait do series questions get answered on these they do let's use the following question as an example do fish know when it's raining quotes like this are supposed to be in their designated place who lives on blueberry lane liara do you think playing through the need for speed games and doing a video on them would be cool let's keep it slow for now i really don't feel like making a video on undercover when are we getting a video on driver san francisco now that sounds more up my alley can you rank all of the need for speed titles ever the q a screen is only so big but most wanted porsche unleashed heat hopper suit 2 and shift 2 would probably be my top 5. yeah i'm weird need for speed film review when it was hard enough making this video on a good game i'm not spending the time on a bad film when will you make more videos about racing games right now apparently have you ever thought about getting into nintendo games and hardware i'm not at all opposed to nintendo's games i am very much against their horrible hardware practices i don't want to just quote this excellent video so i'll say due to a ps4 pro already acting as my dust collector i've never felt encouraged to pick up a switch as it's too likely to just be another unused power drain what are your thoughts on halo reach firefight there's fond memories of the excellent dlc map but aside from that it isn't a mode i delved into much mainly because of the appalling connection quality of halo's online co-op modes back in the day but even now there's something about halo's gameplay that to me never lent itself to holding a position obviously firefight isn't nearly as cover based as gears of war but i find halos at its best when you're making progress through a level spartan ops was a good idea it was just poorly executed what anime-ish games have you played or had an interest in i've had tales of bursaria in my library for years now though the one a much keener on is valkyria chronicles mainly because of its unique presentation and gameplay and partly because of its unintentionally hilarious quotes why is judy the best girl in cyberpunk i don't know about that are you tony hawk no what is the most valid kink tony hawk will you kink shame me is your kink tony hawk [ __ ] you it's january [ __ ] you it's february [ __ ] you

Channel: Raycevick

Views: 1,456,986

Keywords: Raycevick, CuHnadian, COG, connected, COGconnected, review, analysis, years, later, need for speed carbon, need for speed most wanted, need for speed trailer, need for speed, need for speed review, need for speed most wanted 2005, need for speed underground, need for speed underground 2, need for speed hot pursuit 2, hot pursuit 2, electronic arts e3, EA, need for speed heat, forza horizon, midnight club 3, BMW M3 GTR, 007, everything or nothing, nightfire, mods, battle royale, gameplay

Id: X7bRArcElC8

Length: 67min 45sec (4065 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 19 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Is today NFS throwback day? LGR released a video as well

[u/Rayuzx]

I always find it funny that I hated Most Wanted, but loved Carbon, despite the rest of the internet having the exact opposite opinion.

[u/zippopwnage]

NFS Carbon was my favorite in the series. I played it the most, and I really liked the map and everything in the game. This was the last game that I really enjoyed from NFS.

[u/syknetz]

That was an interesting video.

By coincidence I just replayed though it last weekend, and I agree with most of the issues pointed out, namely the story which is camp but not camp enough to be entertaining, the wingmen types being very unbalanced and not very useful overall (also, not pointed out, but the scout type wingman WILL screw you over frequently by magically overtaking you then slowing down in the middle of your line), and the game which seems to have a vision while not following up on it (the territory view which makes little sense, considering minor gangs have literally no chances of taking over territories).

Still, it's a fun game, with the highlight of the game being the canyon face-offs.

[u/DanBredditor]

As an achievement hunter this game is nightmare fuel to have on my games played list years ago. They shut down the servers and like 30+ achievements can’t be earned, and the ones that can are largely quite challenging and time consuming.

I’m a big NFS fan overall but did not like Carbon.

[u/Lightguardianjack]

Dude I know the rest of the game was lacking but I loved those canyon duels!

They felt like proper racing boss fights! When I was in my teens they felt so tense.

Haven't gone back and played them but I'm surprised nobody has tried to replicate their feel.

[u/MrkJulio]

Carbon is a really good game. The cutscenes are cool. Cheesy but neat. The bosses are a nice addition. The canyon duels are a really interesting way to face off against a boss. The music is also great in those duels.

The ending also feels bittersweet. Especially what the main boss tells you after you beat him.

[u/Jaraghan]

This was the only NFS game I ever owned. Growing up, I had a friend who loved racing games. I'd go to his house often and we'd play them but I was never a big fan. Until Carbon came out and I played it at his place and had a blast. The night time setting really sealed the deal for me; it was so much fun racing around in these sleek looking cars at night.

[u/JohnConquest]

Carbon for me marks the last good NFS game. It's disappointing EA doesn't realize that the series has been complete garbage ever since and that they should just remaster all the old ones. The PC versions are pretty hard to run properly and it would be great for them to fix it up.

Instead they've focused on games that don't even need it like Hot Pursuit 2010, when Hot Pursuit 2 should be the one getting remastered.