NASCAR 08
Score: 65% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: EA Sports Developer: Tiburon Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 4 Genre: Sports (Racing)
Graphics & Sound: I've never really been into NASCAR, as far as most types of racing events are concerned; this brand is rarely the most exciting type in my mind. But I do enjoy racing games in general and am familiar enough with the genre and mechanics to know a good game when I see or play one. Granted, other gamers who are hardcore fans of the sport might be able to talk about the quality of each driver's ability in the game and how that translates from their real-world counterparts, but unfortunately, I can only really give an outsider's perspective of NASCAR 08. NASCAR 08 seems to do an okay job in the grand scheme of things. The cars and tracks both look like they do in the real world. But there isn't really anything in the game's look that stands up and makes you take notice. There are a couple of visual effects that add to the game's overall quality (like the looming smoke columns after collisions), but they aren't really enough to make up for the general average feel of the game. Sound is very underwhelming. The best thing about NASCAR is the sound of 46 high-powered engines thundering around the track at top speed - a feeling that is completely absent in NASCAR 08. The music selection is a nice mix, though I really wasn't feeling it at all. During races, your pit chief will feed you information, though his advice falls into the same category as the commentary on EA's sports titles; sometimes it makes sense, though you'll also hear a lot of useless trash.
Gameplay: NASCAR 08 has quite a few gameplay modes, but quite frankly, they all felt the same to me. You can race in the Nextel, Busche (National), Craftsman Truck and Car of Tomorrow series. While each of these types of events give you different types vehicles or rules, in the end, driving the trucks felt just like driving the cars and I truly felt like the visuals I was seeing were only a skin. There are a couple of other modes like Season and Chase for the Cup where you will have to go through a series of races to prove you are the best. Season Mode, as the name suggests, lets you pick and control one of NASCAR's drivers in a full season's worth of races. Chase for the Cup Mode, on the other hand, puts you behind the wheel of a generic car and in control of an unnamed driver. Your goal in this mode is to vie for contracts and gain notoriety. This mode starts off very much like a training mode because you get quite a few tips early about how to safely work your way to the front and how to pace yourself and when to go to the pit, but in the end, I didn't really find this mode all that fun. NASCAR 08 sports some online races as well. There isn't much to the online offerings, but it being there is better than the lack of online features that was seen in the past. Unfortunately, I found it hard to get other players to go against. I don't know if it's the times I chose to look or because the game has only recently been released, but I was able to play very few online games.
Difficulty: NASCAR 08's A.I. is a curious thing. Most of the time, I found them boxing me in and keeping me from making any real headway. The rare times that I was able to take the number one position seemed to up their aggression and try really hard to knock me out of the race (something they were definitely not doing to the lead if it wasn't me). The game's A.I. also felt very generic. Though there are supposedly different drivers in each car, they all feel the same when you are going up against them. Maybe there are subtitle differences that I didn't notice because I'm not personally familiar with each of the drivers' styles, but as far as I can tell, there isn't any difference.
Game Mechanics: The NASCAR series of racing games requires a different mindset than that of games like Gran Turismo or Burnout, and NASCAR 08 is no different. Where most racing games are forgiving (or rewarding in the case of Burnout) when it comes to tapping and pushing your opposing racers, it is just a bad idea to do that here. I found that always being in the middle of a huge mass of cars speeding around a circular track bumper-to-bumper caused me to always end up tapping or side-swiping some driver. Unfortunately, you do this too much and the judges throw a flag or the computer takes control and turns you the right direction and puts you back in line. This high-precision racing wouldn't be nearly a problem if the controls themselves were precise. Unfortunately, I kept finding myself going too fast or too slow for the pack and ending up in some kind of fender-bender. These imprecise controls coupled with the strict rules of NASCAR really made it hard to have fun while racing, but again, that is probably because I'm not used to the NASCAR way and maybe more hardcore fans of the sport will find it more appealing. Unlike other sports out there, there aren't any other games coming out for NASCAR, which means that fans who really want to play as their favorite racer are forced to buy NASCAR 08. What this means is that this game doesn't need to push the envelope in order to gain any kind of market share or get the fans of the sport to buy it, which means the overall result is very lackluster.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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