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Need for Speed Carbon

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8.2 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 14 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: EA Black Box

Genre(s): Racing, Driving

Players: 2

ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older)

Release Date: November 20, 2006

Summary

What starts in the city is settled in the canyons as Need for Speed Carbon immerses you into the world's most dangerous and adrenaline-filled form of street racing. You and your crew must race in an all-out war for the city, risking everything to take over your rivals' neighborhoods one block at a time. As the police turn up the heat, the battle ultimately shifts to Carbon Canyon, where territories and reputations can be lost on every perilous curve. Need for Speed Carbon delivers the next generation of customization giving you the power to design and tweak your crew's cars in every way using the ground-breaking new Autosculpt technology. Represent your car class, your crew, and your turf in Need for Speed Carbon, the next revolution in racing games. [Electronic Arts]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central GameSpot Hints & Cheats

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

NintendoWorldReport

Instead of porting it over without much thought, they took the time to get something working that took advantage of the Wii's strengths.

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PGNx Media

It’s a shame that EA decided to drop the intense cop chases from Most Wanted. Carbon is still a very addicting game even though the drift races don’t work quite as well as they should.

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Pelit (Finland)

The best driving game for Wii but that is not saying much. It looks and sounds good, though. The control system takes some time to get used to. [Feb 2007]

Game Over Online

The controls are new and innovative, but to a large percentage of racing fans they won’t seem to fit.

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GameZone

Need for Speed Carbon for the Wii falls a bit flat in certain areas but it’s a good attempt at bringing us a fresh new twist to this underground racing series.

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IGN

Compared to some of your other launch options, Need for Speed Carbon just doesn’t cut it as an upgraded GameCube “Wii-make”. While the control is actually pretty solid - using the Wii controller as a virtual steering wheel - the technical limitations are just too numerous to ignore.

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GameSpot

Need for Speed Carbon on the Wii contains some unique driving control options, but none of them can escape the sensation that this game simply wasn't built for motion control.

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AceGamez

If you're willing to really master one of the many control schemes on offer, and you don't mind losing out to the odd technical difficulty, then you might just find a familiar game with enough difference to make this a worthy purchase for the avid Need for Speed fan.

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Gamestyle

When it’s frustrating, it’s frustrating, when it’s good, it’s good, so for the moment it gets a 70.

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Gaming Age

Casual gamers will cling to the ease of pick up and play, and hardcore gamers will love the customization options. There is enough to please everyone, but don't expect to be wowed by anything new or revolutionary.

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Kombo

Dodgy controls keep Carbon from being worthy of serious consideration.

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Gamers' Temple

NFS Carbon is simply a lot more fun on other consoles.

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Nintendo Power

What Carbon does right bodes well for the racing genre on the Wii; what it does wrong bodes poorly for the future of this once-entertaining franchise. [Feb. 2007, p.96]

VideoGamer

One of those games that simply isn't best played on the Wii. Racing games are yet to prove themselves on the system, and Carbon is another that suffers due to the Wii's controllers. Control issues aside, it's another solid racer from EA, and the Auto-Sculpt feature is absolutely fantastic.

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Games Radar (in-house)

Sorry to say it, but the Wii version's at the bottom of the list for Carbon. It's not redefining the street racing genre, but at times it can still hit a sweet spot blend of intensity, danger and style.

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GameSpy

Skip it in favor of more traditional means of control. Mastering it is just too big of a hassle, and every other platform's offering has better multiplayer options anyway (a little thing called online).

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NGamer UK

We know from other versions that this is a solid arcade racer, with fun modifying modes and slick visuals. On Wii it's a nightmare to control. For masochists only. [January 2007, p.45]

Official Nintendo Magazine UK

It feels more like you're controlling a puppet on strings rather than a Lotus Elise. [Christmas 2006, p.75]

Games Master UK

It's all a bit of a compromised mess, frankly. [Feb 2007, p.84]

PALGN

There are better consoles to play Need for Speed: Carbon on, the game just isn't all that enjoyable with the Wii's control system.

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Yahoo! Games

If this version of Need for Speed: Carbon either looked or handled better, it might have been a worthwhile contender. But this lazy port simply doesn't have what it takes to bring the Need for Speed franchise to the Wii.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mike G. gave it a7:
Not a bad game,great control options. i'm really looking for more cars, real tracks and real damage/cornering/braking strategies. its a typical nfs, updated (aka EA yearly update).please nintendo give us a gran turismo/forza motorsports type game. and mariocart does not count.

Ronaldo F. gave it an8:
This a pretty good game with perfectly functional controls. It is not that hard to control as many of the magazines have said, which makes me wonder how much time they invested to learn how to play it.

T L. gave it a9:
Even though its a port over, still a good game. It would have been a ten if they would have spent a little bit more time with the controls on the menu. The controls on the street are hard at first, but you get the hang of it. I am a big fan of the NFS series, and this is a fun game to play.

A Jay gave it a9:
Tight controls (once you get used to them) and awsome gameplay and costemization options allow for hours of fun!

Tyler A. gave it an8:
This was my first NFS ame and I only have it because I got it for free with my Wii. At first I didn't really like it, then as soon as I changed the controls I loved it. I think the Wii version got lower because all the critics used the defult controls which I can't even master even after nearly four months of owning it. Its graphics are obviously GameCube standard but they are still pretty good. The soundtrack is okay, it depends on what genre you like and how you change it. This game really depends on the controls you use to enjoy it. I would reccomend it to racing fans.

D C gave it a9:
I use the "hold like steering wheel" control scheme, and find it works great after some learning curve. Already won a bunch of races. Pretty good graphics and customization of cars. Wish the game had some more track variety (i.e. some in day, more cars or people while racing).

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Need for Speed Carbon

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