Need for Speed: Carbon

 PC
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 561 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 320 out of 561
  2. Mixed: 200 out of 561
  3. Negative: 41 out of 561
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  1. nyeven
    Mar 30, 2020
    4
    What starts as a pleasant introduction to a sequel to Most Wanted, in the ends turns into an annoying experience due to lack of features and a huge difficulty spike in the last race.

    I'm a huge Need for Speed fan. I've been playing it since Play Station 1 times. I loved Underground, Underground 2 and I loved the resurrection of cop chases in Most Wanted. I went into Carbon believing    What starts as a pleasant introduction to a sequel to Most Wanted, in the ends turns into an annoying experience due to lack of features and a huge difficulty spike in the last race.

    I'm a huge Need for Speed fan. I've been playing it since Play Station 1 times. I loved Underground, Underground 2 and I loved the resurrection of cop chases in Most Wanted.

    I went into Carbon believing it'll be at least as great as Most Wanted. Boy was I wrong. The crew member feature sounds good on paper, but it's horrible in practice. Here's a list of stupid things in Carbon:

    - The game that's based on customization and tuning of cars has a freaking limit to how many cars can you own!
    - Scout crew members were utterly useless because they'd always try to be first, but if they were too fast that would be overpowered. So expect you'll ram into your scout throughout the whole race if you're using it.
    - Switching to Hal to be able to autosculpt is horrendously annoying. It's mindblowing that some dev actually thought that was a good idea...
    - The menu controls and layouts are quite different than Most Wanted but there's no tutorial at the beginning.
    - Once you get used to drift races, the game is piss easy until you arrive at the last race. Have fun grinding it over 100 times because the difficulty spike is humorously sadistic.
    - What's the point of zone information appearing if that zone is in my control!? Good luck running away from cops while zone information takes 50% of your UI space.
    - The most fun moments of the game are cop chases, but at the beginning you get a crew member whose passive ability is to lower the heat after every race... Utterly retarded game design.
    - The only time when I got spiked was when I used a Pursuit Breaker. The game would enter a cinematic where you could see the Breaker destroying cop cars, but your car would be autocontrolled over spikes... Great job devs!

    I had a decent time playing this game for the first 95% of the playthrough but then all the stupid **** piles up and the horribly difficult last race was the last straw for me.

    I'd recommend avoiding this game.    … Expand
  2. alexkowert
    Aug 31, 2014
    3
    This game is less than nothing! Graphic details are obviously lover than in Most Wanted (2005) but the game is newer, what´s wrong guys? It´s like the, damn, new year, we must present every year a new need for speed, lets sell dat ****. Save your money and keep playing underground 1-2 or most wanted, former days, better days for nfs...
  3. caligula_king
    Oct 3, 2015
    3
    SOBREVALORADO , aburrido y esto de hacer carreras con equipos no me gusto nada . El peor de la saga . Solo me duro 2 semanas ( lo vendí por segunda mano ) .
  4. pukkenr1
    Jul 27, 2013
    2
    worst nfs street racing game ever this game for those who dont have any driving skills graphics pure gameplay boring car's customization menu sux game for 10 YO babys...
  5. Dee383
    Apr 27, 2011
    4
    I Bought This Thinking It Would Be As Good As Need For Speed Most Wanted ... But The Storyline Was Boring . Graphics Poor ,, Gameplay Poor ........
  6. kanefriessner
    Jul 11, 2012
    4
    This game is better than Most Wanted, but it has other big problems. The controlling is a bit better, but it's not good enough. The races are more exciting. In sprint or circuit there are 6 opposite racers (plus the ally). The negative in that part is that the AI is cheating again especially the ally racer. Mainly it's 95% chance that your ally win the race, if it's a pathfinder (eg. SAL).This game is better than Most Wanted, but it has other big problems. The controlling is a bit better, but it's not good enough. The races are more exciting. In sprint or circuit there are 6 opposite racers (plus the ally). The negative in that part is that the AI is cheating again especially the ally racer. Mainly it's 95% chance that your ally win the race, if it's a pathfinder (eg. SAL). The cops are more brutal than in Most Wanted, and that things not so helpful which are marked with triangles in the map. The story is really short but it's not too boring (as in Most Wanted or Underground). The selection of cars is little, really little. In the start you can only select from 3 cars. Then you haven't got enough money to buy a new (because you have to tuning your first car to win races with more money), except if you complete a race more then once. And yeah, there are not many races. In one territory, there are only 3 races. And how many territories are in the game? About 20. But in the first 5 territory, you can win those races in about 0.5 hour. In U1, U2 or MW the musics are great, the best part of the game. And now? Where are those metal and rock songs, huh? In this game, the musics are not the best part of the game, maybe the graphics are. Maybe.… Expand
  7. JoseO
    Jan 4, 2010
    3
    no widescreen, i dont like the gameplay the graphics are bad, those are the main 3 aspects that made me not like this and some other new versions of NFS. To get it straight, for me i think the best NFS would be just either Most Wanted or Underground 2 with up to date graphics, less cartoonish and more real, with new and more parts, up to date cars, if possible real cities, or if not at no widescreen, i dont like the gameplay the graphics are bad, those are the main 3 aspects that made me not like this and some other new versions of NFS. To get it straight, for me i think the best NFS would be just either Most Wanted or Underground 2 with up to date graphics, less cartoonish and more real, with new and more parts, up to date cars, if possible real cities, or if not at least different cities and maybe 2 or more cities to choose from. This game has 1 thing i love, the fact that u can have your pieces to be longer or shorter, example: your rear bumper can be longer (closer to the floor) or shorter (further from the floor), the rims can be bigger or smaller and the tires can be wider or narrow. That new crew thing its good too, maybe with some mods would be good to keep it as an optional feature.… Expand
  8. DanielC.
    Jan 11, 2007
    2
    I got the demo of this and though, great! So I get the game finally and start playing. The new menu system is not very good or well rendered which at first, made me think it was going to be cheap. However, playing the demo the races were quite good and there "seemed" to be a large variety. When playing the full game I found that the new and improved drag races were few and far between. I I got the demo of this and though, great! So I get the game finally and start playing. The new menu system is not very good or well rendered which at first, made me think it was going to be cheap. However, playing the demo the races were quite good and there "seemed" to be a large variety. When playing the full game I found that the new and improved drag races were few and far between. I have only played about 5?! Most of the races were rubbish and nothing works properly. The graphics suck, the game play is worst and the lack of originallity. Even including the new duals and autp-sculpt system it is not changing direction at all. EA tried to make it somthing that no one wanted it to be. In my oppinion if they should change anything it should be the driving world, its far too boring compared to what we see in top of the line games. Forget autosculpt, its lack of scope and malubility makes it pointless to have and reducing the polygon count just for this doesn't help. I much prefere to just stick to the mod upgrades. Make the next game closer to Underground 1 and 2 with improved and more interesting worlds!… Expand
  9. BrianL.
    Jan 2, 2007
    3
    Just another NFS, please bring back MCO or sell it let the ones that loved this game play on.
  10. SteveO.
    Dec 22, 2006
    4
    Tired & repetitive. Done this 3 times before. Its time to drop the fast & furious style of gaming. Need for speed used to be a great series until it became a yearly update with nothing worth buying the next one for. Gameplay is very short and virtually the same as most wanted except its dark. The pointless mods are only a minor distraction from this and wingman, (WTF!) is that the best Tired & repetitive. Done this 3 times before. Its time to drop the fast & furious style of gaming. Need for speed used to be a great series until it became a yearly update with nothing worth buying the next one for. Gameplay is very short and virtually the same as most wanted except its dark. The pointless mods are only a minor distraction from this and wingman, (WTF!) is that the best they can come up with, not to mention an even lamer story than the last three(honestly). Thankfully the silly car rating has been dropped but again this shortens the game even more. They really need to shelve this series until they can come up with something new, these last 4 games are really below average and getting very stale. This feels more like an add on than a new game.… Expand
  11. dlcatalin
    Jul 13, 2020
    1
    I'm going to give this game a solid ONE, just because the graphics are a bit cute. But that's it. This has to be the most horrible NFS game yet. Where do i start ? The cars float all over the place, they feel more like inflated baloons and the tires constantly make that screeching sound as if drifting ... but its CONSTANTLY. The cars have ZERO performance resemblance to the real lifeI'm going to give this game a solid ONE, just because the graphics are a bit cute. But that's it. This has to be the most horrible NFS game yet. Where do i start ? The cars float all over the place, they feel more like inflated baloons and the tires constantly make that screeching sound as if drifting ... but its CONSTANTLY. The cars have ZERO performance resemblance to the real life models. In the game my retard Scout in his potato VW Golf BEATS EVERYTHING in the game, he has like INTERSPACESTELLAR acceleration. The entire game is a joke, the other cars accelerate from 0 to 200 km/h in like 0.5 seconds, then after they get this huge lead ahead of you they either become impossible to beat or they brake for no reason so you pass them. Another thing is that my crew scout made me lose many races by getting in front of me and BREAK CHECKING me ... WHAT THE? He literally gets in front of me and BREAKS and i ram him and lose the race. He was supposed to help !!! Some races are so ...soo ....cheater and impossible that the only way to win is with my cheater Scout crew in his retarded Golf that accelerates from 0 to 300 km/h in 0,5 seconds and beats Lamborghinis, how else can i compete with the AI cars that also go from 0 to 300 km/h in 0,5 seconds ?! The entire game is a joke. It is tolerable until you get to the last zone ... but then it's straight cheater spam.… Expand
  12. Fatal1ty_43
    Jan 1, 2018
    0
    the schedule in a game the sediment, a plot isn't worked out, the last boss can't be won if you are an ordinary gamer!
  13. Izoeros
    Jun 5, 2022
    4
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  14. SergeyA.
    Dec 24, 2006
    3
    The graphics are not exactly top of the line. The interface for modifications is getting more and more confusing, It seems to be less of a need for speed game and more of a product placement and movie career for wanna bes. Very disappointing.
  15. RafaelBarrera
    Feb 21, 2019
    4
    It might be an unpopular opinion, bit it simply is not a good video game for me, this video game started the quality descent in Need for Speed video games. It abuses from police persecutions after the succeed of Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Need for Speed was a racing game, not a police persecution game.
  16. Gorbunov2004
    Jun 4, 2021
    2
    Это не игра а дополнение к NFS Most Wanted все машины в городе те же самые менты те же самые. Сюжет полная чушь, а гонка с главарём по каньону вообще самая тупая в серии. Музыка так же стала раз в 10 хуже её просто слушать невозможно такая она отвратительная.Это не игра а дополнение к NFS Most Wanted все машины в городе те же самые менты те же самые. Сюжет полная чушь, а гонка с главарём по каньону вообще самая тупая в серии. Музыка так же стала раз в 10 хуже её просто слушать невозможно такая она отвратительная.

Awards & Rankings

57
#57 Best PC Game of 2006
18
#18 Most Discussed PC Game of 2006
22
#22 Most Shared PC Game of 2006

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. IGN
    82
    The drifting is an acquired taste (but it's good), the canyon duals are decent changes (though not great), and the crews...well, they suck. Of the myriad new features, the addition of muscle cars and the online functionality are the best.
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  2. GameBrink
    80
    A great addition to the series for fans and probably a decent rental for most. While things have been upgraded and new elements added on, it’s still NFS and it still gets repetitive and boring after awhile. It’s like EA’s "Madden" of racing.
    Read full review
  3. GameSpot
    74
    Even though the wingman mechanics and canyon races don't quite pan out, it's still a stylish and enjoyable street racer.
    Read full review
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