NASCAR 2011: The Game

Not a failure by any means. Fans will enjoy it, and there's plenty to do in the stock car racing world until the next eventual game in the series rolls out of the pit. But casual fans may feel left behind by the game's heavy technicality and erroneous difficulty decisions.

NASCAR 2011 is a racing game about a real sport that has all the tracks and best racers and allows you to play realistically or play more like an arcade racing game.

I came away from Nascar 2011 impressed. I think part of this was that I had zero expectations of the game going in but it is a fun, accessible video game version of the sport. Hardcore Nascar fans might find room for improvement but as a decently featured entry into Nascar it is a worthy first effort.

NASCAR 2011: The Game lays an excellent foundation for future iterations in the series. The arcade-style racing is engaging and the sense of speed is executed beautifully. However, the all-too-simple Career mode and somewhat broken online play hold the game back from what could have been, and what hopefully will be in the near future. I can recommend this game to NASCAR and racing fans that follow the sport. For casual racing fans, rent or borrow it first to see if you've got to have it.

New developers bring new impulse. NASCAR comes to life with nice graphics and a range of game modes – and few errors. Even so it is a must-have for all the long year fans.

For a first-time effort, NASCAR 2011 has lots to like. But it needs some serious behind-the-wall garage time to get its setup right. [June 2011, p.79]

Sometimes you don't have the car to beat, and you end up point racing for whatever you can get. Eutechnyx's effort here is appreciated, but it's not championship material.

Feels kind of like a $30 title in a $60 dollar package. While the gameplay is solid, the shallow modes, disappointing lack of polish, and overall mediocrity really prevent the game from reaching the high quality of previous NASCAR games.

It's far from being an awful game, even with it's glaring flaws. Race tracks are nice to look at, car models are detailed and the overall presentation is rather solid. But the more players dig into it, the more they will realize that somehow, Eutechnyx missed the boat.

It's a very easy and sometimes arcade-ish game, it really doesn't have what it takes to simulate such a thrilling driving experience.

NASCAR 2011 isn't bad for Eutechnyx's first effort. It's not horrible, it's not great, it's merely okay. But NASCAR should be a great video game. Past games on console and PC certainly provide enough guidance as to what does and doesn't work. Maybe my expectations were too high. The one revelation I found in NASCAR 2011 is I will never be able to race at Bristol. It's too much like driving in Chicago traffic.

Feeling rushed out of the gate, NASCAR 2011 is functional, not flushed out.

Had it been taken as seriously as other racers on the market, NASCAR 2011 could have been a very solid title.

The real problems appear with both the wait times to actually get to a race and the glitched experience that emerges from the first wave of the green flag (if you're lucky enough to see it).

"For fans only" is a well worn cliche, but in a game as incredibly specific and dedicated as NTG: 2011, it's the truth.

It gets the job done, but NASCAR 2011 is a better reminder of the great old NASCAR games than it is a good game in its own right.

Graphically, this game isn't as crisp as the EA titles, though I would say Activision did well to represent all possible sponsors to give this a better sense of realism and the game does have a lot to work with for future years.

The lack of polish and steeper learning curve puts NASCAR 2011: The Game into the "for fans only" category. Everyone else should have more fun launching turtle shells at each other or speeding through topsy-turvy tracks in futuristic hover cars.

The racing gameplay at its core is fantastic and entertaining. People unfamiliar with NASCAR will find that the assists let them get behind the wheel easily, but both novices and veterans alike will find a lot of fault with just how uneven and broken the bugs can make the proceedings. Ultimately, while there is a good game in there, it comes complete with so much baggage that it's impossible to fully recommend.

Broken online play, lack of caution flags, and the inability for the pack of cars to spread out. You'll have fun for five minutes, then become incredibly frustrated.

For now, I'd pass on NASCAR 2011: The Game. The multiplayer is completely busted, and I'm a big fan of voting with your dollar. If you're a NASCAR fan, maybe you should let your vote be heard by not picking up this mess. For those of you who did, I really I hope that the patch delivers on the promised fixes because I'd be greatly upset if I had spent $60 on this.

NASCAR 2011: The Game feels like a slapdash effort, a rough draft of a game dressed up with a fancy cinematic and some licensed music and sent out to make a quick buck off the fans.