DownloadCastle

I got this a couple of days ago and I think it isn't bad. I haven't got far into the game yet, but so far I've fully upgraded a car (I'm about 10% complete). As far as I can tell, the only thing to needs to be unlocked is the quick race tracks.

I've got the PS2 version and one thing I hate about the game, so far, is they went backwards with the controls. You use the X button to accelerate, and Square to brake. I'm used to using the right stick for this but someone decided to use that for 'free look' which lets you look to the sides. They also changed what the shoulder buttons do, L1 and R1 change gears and L2 and R2 are handbrake and NOS, respectively. My biggest problem with this is you can't change them.

Style points are back and better then ever, in stead of unlocking things they now give bonuses to NOS and Speed Breaker charge times. The thing is you have to build the style points up in race, each time you start an event the points are reset. The way to build up points is the same as in Underground 2. It's pretty easy to do.

Some thing else missing from the game is the My Cars menu on the main menu. This option doesn't exist. Instead you can only use cars you own in career and have unlocked, both stock and modified.

Something else that ain't in the game is the reward cards. Something I miss from Carbon but as everything but tracks are unlocked already there isn't a real point for them (I assume the XBox 360 version has achievements).

AS for the story, I'd have to finish the game to really give talk about it. From what I've seen, it isn't bad. I think they give a plot point away on the loading screens but I'm not sure.


More to come. When I play the game abit more.

Game play is pretty good, still hate the controller setup but I assume it is a PS2 thing. I'm about 75-80 % complete now. The story is pretty good so far.

More on style points, you use these to fill a zone meter. It's this zone meter that gives the bonuses to charge time on the NOS and speedbreaker (the later I've used 3 times). The interesting thing about this is that you have to unlock the the high multipliers, and you do this by raising your bounty. That's right, the higher your bounty the more 'In The Zone' you can get, which also gives other bonuses.

Speaking of unlocking, I was wrong, you still unlock cars and aftermarket parts but everything else is pretty much unlocked

You also get given cop cars you can drive around in, you can't use these in career story line events or races, but you can use it in free roam to catch bad guys. I haven't tried this yet but it looks like it could be a bit of fun.

I've now got 6 cars (including the cop car) and all are fully upgraded (except the cop car which can't be)

More to come.

Sounds interesting...looking forward to hearing how the chase system with the cop cars works

I'll try it some time this week and let you know.

I just wish we could play with the cop cars.

That'd be fun...racing with police interceptors that are tweaked out and stuff

Wouldn't it?

Events? Drift? No. Drag? No. instead we have, Timed circuit, the idea? Be in first when time runs out. Simple? Yes. Easy? Well it is if you’re playing on easy. Driver Jobs drive around, doing things. Example, get the stolen car to the chop shop, keep the cops busy, etc.

Chase down Mode; this is using the cop cars you get, the Idea is to ram the bad guy until his car has 0 HP. Sound easy? Well, it can be, it can also be one of the hardest things you have to do. The easiest way to do it is to try and get a head on when possible. Also, the higher the speed difference between you and the bad guy, the more damage you will do.

I've unlocked three cop cars. A Mustang GT, a Gallardo, and a 911 GT2. I've only used the Mustang so far but they all look quite nice.

I've finished the story in career mode, still have a couple of Bounty events to do then I'll be finished career mode.

Cars; there are 3 Supercars, the LP640, the CCX and the Zonda. They all cost $250,000 and you can't put any performance upgrades on them and only limited aftermarket/autosculpt ones. This sounds bad, but they come with NOS, and they all out class every other vehicle in game that can be upgraded, they are nasty, nasty cars.

Next time I'll chat about the Challenge Series.

Sounds good man, great reviews and info so far.

Perhaps this will encourage others to voice their opinions on their fave games too!

Well, I wouldn't call it my fave. I think Most Wanted is better then this. It is fun, but it uses stuff from other games in the series rather then being a full new game. The City the game is set in may as well be the city from Most Wanted. Sure it's not the exact same, but if you've played Most Wanted, it will be easy to find you way around.

It's been a while since I posted about this. Then again, I haven't play it since then.

I have had a play with the challenge series.

The Challenge series has about 45 races all up, over three difficulty levels, Bronze, silver and gold. You have to finish a Bronze race you can do the silver, then the gold. Once you finish all the golds you can do the four Mega Events. Which, once finished, add 10,000 credit to your career money each. This is the only thing beating the challenge series gives you. As far as I know. I haven't finished the series yet. And still have four events to beat to complete the Career mode.