REVIEW
Electronic Arts continues its empiric ways with NASCAR 07, a car game in a category where there used to be competition and now there is not, and an iteration that's more of an upgrade that a fully-fledged, 100% "new" game. Surprised? Last year's NASCAR iteration brought in one of the biggest changes the series has seen, team racing controls, and this year's big feature set isn't nearly as significant. To be fair, EA can't bring in a revolutionary feature each year, but in a year like this where the changes are subtle and often indistinguishable, the actual "newness" of the game is lessoned, harder to pinpoint and, overall, less dramatic. Thus, NASCAR 07 feels like a decent upgrade with many subtle shifts and tweaks in handling, a rearrangement of the menus and overall presentation style, and some decent new features.
With wildman Elliot Sadler on the cover and a new set of countrified rock songs to back up the game's kicking vibe, NASCAR 07 trundles into this year's competition with some decent features and decent gameplay. The most significant change is the addition of the Dynamic Driver Attributes and the Variable Driver Attribute System. When in the modes Race Now, Season Mode, and Chase for the Cup, you'll learn that various drivers and cars perform better in certain settings than in others. Some drives might drive better in short, pick-up, or long races, while other racers come through in tense and harrying situations. This feature takes a while to actually see and feel, so you'll only really get a sense of it working while deep into a season. It works, and the variation of player characteristics is a much-needed quality in any racing game, especially a rather technical and often staid one like NASCAR.
With wildman Elliot Sadler on the cover and a new set of countrified rock songs to back up the game's kicking vibe, NASCAR 07 trundles into this year's competition with some decent features and decent gameplay. The most significant change is the addition of the Dynamic Driver Attributes and the Variable Driver Attribute System. When in the modes Race Now, Season Mode, and Chase for the Cup, you'll learn that various drivers and cars perform better in certain settings than in others. Some drives might drive better in short, pick-up, or long races, while other racers come through in tense and harrying situations. This feature takes a while to actually see and feel, so you'll only really get a sense of it working while deep into a season. It works, and the variation of player characteristics is a much-needed quality in any racing game, especially a rather technical and often staid one like NASCAR.
The Variable Driver Attribute System, which appears in Race Now, Season Mode, Chase for the Cup and Fight to the Top, is instantly rewarding. By performing particular moves while racing -- clean passing, keeping the lead, surviving tough situations, making rivals and allies, and intimidating other racers -- you earn skill points, which increase your driver attributes. Of course, dirty bumps, crashes, and losses will decrease your points. The point is that each race has a significance all its own because each move is amplified and has global affects on your racer, adding a subtle lift of excitement to each race. And lord knows, NASCAR needs something to make those 43-lap races a little more exciting. Additionally, converting your skill points to cash enables you to wager, which puts a new wrinkle on the game. Luckily, if you lose one race, the next race gives you the chance to creep out of the hole for better earnings. Both features aren't altogether necessary to win or succeed, but they do help. Also they're worked subtly into the fabric of the game to give seasonal NASCAR fans something extra with which to play.
The game modes are essentially the same as last year's game, with Race Now, Fight to the Top, Season, online races, Dodge Challenges, and Chase for the Cup included. Dodge Speed Zone isn't a selectable mode as it was in NASCAR 06: Total Team Control. Also, Dodge Challenge includes racers interviewing racers in FMV before you re-live a great race in history. These are mildly entertaining, and they're short, giving players something other than a straight million-lap session to endure. Going through them from easy to hard difficulties is also a neat challenge. The presentation of each race also has been streamlined, as EA has essentially eliminated the grand stand celebrations, which is fine by me. Those didn't add much to its feel and this year's slightly streamlined version is OK by me. Fight to the Top is a nice way complement to the existing Career mode, although Fight to the Top existed last year too. In it you'll progress though the Whelen Modified series, Craftsman Series, Craftsman Trucks, NBS, and NEXTEL Cup, giving you all sorts of car and course types to explore. This has continuously proved to be a good addition to the series, and this year is no different.
The game modes are essentially the same as last year's game, with Race Now, Fight to the Top, Season, online races, Dodge Challenges, and Chase for the Cup included. Dodge Speed Zone isn't a selectable mode as it was in NASCAR 06: Total Team Control. Also, Dodge Challenge includes racers interviewing racers in FMV before you re-live a great race in history. These are mildly entertaining, and they're short, giving players something other than a straight million-lap session to endure. Going through them from easy to hard difficulties is also a neat challenge. The presentation of each race also has been streamlined, as EA has essentially eliminated the grand stand celebrations, which is fine by me. Those didn't add much to its feel and this year's slightly streamlined version is OK by me. Fight to the Top is a nice way complement to the existing Career mode, although Fight to the Top existed last year too. In it you'll progress though the Whelen Modified series, Craftsman Series, Craftsman Trucks, NBS, and NEXTEL Cup, giving you all sorts of car and course types to explore. This has continuously proved to be a good addition to the series, and this year is no different.
The refined car settings add a nice level of sophistication. They enable advanced players the ability to tweak various car characteristics, such as tire pressure, downforce, suspension, gear ratios, and the option to return to default settings. For those who live to tweak stuff, these settings are precise, providing tiny changes which, when you know what you're doing, provide a feel of control and satisfaction. I didn't bother with it until much later in the season, when I'd learned enough about the various cars to distinguish the subtle differences. Also in season mode is the ability to simulate a race (like last year's game); you can simulate any single race or individually simulate each race in an entire season. The simulation system works like Madden: you don't actually watch the races while they're simulated; and the results are always mixed. Sometimes you get ahead, other times you come in average or behind. I simulated an entire season and compared it to my fully played season; the sim season standings were about 10 points lower, which wasn't bad, but nothing to brag about.
The online play is average at best. It's preferable on Xbox Live (over the PS2's online system). But even on Xbox Live, the quality comes in a barely passable level. Even with good connections to EA's servers (from IGN), opponent cars flicker and stutter, and the framerate takes a turn for the worse. The game is playable, however, and your car does look solid. But it's hard to watch when the opponents are flickering and sticking in place and then jumping ahead of you. Online matches include Quick Matches, Optimatch (which enables the host to pick the series type, track, and event type), a Lobby option, a stat page, and My NASCAR, practically copied and pasted from last year's iteration.
The overall handing and racing of NASCAR 07 is generally an upgrade over last year's handling. While cars will differ by type and because of manual adjustment, the sense of control in this year's version provides quicker response times, slightly lighter cars, which lessons the heavy pendulum effect sunk into the core of last year's driving model, and a slightly better sense of speed. The sense of speed is build upon special visual affects rather than a framerate improvement, but the effects work nonetheless. While trying to ignore the heavy aliasing, moderate flickering, and a super dull color palette, players will notice working blur effects surrounding passing cars that provide a clean sense of speed. The blur doesn't increase the actual car speed, but it provides a sense of realistic movement that's believable when looking directly at the car and by using peripheral vision.
The online play is average at best. It's preferable on Xbox Live (over the PS2's online system). But even on Xbox Live, the quality comes in a barely passable level. Even with good connections to EA's servers (from IGN), opponent cars flicker and stutter, and the framerate takes a turn for the worse. The game is playable, however, and your car does look solid. But it's hard to watch when the opponents are flickering and sticking in place and then jumping ahead of you. Online matches include Quick Matches, Optimatch (which enables the host to pick the series type, track, and event type), a Lobby option, a stat page, and My NASCAR, practically copied and pasted from last year's iteration.
The overall handing and racing of NASCAR 07 is generally an upgrade over last year's handling. While cars will differ by type and because of manual adjustment, the sense of control in this year's version provides quicker response times, slightly lighter cars, which lessons the heavy pendulum effect sunk into the core of last year's driving model, and a slightly better sense of speed. The sense of speed is build upon special visual affects rather than a framerate improvement, but the effects work nonetheless. While trying to ignore the heavy aliasing, moderate flickering, and a super dull color palette, players will notice working blur effects surrounding passing cars that provide a clean sense of speed. The blur doesn't increase the actual car speed, but it provides a sense of realistic movement that's believable when looking directly at the car and by using peripheral vision.
Other interesting and worthwhile effects include the real-time lighting of the sun, which creates a second-long blind spot and nice lens flare for a little panache. You'll enjoy the particle system, which shows in many ways -- from little bits scraped off the way, to major pile-ups in which cars break into pieces, skip across the grass, tumble, smash into each, and more. The recorded engine sounds are spot-on, too.
Though the pits stops can be skimpily modified, the AI is quite aggressive, which adds a real thrill to the general driving aspect. Not nearly as aggressive as the AI in Burnout, the NASCAR AI is distinct because it remembers you during that particular race or even in another subsequent race. For instance, if you've bumped number 88 in one lap, in the next few laps he'll go for your throat, slamming you hard into a wall, into the grass, or tipping you into another car. Most of the time the bump isn't too deadly, but every so often it will ruin your race. Each enemy is marked with a red icon above it. EA also has this thing called Heroes and Villains, which is as spiffy way of saying that you can make alliances and, as aforementioned, enemies. You can make allies by sharing drafts, which helps in those final heated laps when you will need all the help you can get. This adds another little wrinkle into the mix, making NASCAR more than just an ordinary game.
The general drafting is like last year's, indicated by a blue quarter circle in the HUD on the bottom left-hand side of the screen. Last year's big addition, Total Player Control, is back, giving you four options to work out with your team. By pressing up on the right analog stick and then left, right, up or down, you can request a teammate to block, work with you, follow and swap. Your teammate isn't always in a position to block, follow, or work with you, and he will let you know either way. Swap is the coolest trick, as it works similar to the way you switch bodies in Battlefield: Modern Combat, though it's best handled quickly. Switching away from your main car doesn't always leave your first car in a very good position. In other words, it doesn't maintain its position very well.
Though the pits stops can be skimpily modified, the AI is quite aggressive, which adds a real thrill to the general driving aspect. Not nearly as aggressive as the AI in Burnout, the NASCAR AI is distinct because it remembers you during that particular race or even in another subsequent race. For instance, if you've bumped number 88 in one lap, in the next few laps he'll go for your throat, slamming you hard into a wall, into the grass, or tipping you into another car. Most of the time the bump isn't too deadly, but every so often it will ruin your race. Each enemy is marked with a red icon above it. EA also has this thing called Heroes and Villains, which is as spiffy way of saying that you can make alliances and, as aforementioned, enemies. You can make allies by sharing drafts, which helps in those final heated laps when you will need all the help you can get. This adds another little wrinkle into the mix, making NASCAR more than just an ordinary game.
The general drafting is like last year's, indicated by a blue quarter circle in the HUD on the bottom left-hand side of the screen. Last year's big addition, Total Player Control, is back, giving you four options to work out with your team. By pressing up on the right analog stick and then left, right, up or down, you can request a teammate to block, work with you, follow and swap. Your teammate isn't always in a position to block, follow, or work with you, and he will let you know either way. Swap is the coolest trick, as it works similar to the way you switch bodies in Battlefield: Modern Combat, though it's best handled quickly. Switching away from your main car doesn't always leave your first car in a very good position. In other words, it doesn't maintain its position very well.
Closing Comments
I like all kinds of racing games -- arcade, sim, motorcycle, car, firetruck, whatever. NASCAR 07 has its positives -- the skill points and driver attributes being a few of them, and the hefty set of races and cars you can compete in round out its replay value well. In its own way, NASCAR 07 also replicates the sport community of NASCAR extremely well. As for racing, it's still not that fast of a game, although the controls have tightened up, and though it sounds silly, out of car mano-a- mano driver fisticuffs would have added that spark this year's game seems to be missing. This isn't the end-all be-all NASCAR game in the series, but it's far from being the worst, too.
Thank to for Douglass C. Perry the review
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