Because of the addition of crews or because EA wanted to go even heavier into its presentation (which it often does at the expense of improving gameplay), the game is filled with cutscenes and pasty, well-coiffed well-dressed gearheads. The Career mode follows last year's trippy FMV-based narrative. It enables from 1-8 players to vie online on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, whereas the Xbox, PS2 and GameCube versions don't offer online compatibility.
One of the bigger additions is the online functionality. The four new features offered in Carbon comprise a crew, a unique autosculpt customization, drifting races and additional car classes. Players can pick from three different car classes, exotics, tuners, and muscles (the muscles being the new addition), which broadens the game's middle-of-the-road feel in a smart, controlled manner.
The Career mode is the meat and potatoes of the game, comprising a city split into four territories plus hilly canyon races outside the city. It provides four camera perspectives (two in-car, two over-the-shoulder), a 10-14 hour single-player campaign, and a series of mini-challenges based on collecting racing cards. Meet+your+former+girl+friend.+Hah! Near Carbon Copy Carbon is an arcade-style racer that plays, in general, a lot like other Need for Speed games. It's not revolutionary, it's not brilliant, but it's good, deep racing.
Carbon, in other words, is a decent update to last year's game with improved graphics, excellent Autosculpt customization, a different progression system, and an all-around solid take on the game. This year's version, Need for Speed Carbon, which refers to Carbon Canyon where racers duel for territory in the city below, is a minor shake-up for the series, shifting in new features, shifting out others, while continuing the FMV-heavy story-telling from Most Wanted. And it offered a particularly North-West vibe to it. The police were back with a ferocious vengeance. Last year's Most Wanted shipped at Microsoft's Xbox 360 launch and introduced a creative take on story-telling by using filtered customized FMV to give the familiar racer a fresh presentation. After Need for Speed Underground outsold all other games in 2004, the largest independent game publisher in the world adroitly kept the series coming without a hitch.