Need for Speed Carbon

In the game, players take part in illegal street races that focus on different styles of races, utilizing a variety of licensed real-world cars (available at the time of the game’s development and release) that can be upgraded and customized with new parts, while contending with the involvement of the police in their efforts to impede the player. Racing Events focus on competitive races with other drivers on circuits or point-to-point routes, checkpoint races, and races involving sprints or drifting (the latter being absent in its predecessor), with players able to use Nitrous Oxide and Speedbreaker whenever needed

Either to help win races or get out of tight spots – both of which recharge over time. The game itself features four game modes – Career, Quick Race, Challenge Series, and Multiplayer – with the latter featuring online gameplay available in all console and PC versions of the game, except for the Wii version. The game operates on the same gameplay mechanics used in previous entries in the series, including its predecessor Most Wanted, though Carbon introduced new elements. A new element exclusive to Carbon is Canyon events – special racing events styled after Japanese Tōge racing, in which players compete in competitive racing on canyon roads outside the game’s main setting.

These events consist of sprints, drifting and duel events, in which the latter two feature a majority of destructible guardrails that the player must avoid crashing through or risk losing these respective events as a result. Duel events on these circuits operate differently to events involving major rival racers in Need for Speed games, as these are conducted across two stages on a canyon circuit – in each stage, one driver acts as the chaser and pursues the other at close proximity, with the first stage seeing the player as the chaser and scoring points the closer they can tail their opponent.

While in the second stage their opponent becomes the chaser and the player must keep as much distance as possible to avoid losing too many points before the stage is completed. At the end of both stages, the car who took the lead wins if their score is positive, otherwise, their opponent wins if they turned it negative. Apart from scores, an instant win is possible depending on which mode the Duel is conducted in – in Career mode, the player can win instantly if they can stay ahead of their opponent for ten seconds, but lose if they fall behind for too long; in Online Multiplayer, a player wins if their opponent crashes through a guardrail.

Police pursuits, a staple of the series, function similar to Most Wanted in that police can turn up at any time during a race and attempt to impede the player during the event, except in Canyon Race events and checkpoint races; in Career mode, the police can also turn up during Free Roam, but will not act against the player unless they have a warrant (for evading a previous pursuit) or committed an offence in their sight, whereupon they focus on blocking in and arresting the player unless they can lose them and find a safe spot to hide until they lose their heat.

As the player is pursued, they can either attempt to evade the cops or knock them out of action by ramming their cars or using destructible props called Pursuit Breakers to impede their pursuit, though extensive pursuits will cause the player’s heat level to rise, leading to stronger pursuit tactics including spike strips, roadblocks, and the involvement of state/federal authorities. Carbon modified the pursuit function by making police less dominant in arrest tactics at higher heat levels, and reducing the chance a Pursuit Breaker blocks/destroys a pursuing vehicle.

The game’s main mode focuses on the player competing in races against rival street racing crews, instead of individual racers like in Most Wanted and Underground 2. When starting in Career mode, players must choose a class that is not only permanent for their playthrough in this mode, but also dictates which of the initial three districts in the game’s setting they begin in and which racing events are available first. Additional cars and classes become unlocked as the player progresses in this mode; any cars earned from Reward Cards for Quick Race mode are also available but without limitation.

Players operate their own crew in Career mode and can recruit AI wingmen to assist them, each of whom operates under a different role – Blocker, Drafter, and Scout – and specialty – Fixer, Mechanic, and Fabricator. The type of role and specialty that each wingman operate under dictates how they assist the player – some can find shortcuts during races, while others can help to reduce police heat – with their role also dictating which car they drive in; the first two wingmen the player unlocks have their cars match the player’s chosen class.

During races, players may use their wingmen for a period of time, after which they must wait a while until their wingmen gauge has recharged before they can use them again, with the exception of scouts, who use their role for the entire race to find shortcuts. Carbon takes place within the fictional city of Palmont, which encompasses four boroughs linked by a highway system; Kempton, which houses the city’s industrial complexes; Downtown, which houses the city’s metropolitan and financial buildings; Fortuna, which houses the city’s residential area; and Silverton, which houses the city’s casino & resort facilities.

The city is also surrounded by three canyons known as East, West, and Carbon, which feature their own layout of the route, but which are not connected to Palmont. In the game’s story, which takes place during a fixed period at night, the player is not able to access Silverton until they have made progress in career mode and only can access the canyon routes during events. Several years prior to the events of Most Wanted, a street racer (whose role is assumed by the player) took part in a major street race around Palmont for a large cash prize.

The three other racers were each the leader of a street racing crew: Bushido’s Kenji (Ken Kirby), 21st Street’s Angie (Danielle Kremeniuk), and T.F.K. (The Fortuna Kings)’s Wolf (Shaw Madson). However, the racers were ambushed by the Palmont Police Department (PPD), who had SWAT immobilize the player’s opponents with an EMP and began arresting everyone involved. The player escaped with the help of Darius (Tahmoh Penikett), the leader for the Stacked Deck, and his then-girlfriend Nikki (Emmanuelle Vaugier); before leaving she handed over the bag containing the race’s prize money, but it turned out to contain paper. Under Darius’ advice, the player quickly fled Palmont after being accused of sabotaging the race.