HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
Sept. 7, 2004 EA Sports released “NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup,” and I must say that it is the closet thing to the real thing. I played numerous NASCAR titles from EA Sports, but this one is by far the best. The game pits you, the driver, in a predicament; the fact that you are just driving in the city and out pops Ryan Newman. In case you don’t follow NASCAR, Ryan Newman drives the Altel Dodge, and he is a magnificent driver at that. If you somehow beat Ryan, and most likely you will, you will get a phone call from him and claims that you’re the best driver he’s ever saw. Yeah right. The game then starts with you having an agent named Ace; Ace then tells you that Ryan Newman wants you to drive his car in the Modified division of NASCAR; Modified cars are the open wheel cars. After you sign the contract to run for Ryan’s car you become the up and coming driver that has a bright future; however, you’ll get big names like Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart who challenge you head to head with not NASCAR’s, but sports cars, which brings a more of a Burnout or Need for Speed feel to the game. If you do well in the Modified division, Ace will try to get you test runs from the Craftsman truck division, the Busch division, and of course the Nextel division. What makes this game even better is that once you are done with that particular division as a driver, you can then become an owner. Finally, EA Sports gives you the opportunity to be both an owner and a driver. As an owner, you are in control; you hire the crew, the driver, the parts, what sponsors you want, and even the prices of your merchandise. What makes this game even more perfect is that in NASCAR the drivers are obligated to sign autographs; therefore, YOU sign autographs. No joke, you CAN sign autographs in the game. Another detail that is in the game is the fact that you can become a villain or a hero; in other words, you can be a hero and race clean or get a little dirty with intimidation to your opponents. The races itself are a whole lot better than last years “NASCAR Thunder 2004", because in the last game you had to take a guess of how the car should feel, and that took forever to figure out, by the time you gotten comfortable with how your car was you were already bored with the game. This time, the game gives you the option to change your car or just leave it alone, but either way you CAN win with the default setup, but sometimes it wouldn’t hurt to change a few things on the car. Another segment of NASCAR 2005 that I enjoyed as well is the fact that you have two meters that tell you who are your allies and who are your enemies. If the meter is highlighted red, he will stop at nothing just to see you wreck, lose, or both. If the meter is green then that driver will either draft with you in order for you to save fuel and go faster at the same time, or help you win the race by not blocking you as much. The only problem I have with the game is of course the realism with the car crashes; once again EA Sports just can’t quite get the car crashes as realistic as possible. If you have ever seen a NASCAR event and was fortunate enough to see an incredible car crash, you would have notice that it takes a great deal for a car to fly in the air. In NASCAR 2005, the cars can barley hit the wall and they soar through the air like Superman; it’s obviously not that realistic. The cars can get looser, which brings more realism to the NASCAR circuit; however, if my back end gets loose enough and hits the wall, by back-end should be smashed, instead my car is just bent and I’m flying through the air. I really hope EA Sports would fix this, because they have been doing it for years. All in all, this is one NASCAR game that is very very good, despite the unrealistic car crashes, this game is the best NASCAR game EA Sports has to offer. I don’t want to claim it’s the best NASCAR or racing game, but for me personally it is the best NASCAR game I’ve ever played. ------------ About the author Eric Schomburg: Visit http://www.geocities.com/schomburg2002. The website is about my novel, One of a Kind, a story about a young boy who possess the powers of the natural elements. Email: schomburg2002@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
